Month: September 2021

All smiles for Diarmuid Connolly

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

DIARMUID CONNOLLY SIGNED off from the 2016 Gaelic football season yesterday in a familiar fashion.

Another final win and another piece of silverware secured.

It’s been another remarkable year of success for Connolly as he’s claimed a stunning five-timer between county and club. With Dublin he won National League, Leinster and All-Ireland medals. With St Vincent’s he claimed Dublin and Leinster titles, with the added bonus of being the club captain.

The only competition the Dublin senior footballers did not win in 2016 was the O’Byrne Cup but then again Connolly didn’t see game time in that competition as he was recovering from an injury.

And when he did make his 2016 bow, he hit net on 30 January as Dublin claimed an opening night league win over Kerry in Croke Park. Since then, the winning ways continued.

It’s not the first time Connolly has managed such a stunning feat, replicating this year what he achieved in 2013.

There are a fair few Kilkenny hurlers who have matched that clean sweep of club and county accolades in one season. In 2003, Martin and Andy Comerford achieved it with Kilkenny and O’Loughlin Gaels.

Andy Comerford after the 2003 Leinster senior club hurling final

Source: INPHO

Then there have been those Ballyhale Shamrocks and Cats stars. Henry Shefflin and Michael Fennelly swept the boards in 2006, 2009 and 2014 to carry off five titles.

In 2006 and 2009, they had the company of James ‘Cha’ Fitzpatrick in those winner enclosures. TJ Reid reached that level in 2009 and 2014, while Joey Holden and Colin Fennelly were similarly successful two years ago.

Henry Shefflin celebrates after the 2014 Leinster senior club final

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

But Connolly’s football exploits have been magnificent, attaining a level of consistency between Dublin and St Vincent’s to pack those five championship wins in one calendar year.

Here’s his run of major victories in 2016.

24 April – National League Final – Dublin 2-18 Kerry 0-13

Connolly notched a point in this final to claim the fourth National football league medal of his career. His 1-3 haul against Cork in March was the highlight of his league performances.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

17 July – Leinster senior final – Dublin 2-19 Westmeath 0-10

Connolly’s clash with James Dolan may have garnered headlines in the provincial decider but he had previously shone with his football displays to help clinch his 10th Leinster title win. Man-of-the-match against Laois and Meath with respective tallies of 1-4 and 0-4, Connolly hit full speed early in the season.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

1 October – All-Ireland final replay – Dublin 1-15 Mayo 1-14

Connolly got his hands on Sam Maguire for the fourth time and generated an array of standout moments in the All-Ireland series, like the glorious late point against Kerry into Hill 16 and holding his nerve to convert that penalty in the replay against Mayo.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

5 November – Dublin senior final – St Vincent’s 0-15 Castleknock 0-10

A special moment for Connolly as he captains St Vincent’s to success and garners his fourth county senior medal in the process. He caused serious damage to Ballymun in the semi-final as he picked off 0-4.

Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO

11 December – Leinster senior final – St Vincent’s 1-16 Rhode 0-12

The season of glory was rounded off for Connolly yesterday in O’Moore Park. He struck the only goal of the game, finished with 1-2 to his credit and captained St Vincent’s to the club’s seventh Leinster senior crown. 2016, it’s been memorable.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

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WHEN WESTMEATH JOGGED back towards their Croke Park dressing-room just one point in arrears, they knew they were getting under the skin of the Dubs.

The Leinster champions, and talisman Diarmuid Connolly, were clearly frustrated by the Lake County side, just as they had been in the opening half of the 2015 final. But in the end, just like 12 months previously, Jim Gavin’s side still went on to win at a canter.

It’s been another yin and yang year for Westmeath — a second successive relegation saw them drop to Division 4 of the league but their championship campaign gave them legitimate reasons for optimism.

They reached a second successive Leinster final for the first time in the county’s history, after claiming wins against Offaly and Kildare, and their two championship losses — in which they were competitive for decent stretches — came against this year’s All-Ireland finalists.

While they showed defensive resolve in the opening half against Dublin, only for Gavin’s tactical reshuffle to ultimately unlock their rearguard, they also displayed attacking flair in abundance when giving Mayo a real rattle late on in the qualifiers.

Stephen Rochford’s side ultimately prevailed by seven points after racing out of the blocks but when Kieran Martin narrowed the gap to three points with 10 minutes on the clock, Tom Cribbin’s charges looked a real chance to cause a championship upset.

Mayo responded through a Cillian O’Connor free and Westmeath lost Denis Corroon to a second yellow card, but it was Aidan O’Shea’s late goal that put the gloss on the scoreline and the result beyond doubt.

Looking back now, at the launch of the Bord na Móna 2017 Leinster GAA series, which includes the O’Byrne Cup, Martin can’t help but feel Westmeath are close to making serious progress if they can bring all the facets of their game together next season.

“It’s hard for a team to play well for a whole 70 minutes, but we always seem to do it for either one half or the other,” Martin admits.

“That’s what we’re going to work on; see what went wrong in the halves that we didn’t play well, and see what we did right in the halves that we did play well.

“You have to take the positives out of it. I think the second half against Mayo was probably the best football we played all year. We just went for it – we had to. And I think it’s a good way to go at teams too, because they’re not expecting it either.

“Like, we were a couple of points down against Kildare and we went for it, and within 10-15 minutes we were a couple of points up.

“So I think the management are looking at that as well, instead of trying to hold teams off. With Dublin it’s a different situation, you have to try and work something.”

Kieran Martin tussles with Mayo’s Keith Higgins.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

After frustrating the Leinster and All-Ireland champions for 35 minutes with their defence reinforced with two sweepers, Gavin replaced Eric Lowndes with Paddy Andrews at the break.

It meant the Dubs had an extra attacker on the field as Ciaran Kilkenny dropped into a deeper role. And it did just the trick as the Boys in Blue tagged on 10 unanswered points in the first 20 minutes of the second period and the Westmeath challenge fell asunder.

Goals from Bernard Brogan and Kevin McManamon simply added to Westmeath’s pain as Gavin’s side romped to a 2-19 to 0-10 win.

Martin admits Westmeath need to add versatility to their game to really challenge the Dubs over 70 minutes, but he feels it’s something well within their capabilities. They proved that when their backs were against the wall when Mayo were the opposition just 13 days later.

“Now, it did work for the first half but I think Dublin copped on to what we were doing and made a few changes, where they took off a back and brought on another forward,” Martin continues.

“You’re playing against seven forwards – and they’re seven of the best forwards in the country!

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“It’s hard enough to deal with six, never mind trying to deal with seven of them.

“It’s different things like that; management are learning too and we’re learning as well. We have to learn that it’s not going to work for the whole game.

“You will have situations where you’re going to have to change it around, because teams are clever, they will cop on to what you’re doing.

“So it’s a matter of us learning what changes we have to make if teams do cop on, and getting them right.

“You have to have three different plans and work through them completely throughout the year, instead of having one plan, it working for one half and then not working for the other.”

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TWO CLUB TEAMS in Galway made bets on key GAA games they were playing in during the year, it has been revealed by the outgoing county chairman Noel Treacy.

Treacy, a former Fianna Fáil government minister, said that gambling in the GAA continues to grow and is now a major problem for the organisation.

He said that more players were coming forward to report gambling addiction problems and he urged that more work needs to be done to get rid of the problem.

He said that there were an estimated 40,000 people addicted to gambling in the country and that a growing number were emerging in the GAA at all levels.

“In my address at last year’s convention, I alluded to the serious gambling problem, bedeviling our association at player level.

“Regretfully, I must report that more players are still reporting to us, with serious gambling addiction problems.

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“During the past year at least two of our club teams arranged individual and group bets, on crucial games.

“In one instance, they lost both the game and their money. In another instance, the betting team won the game and I presume their bets also.”

Treacy called on both the GAA and the government to increase their work to reduce the level of gambling addiction, but he also called on GAA clubs to be more vigilant.

“I appeal to all club officers, team managers and all members, to be vigilant in observing and dealing with this current crisis. Our county health and wellbeing committee is available to assist both clubs and any affected individuals,” he added.

He was speaking at the annual Galway convention in Salthill which went on late into the night as delegates discussed whether the county’s hurlers should remain in the Leinster SHC.

Meanwhile, Treacy said that Galway was guilty of getting rid of county managers far too early and said the decision was taken this year to give Micheal Donoghue and Kevin Walsh new three-year deals to allow time for them to develop the hurling and football teams without upheaval.

He hit out at the way Anthony Cunningham was ousted in a player upheaval last year.

“We have torpedoed county team managers, both too often and too early. A lack of cohesion, uniformity, playing patterns and unity of purpose destroys opportunity.

“One of the most frustrating periods of the past five years was the unnecessary upheaval at senior hurling panel level in October 2015, just after the All-Ireland hurling replay defeat a month earlier.

“When sudden and unexpected management changes are sprung on an unsuspecting GAA public, it erodes confidence, creates both confusion and doubt in the wider base required to achieve ultimate success.

“The time has come for a much more mature and positive attitude to the tasks and measures, required for success at flagship levels,” added Treacy.

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GALWAY WILL CONTINUE the fight for all their hurling teams to play in a single provincial structure, and will consider a move to the Munster championship if Leinster don’t play ball.

A motion was passed at the Galway county convention last night, which called for Galway’s minor and U21 teams to join the senior teams in playing in “a single Provincial System and Structure”.

The motion, put forward by the Liam Mellows GAA Club, also suggested that the Galway County Board make an application to play in the Munster championships, should these requirements not be met in Leinster.

There has been growing unrest in Galway at the current arrangement with Leinster, where the senior hurlers have been playing since 2009. The other grades however did not follow them to play in Leinster.

Since the move in 2009, Galway have played 23 championship games, without having a single home fixture.

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The motion will now go forward to GAA Congress in Croke Park in February.

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THERE ARE OVER six thousand people homeless in Ireland this Christmas, but the Westmeath hurlers did their part to help last night.

The U21 and senior teams decided that they could go without a post-match meal next month, and decided to deliver them to homeless people instead.

U21 hurling manager Adrian Moran felt the need to help after seeing a man lying in a doorway, staring into oblivion, during a shopping trip to Dublin.

After speaking with players and managers in the Westmeath setup, the teams agreed that they could easily go without a meal after a match next month. Between the two squads, that added up to roughly 70 meals.

Source: Photo courtesy of Adrian Moran

“Yeah, the hope would be that our example will encourage the other counties to do the same,” Moran told GAA.ie.

“That every county would give up one post-match meal that would be served to the homeless. And that could be done in their own county or wherever.

“There’s no real cost, because it’s just a dinner that you’re giving up. The only cost is someone bringing the dinner to the venue.

“We’re just going to go without a dinner some night in January on a collective training night and lads will bring their own sandwiches or whatever.”

Source: Photo courtesy of Adrian Moran

The teams gave out meals in Cusack Park in Mullingar at 5.30 yesterday evening, before setting the sights on Dublin to give out meals on Grafton St. with the help of Cairdeas Homeless Action Group.

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A FORMER KILKENNY minor hurler and Gaelic football colleges star was in the spotlight at Old Trafford last night when he hit the net as Manchester United were dumped out of the FA Youth Cup.

17 year-old Thomas O’Connor was in action for Southampton and helped his side claim a 2-1 victory in the third round tie.

O’Connor’s 82nd minute goal was an excellent strike which brought the Saints level before they secured victory with a cracking finish from Will Smallbone.
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“I found myself down the left channel – normally I don’t even go down the channel but I just found myself in space there,” O’Connor told the official Southampton FC website after the game.

“I cut in and it was just instinct to hit it with my right, which I don’t do very often, but luckily it went in.”

“It’s the best game I’ve ever played in. It was an unreal performance from the boys. Even when we went 1-0 down we still felt like there was something in it for us.”

O’Connor – who has represented Ireland at youth level – signed his first professional contract back in May with Southampton when he penned a two-and-a-half-year deal after joining the club initially last year.

The teenager previously played hurling for the Kilkenny minors and his club Tullogher-Rosbercon.

And in April 2015, he produced a sensational Gaelic football display when shooting 2-6 as Wexford outfit Good Counsel New Ross won the All-Ireland junior football colleges title against St Brendan’s Killarney.

The Kerry school that day fielded five players – Michael Potts, Billy Courtney, David Shaw, Dara Moynihan and David Clifford – who feautred in last September’s All-Ireland minor football final.

It wasn’t the first time that O’Connor had lit up an All-Ireland football final, hitting 0-8 when Good Counsel New Ross claimed the junior title in 2014.

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2014 MUNSTER SENIOR club football champions Austin Stacks have turned to a hugely experienced inter-county figure to be the new manager of their senior football team.

Pat Flanagan has a wealth of inter-county experience from training the Kerry and Cork senior footballers, along with having a role with the Waterford hurlers.

He will take charge for the 2017 campaign after Stephen Stack recently stepped down from that position. Stack had been in charge for the 2014 Kerry and Munster title wins.

This year Flanagan was part of Stack’s backroom team with Austin Stacks bowing out at the quarter-final stage of the Kerry senior championship with a 0-15 to 0-12 defeat to a Kenmare District side who went on to contest the final.

Flanagan was an All-Ireland winning trainer with Kerry during Jack O’Connor’s first spell in charge.

In 2014 and 2015 he trained the Cork footballers when Brian Cuthbert was at the helm.

Austin Stacks 2014 triumph saw them end a 20-year wait for a Kerry senior football crown. They also recently contested the 2013 and 2010 county senior deciders, losing both to Dr Crokes.

After that county final win two years, the Tralee club went on to defeat Waterford’s The Nire as they were crowned Munster senior champions before losing in the 2015 All-Ireland club semi-final to Derry’s Slaughtneil.

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Anthony ‘Pretty Boy’ Taylor pictured at the Bellator 169 Open Workouts in the Straight Blast Gym earlier.

Source: Gary Carr/INPHO

Home

• The Galway hurlers’ fight against the Leinster structure will go before GAA Congress.
• Ireland international Robbie Brady is being linked with a €12 million January move away from Norwich to Aston Villa.
• An ex-Kilkenny minor hurler, Thomas O’Connor, hit the net in Southampton’s FA Youth Cup win at Old Trafford last night.
• The dates for Ireland’s first Test matches against Japan since 2005 have been confirmed.
• Pat Devlin is a League of Ireland manager once again.

Away

• Chelsea have been slapped with a fine for the Man City brawl — but they avoided a points deduction.
• Samoa winger Denny Solomona has completed his Sale move – but his former club are threatening legal action.
• Liverpool have been warned to stay away from Borussia Dortmund’s teen star Christian Pulisic.
• Man City star Yaya Toure has apologised to fans for drink driving.
• England rugby chief Ian Ritchie has backed Dylan Hartley to remain as captain.

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The six-year-old Afghan boy who wore a plastic bag as Messi jersey has met his hero.

On The Record

The situation with Turkey came up at the European Track Championships this year as well. Some of these Kenyan athletes, all they do is apply for a passport and they get a passport hand-delivered to them in Kenya and off they go. That’s fundamentally wrong. If someone is genuinely a refugee or living in the country for at least three or four years, of course they should be entitled to run for that country. But passports of convenience for a country to win medals is not the way to go, it’s fundamentally wrong.”

Sport Ireland chief executive John Treacy on the controversial eligibility rules that allow Kenyan athletes represent European countries.

The Fixture List

• There are plenty of Premier League games taking place tomorrow, including Crystal Palace v Man United and Middlesbrough v Liverpool.

Showbiz, Baby!

The Westmeath hurlers donated their post-match meals to the homeless last night.

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GOVERNMENT FUNDING FOR the Gaelic Players Association is set to be significantly restored over the next three years following the announcement of a €6.9 million package.

The GPA will receive €1.6 million from Sport Ireland in 2017 with that number increasing to €2.3 million in 2018 and €3 million in 2019.

As part of the deal, the GPA and government will develop a programme to tackle mental health problems, obesity, and drug and alcohol misuse, using the country’s top GAA stars as ambassadors.

The investment marks a major increase on the €900,000 received by the inter-county players’ body in 2015, and brings government support close to the pre-recession figure of €3.5 million per year agreed in 2007.

The financial package was announced this morning at Croke Park where Taoiseach Enda Kenny was joined by Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross, and the Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan.

GPA CEO Dessie Farrell outlined the joint plans to tackle “some of the more intractable societal challenges in Ireland today.”

“This will happen through a more targeted approach and will leverage the role model status of many of our top county players to influence positive change,” Farrell said.

Players look forward to taking an even more prominent role in making a meaningful difference, particularly, in the lives our young people across the country.

The government funding will provide practical support to inter-county footballers and hurlers, GPA chairman Seamus Hickey said.

“This new agreement with Government is important for players as it once again recognises the vital economic and social contribution made by county players,” Hickey said.

“It reinforces the principle of parity for county players with other high performance athletes and professional sportspeople supported through State sponsored schemes.

It also provides a level of practical support to many players who are under financial pressure across the spectrum; from young students juggling their significant sporting and academic commitments to the more experienced players with young families to care for, mortgages and bills to pay while operating and performing at the highest levels in Irish sport.

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NEW MEATH SENIOR football manager Andy McEntee is already looking ahead to the 2017 season with the Royals.

But last night he signed off on a successful note in Dublin club football with the reigning All-Ireland club champions.

McEntee guided Ballyboden St-Enda’s to the Dublin and Leinster senior football titles in 2015 before they cruised to All-Ireland glory in style on St Patrick’s Day.

Ballyboden St-Enda’s winning manager Andy McEntee last St Patrick’s Day

Source: Lorraine O’Sullivan/INPHO

The Ballyboden St-Enda’s players celebrate their All-Ireland win.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

The championship this year in Dublin didn’t pan out as they would have liked with a second round exit against Kilmacud Crokes in October.

But a 2-18 to 3-14 win in last night’s Dublin Division 1 football league final against St Judes at Parnell Park, does provide some consolation and Christmas cheer as they conclude 2016 on a winning note.

The game was a thrilling contest with the teams level at 1-15 to 2-12 at the end of normal time before Ballyboden prevailed by a point despite conceding a last-gasp goal from a St Judes penalty at the close of extra-time.

Sam Molony hit a brace of goals for the winners with the first one an emphatic and memorable strike.

Source: John Galvin/YouTube

His second was a bit more fortunate but it was judged that the ball had just squeezed over the line.

Source: John Galvin/YouTube

Conal Keaney kicked 0-8 for Ballyboden St-Enda’s while Kevin McManamon struck 0-4 for St Judes.

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