
Tyrone Minors out to boost All-Ireland bid by overcoming tricky Quarter-Final test
While Tyrone have gained in confidence and style, they will certainly know to be on their guard against a Cork outfit that never quite managed to unveil their fluency against the Kingdom.
Cork will be missing the services of the influential Cathal McCarthy for this contest because of suspension, but they possess other talismen in the form of Eoin Maguire, Ben Corkery Delaney and Tom Whooley.
Tyrone have been looking confident of late and this is scarcely surprising given that they have won three Ulster titles on the trot.
Manager Donnelly is aware that his team can impose themselves on opponents and is hoping that they can get into their stride quickly.
In Cathal Farley, Eoin Long, James Mulgrew and Padraig Donaghy, the Red Hands boast a number of players who will be capable of taking the game to their opponents.
Peter Garrity and Peter Colton are two players who are capable of taking scores from distance, while the tight marking of the Tyrone defence has also thwarted several sides to date.
Indeed, Donnelly's side play with great intensity but they may find scores hard to come by on this occasion. Still, if their attack sees enough of the ball anything is possible.
Meanwhile, Cavan will confront Kerry in the All-Ireland Minor Football Championship as part of the double bill on Saturday at O'Moore Park, Portlaoise (12.00 noon).
The Cavan Minor side have crept to the fore recently, although they will be tested to the full by a Kerry outfit that have looked formidable to date.
Harry McMullen, Sam Maguire, Faolan Graham, Nathan Quigley and Jake Brady have shown that they can underpin the Cavan outfit.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Belfast Telegraph
6 hours ago
- Belfast Telegraph
Cheers, beers and Spanish tears at Belfast gathering for Euro final: ‘Hopefully this encourages more women'
For three hours this afternoon, The American Bar in Belfast's Sailortown could have been renamed The Spaniard, such was the support for the World Cup holders from the players at Belfast Ravens as they took on England in the Women's Euro Final at a watch-a-long party. The majority at the gathering — which started in the neighbouring Seatons as Kerry hadn't quite wrapped up their All-Ireland win as the Euro football final kicked off — were leaning in the Spanish direction. But it wasn't through a fervent anti-English sentiment. Belfast Ravens has a strong Spanish influence running through its ranks. Perhaps the largest women's football club in Ireland, the Ravens have three teams playing across the NIWFA divisions. The manager of their second team is Clara Alvarez. That her little boy Charlie has turned out in his Real Oviedo shirt gives the game away — she's from the Spanish city. Clara had just led her Ravens to a 3-0 away win at First Bangor Women earlier in the day. She turned up hoping for a double celebration — but in the end of a dramatic final in Basel it was the words of her teammate Megan Ferguson that proved prophetic. As Spain took a first-half lead, England-supporting Megan said: 'I'm not worried yet. We always go behind. We have Chloe Kelly to come on. She'll win it for us.' Just before 8pm that same Chloe Kelly slammed home the winning penalty in a shootout as England won the Euros again, after their success at Wembley three years ago. The full 120 minutes failed to separate the two dominant forces in the women's international game after a 1-1 draw. Clara, along with her partner Marty Cauley, are a driving force behind the Ravens club, set up just eight years ago by David O'Reilly. 'Honestly, I'd never properly kicked a football until eight years ago, but everybody in Spain loves football,' she said. Having been with Belfast Ravens since the early days, she has seen the number of players consistently rise. 'We're up to 45 regulars and there are more mums who might have other commitments a lot of the time, but overall we're about 60 strong in numbers,' she said. 'We all love it,' she said. 'It's not just the football, it's everything that comes with it, the sport, the friendships we have formed.' David O'Reilly was the initial driving force behind the club, having encouraged his wife to bring some friends along for a kick-about back in 2017. 'It wasn't much more than that back then,' he said. 'It was just for fun, but it quickly took off and while much of what we do is still informal, we do like the social side, the friendship and the going for a drink after the match, we still have a very competitive edge. 'That we're now in a position to field three teams in the NIWFA leagues shows just how strong the sport is becoming. Even five years ago there was little TV coverage. But it has really taken off.' Northern Ireland's success in reaching the Euro finals three years ago was a real boost for the sport in the country. There are now nine divisions, featuring 70 teams, as the strength of women's football grows stronger every year. 'Watching the Euros in 2022 really got me into it,' said Megan Ferguson, proudly wearing her England shirt amongst a majority of Spanish red. 'I did grow up in a family full of Liverpool fans, but it never used to be something girls really played much. It was netball for me for a long time. I'm still a Liverpool fan in the men's game, but it's Arsenal Women for me in the WSL. 'I only joined the Ravens in January, but I've been to an Arsenal Women's match, and was part of the biggest ever WSL crowd. 'My granddad was brought up in England so I've been supporting them.' For Louise Boyle though, a right winger with the Ravens first team, there was an extra reason to support Spain in the final — her boyfriend Miguel Martin is from Madrid. They both sported Spanish tops for the final. Louise had the full Euros experience following Northern Ireland in Southampton three years ago when they qualified for the previous tournament. 'It seems to be even bigger this time round,' she said. 'It's wonderful to see the recognition the women's game is now getting. 'It was the last Euros that got me into the sport,' she said. 'I know Northern Ireland weren't there this time round, but with all the games being live on the main television channels, it's been brilliant to watch.' Several of the Ravens players were actually in Switzerland last week, with Lisa Black and Caiti McCloskey among those who attended all four quarter-finals in a whistle-stop tour of the country. 'The Switzerland against Spain game was a great one to be at, because of the support for the home nation,' said Caiti. 'But the Swedish fans were the best. I think it was the Abba music. 'But it showed us just how big the women's game is. There was free transport to get fans around the country, the crowds were fabulous, the TV coverage was wonderful. 'Hopefully, seeing these matches on television will only encourage more women to get involved.'


BBC News
7 hours ago
- BBC News
Basic errors and decision-making cost Donegal
Jim McGuinness said he had "no qualms" about Donegal's All-Ireland defeat by Kerry as he admitted his team made too many "basic errors" against a dominant as a coin-flip decider between the two best teams around, Kerry proved far too strong for the back-to-back Ulster champions and ran out comfortable 1-26 to 0-19 winners. Kerry showed ferocious intent from the outset and led by seven points at the break, with McGuinness admitting his players struggled to match the Munster side's early intensity."Early doors in the game both teams were going at it on the scoreboard but Kerry were really laying down markers early in the game and dominated long parts of the game," McGuinness told BBC Sport NI. "We got it back at certain times to situations where you felt we had a bit of momentum, but ultimately we couldn't get to that two or three points (gap) where the game could really become interesting. "Hats off to Kerry, we're very disappointed for our players and for our supporters. It's a tough one to take." Going into the game, Kerry forwards David Clifford and Seanie O'Shea led the two-point scoring charts with 11 apiece and their accurate shots from outside of the arc again proved key for Jack O'Connor's raised three orange flags from play - including one with the last kick of the first half - while O'Shea scored a two-point free in the second half. "They definitely seemed to go after the twos today but David Clifford is an exceptional player," added McGuinness."We had a lot of work done on David and how we could close him down but the reality is some of the twos he kicked today were exceptional."We have no qualms. Sometimes in life, you have to take your medicine and this is one of those times." McGuinness was also uninterested in putting his side's performance down to the impact of a gruelling season which saw them play 11 championship games in 16 weeks. Instead, he insisted that his team's mistakes and uncharacteristic decision-making paved the way for a Kerry victory. "We had two weeks to come into the game," he said."We'd been able to bring them down [after the semi-final] and were able to bring them back up. They were fresh. We know from our own metrics when they're fresh and they were fresh, they were ready to play the game. "The game was very intensive early on and we struggled with elements of that and that cost us at times. "But look, we made too many mistakes, too many basic errors and made decisions that we normally never make so these are all the things we've to go away and reflect upon for another day." Finally, McGuinness expressed disappointment in the lack of scorers throughout the Donegal team on the day. They had 12 different scorers in the semi-final win over Meath, but only six against the Kingdom with Michael Murphy hitting 0-8. While Kerry had seven different scorers, they had a goal and a series of two-pointers."Michael is Michael and he will carry that attention [from opponents] and he's carried that attention all throughout his career."That's why it's so important to have your 10, 11 or 12 scorers. That's why it's so important to have that spread of scorers because any day like that can happen and pop up and it didn't happen for us today."But they've given it their absolute all from the beginning of the year. They're a very, very good group to work with. Very dedicated, very focused on what they want to do. "Today's not a good day for us and it's not a good day in terms of what we wanted to achieve."


BreakingNews.ie
9 hours ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Jack O'Connor to step down as Kerry manager after winning All-Ireland
Jack O'Connor has confirmed he is stepping down as manager of Kerry after winning the All-Ireland final. Kerry defeated Donegal in Croke Park to win their 39th All-Ireland, and a fifth for O'Connor across three spells in charge. Advertisement O'Connor previously won All-Ireland titles in 2004, 2006, 2009, 2022, and has now added a fifth after Kerry's win on Sunday. This season also included winning a league and Munster title. O'Connor described the win as his "last hurrah", signalling his intention to step down at the top in an interview with RTÉ Radio 1 following the final. Speaking after the game, O'Connor said:"If you take the year as a whole, we had a lot of adversity". Advertisement "We had a lot of injuries, we lost a lot of good men but we had a tremendous panel spirit. "We had men like Mark O'Shea and Seán O'Brien, lads like that that didn't think they'd be near the team, starting midfield in an All-Ireland final for Kerry. "It's the stuff of dreams so I'm delighted for them all. A massive team effort, panel effort, backroom team effort, so I'm thrilled for them all. "We'd two big performances here against Armagh and Tyrone. We felt that we were well tested coming into the game. Maybe the hammering that Donegal gave Meath two weeks ago mightn't have done them the same amount of good that our game with Tyrone did. "We felt we were well tested, we were in great shape leaving the hotel this morning. There was a great atmosphere in the room, just a great anticipation, ready for battle. "The boys fought on their backs out there."