‘Chloe's professionalism and international pedigree speak for themselves‘ – Forest pleased to recruit Ireland star Mustaki
The 29-year-old has been at Bristol City since 2022, her spell there marked by injury and her successful battle to make a full recovery, but she's now opted to leave City and move to their Championship rivals Forest., who were impressed with her recent displays for Ireland against the USA. Forest are building a squad having been promoted to the second tier after winning the National League Northern Premier Division.
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RTÉ News
an hour ago
- RTÉ News
Donegal v Kerry: Routes to the All-Ireland football final
Donegal and Kerry face off in tomorrow's All-Ireland football final at the end of the first season under the new rules, which have changed Gaelic football. The brainchild of Jim Gavin's Football Review Committee have undoubtedly had a positive impact, if you're a fan of high scores and unpredictable outcomes. Defenders and goalkeepers who struggle with their kick-outs may disagree. With the modern GAA the only constant is change, and as we get used to new rules we are saying goodbye to another football championship structure - the All-Ireland group stage making way for a new system in 2026. Jim McGuinness may say good riddance, seeing as his team will tomorrow become the first to play 11 Championship matches in one campaign. The combination of a preliminary round game in Ulster (why the provincial champions play an additional game, go figure), losing to Tyrone and going down the preliminary quarter-final route meant that Donegal have played more games than any other side, without a single replay needed. Kerry, by dint of being the kingpins of six-county Munster, have had a more direct route. Even if their loss to Meath meant they also had to play a preliminary quarter-final. Donegal Donegal 1-25 Derry 1-15 After a cagey start Donegal began to assert themselves and before the break Ciaran Thompson won a kick-out and Dáire O Baoill strode forward to find the net and a flattering seven-point lead at half-time. Ahead by 1-23 to 1-12 deep into the last quarter it was just a matter of matching Derry scores and Donegal were able to bring in Jason McGee, Jamie Brennan and Oisin Gallen, the latter also getting on the scoreboard. Donegal 0-23 Monaghan 0-21 The much-fancied Donegal side were pushed right to the final hooter in Clones but ran out two-point winners, securing the 0-23 to 0-21 victory against the in-form Farney outfit. Donegal led by six points at the break, however, Monaghan fought hard to the death and were disappointed that the hooter brought an end to their comeback, as they had brought the tie to just one kick of the football by the end of the contest. Donegal 1-19 Down 0-16 It was a six-point win in the end and while Down had their chances, the sense was that Donegal always had the measure of the Mourne side. A first-half goal proved decisive, with Donegal pulling away after that and Down just unable to catch up. Donegal held the ball up for long spells in the second half, with their opponents chasing scores. Donegal 2-23 Armagh 0-28 Armagh had not held the lead at any point in normal time of the Ulster final, but Jarly Óg Burns edged them ahead in extra-time, and they held on to the advantage until after the hooter had sounded, when Niall O'Donnell brought the sides level again. But crucially Donegal were able to plunder the Orchard for a second goal on 83 minutes, Ciaran Moore accepting Michael Langan's assist to smash his shot past Rafferty. Rafferty levelled again with a two-point free, but Niall O'Donnell had the last say, Langan again the provider for his glorious 88th minute winner. Tyrone claimed the scalp of Donegal in a very entertaining All-Ireland series game in MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey. Two first-half goals proved very important to the win as the visitors led by two at the break. Michael Langan and Michael Murphy got Donegal back level and then ahead in the second half with a two-pointer from Patrick McBrearty. But Tyrone finished the game stronger with Peter Harte delivering an orange flag which eventually clinched the win. Records indicate that Donegal's 3-26 was the highest score Cavan have ever conceded in championship football. Donegal's second-half performance was exceptional, with Cavan looking out on their feet for the final 20 minutes as the Ulster champions moved through the gears. Donegal 0-19 Mayo 1-15 This contest between Donegal and Mayo at King and Moffatt Dr Hyde Park was the last ever round-robin game in the All-Ireland SFC, following the springtime decision to do away with the group structure. Donegal were much more dominant than an interval score of 0-09 to 0-06 suggested. The finale was pure Hollywood. Fergal Boland sending over a majestic equaliser on 69:50 that seemed to save Mayo's season, followed by a Ciarán Moore score after the hooter that meant Cavan would take the Connacht county's place in the preliminary quarter-final draw. Donegal 2-22 Louth 0-12 The Wee County put it up to Donegal in the opening half, but a second goal from Ciaran Thompson on 49 minutes put the home side on their way. Thompson, playing in his 50th championship game for the county, took a crossfield pass from Oisin Gallen to find the corner of the net. From there the Louth challenge faded and the home side were able to keep the scoreboard ticking, finishing with 12 different scorers. Donegal 1-26 Monaghan 1-20 Donegal, playing their ninth game in the championship and their fourth in June alone, had goal chances that they wasted in the first 25 minutes or so. However, the energy and intensity of the second-half recovery, when they outscored Monaghan by 1-15 to 0-05, scoring 0-11 without response at one stage, underlined just why they are All-Ireland finalists. Michael Langan came alive with a huge second-half performance, scoring 1-03 in that period, while Shane O'Donnell kicked three important points and was named man of the match. Donegal 3-26 Meath 0-15 Donegal's five-point half-time lead looked ominous and the goals from Gallen and Moore before the 50th minute killed the contest entirely, the game petering out from there as the Ulster champions ran up the score. The 20-point margin at the finish was the largest in over three decades, equalling Cork's 5-15 to 0-10 win over Mayo in 1993. Kerry Cork 1-25 Kerry 3-21 A stunning goal from midfielder Joe O'Connor in extra-time saw Kerry squeeze through to the Munster final with a two-point win over rivals Cork. With five minutes remaining Kerry midfielder O'Connor stunned the Páirc with a rocket of a shot smashing into the roof of the net to edge Kerry back ahead by two with three minutes to play after an uncomfortable afternoon in Cork city. Kerry 4-20 Clare 0-21 It was Kerry's Jack O'Connor who triumphed over his predecessor Peter Keane, David Clifford starring with 2-05 as the Kingdom won their fifth Munster title on the trot thanks to an 11-point win over Clare. In what was the Kingdom's third provincial final win against the Banner in as many years, it was the hosts who eased into a comfortable 15-point lead – 4-10 to 0-07 at half-time, before the visitors narrowed the deficit to 11 by the close of business. Kerry 3-18 Roscommon 0-17 Kerry got their All-Ireland group stage off to a flying start with a convincing 10-point win as David Clifford starred for the Kingdom with 1-03. After what was, in truth, a lacklustre, pedestrian-like opening half, the Kingdom completely upped the tempo, and boosted by the introduction of playmaker Tony Brosnan, and Graham O'Sullivan in the 49th minute, Jack O'Connor's men scored 2-03 without response in the space of six minutes to open up a 13-point lead heading into the final 15 minutes. Cork 0-20 Kerry 1-28 Cork led 0-13 to 1-07 at the interval, and then got wiped out by a Kerry drive that saw Jack O'Connor's players hit three two-pointers during a 0-08 run in nine minutes. The Rebels did manage to force a few goalmouth scrambles late on, but at that stage Kerry were holding a commanding nine-point cushion. Meath 1-22 Kerry 0-16 Kerry kicked two early wides before Meath goalkeeper Billy Hogan converted a '45' and that seemed to set the tone: Kerry scraggly and loose, Meath crisp and on point. The Royals fully deserved 0-14 to 0-08 half-time lead. By the 50th minute Kerry were within two points, 0-16 to 0-14, but not exactly pulling up trees, while Meath never flinched as Kerry breathed down their necks. When Bryan Menton raised the game's only green flag Meath were ahead by 10 points with 13 minutes left to play. Kerry 3-20 Cavan 1-17 David Clifford's hat-trick of goals eased Kerry to victory, and on the surface things were going in the right direction in the Kingdom. But there were as many goal chances squandered – Clifford as culpable as anyone – and there was a spell in the second half when Cavan cut a 12-point deficit to six in with three shots. It was as close as Kerry came to a scare, but Clifford's third goal made it 3-16 to 1-15 on the hour mark and the home side saw it out from there. Kerry 0-32 Armagh 1-21 Kerry reignited their summer with a spectacular second-half display to dethrone All-Ireland champions Armagh at the quarter-final stage. A blistering 15-minute spell in which Kerry scored 0-14 without reply and laid waste to the Armagh kick-out provided the platform for a famous victory, avenging last year's painful semi-final loss. Kerry powered their way into an All-Ireland SFC decider thanks to a dominant second-half display, Tyrone's challenge fizzling out badly after a bright opening. David Clifford racked up 1-09 but the game's most influential figure was undoubtedly Joe O'Connor, who delivered an extraordinary, all-action display both defensively and in attack. Only leading by three at half-time having played with the wind, Jack O'Connor's side kicked for home in a dominant second-half display, racking up 0-09 without reply to kill the game and book their place in a third All-Ireland final in four years.
The Irish Sun
2 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Jason Noctor reflects on Donegal regrets and Jim McGuinness' influence from Boston
FROM DONEGAL to Dorchester, Jim McGuinness' influence never left Jason Noctor. Growing up in Killybegs, Noctor was a man of many talents. 2 Patrick McBrearty celebrates with Jason Noctor in 2011 - Noctor left inter-county football behind at the age of 22 2 Noctor still carries what he learned from Jim McGuinness 14 years ago The green up St Cummin's Hill was an eternal playground as the town hummed with love for football, soccer and fishing. Noctor thrived at them all but despite having been in and around McGuinness' He told SunSport: 'When I look back now at my 22-year-old self, I think, 'Why didn't I have patience?'' Boston is a bit further afield than the destination of an earlier departure from his home town when he followed old pal READ MORE ON GAA The following year, Coleman went to Noctor struggled to break into Paul Cooke's first team at The Showgrounds and after a brief stint at Finn Harps, home called once more. Following a couple of years in the League of Ireland, he missed He starred in Killybegs' run to the 2010 county final and the phone rang after that loss to Naomh Conaill. Most read in GAA Football That winter, the 21-year-old was in the Downings Bay Hotel as the man in front of him pointed to the hills, the houses and the people. Earlier that summer, their county's seniors had played just two Championship games, losing to Down and Armagh. Daniel O'Donnell and Daithi O Se have hilarious argument The year before, they reached an All-Ireland quarter-final but shipped 1-27 to Cork. They were waiting for a team. McGuinness was talking about Donegal and he was talking All-Irelands. Looking back now, Noctor was too young to fully take in what was going on as McGuinness captivated the room. The tenacious defender was a big fish in a small pond in Killybegs but this was totally different as he went to war for a jersey with men such as Neil and Eamon McGee, Paddy McGrath, Frank McGlynn, Kevin Cassidy and Karl Lacey. He was in the squad when Donegal conquered Ulster for the first time in 19 years in 2011 but training was full of ravenous characters and nailing down a place seemed impossible. After just one year, he left the fold. Now 36, Noctor added: 'When young lads come out here to Boston to play, I pass on my experience and tell them they have to be patient. 'Some lads are better at it than others but at club level, you're used to it being all about you and then next thing you know you're on the periphery of a squad. 'You're thinking, 'What's going on here?' You think you're doing the right things and you probably are, but the manager might see it differently. 'It was patience for me and maybe I wasn't mature enough, but I regret not sticking with it a lot. For me just newly coming in, I was 21 and what's actually happening goes over your head a bit. 'As a young fella, maybe it's not registering as much but you could see the likes of Rory Kavanagh, Neil McGee, Neil Gallagher, Karl Lacey and Michael Murphy — who was beyond his years — were such a big part of it. 'It was laid out what we needed to do and you could see it hitting home with those older players. "I was just maybe a bit naive to it or unaware of how bad things were and how it was affecting Donegal football. The culture had to change. 'We'd won the Ulster Championship and were beaten by Dublin in the semis. 'As winter training approached, I thought about it for a long time before deciding I didn't have the heart for it and made the call. "When I chose to walk away, I had a great conversation with Jim but he told me to put on a stone and a half — and that still hasn't happened.' Donegal climbed to the summit in 2012 but Noctor went on his own journey. Killybegs reached another county final in 2013 where Murphy's Glenswilly gunned them down. He saw the Tír Chonaill seniors make another All-Ireland final in 2014, losing out to Kerry, the county the current crop will face tomorrow. STATE SIDE Calls from the States tempted him and St Catherine's bagged a league and cup soccer double in 2015 before he finally took flight. Donegal Boston has been his team for over a decade and he helped them win their sixth championship in ten years last summer. The players are different but the colours are the same. He said: 'I didn't ring Jim so he'd convince me to stay. I'd played around four games for Killybegs that year because I was in a group of around seven players on standby, not allowed to play for their clubs. 'I just got frustrated at not being able to play for the club because we were struggling that year — and you feel guilty too. 'Rory Gallagher asked me to come back in for the 2015 campaign but I declined and Paddy McDevitt in Boston had reached out to me a few times. "Paul Martin McDaid from Malin was manager and he phoned me one day when I was down working at the boats in Killybegs. 'We'd just won the Donegal League with St Catherine's and I said I'd go, and in June 2015 I was gone. 'When you move out, you think you're going to America but then you go to training and everyone is from Donegal. 'After a couple of months I decided to stay and moved to Dorchester, where the core of the club are based and it's like living in an Irish town. 'We won the Boston championship that summer and I got sorted with a job, so I stayed. Every summer is just about football, and time has flown.' And Noctor's list of past and present team-mates is frightening. Diarmuid Connolly, Ger Brennan, Paul Mannion and Shane Carthy have flown the Dublin flag in Beantown. Current Donegal stars Ciarán Thompson, Jamie Brennan, Shane O'Donnell, Caolán McGonagle and Jason McGee have all played for the club and Armagh starlets Oisín Conaty and Darragh McMullan are out there now. Liam Silke, Emlyn Mulligan, Ray Connellan, Daire Cregg — the list goes on. Carpenter Noctor captained the club to their 2018 Boston championship title with Connolly in tow. Scores of players have come and gone since. He will look on at tomorrow's All-Ireland final between Donegal and Kerry from across the pond, hoping old team-mates McBrearty and Murphy can avenge their 2014 defeat to the Kingdom. LIVE AND LEARN But he still carries what he learned from McGuinness 14 years ago. He said: 'I'm often asked to name the best I've played with but I'm blessed to have played with so many between club and county at home. 'Then there's all the fellas that have come out here and sometimes you're like, 'How did I forget him?' 'I'm very fortunate because you've got Michael Murphy and Diarmuid Connolly in there, Karl Lacey, Séamus Coleman at home. 'But I'd have Lacey right up there. When I went in with Donegal, he was so good with all the young lads in the squad and was a huge role model for me. 'He'd always take you to the side and give you advice, he helped to really mould me. When people see lads coming out here, they think they're just happy to be squad players at home but they're not. 'They're building a platform for themselves to be proper inter-county players. 'A lot of that experience with Jim and Donegal in 2011 shaped me into who I am now. 'As an older player with Donegal Boston now, I try to be like how they were with me.'
Irish Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Kerry's summer sensation: 'He's the biggest competitor I ever came across'
He may have only pierced the wider public consciousness this summer, but Joe O'Connor has been hiding in plain sight. After all, he is an All-Ireland winning captain, albeit largely as a bit-part player in 2022 as he came off the bench in four games, including in injury time in the final, but still lifted the Sam Maguire Cup with Seán O'Shea. At that stage, David Moran, Jack Barry, Diarmuid O'Connor, Adrian Spillane and Barry Dan O'Sullivan were all ahead of him in the midfield pecking order, with O'Connor favoured more in a half-back or half-forward role. Last year he started each of seven of Kerry's Championship games alongside his namesake Diarmuid in the middle but was replaced in all bar one of them and appeared very much the junior partner. Midfield was still identified as a problem area for Kerry and, until recent months at least, O'Connor wasn't identified as part of the solution. But his emergence as a Kerry player of real substance has come at a time when the need could hardly have been greater. Diarmuid O'Connor has had ongoing problems with his shoulder and O'Sullivan's season was ended by a cruciate ligament rupture. Amid all of that, their much maligned midfield has emerged as a strength rather than a weakness, and much of that is down to O'Connor, with the 26-year-old a nailed-on All Star. Former Kerry star Marc Ó Sé is on the teaching staff at Tralee CBS, where he first came across O'Connor, who comes from a rugby household. 'He was very much of a rugby background,' says Ó Sé. 'Would have focused on his physical strength, strength and conditioning, and would have worked really hard at that. 'He was in with Munster rugby growing up and then obviously changed, worked really hard with Austin Stacks then and won a county championship and I think since then there's the grá for the football.' His brother, James, was a bright prospect in rugby before a pair of cruciate injuries effectively put paid to his ambitions. Joe was making inroads, however, winning an interprovincial title with Munster's under-18s, though Austin Stacks minor manager Wayne Quillinan was gently keeping communication lines open. 'He had not played football for a couple of years and I just made contact with Joe just to let him know, 'Listen, we'd love to have you back, but we know you have an interest in rugby',' Quillinan explains. 'So those conversations kind of continued for a while and then he came back playing.' Quillinan's brief, as far as he was concerned, was to develop players and people that could come through and contribute to the club at adult level more than stockpiling underage honours. As it was, he managed to achieve both, but there was a moment where he realised that O'Connor was had Kerry potential. 'I remember we played Na Gaeil, their our local, local rivals, I think it was a county semi-final or something like that, and we were being beaten by five or six points and Joe was just coming back, so we hadn't started him. 'Diarmuid O'Connor was midfield for Na Gaeil and was running the show and we put Joe on at half-time and he turned the whole game around. I think we ended up winning the game by four or five points and, particularly against such a quality player like Diarmuid, you just kind of said to yourself, 'Jesus Christ, there's a lot here in this fella'.' Within a couple of years, rugby was parked and he was playing for Kerry under-20s while he made two League appearances for the seniors of the 2021 Allianz League. That same year, with Quillinan having taken charge of the senior side by then, Stacks won the county title, which effectively granted O'Connor the senior captaincy in 2022, but injury prevented him from building up a head of steam. Kerry's Joe O'Connor celebrates at the final whistle of the quarter-final win over Armagh. (Image: Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/James Crombie) 'We won the county championship in '21, and we played the Barrs in the Munster final, and he got injured in that game. So he was out for a lot of the year in '22 when Kerry won it. So it was very hard to play catch-up there and that following September, we played championship again, and he did his cruciate, so that put him out for the whole 12 months so I think what we're seeing now is actually Joe O'Connor, the one that we knew was developing in this direction, but it's just the consistency now.' This year's Championship opener against Cork was essentially the making of him. He scored a magnificent winning goal, firing to the roof of Micheál Aodh Martin's net in extra time, but his performance also included a point, directly assisting 1-1, winning clean possession on four kickouts, breaking four more to teammates and winning a break from another himself that set in train a move that finished with Kerry's first goal. There were a handful of turnovers too and, of course, the hard running that is arguably the standout feature of his game. 'That's what I think just that he missed in the last two years,' says Quillinan of that Cork game. 'Obviously with the injury, he couldn't get those moments because he wasn't on the pitch. But the more moments you get like that, obviously the more confidence and belief that you're going to say to yourself, 'You know what, I belong here'. I think that's what Joe has done this year, and shown us all that it's absolutely true.' Further man of the match awards have come in his last two games against Armagh and Tyrone. 'Technically he's become a vital cog in this Kerry team,' says Ó Sé. 'You cast your mind back to 2022 when he was only coming in as a cameo role, but you see the way he goes at the opposition now. He's been outstanding.' And the new rules have contributed to his rise, Quillinan believes. 'Hugely so, because of the fact there's obviously so much more space and I think the big thing that Joe would have taken from rugby was actually the ability to come off the shoulder, the support play and I think that's a huge factor in transition in the game these days and that's one of his huge attributes. He's the biggest competitor I ever came across. Even when he was 16-years-old, you could see that competitive edge about him and then he developed his skills, then along the way.' Wayne Quillinan when managing Austin Stacks back in 2022. (Image: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne) Much of the pre-match debate has centered around the degree to which Donegal can negate David Clifford's influence, yet O'Connor is in the Footballer of the Year conversation with the Fossa great. 'If we get a big game out of Joe it'll be huge for Kerry getting over the line,' Ó Sé insists. 'I have nothing but great things to say about that man. He's a lovely man off the field, an absolute gentleman, and he's doing his stuff on the field and he's making what was a needy area for Kerry in the middle of the park seem as though it was a distant memory.'
