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Irish Examiner
14-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Re-entry into football's top-tier must only be the beginning for Kildare
Tailteann Cup final: Kildare 1-24 (1-4-16) Limerick 2-19 (2-1-17) Saturday confirmed what we all suspected since the throw-in of the 2025 season. This is not Kildare's level. They are not a Division 3 League outfit. They are not a tier two championship side. Less certain are we, though, as to how much above this level Kildare actually are. Escape from the League's Division 3 was only achieved via scoring difference. Offaly subsequently denied them Division 3 silverware. The one still-Division 2 outfit they ran into all year - Louth - bettered them in the Leinster semi-final. Bettering Limerick on Saturday required a Brian Byrne half-block right on the hooter to prevent an equalising goal. So, while the verdict on this year of rehabilitation came back as expected, the jury remains out on the inroads and impact Kildare can make when returning to football's upper echelons in 2026. Right now, nobody is envisaging a Meath-esque run. Even emulating their Tailteann Cup predecessors, Down, and lasting 12 rounds with a Division 1 outfit in the last 12 of Sam Maguire does not look within their capabilities. The counter-argument to that is the value of Saturday's win and the extent to which it can lift a young side unburdened by Kildare's unfulfilled past. Eight of Saturday's starting team, plus second-half subs Jack McKevitt and Eoin Cully, featured in either the 2022 or '23 All-Ireland U20 final. At the start line of their senior inter-county careers, and with a strong guiding hand from Kevin Feely, Alex Beirne, and Darragh Kirwan, they have delivered the county's first piece of senior silverware since the 2012 Division 2 League crown and first piece of championship silverware since the provincial triumph of 25 years ago. Further scars of the past have been healed and erased. A first pair of back-to-back Croke Park championship wins since 2010. In the intervening 15 years, they'd lost 20 of their 27 summer HQ outings. And so, re-entry into football's high society is only the beginning for this Kildare group, announced Brian Flanagan. Kildare captain Kevin Feely lifts the cup after his side's victory in the Tailteann Cup final match between Kildare and Limerick at Croke Park. Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile 'It is year one of what we hope will be four, and maybe more, but winning and lifting silverware was so, so important so you had that in the mentality and in the psyche going forward, because there's much bigger challenges lie ahead for us,' said the year one Kildare boss. 'What this year has done is proven that we deserve to be there in Division 2 and Sam Maguire. We've earned our spot in both. We didn't get it easy. We had to beat the best teams. I felt the winner of the Tailteann Cup was going to come from Westmeath, Offaly, Sligo, Fermanagh. "We beat Westmeath in Leinster, we beat the other three throughout this journey. Dealing with pressure and expectancy is something they've come through. 'People spoke about Croke Park having a bit of a hoodoo over Kildare teams in the last decade or more, so having back-to-back wins here now, for the psyche of the group, can only be a positive going forward. 'We're ambitious. We want to play as many games as we can here, but we know that there's a step up going into year two, but that's something we relish.' The psyche of the group was challenged in front of a swelling Croke Park crowd when Killian Ryan goaled for a two-point Limerick lead on 47 minutes. The Lilywhites had commanded a first-half lead of seven and second-half lead of five. Now they were chasing. Composure won out. A touch of class too. Nothing spectacular, but rather an at times confident execution of the simple when so many others were falling on this front. Limerick got off 11 shots following Ryan's goal. Four white flags was their 36% return. Danny Neville and Barry Coleman's two-point efforts fell short. Darragh Murray's goal drive was blocked. The four remaining opportunities went wide. Kildare, for contrast, engineered 14 scoring opportunities. Their return was 50%. Darragh Kirwan kicked a two-pointer into the breeze to tie matters at 2-15 to 1-18 immediately after the aforementioned Limerick two-point fails. 'It's everything that I would have wanted coming back from soccer,' said former professional-turned Kildare captain Kevin Feely. 'In my 10th or 11th season playing for Kildare, we finally get some silverware.' Scorers for Kildare: D Kirwan (0-8, 2 tps); A Beirne (1-2); B McLoughlin (tp), R Sinkey (0-3 each); C Bolton (tp), K Feely (free), C Dalton (0-2 each); T Gill, D Flynn (0-1 each). Scorers for Limerick: C Fahy, K Ryan (1-1 each); J Ryan (tp free, 0-1 '45), P Nash (free), J Naughton (0-2 frees), T McCarthy (0-3 each); E Rigter (0-2); T Childs, D Neville, R O'Brien (0-1 each). KILDARE: C Burke; R Burke, H O'Neill, B Byrne; T Gill, D Hyland, J McGrath; K Feely, B Gibbons; C Bolton, D Kirwan, C Dalton; R Sinkey, A Beirne, D Flynn. SUBS: J McKevitt for McGrath, B McLoughlin for Gibbons (both 43); E Cully for Flynn (47); M O'Grady for Burke (66). LIMERICK: J Ryan; J Hassett, D O'Doherty, M McCarthy; K Ryan, I Corbett, T McCarthy; T Childs, D O'Hagan; P Maher, C Fahy, D Neville; P Nash, E Rigter, J Naughton. SUBS: B Coleman for T Childs (temporary, 16-18); D Murray for O'Hagan (43); B Coleman for Maher (47); R Childs for Rigter (55); T Ó Siochrú for Corbett (61); R O'Brien for T Childs (66). REFEREE: L Devenney (Mayo).
Irish Examiner
17-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
'Results will keep lads on the bus': Limerick football look to stop high turnover rate
A hurry on nobody. Forty minutes have passed since the final whistle. The Gaelic Grounds field is a framed picture of tranquil cheer. Players mingle in their own local pods. Danny Neville chats to six or seven Ballysteen mates, Cillian Fahy and an elderly gentleman are locked in conversation. Jimmy Lee drifts from group to group. Of no interest to the manager is ushering lads back to the dressing-room. Jimmy assumed the Limerick reins ahead of the 2024 season. Jimmy inherited a Limerick panel minus 19 of its members from the 2023 class. The results reflected this unhealthy level of player churn. Limerick lost all seven of their Division 3 League outings. Relegation to the basement floor. Successive relegations, in fact. Limerick were, at that point, winless in 15 consecutive League outings. The advancement achieved by his brother Billy across six years of steps back but bigger strides forward was in freefall. Progress unwound, Limerick football once more mired in gloom. Fast forward to early Sunday evening. A first four-in-a-row of championship wins in the one season since 1896. A ninth victory in 11 outings to celebrate. Of the 2,119 patrons that paid in, a healthy portion have packed out onto the field. Photos, hugs, kisses, and handshakes. Nobody in a hurry, everybody happy. Cillian Fahy wears the title of Limerick captain. He approaches the conversation as such. He sees the immediate picture and the long-term picture. He impressively articulates his vision for Limerick football. That vision goes beyond this Sunday and a potential first championship victory at Croke Park in 127 years. 'You could see with the crowd that there were a lot of kids here, a lot of people that wouldn't normally come to football games were here. That is all a result of the year so far. Winning helps everything. Hopefully we can keep building it, not just this year, but more so over the next couple of years,' says the half-forward. Year-on-year development, even year-on-year stability, as referenced above, has been a problem area. The wind comes in and out of their sails at far too frequent intervals. Promotion to Division 2, relegation to Division 4. Progression to the 2022 Munster final followed, two years later, by a 17-point Tailteann Cup quarter-final pummeling by Sligo. 'On that, a big thing for us is that we have lost 15, 16 players each year over the last three years. There's been a massive turnover of players. The biggest thing for us over the next three or four years is to keep as much of this panel together as we can. 'A lot of young lads have come in this year, and it is going to be their team over the next five years, so we just need to make sure the standards are there and people want to be part of the group and want to keep coming back. 'This year is important, but in terms of a long-term view, that is nearly more important. Results will keep lads on the bus. The stuff going on in the background, everything is being done right and is a massive help.' GREEN MISSION: Limerick captain Cillian Fahy speaks to his teammates during the team huddle before the Tailteann Cup quarter-final. Pic: Tom Beary/Sportsfile A primary school teacher by profession, Fahy is 11 seasons inside in the Limerick dressing-room. This present set-up, encompassing management and playing personnel, is the 'best' he's ever been involved in. Fellow forward Peter Nash was in the door a year before Fahy. They made their championship debut the same afternoon in May 2015 against Clare. It was four years later, in 2019, before the pair tasted a first Munster championship win. It was 2022 before they played in a League or Championship final. And it was March 29 this year before they tasted final success, that in the Division 4 League decider. That Division 4 campaign actually began with a draw against Longford and defeat at home to Wexford, stretching out to 17 games the county's winless League run. 'Even at that point, I personally felt we were one win away from catching fire because there were a lot of good things being done from a coaching standpoint from very early in the year, you could see a defined plan, you could see a road to improvement in every single session,' says Nash. 'I have to give credit to management; they've put real direction around what the group wants to be about and how we want to play. In the twilight of your career, to see that and to be benefiting from it, and to be still looking to get better and having somebody provide a pathway for you to get better has been special. 'With how things are being done and run, you can see the foundations are there for the next couple of years already. That is another real energy giver for players. You would really hope that this would be a continuous build, taking real inspiration from Clare, that spent seven years in Division 2, taking inspiration from Louth, who beat us in a Division 3 final and then won Leinster a few years later. "That is who you want to emulate. This coaching team and being part of this set-up is showing you those things are achievable.' They make for Croke Park this Sunday. Wicklow stand between them and a first Tailteann Cup final appearance, the same Wicklow team they rescued a point off in Aughrim in mid-March to all but seal their first trip of the year to GAA HQ. 'Before this year, I'd only played in Croke Park once, so to get there twice this year is beyond our wildest dreams,' Fahy continued. 'When you haven't played there that often, your focus can come away from the game and you can kind of be overawed by the whole occasion. But we have the experience now of getting there, knowing we can perform there, and are not just going up to take part.' There's history in their making Croker twice in the one campaign. 33-year-old Nash didn't need history to validate his 12-year existence in green. 'I know for a lot of the group, we'd be generally proud to be associated with Limerick football, even if that wasn't the case. But that does add a real feeling of self-satisfaction. 'It has been a rollercoaster [with Limerick] but loved every minute of it and every extra minute I get I am going to savour it because nothing can replace this for me.'
Irish Examiner
16-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Goalfest victory over Wexford sets up historic day for Limerick footballers
Tailteann Cup quarter-final: Limerick 4-21 (4-2-17) Wexford 2-19 (2-6-7) Prior to March 29, the Limerick footballers had not set foot in Croke Park in just under three years. The gap to the most recent visit before that was nine years, give or take a week. Eighty-five days after their Division 3 League success over the same opponents bettered here, the Limerick footballers will step back out onto the Croker sod next Sunday. There'll be history in that step. The first Limerick football team to visit GAA HQ twice in the same year. The last step to securing history was more harum-scarum than hardship. Once Danny Neville immediately answered Mark Rossiter's goal on 48 minutes to restore Limerick's four-point lead, their ongoing numerical advantage on account of Seán Ryan's black card and the strong wind behind them meant no other outcome bar Limerick again turning the bus for Croker was conceivable. This fourth championship win in succession is also believed to be a Limerick football first. This fourth win in succession has secured a first championship appearance on Jones Road since the 2011 All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Kerry. Their dancing partner will be one of Fermanagh, Kildare, and Wicklow. All four are first-time Tailteann Cup semi-finalists. But irrespective of how next Sunday pans out for Jimmy Lee's side, this 2025 season has already exceeded external expectations and reclaimed the backward steps of a 2024 annus horribilis where they lost 10 of their 13 outings, suffered relegation to the League's basement tier, and exited the championship 17 points adrift of Sligo. This still ongoing campaign is unrecognisable by comparison. Since Wexford bettered them on February 2, they've recorded nine victories and a draw, and lost only once, that to Cork in the Munster quarter-final. According to Lee, the Round 6 League stalemate away to Wicklow on March 16 stands as their turning point. A rescued point that kept them ahead of their hosts in the table and in possession of a promotion berth. 'Hats off to the lads. They've shown a lot of courage, resilience, and character throughout. We've built that character since... I go back to that Wicklow game always. That is what made it. That was the start of it. 'Fierce happy for the lads that they are achieving their goals. We set a KPI of getting back to Croke Park and that box is ticked. They deserve this.' A strange and enjoyable first half. Wexford, with a strong wind, powered five clear inside five minutes. They then fell six behind, only to wipe out that gap for a 3-8 to 1-14 interval stalemate. The visitors won the first four Limerick restarts. The latter three were promptly returned between the posts by Jack Higgins, Seán Nolan and Páiric Hughes. Limerick's response was to wrestle back control of their own kickout, take control also of the Wexford kickout, post 1-6 without reply in the process, and hold Wexford scoreless for an entire quarter of an hour. Their opening goal on 16 minutes involved Danny Neville taking advantage of a slip to himself slip inside the cover, the offload to Cillian Fahy was palmed home. Neville was provider turned finisher for their second. Fahy bagged his second and Limerick's third in a shifting 10-minute spell. An 11-point swing, Limerick now six in front. Wexford's closing five minutes was as productive as their opening five. Seán Nolan found the net. His subsequent two-point equaliser arrived 17 seconds shy of the hooter. It represented Wexford's fifth orange flag of the half. In the 25 minutes between their busy bookending of the half, all they had for sustenance was Niall Hughes and Mark Rossiter kicks from the beyond the arc. Another orange flag threw in the second half, James Naughton supplying Limerick's first. Their second orange flag pulled the curtain down. Goalkeeper Josh Ryan, far from home, capped the day and continued a restorative season when coming forward for an audacious boomer. To-ing, fro-ing, six green flags, eight more in orange, and a not insignificant piece of history at the end of it all. Infrequent Croker callers no more. Scorers for Limerick: J Naughton (0-9, 0-3 frees, tp free); D Neville (2-2); C Fahy (2-0); E Rigter (0-3); J Ryan (tp), P Maher (0-2 each); M McCarthy, D O'Hagan, R Childs (0-1 each). Scorers for Wexford: S Nolan (1-7, 2 tp, 0-2 frees); M Rossiter (1-3, tp); N Hughes (0-4, 2 tp); J Higgins (0-3, tp); E Porter, P Hughes (0-1 each). LIMERICK: J Ryan; J Hassett, D O'Doherty, M McCarthy; P Maher, I Corbett, T McCarthy; T Childs, D O'Hagan; J Naughton, E Rigter, C Fahy; P Nash, D Neville, K Ryan. SUBS: T Ó Siochrú for McCarthy (two mins, temporary); R Childs for O'Hagan (50); D Murray for T Childs, R O'Brien for Neville (both 59); C Ó Duinn for Ó Siochrú (65); A Meade for Maher (68). WEXFORD: D Brooks; E Porter, G Sheehan, M Furlong; P Hughes, G Malone, D Furlong; L Coleman, N Hughes; M Kinsella, J Higgins, M Rossiter; S Nolan, R Brooks, B Brosnan. SUBS: S Ryan for R Brooks, K O'Grady for Brosnan (both HT); R Martin for Kinsella, C Walsh for D Furlong (both 59); C Kehoe for Malone (64). REFEREE: B Griffin (Kerry).
Irish Examiner
15-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
History and Croke Park beckons for Limerick footballers
Táilteann Cup: Limerick 4-21 (4-2-17) Wexford 2-19 (2-6-7). TO-ING, fro-ing, six green flags, eight more in orange, and a sizeable piece of history at the end of all that. Limerick's fourth consecutive win of the Tailteann Cup has them back on the road to Croker. It was Wexford who they also trumped when last visiting GAA HQ on March 29 for the Division 3 League decider. And therein is your piece of history; no Limerick football team has ever visited Croke Park twice in the one season. Limerick's fourth consecutive win of the Tailteann Cup has them on the road to Croke Park for a first championship appearance since the 2011 All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Kerry. Fermanagh, Kildare, and Wicklow and their potential semi-final opponents. And although unverified as of yet, there may be history too in Limerick recording four championship wins on the bounce. That too is believed to be a welcome first. Irrespective of how next Sunday pans out for Jimmy Lee's side, this 2025 season of theirs has already exceeded external expectations and reclaimed the backward steps of a 2024 annus horribilis where they lost 10 of their 13 outings and suffered relegation to the League's basement tier. This ongoing campaign is unrecognisable by comparison. Since Wexford bettered them in the League's second round on February 2, they've recorded nine victories and a draw, and come off second best only once, that to Cork in the Munster quarter-final. A strange and enjoyable first-half. Wexford, with a strong wind, powered five clear inside five minutes. They then fell six behind, only to recover and wipe out that gap for an interval stalemate. Wexford won the first four Limerick restarts. The latter three were promptly returned between the posts. Jack Higgins rose orange, Seán Nolan and Páiric Hughes rose white. Added to the opening kick of Higgins 40 or seconds in and Wexford's smart start had the scoreboard reading 0-5 to 0-0. Limerick's response was to wrestle back control of their kickout, take control also of the Wexford kickout, kick 1-6 without reply in the process, and hold Wexford scoreless for an entire quarter of an hour. James Naughton and Danny Neville were twisting and turning the Wexford defence inside out when cutting in from the Mackey Stand side. Their opening goal on 16 minutes involved Neville taking advantage of a slip to slip inside the cover, offloading across the large parallelogram to where Cillian Fahy palmed home. Neville was provider turned finisher for their second five minutes later. Fahy bagged his second and Limerick's third in 10 minutes on 26 minutes. An 11-point swing, Limerick now six to the good. LEE-DING MAN: Limerick manager Jimmy Lee. Wexford's opening five minutes, as mentioned, produced five points. Their closing five minutes produced 1-5. Higgins to Ben Brosnan to Seán Nolan for the goal. Nolan's two-point equaliser arrived 17 seconds shy of the hooter. It represented his second and Wexford's fifth orange flag of the half. In the 25 minutes between their busy bookending of the half, all they had for sustenance was Niall Hughes and Mark Rossiter kicks from the beyond the arc. Another orange flag pulled back the curtain on the second period, James Naughton supplying Limerick's first of the day. Limerick had further wind billowed into their sails when Wexford half-time sub Seán Ryan was black carded on 43 minutes. The 14-men Model County actually clawed the deficit back to the minimum during Ryan's 10 minutes in the bin, Mark Rossiter barreling his way through before executing a fine finish. 3-13 to 2-15. That was as close as this quarter-final came in the second 35 minutes. Cillian Fahy answered with his second and the Treaty's fourth major. Their lead swelled from there. Goalkeeper Josh Ryan capped the day and continued a restorative season when coming forward for an audacious two-pointer. History at the end of a harum-scarum 70 minutes. Scorers for Limerick: J Naughton (0-9, 0-3 frees, tp free); D Neville (2-2); C Fahy (2-0); E Rigter (0-3); J Ryan (tp), P Maher (0-2 each); M McCarthy, D O'Hagan, R Childs (0-1 each). Scorers for Wexford: S Nolan (1-7, 2 tp, 0-2 frees); M Rossiter (1-3, tp); N Hughes (0-4, 2 tp); J Higgins (0-3, tp); E Porter, P Hughes (0-1 each). LIMERICK: J Ryan; J Hassett, D O'Doherty, M McCarthy; P Maher, I Corbett, T McCarthy; T Childs, D O'Hagan; J Naughton, E Rigter, C Fahy; P Nash, D Neville, K Ryan. Subs: T Ó Siochrú for McCarthy (two mins, inj); R Childs for O'Hagan (50); D Murray for T Childs, R O'Brien for Neville (both 59); C Ó Duinn for Ó Siochrú (65); A Meade for Maher (68). WEXFORD: D Brooks; E Porter, G Sheehan, M Furlong; P Hughes, G Malone, D Furlong; L Coleman, N Hughes; M Kinsella, J Higgins, M Rossiter; S Nolan, R Brooks, B Brosnan. Subs: S Ryan for R Brooks, K O'Grady for B Brosnan (both HT); R Martin for Kinsella, C Walsh for D Furlong (both 59); C Kehoe for Malone (64). Referee: B Griffin (Kerry). ENDS
