LIVE: Australia v British & Irish Lions, second Test
This is less the Lions' Everest, more a climb up the Sugar Loaf or something to that effect.
But the Wallabies will surely give it socks here for as long as they can. Skelton and Valetini's returns, and a bit of do-or-die national pride, mean they can't be ruled out today.
Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
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The 42
6 hours ago
- The 42
'Win by will' - The powerful video Katie Taylor sent to the Lions
PERFORMANCE COACH GARY Keegan's old connections came in handy for the Lions as they prepared for their second Test win against the Wallabies. Keegan, who works closely with Andy Farrell with Ireland and now the Lions, goes a long way back with Irish boxing icon Katie Taylor. He was the high performance director of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association when Taylor began to make a name for herself as an amateur, helping to guide the early stages of her career. So earlier this week, as Farrell's Lions prepared for what they knew could be a decisive game against Australia in Melbourne, Keenan got onto his old friend. Taylor's video went down brilliantly with the Lions squad and proved prescient in terms of how the second Test unfolded. 'It was unbelievably poignant and powerful,' said Lions and Ireland number eight Jack Conan after the last-gasp 29-26 win over the Wallabies. 'It spoke about being prepared to win with skill, but be ready to win by will. 'I think that was something that summed up today massively because we were not at our best at all.' Conan hails from Bray, where Taylor is also from, so the video was particularly special for him. 'Massively, huge,' said Conan. 'Someone to come from the town I'm from, I'm incredibly proud of where I come from and I know Katie is as well. 'She's gone on to achieve incredible feats in the boxing world and to be such a superstar and be just incredibly humble and driven and knock it out of herself is something that we kind of leaned on as well, because we knew that Australia are a hugely proud nation and they showed it today in spades. Advertisement 'They were unbelievable, they really were, but we just stuck in it for 80 minutes and just incredibly proud of the effort from the lads. Katie Taylor celebrates her recent win against Amanda Serrano. Gary Carr / INPHO Gary Carr / INPHO / INPHO 'I know things didn't click and we weren't flowing properly, but we were getting off the line, trying to hit people, trying to make it count every chance we got. And I think we did that and that's why we got the result in the end.' It wasn't only Conan and the big group of Irish Lions who were impressed with Taylor's message. Her words hit the mark with the rest of the squad. 'Lads absolutely loved it because it meant a lot to me being from the same place and seeing her on the world stage, but I think everyone loved it, even the English and the Scottish boys and the Welsh boy, it resonated with everyone,' said Conan. 'It was unbelievably poignant, it was class. It really hit home for us, it was brilliant.' Conan was standing outside the Lions' dressing room with two cans of Guinness in his hands – 'Sorry, the cans are not good, lads' – as he got his head around winning a series with the Lions. He played all three Tests on the 2021 tour of South Africa but the Lions lost that one and there were no crowds due to the pandemic. This trip to Australia has been altogether different. He revealed that the Lions' training session on Thursday ahead of the second Test was 'pretty shocking' and felt that possibly fed into their up-and-down performance at the MCG, but all that mattered to him was that the tourists had won. Conan joked that as a Leinster man he usually comes out on the wrong side of dramatic finishes like the one in Melbourne, so he was thrilled that his long-time team-mate Hugo Keenan, who is nicknamed 'Barry,' was the man to seal the series. 'I was delighted for him… now in saying that, I would have liked it more if he gave me the ball on the edge and I scored the try,' said Conan. Conan with his daughter, Remi, and wife, Ali. Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO 'No, delighted for Barry, I probably would have dropped it like the other one [in the first half]… no, that was knocked out of my hands, lads! 'I was shouting for it, but Barry goes and scores a try, so I've no complaints. If he bottled it there in that moment, I would have killed him and kicked the arse off him afterwards, but that was great.' Conan's wife and daughter have been in Australia to support him, while his twin sister and her husband also made it, along with a big group of Conan's friends. 'They're on a proper stag do, some craic,' said Conan. 'I met one of them earlier who flew in from Singapore and all the lads were already in the pub at half ten [in the morning] enjoying it and I was like, 'f*cking b*stards, I'd love to be there'. 'It's great doing the lap afterwards and seeing so many familiar faces.' His friends had an early start in the pub but Conan is now a Lions series winner. 'You can't take that away from us,' said Conan with clear joy before wandering off to find the rest of the Lions so his celebrations could continue.
The 42
6 hours ago
- The 42
'I was inside here a month ago and there steam coming out of my ears' - Jack O'Connor
IN THE END, he shared a little anecdote of home life, painting a picture of a man heading out to take training, his bag over his shoulder, heading off to train the Kerry footballers on a summer's evening. 'And my missus took a picture of me going out the gate,' said Jack O'Connor. 'And I already know that'll be up on the wall, that was my last, so I'd say no, she'll be framing that one.' You can imagine it. Sepia-toned perhaps for added poignance. It's been the job that has defined his life and made him one of the most decorated managers Gaelic football. And still, Jack O'Connor's gifts are downplayed. It's why, after the win over Armagh, he had a go at those inside his own county that he felt was doing him down. 'I'd ask people who are knocking the group, 'What have you contributed to Kerry football off the field?' he said back then. Revisiting that, he said here, 'Obviously, delighted for myself because it was a tough old year. I found this a tough year. 'I was inside here a month ago and there was a lot of steam coming out of my ears. It wasn't faked or it wasn't put on. It was authentic because I felt that we were getting a lot of unfair stick and we were trying our butts off and have been from the start of the year. 'So, for us to finally get the reward is great.' He's been appreciated by the right people though. Asked about the departed Mick O'Dwyer and how much he was in O'Connor's thoughts this season, he relayed another yarn. 'Micko, you know, he's created a great history and tradition in Kerry and the rest of us are only trotting after him now. (It's) A bit sentimental for me because I brought the cup to him to his house in '22 and we had a nice half an hour of a chat there,' he said. 'And there was a nice photograph taken, so I treasure that always because you know he was an idol of mine as I say. 'He's created the history and the rest of us really try.' From the third minute, they started compiling a lead that Donegal could never wipe out. They decimated the Ulster champions. Advertisement 'Yeah, we were very determined leaving the hotel this morning,' he revealed. Shaking hands with Donegal manager Jim McGuinness afterwards. Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO 'I had a few words with them just before we got on the bus that we were going to take the game to Donegal. We weren't going to sit back and just see what they had to offer. We were really going after them. 'We were going after (Shaun) Patton's kickouts. We were going to drive on. I thought Gavin White was sensational in the first quarter. A real captain's example. 'There were a few pivotal moments. I thought David's two pointer on the stroke of halftime was a big, big score. Just gave us a cushion going in at halftime and just gave the lads a lot of belief.' Complacency for them at the break was their enemy after going in 0-17 to 0-10 up. Fortunately for them and unfortunately for Cork, they had the perfect example last weekend. 'Our mantra at halftime was we weren't going to collapse like you saw probably with the Cork hurlers maybe last week. We were going to go out and try and win the second half. There were times, I mean, Donegal didn't wave any white flag out there. They brought that back from, I'd say, nine points back to four points and they were still highly dangerous. 'Massive effort. Massive effort. Big contribution from an awful lot of players. 'Just thrilled for them because, as I said, we had a rough all year and it's nice to see it coming together in the end.' Perhaps their energy caught Donegal. They flew into that early lead Donegal seemed shell-shocked at their ferocity. When Shaun Patton looked for their kickouts, he aimed across his body and more often than not, Michael Murphy was the intended target. Kerry had Jason Foley nearby to do a bit of shunting and bumping. They also had Joe O'Connor and Gavin White gathering up an obscene amount of breaks. And they had David Clifford. In general play, he wasn't a major figure. But his shooting was insane. With the weight of an entire counties expectations on his shoulders, how did O'Connor manage that? 'See, David, David has a unique temperament, you know. He just takes it in his stride,' said O'Connor. 'Of course he must have felt pressure and he knew he was going to get a lot of heat. But you know, when we spoke about it during the week and he said, look, if I'm double marked and triple marked, he said, I just, I'll just win it and slip it. 'And he's humble enough to create scores for other people and he was a massive part of all we done there, because he kicked three two-pointers and particularly the one on the stroke of halftime was just inspirational for us going in, just get an extra zip ourselves. 'But yeah, how he deals with the weight of expectation, I have no idea. It's his unique temperament.' Related Reads How Joe O'Connor put injury hell behind him and played his way into Footballer of the Year contention An isolated, distinct land that carries the football tight to its heart: Failte go Tír Chonaill Kerry name unchanged side for All-Ireland final as Diarmuid O'Connor makes squad And then there's his brother Paudie, who controlled the game from start to finish, albeit Donegal allowed that to happen. 'Paudie's just coming back to himself after a long injury and we felt that he was coming good,' he explained. 'He handled some amount of ball out there and he just calmed things down and a big part of playing Donegal is getting value out of your attacks and don't turn it over. 'I think Meath found that out when they didn't work the Donegal defence. They just took potshots from outside the arc looking for two pointers. 'Now you take the two pointers when they're on, but you don't force them and you work their defenders.' The next thing will grab the attention though. 'I thought we worked the Donegal defenders and that in turn takes away a bit of their legs for going the other way,' he says. 'I thought that was a big factor. I didn't think that the likes of Roarty and Morgan and McHugh had a big influence in that game. 'Attacking wise, I think a lot of that has to do with the patience we showed in the attack, and keeping them out of it.' A masterclass. Kerry will soon miss him. * Check out the latest episode of The42′s GAA Weekly podcast here
Irish Daily Mirror
11 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Jack O'Connor paid the ultimate compliment by Jarlath Burns with Micko comment
GAA President Jarlath Burns paid Jack O'Connor the ultimate compliment today as he claimed that the Kerry manager deserved to be mentioned in the same breath as iconic Kingdom bainisteoir Mick O'Dwyer. With his win today, O'Connor tasted victory for the fifth time as a manager with Kerry, 21-years on from lifting the Sam Maguire trophy for the first time as head coach. Today's win moves O'Connor to within three of the legendary 'Micko,' who won a staggering eight Celtic Crosses as manager of The Kingdom throughout his career. President of the GAA Jarlath Burns before the game (Image: Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo) Micko is arguably the most revered manager in GAA history let alone Kerry, and his work at counties like Kildare and Laois cemented his legacy across the island. He passed away in April of this year at the age of 88. Once upon a time, comparisons to Micko would have been outlandish, but on the steps of the Hogan Stand this evening, Burns suggested that it is now time for 'Micko' and 'Jacko' to be mentioned in the same conversation in the Kingdom. GAA Hall of Famer Mick O'Dwyer (Image: ©INPHO/Cathal Noonan) And with five All-Ireland medals secured, who can really argue with that?
