Impressive run to Ladies All-Ireland final no surprise to Meath manager Shane McCormack
Meath boss Shane McCormack is a former Lilywhites keeper from the Allenwood club and came up against his native county in the group stages of the All-Ireland series, a game which Meath won as they clinched a home tie in the quarter-finals.
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Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Ndaawi and Jack Kennedy get dramatic Galway Hurdle in the stewards room after Helvic Dream thrown out
At the end of a superbly pulsating Guinness Galway Hurdle the outcome was coldly decided by the stewards who threw out first past the post Helvic Dream in favour of Ndaawi amid remarkable scenes on Thursday. Just a head separated the pair after a superb duel up the Ballybrit hill with Helvic Dream initially looking to have completed a rare cross-code double. Winner of the Group One Tattersalls Gold Cup on the flat in 2021, Noel Meade's star briefly looked to have pulled off another big-race success over hurdles. However, jockey Donagh Meyler's celebrations proved premature as re-runs of the finish showed Helvic Dream leaning into Ndaawi who challenged up the rail. Drone shots from above in particular looked to put the outcome in doubt. READ MORE Sorry to see Helvic Dream losing the Galway Hurdle but this angle shows that the stewards had no choice — Tony Mullins (@tonymullins84) Jack Kennedy on Ndaawi never stopped riding but told Ndaawi's trainer Gordon Elliott he would get the race in the stewards' room. Crucially Meyler didn't switch his whip hand and after a lengthy inquiry that had a 24,381 Ballybrit crowd on tenterhooks the positions were reversed. It meant Elliott won his first Galway Hurdle and completed the big festival double having landed the Plate with Western Fold less than 24 hours earlier. He is the first trainer to win both races in the same week since the late Edward O'Grady in 1979. Meade indicated his intention to appeal the decision which had considerable rarity value at the end of a major race in Ireland. Some of those struggling for comparison went back as far as 2012 and Duntle's disqualification at the end of the Group One Matron Stakes in Leopardstown. However, any presumption that the stewards panel chaired by Justice Raymond Groarke might opt for an 'as you were' outcome to a marginal call proved wide of the mark. Jockey Jack Kennedy celebrates after winning The Guinness Galway Hurdle Handicap. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho It was a bitter result for Meade, the veteran trainer who first won the Galway Hurdle all of 43 years before and had finished runner-up to his friend Elliott in the previous day's Plate with Jesse Evans, himself twice runner-up in Thursday's feature. Meyler quickly bounced back by winning the very next race with a daring run up the rail on Strong Link but described the big race outcome as a 'horror show.' He subsequently got a two-day suspension for careless riding. 'Jack said as soon as he came in, and before they called the stewards' inquiry, that he thought we'd get it. He said the other leant on top of him for the last 50 yards and intimidated him all the way to the line,' Elliott said. 'I'm delighted I won the race, but Noel and I are very good friends. It's just not the same when you win it in a stewards' inquiry. Rules are rules though and if they're broken, the result deserves to be changed,' he added. Kennedy's prediction proved spot on and the jockey commented: 'It's not a nice way to get it, but I do feel I'd have won had I not received the interference. I'm delighted we came out on the right side of it. If Donagh came off of me in the final 100 yards we'd have got going again.' An Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board spokesman said: 'The stewards were satisfied the first past the post had caused interference. The winning margin being a head, the stewards were satisfied that as a consequence of the interference the placings should be reversed.' Having finished runner-up to Nurburgring in the race in 2024, Ndaawi ultimately secured the spotlight. The prospect of an appeal however means the reverberations from perhaps the most dramatic Galway Hurdle in its over 100-year history are likely to run and run. The sole British hopeful in the big race, Dysart Enos, failed to fire, but it was a different story in the big flat race of the day, the Listed Corrib Stakes, as Tropical Island sprang a 40-1 surprise for Yorkshire based Richard Fahey. Luke McAteer quickly got to the front on the cross-channel runner and Tropical Island kept on stoutly up the hill. Joseph O'Brien failed to secure a third Galway Hurdle, with the 4-1 favourite Puturhandstogether only tenth, but managed a double on the flat through Glenroyal and Which Wolf Wins. Despite sunny conditions, Thursday's Ladies Day attendance of 24,381 was down from last year's 25,290.
Irish Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Galway Races drama: Incredible scenes as Noel Meade loses race live on RTE
Galway has seen its fair share of drama over the years but there has never been anything quite like the scenes following Thursday's Guinness Galway Hurdle. Helvic Dream, trained by Noel Meade and ridden by Donagh Meyler, passed the post first in a thrilling renewal of the €270,000 Ladies Day feature. It looked like bridging a 43-year gap for veteran Meade from his first success in the race with Pinch Hitter in 1982 at a venue where he's been hugely successful over the years. Helvic Dream (8-1) battled hard to defeat the Gordon Elliott-trained Ndaawi and Jack Kennedy by a head but the drama was only beginning as the raceday stewards called an immediate inquiry into possible interference between Meyler and Kennedy in the closing stages. During a long inquiry that lasted 10 minutes, where both jockeys were spoken to, both Noel Meade and Gordon Elliott stood side by side waiting to be interviewed by RTE presenter Brian Gleeson. Meade and Elliott are close friends as well as rivals and have spent the summer months following the Meath football teams' spike in fortunes. As Gleeson began to interview the pair on the possible outcome, the result was announced over the course's PA system. Donagh Meyler on Helvic Dream (right) crosses the line first ahead of Jack Kennedy on Ndaawi in The Guinness Galway Hurdle Handicap (Grade C) only for the result to be reversed after a stewards inquiry (Image: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy) And to everyone's astonishment the placings were reversed, meaning 13-2 shot Ndaawi was awarded the race and the €162,000 first prize for his owners Easyfix, who make the hurdles for Galway. A stunned Meade held out a congratulatory hand to his friend Elliott in what made for a moment of astonishing live television. He later confirmed he would appeal the stewards' decision. A delighted Elliott, winning the famous race for the first time, was magnanimous in victory and said: "Jack said as soon as he came in and before they called the stewards' inquiry that he thought we'd get it. He said the other leant on top of him for the last 50 yards and intimidated him all the way to the line. "I'm delighted I won the race, but Noel and I are very good friends. It's just not the same when you win it in a stewards' inquiry. Rules are rules though, and if they're broken, the result deserves to be changed." Incredibly it was the second day in succession Meade had finished runner-up to Elliott. In Wednesday's Galway Plate his Jesse Evans was beaten by Elliott's Western Fold, the third time Jesse Evans has finished second in a big race at Galway. Elliott added: "We have won most of the big handicaps so this is the race I wanted to win, although it is not a nice way to win. "It is unbelievable to win the two big races here this week and the horses have all run well, I can't believe it." On future plans for Ndaawi, the trainer added: "There is a 150,000 Flat race in America for him in October now."
Irish Independent
an hour ago
- Irish Independent
Confirmed: Football's new rules leave hurling in the shade when it comes to discipline
The 2025 inter-county football season has seen another drop in red cards with just two for offences above Category 2 (straight reds) in the provincial championships and All-Ireland series.
