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Munster v Ulster – Provinces face off in URC showdown at Thomond Park

Munster v Ulster – Provinces face off in URC showdown at Thomond Park

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Today at 14:00
Munster play host to provincial rivals Ulster in URC action this evening.
Back-to-back URC defeats have left Munster in ninth place, outside of the play-off spots, while, more importantly, the province's place in next season's Champions Cup is also seriously at risk.
For Ulster, their hopes of snatching a late play-off spot are still alive. Richie Murphy's men currently sit in 12th place, but such is the congested nature of the URC table, Ulster are only three points off the all-important top eight.
Kick-off at Thomond Park is 7.35pm.
4 minutes ago
Jude Postlethwaite reveals what he must do to reach the next level for Ulster
Jude Postlethwaite reveals what he must do to reach the next level for Ulster
As one of the top players in the RBAI side that famously won three Schools Cups in a row, Jude Postlethwaite is not a player you would think is shy on confidence.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
Here's Richie Murphy's pre-match thoughts
Some people think Ulster are a million miles away… but we really aren't, insists coach Richie Murphy
In a season that has ebbed and flowed more than the tide crashing against the promenade at Portstewart, Ulster know they need to be on the crest of a wave when the season ends if they are to earn the rewards they so desperately crave.
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
17 minutes ago
Ulster able to call upon Ireland trio for must-win URC derby clash with Munster
Ulster able to call upon Ireland trio for must-win URC derby clash with Munster
Ulster have been handed a timely boost for their must-win United Rugby Championship clash with Munster on Friday night with three Ireland internationals, including captain Iain Henderson, back in the line-up for their trip to Thomond Park (kick-off 7.35pm).
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
19 minutes ago
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of tonight's crucial URC clash between Munster and Ulster.
With both defeat enduring a difficult season, there loser of tonight's game is unlikely to make the the URC Play-Offs and qualify for next season's Champions Cup. It's all on the line at Thomond Park.
Kick-off in 35 minutes.
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Eamon McGee: Jimmy McGuinness is winning matches by making Donegal players believe
Eamon McGee: Jimmy McGuinness is winning matches by making Donegal players believe

RTÉ News​

time6 hours ago

  • RTÉ News​

Eamon McGee: Jimmy McGuinness is winning matches by making Donegal players believe

Donegal's most recent All-Ireland SFC final appearance is not on repeat in the McGee household. In fact, Eamon McGee, a champion with his brother, and now selector, Neil in 2012, admits the defeat two years later to Kerry evokes powerful pangs of regret. "I still haven't watched that game in total now," he tells RTÉ Sport ahead of the county's rematch in the 2025 decider this Sunday. "I've tried to make an attempt at it a few Christmases. You know, we're sitting doing nothing, throw it on YouTube, but it's just still too sore." It's not just the result - an early goal from Paul Geaney, who could be involved this weekend, helped Kerry hang on to win 2-09 to 0-12 - but also what he sees as "weaknesses" in preparation. "It's still too sore in terms of the way we just didn't turn up," said McGee. "And lots of regrets about the way we maybe went at it for the few weeks in the build-up. "One thing that really stood out was, we were nearly cheering for Kerry to beat Mayo in that brilliant semi-final, because we felt Kerry would be easier opposition. And I think that's where the weakness crept in. "Mayo were in a better place than 2012. They were just very unlucky. But when you think back, to say that about Kerry, who when they get to Croke Park… it was just extremely naive and it was silly thinking by those of us who took part. It shouldn't have bothered us who was playing. "I remember saying to one of the lads 'We're gonna win this final', and that shouldn't have come into our thinking at all until the analysis side of it. "There's a fine line. I've seen it from myself, and from other players, that line with confidence and arrogance, and I think maybe talking about opposition like Kerry in that manner, we had crossed over to arrogance. "But at the same time, you learn these things and I think [Jim] McGuinness, Neil, Colm [McFadden, selector], Michael [Murphy], Paddy [McBrearty], Ryan McHugh, will learn that. It's a different season now too, it's just coming straight out at you. But if they see any weakness at all, they're going to just jump on top of it because it's jeopardising their All-Ireland medal." McGuinness stepped down as manager two weeks after that final defeat to Kerry. His former assistant Rory Gallagher then led the team to successive Ulster finals but All-Ireland quarter-final exits. His successor Declan Bonner regained the Anglo-Celt Cup in 2018-19 but didn't get out of the Super 8s groups, or the province in the straight knock-out years of 2020-21. Donegal did get back to the Ulster final in 2022, losing after extra-time to Derry, but were knocked out by Armagh in the qualifiers. Paddy Carr took over for 2023 and stepped down after five months with relegation from Division 1 of the Allianz Football League looming. Making it as far as the preliminary quarter-finals under interim boss Aidan O'Rourke was subsequently seen as an achievement. Then, the return of the messiah. Back-to-back Ulsters. All-Ireland semi-final last year and final now. One of Donegal's first champions as a player in 1992, McGuinness has been involved in all four of the county's appearances on the big day, something that slightly concerns McGee. "We can't keep going back, putting out the Jim McGuinness bat signal every time we through a lull," he observed. "Why does it take McGuinness to come back and to get involved with the Donegal group, to get them to believe, to put the structures in place that support an elite environment and to put all these things in place, on the field, off the field, S&C? Why does it take Jim McGuinness to do that?" Perhaps the likes of McGee, his brother or McFadden, another member of the class of 2012, will find the answer in time. But what does he think is the secret to Jimmy winning so many matches? "It's numerous things. It's not just about his tactics. I'm delighted now that he has shut up a few of the boys down the country that would have said he was primarily a negative coach, and that he got lucky with a good group. "He had a good group in 2012, surely. But he's a revolutionary and a visionary and he has done the exact same thing now the second time round, with different players. "It's just that single-mindedness but if I was to pick one thing out of the many things that he brings, I think it's the belief, that he gets you to believe. "We had a wile inferiority complex in Donegal and I still believe parts of it do. Sometimes I see it creep in but I try my best not to to view us or myself in that manner, that we're as good as anybody else." Speaking to RTÉ Sport ahead of the final, the Donegal captain, McGee's former teammate Paddy McBrearty, admitted that finding a way to "curb the influence" of David Clifford would be crucial to his side's chances of victory. McGee thinks that Tyrone's approach in the semi-final proved one marker is not enough to restrict the Fossa sharpshooter, who scored 1-05 from play, but he suggests Armagh's quarter-final game plan of doubling up while standing off the other Kerry forwards is not the only alternative. "I thought Paudie Hampsey was hung out to dry," McGee said. "He is a good lad and he's been a top defender for a long, long time in Tyrone and, Ulster. He just couldn't do anything and I think when Clifford's in that frame of mind and in that form, I don't think he can be stopped in a 1 v 1. "Malachy [O'Rourke, Tyrone manager] in fairness came out afterwards and said that he made the wrong call. He went after the suppliers and tried to keep an eye on Clifford at the same time. And I don't think you can do that. "[Brendan] McCole will be tasked with Clifford. But McCole is going to need some kind of support or some kind of plan from that zonal defence of Donegal. It will be really interesting to see what way McGuinness goes at it now because he loves the zone and he has stuck to it. They're brilliant at smelling the threat and shutting it down. "I think you've got to double up. You've got to bring a savage defensive game, which McCole has shown, he has snuffed out numerous threats throughout the last three, four years. But you've also got to have someone there just to give yourself the best percentage chance, should he slip. "Within that zonal press, it's about keeping an eye on Clifford, but also recognising that you don't give O'Shea free shots. "Armagh doubled up, but their zonal press… You know Seanie O'Shea has it in his locker [to score two-pointers]. Letting him have a free shot at it is naive in the extreme. They [the Donegal defence] will not go to the three of them but should Paudie [Clifford] be picked up, Donegal will know that Seanie O'Shea, this is on his radar. Get out quick." Watch the All-Ireland Football Championship final, Donegal v Kerry, on Sunday from 2.15pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on and the RTÉ News app. Listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1. Watch highlights on The Sunday Game from 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.

Tomás Collins and Kilmurry eager to earn their right at Intermediate A grade
Tomás Collins and Kilmurry eager to earn their right at Intermediate A grade

Irish Examiner

time6 hours ago

  • Irish Examiner

Tomás Collins and Kilmurry eager to earn their right at Intermediate A grade

Kilmurry have built solid foundations over the last number of years. However, the latest step on their journey to where they are - the Cork Intermediate A ranks - was a heartbreaking one. Having won the Premier Junior county against neighbours Canovee, on they went to secure Munster honours - at the third time of asking after defeats to the David and Paudie Clifford-led Fossa and Listowel Emmets in 2022 and '23 - against another Kerry outfit, Firies. Then, in early 2025, came the heartbreak. The high of winning that Munster would turn to despair as they would agonisingly miss out on an All-Ireland JFC final berth after being pipped by Naomh Pádraig of Donegal on penalties at the last-four stage. Looking back on the year as a whole, centre-back Tomás Collins recalls the fondest of days for the Parish. He couldn't be prouder of their county and provincial success. "Canovee are our next-door neighbours. I've played hurling and soccer with those lads; we're well familiar with each other. It meant everything to the parish," the 25-year-old said, before going back over the emotions of that Munster final success in Mick Neville Park. "It was an incredible feeling. We just gave it our all; we put our heads down over the winter and really focused on winning the Munster." Tomás Collins in action for Kilmurry in the Munster quarter final. Pic: Larry Cummins Collins, who was previously on the books at League of Ireland side Cork City, immediately pivots to the All-Ireland hurt felt a few weeks later. The penalty heartbreak in Parnell Park. "It was a terrible feeling." But things have moved on for Collins and Kilmurry. What awaits a camp ready to build on the foundations previously laid is an Intermediate A campaign. A fruitful Division 5 league campaign garnered silverware earlier this month as Galway native Ruadhán Ó Curraoin hit 1-11 to lead his side to a commanding win over Gabriel Rangers. Now with championship on the horizon, it's a camp - now under the stewardship of Brian Harte following the departure of Cormac Linehan - that knows they have to earn their right to succeed at this elevated grade. First up in a tough group that also contains Ilen Rovers and Boherbue (2024 finalists) is a meeting with St Vincent's in Ballyanley this Saturday evening. "The main objective is to get out of the group and build from there," Collins said. "It's a higher grade than last year, teams are going to be tougher to beat and we'll have to earn our right to play this grade. "Hopefully, we beat St Vincent's in the first game at the weekend and then we can build from there. The league has gone well; every training session has been different. It's new to us, and they are really working well behind the scenes. "We just want to take it game-by-game, we have to earn our right to be here, we're new to this grade. We have to play each game and just build from there."

'This year it's gone very well'- Italian call a distant memory for new Lion Thomas Clarkson
'This year it's gone very well'- Italian call a distant memory for new Lion Thomas Clarkson

RTÉ News​

time11 hours ago

  • RTÉ News​

'This year it's gone very well'- Italian call a distant memory for new Lion Thomas Clarkson

As Thomas Clarkson stood in Melbourne's Marvel Stadium, clutching his newly minted British and Irish Lions cap, he reflected on a sliding doors moment from two years earlier. Fun fact: The 25-year-old's full name is actually Tommaso Clarkson, with his mother Nina Cafolla coming from a small town between Rome and Naples. At the start of the 2023/24 season, the Italians came calling. Clarkson turned down the offer, but with the tighthead prop yet to get his full break at Leinster, his qualification to play for Italy was kept in his back pocket, just in case. "They came looking for me, but I'd just signed a new contract with Leinster," he said, after making his Lions debut against the First Nations and Pasifika XV on Tuesday night. "I didn't end it. I thought it could be open at some point down the line, but obviously, this year it's gone very well." It's been a fast 12 months for Clarkson. A run of games to start the season, and injuries elsewhere, saw him brought into the Ireland squad for the first time in November as a training panellist, before he was retained after the training camp and impressed in two appearances off the bench against Argentina and Fiji. More big appearances came in the Champions Cup, and four more Irish caps followed in the Six Nations, before he produced arguably his best Leinster performance in their URC final win against the Bulls, a game he says was the moment where he believes he arrived. "It all kind of just clicked [that day] and then kept that momentum going," he said. "That was the first game when I was like, 'that was a proper performance'." He thought he finished the season with two more Irish caps against Georgia and Portugal, scoring a try in the second of those wins, and it was while celebrating that win with a few beers in the early hours of the morning in Lisbon that he received an urgent message from Andy Farrell. "It was like: 'ring me when you're awake', so I said 'oh yeah, grand'. Then Paulie [Paul O'Connell] rang me and was like, 'ring him right now!' "So yeah, I had to just compose myself and go outside. "I told Jack Boyle and then just legged it." His dream Lions call-up wasn't met with universal warmth outside of Ireland, mainly due to the him being the 18th Ireland international drafted in by Farrell on this tour, and the third tighthead prop. Farrell made a point of namechecking Clarkson (above) after last night's game, insisting he was very much the "next cab on the rank" when he was called into the group, and the player says that message has been drilled into him by the coaching staff. "It wasn't a kind of 'nepo' selection if you'd call it that," Clarkson added. "It was just nice to hear going into it. We were bouncing into the game. "I benefited from Tadhg [Furlong] being injured at the end of the season, definitely benefited from that. "But I'd like to think I took the opportunity. "I've been kind of understudied to Tadhg for a good few years now. He's consistently been probably the best tighthead in the world over the last few years. "It's been unbelievable being there, just around him. "Rabah's [Rabah Slimani] come in, probably offered something a bit different, where he's 100% scrum. "Tadhg obviously has an array of different stuff that he brings to it. Whereas Rabah, when you're scrumming against him in training, it's all or nothing against him." While the breaks have fallen his way this season, he served a long apprenticeship at the province, in large part down to playing behind Furlong, as well as Michael Ala'alatoa in previous years. Remarkably, he was lining out for Blackrock College in Division 1B of the Energia All-Ireland League as recently as January 2024. Asked if he though playing for the Lions was on the cards even six months ago, he admitted "not a hope!". "I made my Leinster debut five years ago now, so I've been waiting a long time," he said. "The fact that when it has come, it's all come at once is a bit crazy. Because I went through a good few years of not getting a sniff in at all really. So yeah, it's mad. "I put a lot of work into getting it, so any time I did get a shot, there was a whole lot of work behind it. So it felt like it just kind of rolled into another. "Once I got a foot in the door, I think I was trying to open it fully." Barring a couple of injuries, it's likely Clarkson has now finally finished his gruelling, 27-game season, and will head home with something to remember it by. "It's crazy, 886," he says, repeating the number stitched into his red and gold Lions cap after Tuesday's win. "I didn't even know they did caps if you don't play in the Test. It's some energy."

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