GAA: Follow all the football action from around the country as the SFC group stage concludes
You can follow all the action as it happens from around the grounds in our liveblog below.
All-Ireland SFC
Louth v Clare, Laois Hire O'Moore Park, 2.0
Monaghan v Down, Box-It Athletic Grounds, 2.0 – RTÉ 2
Donegal v Mayo, King & Moffatt Dr Hyde Park, 4.0 – RTÉ 2
Tyrone v Cavan, Brewster Park, 4.0
Tailteann Cup quarter-finals
Wicklow v Westmeath, Echelon Park, 1.15 – GAA+
Limerick v Wexford, TUS Gaelic Grounds, 3.45 – GAA+
All-Ireland MHC semi-final
Cork v Clare, FBD Semple Stadium, 1.0 – TG4
3 minutes ago
Colm O'Rourke: Day of reckoning is upon Mayo as Donegal will not take any prisoners in battle to progress
Colm O'Rourke: Day of reckoning is upon Mayo as Donegal will not take any prisoners in battle to progress
Mayo face a day of reckoning today. If both Mayo and Cavan lose then Cavan qualify in third place on the head-to-head, even if their scoring difference is very poor. Donegal will qualify unless both Cavan and Mayo win, which is very unlikely.
m.independent.ie
22 minutes ago
First up today is the Tailteann Cup last eight clash between Westmeath and Wicklow in Aughrim, with the away side on a high after a big win over Laois last week.
30 minutes ago
Some reading before today's clashes.
Joe Brolly: Mayo folk are oblivious to rampant 'MHOS' but harsh reality coming their way will be soon forgotten
Joe Brolly: Mayo folk are oblivious to rampant 'MHOS' but harsh reality coming their way will be soon forgotten
If this were an All-Ireland final against Donegal, then Mayo would have no chance today. In fact, if Mayo were playing Carlow in the final, they would have no chance. But it isn't. And when it isn't the final, Mayo always have a chance.
m.independent.ie
39 minutes ago
Lots of crunch football clashes today in the final round of group stages of the Tailteann Cup and the Sam Maguire. Mayo-Donegal tops the bill at 4.0 and we'll be guiding you through all of the action.
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The Irish Sun
2 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
‘We air our dirty laundry' – RTE pundit doesn't pull any punches in cutting verdict of Mayo GAA county board
MAYO legend Lee Keegan has slammed the Mayo GAA county board for multiple decisions and actions. The five-time All-Star has vented his frustrations about the many issues within the Advertisement 2 Mayo failed to advance from the group stages of this year's championship 2 Keegan was very disappointed in Mayo GAA's statement when 'relieving' Kevin McStay of his duties at the time Credit: @talksportireland The Green and Red county failed to reach the knockout stages of this year's Championship after a Kevin Keegan has suggested that underlying issues within the county board have more to do with Mayo's lack of success than McStay. The Westport man said: "There's trust and loyalty issues. There's too much talking. The expectation for me is too much. Advertisement Read more on GAA "This is the problem like you know, we sometimes as players we get ridiculed and obviously we didn't get over the All-Ireland stuff but listen that's our fault I take that. "We are the only county I feel anyway that we air all our dirty laundry to everybody for good or bad. Like I mean from the the simplest stuff to the outrageous stuff, everything just gets out." Keegan also feels the expectation put on the current crop of Mayo players is far too high and needs to be more realistic after recent struggles in the All-Ireland series. Since Mayo's All-Ireland final loss to Tyrone in 2021, the Westerners have failed to pass the quarter-final stages of the Championship. Advertisement Most read in GAA Football Comment It was a stark demise for Mayo who suffered a Connacht quarter-final defeat to Galway in 2022, before being knocked out by Kerry at the same stage in the All-Ireland series. The following year brought another Connacht quarter-final exit, this time at the hands of Roscommon. A preliminary quarter-final win against provincial rivals Galway saw them reach the quarters yet again but a rampant Dublin team beat them by 12 points. David Clifford's son adorably hijacks RTE interview after dad dominates All-Ireland final A preliminary quarter-final The seven time Connacht champion added: "We probably get talked about more than most. We were in the conversation for the quarter-finals this year when we shouldn't have. Advertisement "I think in Mayo sometimes the expectation is way too high. I think we need to.. not lower, I mean you obviously want to win the big ones and stuff. "We haven't won a Connacht medal in a few years now, we won a league and got to a league final. That doesn't cut it. We need to win provincials, like Galway have won four-in-a-row. "That needs to be a realistic expectation, we are on about All-Irelands for the last few years. MCSTAY SYMPATHY Keegan also felt former Mayo manager Kevin McStay - who had to temporarily step away from the role due to health reasons - was hard done by by the Mayo GAA county board. Advertisement The RTÉ pundit sympatised: "I've felt really sorry for Kevin in particular. "We lost a lot of big figureheads of that group that didn't get over the line (2021), we went very close. It's very unfair to ask the same of the group that's in there now "I felt sorry for Kevin at times, I think his writing was on the wall this year because he didn't win the provincial. "Kevin is a great football man and a very proud Mayo man I thought it was really handled badly." Advertisement With the poor treatment of McStay and previous Mayo managers, Keegan has issued a warning to anyone thinking of taking up the vacant role. "I think whoever is going to go in there is going to have a tough job. That's just being straight up with you. And I wish them the best because they are going to be working with tough people. "They need to be given time to integrate as well, I think this whole thing about All-Irelands needs to be cut for now and start working on the short term and see where that brings us."
The Irish Sun
10 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
From Croke Park to lost luggage and dashed dreams – the painful reality of Donegal's near miss in All-Ireland final
LOSING an All-Ireland final is hard enough without the baggage — literally. As a native, covering Advertisement 2 Patrick McBrearty and Shane O'Donnell of Donegal are left heartbroken after the defeat to Kerry last Sunday 2 Kerry players staff and family celebrate with the Sam Maguire cup after the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship final match win over Donegal at Croke Park There's an emotional attachment that must be put to one side — and that's not always simple — but I think we managed it. After My parents and sisters headed for home but plenty of my friends remained in the capital to drown their sorrows. There was a lot to digest. Advertisement read more on gaa Kerry were the better team, no doubt, but Donegal's call to leave Hugh McFadden on the bench was a head-scratcher. Meeting old friends and just chatting nonsense at the Harcourt Hotel — which was the hub for Donegal folk in the big smoke — certainly helped our mood. But the morning after the night before came with all sorts of horrors. My professional hat had to go back on to conduct interviews at the victorious Kerry team hotel. Advertisement Most read in GAA Football My little silver suitcase had been giddily packed in anticipation for a victorious trip back to the hills. But the result meant I was off to the Burlington Road with my luggage and laptop before the onward, unwanted journey to Heuston Station and Athlone, where I live. 'Sad to see him go' - GAA fans emotional seeing Michael D Higgins attend last men's All-Ireland final as President This was like taking a child to the world's greatest amusement park and not allowing them to go on any of the rides. Look, but don't touch. Weary but happy Kerry heads thronged the lobby as Sam Maguire sat proudly among them — and I tried to ignore the glare off the iconic cup. Advertisement I located some of my colleagues who were in somewhat brighter form than I was and left my case and laptop bag where they were stationed before we sat down with Jack O'Connor. When we returned from this engaging conversation which featured in yesterday's paper, my belongings were gone. Suitcase, laptop — the whole lot. This felt like a sick joke from some cute Kerry hoor as I prowled the place looking for my stuff while David Clifford posed for selfies and O'Connor's players began to load up the bus. I rooted through that Kerry boot like nobody ever has before but only found O'Neill's gearbags and nothing belonging to me. Advertisement The hotel staff were alerted and a very helpful manager checked the cameras. It turned out a chauffeur driver had taken my luggage by mistake while we spoke to O'Connor, and everything from my toothbrush and clean undies to my laptop were on their way to Tralee. The driver's phone number was retrieved but he would not answer the phone, while another member of staff was reluctant to divulge any more details about the driver due to GDPR as my belongings tore down the M7. Just in time, the manager returned, the driver phoned back and my luggage would be left at Barack Obama Plaza on the Tipperary-Offaly border. Advertisement Always there in times of need, my good wife contacted someone she knew at Roscrea Garda station to retrieve my things. Getting them back to Athlone was the next job. My brother-in-law, Gerard, is from Templetuohy in Tipperary and even though he doesn't like hurling — those people exist — he was on the road in the Premier County to retrieve the stricken luggage. Just to cap off the day, enter Irish Rail. Advertisement They clearly didn't feel Donegal's pain as there are no trains there and with my phone battery about to die — like myself inside — I managed to scan my ticket at Heuston. Ciarán — the captain of the good ship here at SunSport — could only see the funny side of this predicament and the O'Connor copy would have to wait until I got home. A young group of loud, enthusiastic Americans failed to help my head or mood before I promptly moved to the back of the carriage to wallow in my own self pity. We sat on the tracks for a solid 20 minutes outside Tullamore for good measure before the smiles of my daughter Cara at Athlone Station cleared the clouds. Advertisement It could have all been so different but as Mike Tyson once said — everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.
Irish Times
10 hours ago
- Irish Times
Darragh Ó Sé: Kerry came to win Sam Maguire, Donegal came to see if they could hang in the fight
I looked up at the clock on the Davin Stand and it was coming up to 3:55pm and Kerry were 0-12 to 0-4 up. My old brain is still conditioned to look at that and think, 'Christ, those 25 minutes flew by'. But of course, there wasn't 25 minutes gone at all. The game started late because of all the stuff beforehand – the same thing happened with the hurling final, which means somebody somewhere messed up two weeks in a row. Add in the fact that the referee stops the clock at the drop of a hat now and actually, when I looked at the scoreboard, the game clock said only 15 minutes were gone altogether. I looked down at the pitch at the Donegal players and thought 'that's a lot of football played in 15 minutes to be 12-4 down'. Kerry got the next point too – 0-13 to 0-4 in an All-Ireland final before you've even got your feet under you. There's no pussyfooting around a scoreline like that. It means one team came to the final in exactly the right frame of mind and the other didn't. One team came to win Sam Maguire, the other came to see if they could hang in the fight and take it down the stretch. I expected better from Donegal in that regard. I've said it a million times – All-Ireland finals are about throwing yourself into everything full bore. You can't sit around and wait on it to come to you. Everything is heightened, from the minute you get out of bed that morning. This is the day to go after things like you've never done before. READ MORE When the stakes go up like that, you have to get up to meet them. It's like if you're playing poker and some fella starts throwing 50 into the pot on every hand. Okay, so it's a bit annoying if you're just trying to have a friendly game. But when it comes down to it, you can only keep folding to him for so long. Eventually, you have to either call him, raise him or get the jump on him in the next hand. Donegal didn't do any of that. I expected more from Jim McGuinness . My big doubt from a Kerry point of view going into the game was that Donegal would target the newer fellas on the team, the likes of Mark O'Shea and Seán O'Brien, and start raining kick-outs down on them. Not alone did they shy away from that, McGuinness dropped Hugh McFadden so that Caolan McGonagle could come in as an extra defender. Jim McGuinness's approach didn't pay off against Kerry in the All-Ireland final. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho It wasn't until McFadden and Jason McGee came on in the second half that they started to get a bit of traction around the middle of the pitch. But why wait until then? They were nine points down after 15 minutes and getting cleaned out at midfield. That was when the game needed to be changed. I thought McGuinness gave himself away a bit afterwards when he talked about how Donegal wanted a game where both sides controlled possession. That wasn't the game Kerry came to play. They didn't want to control possession, they wanted to use possession. They wanted to inflict possession on Donegal. The ultimate example is Gavin White coming like a steam train at the very start of both halves. Ciarán Thompson was five yards behind him for the first one and Ciarán Moore was the same at the start of the second half. Once is bad enough but surely to God someone said at half-time in the Donegal dressingroom that whatever happens, Gavin White is to be tagged at the throw-in. Ryan McHugh was the only one who seemed tuned in and he went to try to stop him but Gavin had a full head of steam built up at that stage and he blew straight through him. Kerry scored at the end of it and McHugh had to be taken off – it looked like his shoulder or collarbone. That nearly summed up the difference in how both teams went after the day. It was a phenomenal performance from Kerry. It's very hard to find a silver lining for Donegal because who knows when they'll be back? So many of their players went back home on the bus knowing they came to an All-Ireland final and didn't leave any sort of mark on the day. It's going to take them a long time to make their peace with that. Kerry don't have any such issue. I've always said you need a benchmark of 11 or 12 players playing up to scratch to win a final and Kerry surpassed that. What really struck me on Sunday watching them was the level of concentration every one of them carried through the game. The game plan was implemented to the letter. David Clifford plundered plenty of points against Donegal without being the star of the show in the All-Ireland final. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho David Clifford was happy enough not to be involved until he needed to be. His first two-pointer came from a turnover. It was as if he was strolling around and then as soon as he saw a mistake, he pounced. His standards are different from everybody else – imagine scoring 1-25 against Armagh, Tyrone and Donegal and not being named man of the match even once! I brought the kids in to see the homecoming in Tralee on Monday night and the sense of satisfaction and joy is huge around the place. Not alone did Kerry win a brilliant All-Ireland but they did it with players who people weren't sure about. Winning on Sunday didn't change the way anybody looks at the likes of David Clifford, Paudie Clifford or Seán O'Shea. But what it did was move a few of the others to a new level. Joe O'Connor, Mark O'Shea, Sean O'Brien. Even the likes of Brian Ó Beaglaoich and Jason Foley, these games transformed them into huge leaders. Every one of them is an established player now with huge credit in the bank whenever the wheel turns and people start doubting them again. You can't buy the experience these lads got over the past month. It was a complete team performance. Any changes that were made, the team adapted to. Diarmuid O'Connor came on and slipped in seamlessly. The communication with each other continued all the way through the whole game. It was as good a championship performance as you'd ever see, even more so than the Armagh game. Add it up together and all is good in the Kingdom again.
