Latest news with #AllIrelands
Sunday World
3 days ago
- Sport
- Sunday World
Disgraced hurler DJ Carey absent from honours as name rings out over Croke Park
Carey was man-of-the-match in his side's All-Ireland final win over Offaly in 2000 A short citation was read out about him yesterday while his Kilkenny Jubilee team-mates were celebrated in front of a large crowd at GAA HQ. Above, Carey at the Courts of Criminal Justice in Dublin The Kilkenny Jubilee Team were honoured before throw-in on All-Ireland SHC final day, but star player DJ Carey was conspicuous by his absence with some boos ringing out from Hill 16 when his name was called out over the tannoy. Carey was man-of-the-match in his side's All-Ireland final win over Offaly in 2000 having given yet another scintillating scoring display, but he has been in the news for all the wrong reasons in recent weeks and months. Carey pleaded guilty on July 3 to ten counts of defrauding a number of people out of money while pretending that he had cancer and needed finances to obtain treatment. There was some debate whether the five-time All-Ireland SHC winner would be in attendance at Croke Park today. The GAA had been silent on the matter despite queries from the Irish Independent during the past week. One businessman who was defrauded out of thousands of euro warned it would be '100pc wrong' to honour the disgraced hurler in Croke Park. Noel Tynan, owned of The Celt bar in Dublin, said: 'He's a criminal… full stop and just because he won five All Irelands and nine All Stars, it doesn't change things. "The bottom line is he purposely set out to defraud people.' Mr Tynan added: 'He came across as such a humble fella but he was setting me up. It was a form of grooming. "The All Star, The All Ireland winner and then to use that and say you had cancer, it's just unforgiveable and there's no excuse for him.' Carey was man-of-the-match in his side's All-Ireland final win over Offaly in 2000 Carey was remanded on bail following his court appearance earlier this month. He is due to be sentenced on October 29. Ultimately 54-year-old Carey was not present at Croke Park today, although there was a short citation read out about him while his team-mates were celebrated in front of a large crowd at GAA HQ. There was some jeering when his name was read out by master of ceremonies, TG4 commentator Mac Dara Mac Donncha. Carey was not the only one absent with All-Ireland-winning manager Brian Cody also missing out due to a pre-planned holiday. Goalkeeper James McGarry, Cody's right-hand man as coach for several of his All-Ireland successes following retirement, was also absent. However captain Willie O'Connor and Irish Independent columnist Eddie Brennan were among the star-studded squad on show. A short citation was read out about him yesterday while his Kilkenny Jubilee team-mates were celebrated in front of a large crowd at GAA HQ. Above, Carey at the Courts of Criminal Justice in Dublin Today's News in 90 Seconds - July 20th
Irish Independent
3 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Independent
DJ Carey's name rings out over Croke Park – but former hurler is conspicuous by his absence
Carey was man-of-the-match in his side's All-Ireland final win over Offaly in 2000 having given yet another scintillating scoring display, but he has been in the news for all the wrong reasons in recent weeks and months. Carey pleaded guilty on July 3 to ten counts of defrauding a number of people out of money while pretending that he had cancer and needed finances to obtain treatment. There was some debate whether the five-time All-Ireland SHC winner would be in attendance at Croke Park today. The GAA had been silent on the matter despite queries from the Irish Independent during the past week. One businessman who was defrauded out of thousands of euro warned it would be '100pc wrong' to honour the disgraced hurler in Croke Park. Noel Tynan, owned of The Celt bar in Dublin, said: 'He's a criminal… full stop and just because he won five All Irelands and nine All Stars, it doesn't change things. "The bottom line is he purposely set out to defraud people.' Mr Tynan added: 'He came across as such a humble fella but he was setting me up. It was a form of grooming. "The All Star, The All Ireland winner and then to use that and say you had cancer, it's just unforgiveable and there's no excuse for him.' Carey was remanded on bail following his court appearance earliker this month. He is due to be sentenced on October 29. Ultimately 54-year-old Carey was not present at Croke Park today, although there was a short citation read out about him while his team-mates were celebrated in front of a large crowd at GAA HQ. There was some jeering when his name was read out by master of ceremonies, TG4 commentator Mac Dara Mac Donncha. Carey was not the only one absent with All-Ireland-winning manager Brian Cody also missing out due to a pre-planned holiday. Goalkeeper James McGarry, Cody's right-hand man as coach for several of his All-Ireland successes following retirement, was also absent. However captain Willie O'Connor and Irish Independent columnist Eddie Brennan were among the star-studded squad on show.
Irish Times
05-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Niall Ó Ceallacháin has Dublin's unlikely band of hurlers singing a fine tune
In Dublin hurling, things should always be better than they are. Though the playing numbers ebb and flow from year to year, it's always true that the only county that definitively has more hurlers than Dublin is Cork. There are sometimes more in Tipperary and sometimes less but it's usually neck and neck. Everybody else is well back the road. This isn't to say Dublin should be winning All-Irelands , just that things should be better. More players won't always translate to success, especially in a county where football consumes so much of the oxygen. But at the very least, they shouldn't be waiting 12 years between All-Ireland semi-finals. A barren period like that screams of inefficiencies in the system. The arrival of Niall Ó Ceallacháin has brought about a purge of some of those inefficiencies. Not all of them – and not by a long way – but some. Chief among them has been making sure that anyone who can and should be playing for Dublin right now is playing for Dublin right now. 'Basically, a third of the panel weren't there last year,' Ó Ceallacháin said ahead of the championship. 'We have 35 lads there, that's what we're running with. And 12 of them weren't in there last year, so that's a good bit of change.' READ MORE Dublin actually used 36 players through the league and during the championship they have added Rian McBride, James Madden and Seán Gallagher to the list of those who've seen action. Thirty-nine is a hefty enough number – Cork have given game time to 35 this season – and it shows that Ó Ceallacháin was true to his word when he took over. The slate was wiped clean and nothing was ruled out. Run your thumb through the list of 39 players who have togged out for Dublin in 2025 and their backstories cover the full spectrum of hurling in the capital. So maybe the best way to tell the story of what Dublin hurling is now is to pick three of Ó Ceallacháin's team and go from there... The Lifer Dublin's John Hetherton celebrates scoring a goal against Limerick in the All-Ireland quarter-final. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho It has been a sad week in the Hetherton household. Phyllis Hetherton lived until she was 94 and when she died last Saturday she left behind enough kids, grandkids and great grandkids to fill the terrace in Parnell Park, which is just a stone's throw from her house in Donnycarney. On Saturday, in the space of a few hours, two of her grandchildren will play for Dublin against Cork in two different codes. Niamh lines out in an All-Ireland quarter-final for the footballers at lunchtime. And at five o'clock, John will suit up for the hurlers in Croke Park. Everyone calls John 'Hedgo', the same as they called his father Ciarán 'Hedgo' when he was a selector under Anthony Daly. John was in his late teens at the time and he got a golden apprenticeship. He travelled everywhere on the team bus, had a backstage pass into the dressingroom, carried hurls and water bottles. Whatever they needed. If anyone was going to be a Dublin hurler, John Hetherton was going to be a Dublin hurler. He was the free-taker for the county minors, playing in the same side that had Chris Crummey, Danny Sutcliffe and Ciarán Kilkenny. He played under-21 and had a good Fitzgibbon run for the Garda College. But between one thing and another, he was never able to pin down a spot with the Dublin seniors. He played bits and pieces under Ger Cunningham, Pat Gilroy and Mattie Kenny. But it was mostly Walsh Cup and league. He never started a championship game for any of them and didn't feature at all under Micheál Donoghue. His last game was in 2021, when he got the last 15 minutes against Clare in the league. That was presumed to be that. Hetherton was still a totem for Vincents in the club championship but there didn't seem to be much reason to imagine he could swim back upstream with Dublin. He'd been given every chance to show himself to be an intercounty hurler and it hadn't worked out. So be it. Ó Ceallacháin thought different. Hetherton had been immense for Vincents in the 2024 Dublin semi-final against Na Fianna, whipping a late goal to send it to extra-time and potting a sideline ball in extra-time. It was a good time and place to do it – Ó Ceallacháin was in his Na Fianna bib on the sideline and had been appointed Dublin manager just four weeks previously. It can't have hurt, anyway. And so it was that at the end of April, at the grand old age of 33 and with his two sons and all the other Hethertons in the stand, John 'Hedgo' Hetherton made his first championship start as a Dublin hurler. A fortnight ago, he came off the bench at half-time against Limerick to score one goal and set up another. Nothing's over 'til it's over. The New Dublin Hurler Dublin's Paddy Doyle in action against Limerick's Dan Morrissey and Cathal O'Neill. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho There was never much hurling in Kilbarrack. Go through all your Roddy Doyle books and see if you can find a reference. Flick through old Dublin programmes and you'll be looking a long time before you find a hurler from that part of the world. The closest hurling stronghold was always O'Tooles and you had to go inland to Coolock for that. It all changed the way these things always change. In the early 1970s, a local schoolteacher decided the boys in the area needed a GAA club and soon enough a gang of parents helped out. Over time, the schools in Kilbarrack and Bayside started to feed into this new club, Naomh Barróg. They won a couple of Féiles in the 1980s but never really got the put-through they needed at senior level to get out of junior hurling. But since 2000, Naomh Barróg, like so many other Dublin clubs, have seen the fruits of targeted GAA investment. They have had a full-time Games Promotion Officer since the turn of the century and have been filtering players into Dublin development squads as they go. One of them is Paddy Doyle, the Dublin wing back. He came through with Dublin North Schools, an amalgamation team made of players from schools from Kilbarrack, Swords, Malahide and beyond. He was in the Dublin development squads at 16, played centre back with the minors in 2020 and corner back with the under-20s for a couple of years as well. As Naomh Barróg made their way to senior, Doyle was one of the key drivers. It all led to the last week of April 2023, when Doyle played wing back against Antrim, becoming the first Naomh Barróg man to play championship hurling for Dublin. It had taken 49 years but they got there. Three weeks ago, Seán Gallagher became the second when he came on against Kildare. Kilbarrack has hurlers now. Plenty other places too. The spread of players in the Dublin squad in 2025 is unrecognisable from what it used to be. When Dublin played Cork in the 2013 All-Ireland semi-final, 15 of the 20 players that day were drawn from four clubs – Ballyboden and Cuala alone provided 11 between them. It's a much more far-flung operation these days. Against Limerick a fortnight ago, Kilmacud Crokes were the only club to have three players in the starting line-up. Nobody else had more than two. Fingallians had as many players involved on the day as Cuala. Commercials, St Brigids, Clontarf, Lucan, Erins Isle – the Dublin net gathers them in from everywhere now. The Super-Club Footballer Dublin's Conor McHugh in action against Brian Concannon during the Leinster championship. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho The biggest contingent is the half-dozen from Na Fianna, the club Ó Ceallacháin led to All-Ireland success earlier this year. In a way, they're the simplest story in modern Dublin GAA. Based in Glasnevin, with over 4,000 members, fielding somewhere in the region of 220 teams, the numbers game alone should have them riding high. But they were never in a Dublin hurling final before 2021. This is all still very new. Like so many clubs across Dublin, Na Fianna are a dual enterprise. Kids coming through the age grades play hurling one week, football the next. Which means, of course, that the best footballers are generally high-class hurlers as well. No better example than Conor McHugh. McHugh played in back-to-back All-Ireland minor hurling finals in 2011 and 2012, back when we all thought that Dublin had got it right and were going to establish themselves as a hurling power. It never happened, partly because football took Ciarán Kilkenny, Cormac Costello and Conor McHugh away. By 2014, McHugh was the star forward on the greatest under-21 football team of all time. Outshining the likes of Costello, Paul Mannion, Brian Fenton, Niall Scully, Jack McCaffrey, John Small and Davy Byrne, he was man-of-the-match in the All-Ireland final. He joined Jim Gavin's senior panel the following season and looked like a sure thing. But despite spending seven seasons with the Dubs, McHugh never started a championship game. In total, he played just 20 matches altogether. There was no mystery to it – the competition was too fierce. He couldn't force his way in. He finished up in 2021 and went back playing football and hurling for Na Fianna. McHugh is still a forward in football but his reinvention as a sticky, canny man-marker in hurling has been a revelation. Against Antrim in May, he finally started a championship game for Dublin. A fortnight ago, he started one in Croke Park. Marked Cian Lynch, beat Limerick with 14 men. Hetherton, Doyle, McHugh. They all found their path to this point, one as unlikely as the next. Each, in their own way, a snapshot of Dublin hurling. Sometimes streamlined, often higgledy-piggledy, rarely adhering to logic. And now just 70 minutes away from an All-Ireland final. Getting better, despite everything.
Irish Times
25-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Was Dublin's shock win over Limerick a bolt from the blue or can lightning strike twice?
After the staggering success of his team last Saturday, Dublin hurling manager Niall Ó Ceallacháin referred to the importance of backing up the defeat of Limerick . 'I totally understand what we have achieved but this will be long forgotten as well if we don't follow through in two weeks' time,' he said. In fact, the opposite is probably the case. The less his team achieve in the future, the more memorable the shock will become. For a team like Limerick - All-Irelands champions in four of the last five years - to fall to opponents like Dublin would be all the more remarkable if it turned out to be an inexplicable bolt from the blue with no longer-term implications. READ MORE There has understandably been speculation about how the result compared to previous shock outcomes in the hurling championship. The question is as intangible as those perennially – it almost seems – pitched after Munster finals: the best ever? Just as there are few reliable methods of assessing matches that happened decades ago – without context, old footage can be as vibrant as a laboratory specimen – trying to work out what caused the biggest shock can lack useful reference points. How accurately can you assess a contemporary mood, years later? One candidate that quickly surfaced was Antrim's defeat of Offaly in the 1989 All-Ireland semi-final. As was pointed out by Paul Fitzpatrick in The Irish Times last Monday, the context of that result was that the Ulster champions had already beaten Offaly twice in that year's league, relegating them after the second meeting. It had historic significance because Antrim were reaching an All-Ireland final for the first time in 46 years. It stands as their only All-Ireland appearance in the last 82 seasons. Dublin's Chris Crummey leaves the field after being red carded against Limerick. Photograph: James Crombie Were Dublin to beat Cork and reach their first All-Ireland senior hurling final since 1961, that would have obvious historic resonance. But the bookies, clear-eyed and unsentimental, will pay you 11 to 2 for backing that outcome. That Limerick were beaten was probably not the biggest turn-up. There had been plenty of queries as to where they stood, having been beaten twice in Munster, admittedly once on penalties. But for Dublin to administer the coup was unforeseen by nearly everyone. The improbability intensified with captain Chris Crummey's dismissal in the 15th minute. Already, he had been making an impact on the match and had scored a point. But so had his team. They won an early ruck in front of Hill 16 and had tussled their way to a narrow 0-5 to 0-7 deficit by the time of the red card – an uncomplicated decision for referee Liam Gordon after the player had visibly raised his elbow at Gearóid Hegarty. There has been plenty of academic focus on the psychological aspect of red cards in sport. The Ringelmann effect suggests that individual effort decreases as the size of the group performing a task increases, which can impact on the team with the numerical advantage. Conversely, teams typically describe how members raise their work rate to compensate for losing a player. In 1996, Limerick lost a match at Croke Park to 14 men after Wexford's Eamonn Scallan was sent off just before half-time. Manager Liam Griffin explained how they had coped. 'We had planned for it if a man was off. If we had an extra man. If they had an extra man. We wrote it and rewrote it. What we would do if a back was sent off, if a midfielder was sent off, if a forward was sent off. We wrote it down and then wrote it again.' Such contingency planning, it is argued, has been rendered redundant by the modern game. Last April, Clare overhauled a nine-point deficit after Cork lost Shane Barrett for the last 10 minutes. Yet, as Ó Ceallacháin said of the response afterwards, having detailed his reorganisation: 'It's not tactical. What it comes down to is the boys inside, how deep they dug ...' John Hetherton celebrates after scoring Dublin's first goal against Limerick. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho Dublin had been such long odds for the match, their prospects so disregarded, that this may have functioned as a liberation. Nobody was expecting them to win and unless they were annihilated, there would likely be little blame in defeat: a free shot. That feeling presumably intensified when they lost a key player. So, it played out. Broadcast commentary and conversation within Croke Park at half-time made reference to Dublin's brave performance, while accepting that their opponents would in all likelihood run out winners. According to Christy O'Connor in the Irish Examiner, some bookies were still quoting them as odds-on when two points down with minutes to go. As Limerick manager John Kiely pointed out afterwards, the quarter-final was more about Dublin than his team. Start with the reaction to being two points down. Seán Currie hit a free and one from play within the following four minutes to level the match. [ Dublin's win over Limerick may be the greatest upset in championship history Opens in new window ] Kiely lamented his team's lack of energy and that was apparent. One unusual aspect was how, in the second quarter, when they were coming to terms with their handicap, Dublin still launched fast-paced, running attacks. And even when fouled, they didn't look for the free but persevered on advantage, as with Ronan Hayes's point in the 29th minute when being pulled over by Barry Nash. Even with a three-point lead at the break, Dublin's eventual eclipse was considered a matter of time. A crucial tactical switch was the introduction of John Hetherton at half-time. As Dublin naturally began to run out of steam in the second half, the option of hitting long ball into the combative St Vincent's player became an outlet rather than constantly running the ball forward. His input included scoring a goal and breaking a high ball to assist Cian O'Sullivan for the second within 34 seconds. RTÉ commentator Darragh Maloney exclaimed: 'What is happening here?' He wasn't the only one saying it.
Irish Times
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Seán Moran: Louth's historic success shows the power - and limitations
Not all breakthroughs are the same. As Louth walked their high-wire routines of running down the clock and keeping possession out of Meath hands for nearly all of seven minutes, they were effectively chasing the past. The major achievement of winning Leinster for the first time since 1957 will of course influence their future and how football is seen in the county – but it also connects with their history. Unlike many of the heartwarming tales of landmark provincial success that the GAA has seen in recent decades – Leitrim, Laois, Westmeath – last weekend's outcome revived a county that has three All-Irelands and a significant place in the history of football. Four decades before Sam Maguire was captured in the 1957 All-Ireland final against Cork, Louth had been one of the top teams in football, winning All-Irelands in 1910 and 1912. Their rivalry with Kerry had provided the money to buy Croke Park with the gate receipts taken in the 1913 Croke Memorial final, which went to a replay. READ MORE Originally hoped to provide funds for a statue to commemorate the GAA's first patron, the tournament final generated huge interest among the public. The draw brought a crowd of 26,000 and the replay attendance was estimated at anything between 35,000 and 50,000. The Great Southern and Western Railway company had trains running on every line, accounting for nearly 12,000 of the attendance. Kerry won but so munificent were the gate receipts that they accounted for more than half of the £3,500 acquisition price for what is now Croke Park. Coincidentally, just as this year's spectacle has benefited from the FRC 4v3 rule, limiting numbers in the middle third, 112 years ago the reduction of players on a team, from 17 to 15, also opened up space on the field. This made the game more exciting. Micheál Reid, Dylan Shevlin, Ryan Shevlin, Adam Gillespie and Keelin Martin celebrate with their teacher Bridget Smith after Louth won the Leinster under-20 football title. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho There is therefore a different quality to triumphs such as Louth's. It brings a sense of paradise regained, even if not that many people are still around from 68 years ago when the county surprised Dublin in the provincial final and went on to win that year's All-Ireland. Sunday's victory against Meath was an exceptional result which will bring significant promotional benefits. This will especially be the case now that it is being accompanied by underage success. The county has won its first under-20/under-21 provincial title in 43 years and next Monday, the Louth minors face Offaly looking for a first minor championship in 72 years. What will this do for Leinster football in general? That depends. Last Sunday's attendance was 65,786 – a record crowd at Croke Park for a final not featuring Dublin. The healthy crowd illustrates the attraction of matches offering a realistic chance of silverware. This has been endemic in Munster football forever The Dubs, though, are never far away and the current team, still laden with All-Ireland medals, are generally expected to be back after the cold-shower effect of losing to Meath. Other Leinster counties will undoubtedly be emboldened by the Sky Blues' decline but there will also be apprehension. Or will the province return to the 2000s and become more open and competitive – there were historic titles for Laois and Westmeath – but adrift in national terms? This happened to the point where the province's representatives became back markers in the All-Ireland series. [ Conor McManus: Rule changes make Gaelic football more exciting and managing the clock even more crucial Opens in new window ] [ Provincial championships clearly matter, but their link to the All-Ireland remains a problem Opens in new window ] Already, there is an unparalleled drought in Leinster when Dublin are stripped out. They may have won nine All-Irelands in the past 14 years but no other Leinster county has claimed the prize this century. The gap of 26 years since Meath were last champions is already longer than the previously longest interval between Kildare in 1928 and Meath in 1949. This makes winning provincial titles all the more desirable because they are the ceiling of realistic ambition as opposed to what we have seen in Connacht and Ulster. There, elite teams pursue their provincial title in search of a momentum that might lead to ultimate success, or at least to avoid the damage to morale of disappointment. Limerick's Cian Lynch celebrates with the Liam MacCarthy Cup after the 2023 All-Ireland SHC final against Kilkenny. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho For all of that, the connection between the provincial championships and All-Ireland victory is being weakened all the time. Donegal may have put Ulster titles back-to-back but they will be conscious that Armagh survived losing last year's provincial final and rebounded to win the All-Ireland. Neither is it just football. Hurling has been travelling on parallel tracks for a while. In the five years of the round-robin format, Munster counties have won every All-Ireland, but despite the dominance of Limerick in both, the provincial champions have not gone on to win Liam MacCarthy in three seasons. Leinster hurling has become more of a Northern Conference with Galway and Antrim present and no team from the geographical province has won an All-Ireland in 10 years. If Kilkenny are excluded, it's 27 years since a county from the province won the national championship – again, like football, the longest blank in history. It can be argued that the situations are similar in both games – historically dominant teams casting a shadow in which their provincial rivals struggle to grow and thrive. Even when the domination is disrupted, other counties need time to develop a challenge at the upper end. This has been endemic in Munster football forever. Cork's occasional resistance has been enough to land seven All-Irelands but none of the province's supporting cast has managed even one in the last century. It makes perfect sense that at this stage, the championship is so conspicuously two competitions. There will be arguments over how one should accommodate the other, but as was obvious last weekend, dreams of provincial success remain vivid no matter what the likelihood of further advancement.
