Wexford FC Women's rise continues as they move up to third with emphatic win over Cork City
Today at 01:30
Wexford are up to third in the SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division table, brushing aside Cork City for their fourth league win in five games at Turner's Cross on Saturday.
Seán Byrne's side are now unbeaten in six games in all competitions and are fully deserving of third spot, after recovering from an ugly start to the campaign with much-improved performances in recent weeks.
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Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
Motorsport: Stafford and Cleary hang on to win in Midleton
With a 15.3-second lead entering the final stage, the Wexford crew of James Stafford/Richard Cleary (Darrian T90 GTR) almost backed off too much but did enough to win the Midleton-based CDE Imokilly Rally by 4.4s. Armagh's Jason Black and his Cork based co-driver Karl Egan took second place as they pushed hard on the final stage and while they almost caught Stafford/Cleary, they deprived the Monaghan/Cavan pairing of Johno Doogan/Paul Lennon (Ford Escort) of the runner-up spot by 4.7s. Doogan led after the opening 15.5km stage where Stafford, who reckoned the dust on the stage was more that he anticipated, took time to get into a rhythm and finished just 1.1s in arrears. Gary Kiernan (Ford Escort) in third struggled with brakes that overheated. Top seed Rob Duggan lost time when he had to reverse after he spun his Escort, he ended the stage down in seventh - 12.7s off the lead. Stafford set a strong time on the second stage to move into the lead - 5.7s ahead of Doogan, who wasn't committing as it would involve some risk. Kiernan slotted into third but continued to have brake issues. An untroubled Michael Cahill (Escort) was fourth followed by the Toyota Starlet of Armagh's Jason Black and the Escort of Clare's Padraig Egan (Ford Escort). Although Duggan partially sorted some issues, he withdrew at the Midleton service park leaving Stafford tackle the repeated of both stages as rally leader. The Wexford driver was best on SS3 to move 9s ahead of Doogan while Egan crashed out. On the fourth stage Black, who struggled on the opening stage, showed a fine turn of speed and topped the time sheets to move up two places to third - a mere 1.1s behind Doogan. Stafford reckoned the dust on SS4 prevented him from posting a better time, nevertheless, he led by 13s. Kiernan attributed his time loss on SS4 to having stiffened the front of his Escort too much as it was "lifting off the road" on the high speed sections. Cahill in fifth was a little concerned about some differential issues while Peter Wilson, who posted good times on both reckoned his Escort was running a little too hot. With the brake issues sorted, Moffett was pleased with his performances on both stages, he was seventh in a top ten that also featured Vincent O'Shea (Darrian T90 GTR) and the Escorts of Cian Walsh and Mark Dolphin. Walsh, in the Tom Randles Escort, was happy with his performance while Dolphin was unhappy when he encountered a stricken Escort being removed on SS3. Protecting his lead position Stafford stretched his advantage to 15.3s on the penultimate stage. Doogan tried a harder compound that took a few kilometres to work properly as Black trimmed the margin between them to 0.9s. Kiernan and Cahill followed with the latter closing to within 5.3s as Kiernan tried some different tyre options. Moffett had a big moment on the stage and decided to call it a day. At the latter end of the top 10 Cian Walsh and Mark Dolphin battled for local bragging rights as the latter cut the deficit to a mere 0.7s. Stafford arrived at the end of final stage a trifle worried as he reckoned he had backed off too much, to his relief, his victory was confirmed within a few minutes. Elsewhere, Kiernan and first time co-driver Jake O'Sullivan (Escort) managed to fend off Cahill for fourth with Meath's Peter Wilson (Ford Escort) sixth. Kenmare's Vincent O'Shea (Darrian T90 GTR) took a trouble-free drive to seventh as Dolphin reeled in Walsh for eighth and top Cork driver by just 0.2s. Youghal's Jason and Ross Ryan (Toyota Starlet) won Class 11F and the Castlemartyr/Ardfield crew of Darragh Walsh/Gary Lombard (Honda Civic) took the Junior honours. CDE Imokilly Rally, Midleton: 1. J. Stafford/R. Cleary (Darrian T90 GTR) 41m. 08.2s; 2. J. Black/K. Egan (Toyota Starlet)+4.4s; 3. J. Doogan/P. Lennon (Ford Escort)+9.1s; 4. G. Kiernan/J. Sullivan (Ford Escort)+38.3s; 5. M. Cahill/C. Smith (Ford Escort)+44.1s; 6. P. Wilson/J. McCarthy (Ford Escort)+1m. 19.2s; 7. V. O'Shea/E. O'Donoghue (Darrian T90 GTR)+1m. 38.6s; 8. M. Dolphin/T. Delaney (Ford Escort)+1m. 55.2s; 9. C. Walsh/D. Doonan (Ford Escort)+1m. 55.9s; 10. D. Hickey/R. O'Riordan (Ford Escort)+2m. 11.5s.
Irish Independent
a day ago
- Irish Independent
Wexford FC suffer defeat in Dundalk to lose further ground in play-off race
A first-half double from Gbemi Arubi put the Lilywhites in control, but Wexford got a real foothold in the game when substitute Muhammad Haris halved the deficit shortly after the interval. However, Keith Ward restored the two-goal cushion in the 63rd minute and, although Mikie Rowe pulled one back late on, the visitors couldn't force an equaliser, leaving them seven points adrift of fifth-placed Treaty United. Stephen Elliott named an unchanged eleven from the previous weekend's 4-0 defeat to Shamrock Rovers in the FAI Cup and the visitors again got off to a nightmare start – something that has happened too often this season. There was little over 90 seconds on the clock when the hosts struck the front through Arubi. Daryl Horgan turned smartly to his right and whipped in an inviting delivery. Former Wexford player Eoin Kenny headed the cross towards goal and, although Paul Martin made the save, the alert Arubi was on hand to finish from close range. The lively attacker quickly threatened to grab a second when he broke clear, but his shot was well blocked by Dean Larkin. After a difficult opening, Wexford had their first sight of goal in the 11th minute when Ben McCormack found Ajibola Oluwabiya, and the winger curled a right-footed effort over the crossbar from just outside the 18-yard box. Mikie Rowe then cut inside but was well off target with his left while, at the other end, Aodh Dervin showed good feet before getting a shot away, but his long-range effort was always rising. After Dervin dragged another effort wide, Dundalk did grab their second goal just before the half hour mark and they did so in style. Declan McDaid glanced a header towards Arubi and the frontman blasted a sweet first-time effort to the corner of the net, giving goalkeeper Paul Martin no chance. The hosts were threatening to run riot and, after good work from Arubi, Daryl Horgan tried to pick out McDaid, but he was denied by good defending from James Crawford. Wexford weathered the storm and when Michael McCarthy played a long ball forward for Aaron Dobbs to run on to in the 38th minute and the striker was taken down by goalkeeper Enda Minogue, it briefly looked like the visitors would have a route back into the game. However, the offside flag was quickly up for what was a marginal call, so the referee didn't have a decision to make. Muhammad Haris, who only recently joined Wexford from the Lilywhites, was introduced for the start of the second-half and he quickly came back to haunt his former side as he brought the visitors back into the contest in the 50th minute. Another former Dundalk player, Robbie McCourt, played a hopeful ball forward which Minogue inexplicably allowed to slip from his grasp, and Haris had the simple task of rolling to the net for his first League of Ireland goal. Unfortunately, the wind was soon taken out of Wexford's sails when another substitute, experienced campaigner Keith Ward, grabbed Dundalk's third goal in the 63rd minute. A dangerous McDaid cross was only cleared as far as Ward and the playmaker fired a stunning volley that flew past Martin and into the net. Having started the second-half well it was a bitter blow for the Slaneysiders but, to their credit, they kept plugging away and Dean Larkin steered a McCormack free-kick narrowly wide moments later. Arubi and Ward were both off target with efforts as the hosts tried to put the contest to bed, while McDaid couldn't generate enough power on a header from a Horgan cross. Wexford managed to just about stay in the game though and, after McCormack shot wide, they were right back in the contest in the 87th minute when Mikie Rowe grabbed a lifeline. McCourt clipped a free-kick to Calum Flynn, with the substitute lifting the ball across the box and when it fell to Dean Larkin, he nodded on to Rowe, who applied a tidy finish past Minogue for his 16th league goal of the season. Aodh Dervin's strike deflected wide off McCourt as Dundalk threatened a quick response, but Wexford almost rescued an unlikely share of the spoils in the 94th minute as Dean Larkin got his head to a Cian Browne long throw, but the ball drifted narrowly wide of the far post. It was Wexford's second successive 3-2 defeat to the league leaders, having suffered the same fate in their previous meeting in Ferrycarrig Park at the end of May. Wexford will be hoping to get a much-needed win when they host Finn Harps on Friday and the Donegal side should be in high spirits, having held high-flying Cobh Ramblers to a 2-2 draw at the weekend. Dundalk: Enda Minogue; John Ross Wilson, Conor O'Keeffe, Vinnie Leonard, Shane Tracey; Aodh Dervin, Harry Groome; Declan McDaid, Eoin Kenny, Daryl Horgan; Gbemi Arubi. Subs. – Andy Parashiv for Groome (56), Keith Ward for Kenny (56), Rohan Vaughan for Horgan (78), Dean Ebbe for Arubi (78), Luke Mulligan for Tracey (90+1), also, Peter Cherrie, Sammy Safaei, Seán Spaight, T.J. Molloy. Wexford FC: Paul Martin; Michael McCarthy, Dean Larkin, Robbie McCourt, James Crawford; Matthew O'Brien, Kaylem Harnett, Ben McCormack; Mikie Rowe, Aaron Dobbs (capt.), Ajibola Oluwabiyi. Subs. – Muhammad Haris for Harnett (HT), Darragh Levingston for O'Brien (58), Cian Browne for Crawford (64), Filip Wasilewski for Oluwabiyi (64), Calum Flynn for Dobbs (71), also, Alex Moody, Zayd Abada, Ryan Butler, Patrick Manning. SSE AIRTRICITY FIRST DIVISION P W D L F A Pt Dundalk 24 15 7 2 39 18 52 Cobh Ramblers 24 14 4 6 41 24 46 Bray Wanderers 23 14 1 8 39 29 43 UCD 24 10 6 8 27 23 36 Treaty United 24 9 7 8 38 25 34 Wexford FC 24 7 6 11 28 33 27 Longford Town 23 6 7 10 22 39 25 Finn Harps 24 5 9 9 26 31 24 Kerry FC 24 6 3 14 24 41 21 Athlone Town 24 3 8 13 18 39 16
Irish Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Martin McHugh: All-Ireland final nerves are way worse as a dad than as a player
PART ONE: IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER Once Donegal's 1992 All-Ireland semi-final ended, the players came back home and the fans came back to Earth. Suddenly everyday concerns mixed with an even bigger worry: where would they source a ticket? For Jim and Kathleen McHugh, they had an answer to that second problem but not the first. Read more: Kerry's summer sensation: 'He's the biggest competitor I ever came across' Read more: 'I did see a job for Wexford going…', but 1994 World Cup star isn't ready to end his India adventure just yet With two sons on the Donegal team, they had options: Upper Stand or Lower? Hogan or Cusack? But going to Croke Park left another issue unsolved. Who would milk the cows on their farm? It's unlikely if any of Dublin's players were troubled by this kind of issue but if you are from a rural background, you'd understand the scale of the predicament. Ordinarily, a neighbour would help out. Except this time just about everyone in Kilcar wanted to migrate to Dublin for the day. 'The GAA has been going since 1884,' says Martin McHugh, Donegal's talisman on that All-Ireland winning side. 'And here we were, 108 years later, reaching our first All-Ireland. To say it was a big deal is an understatement. It was huge.' All the more so because no one gave them a chance. 'A funny thing happened on the day of our All-Ireland semi-final,' McHugh says. 'Our performance was so bad that the rumour was the Dublin players left before the final whistle. 'Who knows if that is true or not but it fed into the narrative that they were raging hot favourites and we were just there to make up the numbers.' The reality was different. A decade earlier, Donegal had won an Under 21 All-Ireland with seven graduates who'd help the county win just their third Ulster championship a year later. Then in 1987 another crop came along to collect Donegal's second Under 21 All-Ireland. 'In '92, we'd a good balance between young and old. In hindsight, we actually should have won more than we did,' says McHugh, 'because we were better than we thought. 'When we asked Dublin questions, they didn't have answers.' If there was any doubt in his head about how big a deal winning that first All-Ireland was, all Martin McHugh had to do was look at the expression on his parents' faces. Jim and Kathleen had met in London after emigrating in the 1950s. Work then took them to Leicester until the death of an uncle led to Jim getting the call to come home and take care of the farm. McHugh says: 'You know growing up, it was tough. But it was tough for everyone. Everybody around us had little but we all had enough, that kind of way. 'My parents wouldn't have gone to too many of our matches (for Donegal). They wouldn't have had the time because there was always stuff to get done on the farm. So getting down to Dublin for the final, that was a big deal.' So was winning. He got to see his parents an hour after the final whistle. Not many words were said because that generation didn't verbalise their feelings the way people are more at ease at doing so now. And yet they didn't need to. 'You just know,' McHugh says. 'Their faces, ah jeepers, the pride in them. You could see it meant the world to them. Two boys on the side. Daddy had won a County title with Killybegs years and years ago (in 1952). He loved his football and bringing the cup home to Kilcar was unforgettable. 'I'll never forget old people coming up to us. 'Thank you,' they'd say. 'We never thought we'd live to see this day… a Kilcar man in an All-Ireland.' They were the first McHughs to do so. But not the last. Donegal's Ryan McHugh credits Donegal's revival to Michael Murphy and Jim McGuinness' return. (Image: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne) PART TWO: … AND OF THE SON Martin McHugh was in the press box of the Hogan Stand. Martin McHugh was also in hell. His son, Mark, was on the Donegal team contesting the 2012 All-Ireland final. And it brought things back. 'As a player, I was grand in terms of the nerves,' he says. 'But as a dad, it was way worse. 'You think about it from a totally different perspective. All you really want is that the game ends without any one player making a costly mistake. 'Looking back, Mark had a very good game that day. 'But I won't pretend it isn't tough. I had to take a couple of valium that day to calm myself.' Watching your son in an All-Ireland stirred many memories. The car journeys to training; the anxiety watching them grow through challenges and setbacks; the day he was born; the day he was brought home; the day you realised he loved the game as much as you did. Then there was the fear. What if the team loses because of an error? What if Mark makes that mistake? But mixed with the fear is the pride in seeing your child representing your county in your sport's biggest day. 'You wouldn't change it for the world,' says Martin. But by 2014 there would be change. Mark may not have started that day but Ryan, his younger brother, did - continuing the McHugh lineage. PART THREE: JIMMY'S WINNING MATCHES Two names are synonymous with Donegal's All-Ireland final history: McHugh and McGuinness. The first has supplied five different members of the one family through the county's four final appearances: Martin, James (1992), Mark (2012), Ryan (2014 and 2025) and Eoin (2025). Yet even their contribution has been trumped by one man, Donegal's manager, Jim McGuinness. 'Jim always had a presence, even when he was younger. When he walked into a room, you could sense that,' says Martin McHugh of a person he has seen grow from young tyro on the 1992 panel to messianic leader. 'He is an unbelievable speaker, the sort of person you would walk through a brick wall for. 'We have so much to be thankful for because after 1992 we all thought we would only win one All-Ireland in our lifetimes. 'When he took over the team in 2011, we were nowhere. Then a year later we won an All-Ireland. He has since taken us to our third and fourth finals. When you analyse it, it is a serious achievement, Donegal making four All-Irelands in history, Jim managing us to three of those. 'When I was growing up, it was Dublin and Kerry who were always appearing in finals. Now our name is in the mix. Jeepers, that makes me proud.' Donegal manager Jim McGuinness after the 2014 final PART FOUR: DONEGAL There is no train service to Donegal. No motorway either. The airport is over an hour away from the southern edge of the county where the McHughs live. Emigration was a trauma in the 1950s, The Troubles an even greater wound twenty years later. 'We were deemed to be part of it,' McHugh reckons. 'The old story was that for every ten American tourists who landed into Dublin Airport, nine went south, and the tenth who went north only went there to visit family. 'So, we never received the same amount of tourist trade as other counties on the western seaboard. As a place, Donegal was not commercialised and we are the better for it in many respects. 'You see, we are very proud of our county. We are a likeable sort; we enjoy the craic and have produced some unbelievable people over the years' Packie Bonner, Seamus Coleman, Shay Given. "Daniel O'Donnell and Paul McGinley - whose father is a Donegalman - are two of our biggest ambassadors. 'Everybody rows in behind everybody here. Like, we don't reach too many All-Ireland finals. So it is great for football in the county that we are back in one. For me, it means an awful lot, not just because I have a son on the side but as a football man, as a Donegal man, it's just magical.' He's a grandfather now. Noah, Mark's son, is old enough to understand the value of haggling for a ticket. 'Grandad, I want to see David Clifford play.' McHugh laughed at that one and then he paused to think. His father, a county medal winner; his father in law, Padin O'Donnell, an understated but outstanding full back. "When I started playing, he (his father in law) couldn't watch the matches because of nerves. He'd go out the back of the main stand for a smoke.' Now the circle of life has turned. He is the anxious one now, watching over his boy, Ryan, hoping he joins Mark, James and himself as an All-Ireland winner. 'If you win it, it's unbelievable and if you lose, you have to be there for them, to get in behind them and support them because the few days after will be tough.' And yet when you remind him that tomorrow another McHugh will be on the starting team for Donegal in an All-Ireland final with his club name, Kilcar, in brackets next to that name in the match programme, you can sense what it means. Just like in 1992, when he saw Jim and Kathleen, there are no words. But his face tells you precisely what this means. Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email .
