Latest news with #DarraghCanavan
Irish Examiner
01-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Tyrone 'by no means the finished article' insists Canavan
Tyrone are still a work in progress, with a number of problems to iron out if they are to reach a first All-Ireland final since 2021, according to attacker Darragh Canavan. And with a semi-final test against resurgent foes Kerry on the way, the Red Hands will need to step up to a higher level following their victory over a faltering Dublin side. 'We know ourselves we're by no means the finished article. It's about trying to get that consistency, playing two, three, four good games in a row, instead of one or two good games and a terrible game,' said Canavan. 'We're working on, it, and hopefully we'll get the work done and we'll be ready for it. The Errigal Ciaran star felt the Red Hands benefitted from topping their group in the round robin series, which enabled them to gain an extra weeks rest by skipping the preliminary quarter-final round. 'To be fair to Dublin, I think the extra week probably helped us. 'We have been in their position before, and playing week on week is very tough, and it probably told in the last five or ten minutes, and our bench made a massive impact, they were brilliant when they came on, so we're very, very happy.' The Dubs came strongly at the Ulster men in the second half, but superb defending and raw courage helped them hold out, before breaking to finish strongly. 'We got ourselves ready for it, we knew that they would have some sort of purple patch, but if we stuck around long enough, and if our bench could make some sort of an impact, and they did.' And he feels a big-game victory at Croke Park will give a massive boost of confidence to the entire squad. 'We probably haven't had a great record in Croke Park this past three or four years, since the All-Ireland anyway. 'We haven't been here too many times, to be fair. 'We need to get that consistency and get ready for a big performance the next day out.' Canavan believes Tyrone can find ways to prosper under the new rules, with a set of talented attackers and a strong bench. 'It is a completely different game now compared to the last few years. 'It probably suits us a wee bit more, but we have a lot to work on.' Two weeks of intense reflection and preparation will be spent at Garvaghey, but for now, nothing beats being there. 'It's a great feeling, it was a tough game, so just to get over the line is very satisfying,' he said. 'We probably didn't help ourselves at times, with bits and pieces of decision-making and mistakes, but we dug in and we did enough, and now we're looking forward to the next game.'
Irish Times
15-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Tyrone profit from Cavan inaccuracy to top Group 1
All-Ireland SFC: Tyrone 0-31 Cavan 0-18 There were a couple of passages of play early in the second half which told the story of this match. Cavan had cut the deficit to seven points, which seemed to spur Tyrone into life; magical points from Darragh Canavan and Darren McCurry followed, the next Cavan kickout went over the sideline and Canavan played a delightful pass to Ciaran Daly, who hooked over from the end-line without looking up. Game over. The vagaries of the championship system are such that Cavan still go through despite losing rounds two and three by a combined 32 points, leaking 3-57 across the two matches. The Breffnimen's conversion rate from open play here was 42 per cent. Tyrone, on 80 per cent, shot the lights out. Cavan came into this one without a win over the Red Hands in championship football since 1983 and suffered a chastening loss to their northern rivals nine weeks ago in the quarter-final of the Ulster Championship at Healy Park. In that match, Tyrone led by 10 at half-time, here it was nine, and the game followed a similar pattern, too. Cavan had to scrap for their lives to win possession on kickouts, while Niall Morgan was able to get his away easier and, up front, Tyrone were more inventive and accurate. READ MORE Cavan started well, with Padraig Faulkner prominent and the sides were level at 0-2 apiece after 10 minutes, Darragh Canavan and Mattie Donnelly registering for Tyrone and Cormac O'Reilly, who was very sharp for Cavan, landing both for the Blues. But in the blink of an eye, Tyrone had built up a useful lead. A two-point free from Morgan nudged Tyrone, who had lost Michael McKernan to injury after two minutes, was followed by a terrific effort from Donnelly, who was excellent in the first 25 minutes, and a two-pointer from McKernan's replacement, Peter Harte, made it 0-7 to 0-2. Tyrone's Peter Harte and Cavan's Oisin Brady. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho Cavan, who missed five of their first seven efforts at the posts, needed to stop the bleeding but instead it was Tyrone who pushed on, Donnelly scoring twice and Niall Devlin adding another to make it 0-10 to 0-3 on 18 minutes, with Paddy Lynch scoring Cavan's third from a 45. Quickly, this was turning into a movie that both sets of supporters have seen too often before. Seanie O'Donnell and Cormac O'Reilly traded scores and Lynch added a free, but Tyrone were clinical, Canavan and Rory Brennan (two-pointer) extending the lead. A left-footed point from the impressive Kieran McGeary after the hooter left it at 0-17 to 0-9 at the break, and although Lynch and O'Reilly ate into the deficit, Tyrone weren't rattled and two missed frees drained the blue resistance. Canavan, McGeary and Brennan added further scores and although subs Ryan O'Neill and Ruairi Curran belatedly injected some zip into the Cavan attack, Tyrone bagged five of the last six scores to win as they liked, recently-crowned U20 Footballer of the Year Eoin McElholm coming off the bench to kick the final score. And one of the loudest cheers of the day from the Tyrone faithful was reserved for Conor Meyler, coming off the bench with 15 minutes to go to make his first appearance in two years. TYRONE: N Morgan (0-1-0, 1tpf), C Quinn, P Teague, N Devlin (0-0-1), M McKernan, R Brennan (0-1-1), K McGeary (0-0-2), B Kennedy, C Kilpatrick, S O'Donnell (0-0-1), M Donnelly (0-0-4), C Daly (0-0-1), D McCurry (0-2-5, 2tpf, 4f), P Hampsey, D Canavan (0-0-5). Subs: P Harte (0-1-0) for M McKernan (3 mins), A Clarke for N Devlin (30), E McElholm (0-0-1) for M Donnelly (48), Conor Meyler for K McGeary (55), Ben McDonnell for C Kilpatrick (61). CAVAN: L Brady, N Carolan, K Brady, Cian Reilly, B O'Connell, Ciaran Brady, P Faulkner, O Kiernan, E Crowe, G Smith, D McVeety, O Brady (0-0-1), Cormac O'Reilly (0-0-4), P Lynch (0-2-5, 4f), Cian Madden. Subs: S McEvoy (0-0-1) for K Brady (31 mins), Ryan O'Neill (0-1-0) for G Smith (50), Ruairi Curran (0-0-1) for O Kiernan (54), Killian Clarke for C Brady (60), Luke Fortune for C Reilly (65). Referee: P Neilan (Roscommon).
Irish Times
14-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Dean Rock: Mayo will need Aidan O'Shea to wreak havoc to beat Donegal
There were echoes of the old Mayo in how the current crop went about dismantling Tyrone two weeks ago. Just when you figured the air had gone out of Mayo's season, they suddenly took flight again . The question now though is which Mayo will turn up at Dr Hyde Park on Sunday – the lacklustre side that lost to Cavan or the high-energy team that beat Tyrone? When the stakes are high and the safety net is gone, that tends to be when Mayo perform. The victory over Tyrone was predicated on ferocious hard work all across the pitch, forcing turnovers and then breaking at pace. It was pure endeavour, aggression and just playing that unstructured man-to-man type game that seems to comes naturally to them. But it would be wrong to say it was all chaos football because Mayo managed the game quite well in the second half when Tyrone's surge arrived. During that period when Darragh Canavan got a goal and Tyrone were clearly in the ascendancy, Mayo didn't panic. READ MORE They maintained their shape, held the ball when required in a bid to take the sting out of the game, created some of their set 11 v 11 attacks and kept the scoreboard ticking over. They weathered the storm by adopting a structured approach – but they won the contest by playing their traditional brand of football in the first half. The victory was built on that first-half display. They will need to start like a steam train against Donegal as well because if they are trailing by five or six points at half-time, I don't see a way back for Mayo. And that's where a fundamental issue arises because one long-held criticism of Mayo continues to prevail – they aren't scoring enough. Mayo will probably need to get north of 21 or 22 scores to beat Donegal but on the evidence of what they've done this year, it doesn't look like they are going to be able to do that. Mayo's highest tally all season was the 2-20 they posted against Sligo in a Connacht quarter-final . Ryan O'Donoghue of Mayo and Canice Mulligan of Sligo during the Connacht championship. Photograph: Andrew Paton/Inpho In three of their six championship outings, Donegal have outscored that 2-20 tally. Donegal's lowest return was 0-20 against Tyrone. Mayo managed just 1-14 against Cavan , Donegal put 3-26 on Raymond Galligan's side . So, if Mayo are to remain alive in this year's championship they will need to bring their best attacking display of the year to the Hyde. The reality is that if Ryan O'Donoghue is contained Mayo will struggle to get scores from elsewhere. The absence of Tommy Conroy from the attack has allowed Mayo's opponents to really focus in on stopping O'Donoghue. One big plus for Mayo is the return of Paddy Durcan, and he showed against Tyrone that he continues to have the ability to carry a scoring threat from deep. Davitt Neary is also a threat carrying the ball at pace. But when it comes to adding more punch up top, the big question is whether Mayo can utilise Aidan O'Shea more productively? O'Shea was brilliant against Tyrone but I just wonder, with him in mind, have Mayo harnessed the new rules sufficiently and tested that long kick from outside the 45 to inside the 21? Because O'Shea has great hands and is a brilliant ball winner. With these new rules there is more space now for forwards if direct ball is kicked inside. Aidan O'Shea after a missed goal chance against Tyrone. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho Donegal have some very good defenders but they aren't necessarily the tallest in the game so O'Shea probably has a height advantage there which Mayo could exploit. Donegal might be forced to react to such a tactic by bringing a player like Hugh McFadden back, but if nothing else that would be giving Jim McGuinness something to think about, possibly altering and upsetting his plans. O'Shea is better known for his assists more than his scoring, laying the ball off with quick hands. I think he has to be more selfish against Donegal – he should take it upon himself to support O'Donoghue in the scoring department. O'Shea's scoring rate needs to be higher – he was excellent against Tyrone but in terms of his own shooting he only came away with 0-1. He scored 1-0 against Cavan and was held scoreless in the Connacht final by Galway . He managed only 0-1 against Leitrim in the semi-final but against Sligo he chipped in with 1-2, and that is the kind of range he needs to be targeting against Donegal. Over the years he has probably been too selfless in many ways by offloading to a team-mate – I'd like to see him be a bit more score-hungry this weekend because I don't think Mayo are going to win the game if O'Shea only scores a point or two. He needs to be just wreaking havoc in there because that in turn will create opportunities for O'Donoghue as Donegal will have more than just one threat to be fussing over. [ All-Ireland Series permutations: All to play for as group stage comes to close Opens in new window ] Mayo had poured so much of their season towards winning the Nestor Cup and so the disappointment of that Connacht final defeat to Galway at the start of May appeared season-defining. The subsequent defeat to Cavan all but confirmed Mayo's campaign was about to peter out. So where did the Tyrone performance come from? There were probably several contributing factors. Given the energy Mayo had expended for the Connacht final there was a natural comedown for the Cavan game and they potentially took their eye off the ball and weren't mentally or physically capable of lifting it for that match. The criticism after that loss and the outside noise suggesting Mayo's season was done would also have galvanised the group ahead of their trip to Omagh. The news then that Kevin McStay had taken ill and was stepping away on medical grounds would have further united that dressing-room. Add in the fact Mayo knew they were out of the championship if they lost to Tyrone and you were left with a very dangerous and motivated team. Mayo will be quite happy playing in Roscommon this weekend as well because they haven't lost a championship game in the Hyde since 2001. Cavan's Padraig Faulkner and Killian Brady tackle Ciarán Moore of Donegal in Kingspan Breffni Park. Photograph: Leah Scholes/Inpho However, Donegal's form over the course of the season has been stronger than what we have seen from Mayo. And if Mayo are struggling for scorers, Donegal have any amount of them. Mayo had seven different scorers against Cavan, Donegal had 12. Mayo must set the terms of engagement early on. Stripped all the way back, you'll essentially probably have unstructured Mayo versus very structured Donegal – so whoever gets to determine the flow of the game will be hard beaten. Ultimately, I think Donegal will toss too many problems at Mayo for Stephen Rochford's side to solve them all. But if Sunday does mark the end of Mayo's season, they will realise the damage wasn't done in the Hyde, rather it was done in that defeat to Cavan at MacHale Park. There was a kick in Mayo against Tyrone last time out but the loss to Cavan might yet prove to already have been a knockout blow.
Irish Daily Mirror
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
What time, TV channel is Donegal v Tyrone on today in All-Ireland Championship?
A bug in the camp ahead of the Armagh Ulster semi-final encounter didn't help Tyrone. They have more to give than they showed that day. This is a very difficult game for Donegal. Having seen off the best in Ulster in Armagh, Down, Monaghan and Derry, they now face another battle with an ambitious Ulster outfit looking for a scalp. Donegal beat Tyrone twice in last year's championship. Expect a kick in Tyrone in such a scenario. Darragh Canavan will be sharper after injury. Brendan McCole, a serious man marker, might tag him. Darren McCurry hit 10 points against Armagh, with the two point arc certainly suiting him general sharpness in terms of pulling the trigger. Oisin Gallen found his All Star form against Armagh in Donegal's Ulster Final win. Donegal have the greater range of scorers, but this could go anyway with Tyrone looking for that signature big win to mark their arrival as serious contenders under Malachy O'Rourke. Where is the game being played? The game is being played at MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey. What time is throw-in? Throw in is at 7pm. Can I watch the game on TV? No, the game is not on TV. Is the game being streamed online? The game is being live streamed on GAA+ Betting Odds: Donegal: 4/7 Draw: 8/1 Tyrone: 9/5
BBC News
07-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Cathal McShane: Forward opts out of Tyrone panel ahead of All-Ireland SFC
Tyrone have been dealt a blow ahead of the beginning of the All-Ireland SFC as forward Cathal McShane has stepped away from the panel. McShane's last appearance for the Red Hands came last month as he was drafted into Malachy O'Rourke's starting 15 for their Ulster Championship opener against Cavan with Darragh Canavan ruled out through injury. The All-Ireland winning forward was not named in the matchday squad for Tyrone's semi-final defeat to Armagh as Canavan and Mark Bradley returned from injury. The Owen Roes attacker made just one National League appearance this season, coming off the bench to kick a point in Tyrone's defeat at Mayo in February. McShane made his inter-county debut a decade ago against Donegal in 2015 and throughout his time in red and white he picked up three Ulster SFC medals (2016, 2017 and 2021) alongside his All-Ireland SFC medal in 2021. McShane won an All-Star for his performances in 2019, finishing as the All-Ireland SFC's top scorer, kicking 3-48 in nine games. He suffered a serious ankle injury in a league game at Galway at the beginning of the 2020 season before returning to help Tyrone win the All-Ireland title in 2021, scoring goals off the bench in their semi-final win over Kerry and in the decider against Mayo. The 29-year-old's absence will prove a blow to O'Rourke and the wider Tyrone squad as they head into an All-Ireland round-robin series starting with a trip to the Ulster champions before hosting Mayo and taking on Cavan at a neutral venue.
