Latest news with #LiamMacCarthy
Irish Times
5 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Malachy Clerkin: Cork's beautiful miracle has reached an excruciating point
It's entirely possible that the Cork hurlers will not win the All-Ireland . Just saying, like. This is not meant as an insult, nor even just to tweak the proud Cork noses as they head for Croke Park this weekend. It just seems like a good time to point out that there is a world in which 2025 ends in the same way as every one of the past 20 seasons have. That is to say, with somebody other than a Cork captain singing and bucklepping on the steps of the Hogan Stand. We are at the point of peak Cork giddiness. Everyone – or at any rate, everyone outside the Dublin dressingroom – assumes that this weekend is a straightforward tick of a box. Cork didn't come this far to lose to Dublin, for the love of Ring. Check the Irish Rail website – the Cork-Heuston trains on All-Ireland final day are already sold out. So now, right now, this is when all is for the best in this best of all possible Cork worlds. They're odds-on favourites for the All-Ireland heading into the last four. This has to be a unique occurrence for a team looking to end a famine, or very close to it. READ MORE It can't have happened too many times before that a county who hasn't lifted Liam MacCarthy in such a long time are odds-on shots before they've even played the All-Ireland semi-final. Who would even be the candidates for a list like that? Limerick in 1994? Clare in '95? No way. Maybe, at a push, Limerick in '96. They had Antrim in the semi-final and would have felt they had little to fear from Galway and Wexford on the other side of the draw. They were probably favourites before the semi-finals but they wouldn't have been 4-5 shots, surely. A bookie would do slim business at that price. So we're in new territory here. And yet, it somehow feels like old territory too. Cork, Tipperary and Kilkenny filling three of the four spots in the All-Ireland semi-finals, the blue bloods reasserting their command over the old game. Stick your revolution, lads. The empire is striking back. Now, not to jinx it or anything, but Cork have never won Liam MacCarthy when all three have still been involved at this point. This is the sixth time it's happened, since you ask. Kilkenny have won four of the other five, Tipp did it in 2010. In fact, Cork have only once made it to the final in these circumstances. Joe Canning: Most people think it's Cork's All-Ireland to lose and that suits Kilkenny just fine — Irish Times Sport (@IrishTimesSport) That's why this is such a golden moment for all the Rebels pouring into the capital this weekend, their spirits high and their voices higher. Rightly or wrongly, there are no nerves to deal with here. If Dublin turn them over, it will be an immediate apocalypse, a sudden and brutal cardiac shock. But it's the kind of thing they can't feel worried about until they're stuck in the middle of it. If they win through to the final, that's when the nerves will start to infest and to spread. Cork hurling supporters are bullish but they are not bulletproof. They will feel they're better than Tipp and better than Kilkenny too but they won't be able to truly trust it. A fortnight is a long time to think about all the ways you can crash and burn, especially when you've crashed and burned in the past four finals you've been to. But that's a worry for Monday and beyond. In the here and now, we get to observe the Cork hurling albatross with its wings at full span. Watch it swoop upon Dublin city, haughty and noble and unstoppable, picking off the bits it fancies as it goes. Eating the best food the capital has to offer, drinking its porter, still full sure that the English Market and the Hi-B are superior. And quite right too. The gathering speed of the Cork hurling bandwagon has been one of the beautiful miracles of Irish sport over the past decade or so. Nobody had ever sold out an All-Ireland hurling semi-final until last year and now they're about to do it again. And not against Limerick or Clare or Wexford or any of the other mad-bastard support bases. Against Dublin, who didn't even fill Parnell Park for their Leinster matches. This will be Cork's eighth championship sell-out in a row. For any GAA team to do that is a wild achievement at a time when ticket prices have never been as high and when the cost of living is through the roof. For Cork to do it while not even winning an All-Ireland (yet?) is bananas. Yes, fine, Cork people love their hurling. But they didn't just start loving it in the past couple of years. It's easy to forget that they didn't even make it out of Munster in 2023. This is the perfect storm of a likable team, a manager of obvious decency and humanity, a starving fan base, a much-dumped-upon stadium and a county board that is finally looking outward after decades of insularity. It has grown organically, gradually, Corkily. And now it's gathering speed. They're hurtling through that twilight zone where people think of them as the best team in the country without them actually having done the thing yet. Most presume they will. But they might not. It's a precarious, delicious, excruciating position to be in. You'd feel for the hoors, if you didn't know better.
Irish Daily Mirror
11 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Cork red-hot favourites for Liam MacCarthy Cup ahead of Dubs semi-final clash
Cork remain red-hot favourites for the All-Ireland Hurling Championship as semi-final weekend approaches. The Rebels are the bookies favourites to take home the Liam MacCarthy cup this summer, and if the confidence of Cork fans is anything to go by, punters will look to back the Rebels in their droves as they look to win a first All-Ireland title since 2005. With Limerick dumped out of the Championship in shocking fashion by Dublin and defending champions Clare long gone, Munster champions Cork are expected by many to go all the way this year. They face a tough task in the semi-final however, as they take on a Dublin side that are riding the crest of a wave after their famous win over Limerick. Tipperary take on Kilkenny in the other semi-final at Croke Park this weekend, but of the four teams left, Cork are the hot favourites. Pat Ryan's side are 1/6 with Boylesports to progress to the final at Dublin's expense, with the Irish bookmaker also installing the Rebels as favourites to win the lot at 8/11. Kilkenny and Tipp follow at 3/1 and 4/1 respectively, with Dublin seen as rank outsiders at 12/1. Brian O'Keeffe, spokesperson for BOYLE Sports, said: 'Two brilliant clashes await this weekend in Croke Park but as punters look at what's to come later this month, their confidence is growing that the Red Army will descend en masse on Dublin and watch the Rebels end their 20-year All-Ireland drought.' Cork v Dublin 1/6 Cork 10/1 Draw 6/1 Dublin Kilkenny v Tipperary 5/6 Kilkenny 7/1 Draw 7/1 Tipperary All-Ireland SHC winner 8/11 Cork 3/1 Kilkenny 4/1 Tipperary 12/1 Dublin
RTÉ News
a day ago
- Sport
- RTÉ News
All-Ireland hurling semi-final: Pressure on Kilkenny to deliver; Tipperary's renewed energy
Neighbours and age-old rivals are set to meet again. We've been waiting six years for it happen. A lifetime when it's Kilkenny and Tipperary we're talking about. Back then it was the 2019 All-Ireland final, a match won comfortably in the end by the Premier, as was the case when the blue and gold claimed Liam MacCarthy against the same opposition three years previous. On Sunday next, it's a last-four assignment for both. For Kilkenny, it's ten years since they scaled the summit and four final appearances since have ended with them in the losers corner. Time then to go those extra steps, with underage success also scarce in recent times. Looking ahead to the clash with Tipperary, Jackie Tyrrell, speaking on the latest edition of the RTÉ GAA Podcast summed it up, when saying: "There is pressure on Kilkenny". He continued: "There is a feeling of pressure of losing those minor and U-20 finals and in the recent All-Ireland finals we have played against Tipp they have beaten us. "We haven't won an All-Ireland in ten years, that's a decade." That said, the nine-time All-Ireland winner is confident that the Cats can progress to the decider and also lessen the fallow periods that have punctuated some of their championship matches. "With Limerick gone it has given everyone a lease of life 'we can win this'", he added. "I feel Kilkenny will be more consistent and when they do have these lulls, they will shut it down a little bit more. "I think Eoin Cody returning offers them another dynamic; they have Mossy Keoghan in better form this year. Billy Ryan is in better form; Jordan Molloy (above) has brought a lot of energy; Cian Kenny is probably playing at a little higher level than last year. When you stack up all those, it's Kilkenny just about." In the opposite corner, former Tipperary custodian Brendan Cummins highlighted one dynamic that Liam Cahill's side have brought to the party this year. "Tipp have brought a new energy which has enthused the supporters," he said. "I went to the game against Limerick (first game in Munster round-robin) in Thurles. Tipp supporters went 'we have the auld enemy at home and you never know what might happen'. And all around the stand as the 'Tipp, Tipp, Tipp' craic started the belief started to get through to the supporters. "I was watching the young fellas down with the older bucks like John McGrath and Jason Forde - and they have not gone away either. The team have a different energy about them this year. Getting through Munster was a huge push on and I'm delighted for Liam because he has done a huge job for Tipp. "I see what he went through last year, especially after the Cork game (Tipp lost by 18 points in Munster round-robin), both inside and outside the county. It was extremely unfair the criticism he got but he understands that that is the nature of it. He bottled it and now we are seeing it out the other side." Cummins' confidence ahead of the semi-final is accentuated by what he sees as Tipp's ability to raise green flags. "When Jake Morris breaks the line, Tipp are the best team in the country for getting goals," he remarked. "Once they beat the offside trap inside the opposition 65 and head on, more often than not they make the right decision. "It's a skill of Tipp that they can hit that stick pass 35 yards to hand. That skillset is something Tipp will have to lean on if they are to get across the line here. Creating goal chances. Energy so far has led them to this point. There is no reason why they can't get over this hurdle." Watch the All-Ireland Camogie Championship quarter-finals with RTÉ Sport. Waterford v Clare on Saturday from 2.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player and Tipperary v Kilkenny on Sunday from 1.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
RTÉ News
2 days ago
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Cork and Tipperary to prevail in festival of hurling
I have been very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to go to hurling matches, sit in the best seat in the house and describe to those listening on RTÉ Radio the game which I love. There's always something particularly special when I get to sit in the car and head towards Jones's Road in Dublin for the knockout stages of the Liam MacCarthy, where I am reminded of how lucky I once was to be the player on the field for these games. This week is different as for the first time in what feels like an eternity, I will be going to talk about my own county and even better than that, my son will be with me in the car for his first time to see Tipperary play in Croke Park. He's only seven, so it's not like he has been waiting decades for this opportunity, but there will be so many travelling up in a similar boat on Sunday On the field it will be a first outing at GAA HQ for many of the Tipp players. As a player, it takes a couple of outings in Croke Park to become accustomed to it and how it plays. The 65 feels like it is 80 yards away and the breeze that is outside the ground will never be the same out on that pitch as it is caught by the stadium and swept right around. It could take someone two shots to try and figure that out. It will be advantage Kilkenny in that regard as they are so used to the surroundings, but everywhere else I look I see it as very much 50/50. Tipp have been really tested both physically and mentally in their games against Limerick and Clare, compared to Kilkenny's more breezy route to the penultimate stage. Match-up wise, I think you will see Mikey Breen and Bryan O'Mara tasked with curtailing TJ Reid and Adrian Mullen respectively. If Eoin Cody starts, I would expect Robert Doyle to pick him up given his performances to date. The midfield battle will be intriguing as Cian Kenny has proven just how vital he is to everything good for Kilkenny, so I can see Seamus Kennedy getting the nod to curb his influence. Up front for Tipp, Jake Morris, Andrew Ormonde, Jason Forde and John McGrath are all one good game away from being serious All-Star contenders. In Huw Lawlor, Kilkenny have one of the best ever to wear number three and his clubmate Mikey Butler will relish the challenge of man-marking Forde or McGrath. How do I call it? I am going with my heart and edging towards my fellow county men. Man for man, I feel Tipp are a better team right now. They have been tested, they have impact off the bench and they're hurling with a freedom we haven't seen in a long time. It will be close - very close - but I'm going with Tipp to get it done. On Saturday two tribes will go to war at a sold-out Croke Park, not surprising given the Cork supporters have packed out most places on this summer journey with their team. The Cork public are demanding of their sports stars and they judge them on one thing and one thing only – titles. Liam MacCarthy has eluded them for twenty years. How heavy is the burden weighing on this Cork group now that the safety net is gone? Against Limerick, Dublin served up the biggest hurling upset in 50 years. They played with a pride, passion and work-rate for each other that was worth 10 years of trying to develop hurling in the capital. Can Dublin actually go and win this game and knockout the best team in the country this year? I give them a massive chance. Their use of the ball against the Treaty men was exceptional, often giving the impression it was them, rather than John Kiely's side, that were enjoying the numerical advantage. The Rebels will have learned a great deal from that scalp, while the loss of captain Chris Crummey is a huge loss for the Dubs. Cork too it must be said are without a spiritual leader of their own with Seamus Harnedy ruled out. Sports psychologist Declan Coyle has the phrase "the bigger the day the better I'll play". Harnedy has epitomised this over the years for Cork. Limerick tried to isolate him on puckouts and he made hay, once again demonstrating his ability to win primary possession as well as chipping over a few scores from play. When it comes down to it, Cork I feel are a better team and will be fully motivated by last year's All-Ireland final defeat. I take them to win by four points. No matter where in the world you are this weekend, I hope you get to see this festival of hurling unfold, where drama, joy and despair will be plentiful. The All-Ireland dream is getting closer, but will only be a reality for two groups after this weekend, for the others the wait will go on. What a game we have.
Irish Independent
2 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Independent
GAA team news: Cork make three changes for All-Ireland SHC semi-final with Dublin
Liam MacCarthy favourites Cork have made three changes to their starting team for Saturday's All-Ireland SHC semi-final against Dublin.
