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Irish Times
05-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Live hurling updates: Cork and Dublin meet in All-Ireland semi-final
All-Ireland SHC semi-final: Cork v Dublin, Croke Park, 5pm (Live, RTÉ & BBC NI) Key Reads: Joe Canning: Most people think it's Cork's All-Ireland to lose and that suits Kilkenny just fine Nicky English: Faltering standard of this year's championship brings Kilkenny into the frame Team focus: Niall Ó Ceallacháin has Dublin's unlikely band of hurlers singing a fine tune Malachy Clerkin: It feels like a good time to point out that Cork might not win the All-Ireland -22 minutes ago Welcome to the best weekend of the hurling year. Four teams left to decide the summer - Cork and Dublin today, Tipperary and Kilkenny tomorrow. We'll keep you up to date with every puck, hit and miss right the way through it all. Referee Johnny Murphy will throw the ball in for Dublin v Cork at five o'clock.
Irish Times
23-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Dublin hurlers leave us lost for words
It's as well Nicky English wasn't lost for words when he was tasked with summing up the Dublin hurlers' momentous win over Limerick , seeing as he's a columnist of ours. But he probably came close. This, he writes, 'was the best Dublin hurling performance in adversity that I've seen ', their team spirit 'immense' in the course of them 'sensationally dumping the most formidable team of recent times out of the championship'. David Byrne was in Croke Park to see 'the hurling shock of the decade' , but Denis Walsh witnessed no such drama at the Gaelic Grounds where Tipperary eased their way past Galway . 'In Tipp's resurgent summer, this was another sunny day,' he writes. And we now know the shape of football's quarter-finals after Monday morning's draw . It followed a weekend of football that Malachy Clerkin likens to 'Willy Wonka's Everlasting Gobstopper machine' , as only Malachy Clerkin can. ' Kerry (easily) and the Dubs (doggedly) disposed of Cavan and Cork on Saturday, Sunday saw Donegal (in a stroll) and Galway (in a dogfight) get past Louth and Down,' he writes. Seán Moran was in Croke Park to see the dogged Dubs get there in the end against a battling Cork side, while Malachy was in Newry for the 'stone-cold thriller' between Galway and Down . READ MORE In the Tailteann Cup, it'll be Kildare v Limerick in next month's final after they saw off Fermanagh and Wicklow, respectively, Paul Keane reporting on the semi-finals, and we also know the line-up for the quarter-finals in the women's football championship after the weekend's action. Kildare produced the biggest upset by beating Ulster champions Armagh – they meet reigning champions Kerry in the last eight. And in his Tipping Point column, Denis looks at the GAA's latest exercises in self-reflection – they've set up a committee to look at the championship's structures and scheduling, and they've launched a major survey on amateurism among members. Our rugby crew have been exceedingly busy wrapping up the Lions' defeat by Argentina on Friday – there's reaction from Andy Farrell , player ratings , Tom Curry's thoughts on it all (hint: he was 'p***ed off'), five things we learnt from the game, an analysis of Fin Smith's performance and a piece on Finn Russell patching up his differences with Johnny Sexton. In football, there was a bolt from the blue on Sunday with the news that Damien Duff had resigned from his position as Shelbourne manager . He'll leave some hole in the League of Ireland . And we also hear from Carla Ward who is in Colorado preparing her Republic of Ireland side for the first of two daunting friendlies against the United States . In racing, Brian O'Connor looks ahead to next Sunday's bumper nine-race card at the Curragh , the highlight the Irish Derby – is that too lengthy a card for one day? – and he has news on the connections of Ireland's latest Group One star, Cercene , considering an ambitious Oaks attempt at the Curragh next month. TV Watch : It's third plays first in the Premier Division this season, Bohemians hosting Shamrock Rovers (Virgin Media Two, 7.45pm), and at 8pm you have your pick of the weekend's GAA highlights on TG4 and two Club World Cup games on DAZN, Seattle v PSG and Atletico Madrid v Botafogo.
Irish Times
23-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Live All-Ireland football draw: Remaining counties to learn their quarter-final fates
All-Ireland SFC quarter-final draw to take place shortly after 8.30am Key Reads Malachy Clerkin: Football prelims had a whiff of predictability , but it's anyone's guess from here to the final The Schemozzle: Dublin's win over Limerick may be the greatest upset in championship history Denis Walsh: The GAA is in a strange spot in relation to people being paid legitimately 1 minute ago Good morning everyone. Welcome along to The Irish Times live blog for the All-Ireland SFC quarter-final draw. Preliminary quarter-final winners Kerry , Dublin , Galway and Donegal have joined round-robin group toppers Meath, Tyrone, Monaghan and Armagh in the last eight, and we'll find out shortly who'll be facing off in this weekend's quarter-finals. Each of the four group winners will be drawn against one of the preliminary quarter-final winners. The draw will avoid repeats of provincial final pairings and, where possible, repeat pairings from the groups. With that in mind, we know Armagh can't be drawn against Donegal as the counties met in the Ulster final, nor can they meet fellow Group of Death survivors Dublin and Galway. That only leaves Kerry, so the Munster champions will face the reigning All-Ireland champions. Of the rest, Meath can't play Kerry, Tyrone can't play Donegal, and Monaghan can't play Down.
Irish Times
18-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
GAA live updates: Tipperary host Waterford in first of two big Munster hurling clashes
27 minutes ago Sunday's GAA Championship fixtures Munster SHC Round 4 Tipperary v Waterford, FBD Semple Stadium Thurles, 2pm Limerick v Cork, TUS Gaelic Grounds Limerick, 4pm Leinster SHC Round 4 Kilkenny v Dublin, UPMC Nowlan Park 3pm All-Ireland SFC Round 1 Clare v Down, Cusack Park, 2pm Mayo v Cavan, MacHale Park, 2.30pm Tailteann Cup Round 2 Leitrim v Sligo, Carrick-on-Shannon, 1.30pm London v Westmeath, Ruislip, 2pm Carlow v Wexford, Netwatch Cullen Park, 2.30pm Longford v Fermanagh, Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, 3pm Joe McDonagh Cup Round 4: Laois v Kildare, O'Moore Park, 3pm 0 minutes ago Tipp have arrived. Listen to that Tipp Tipp Tipp!! Huge Tipp Support — Tipperary GAA (@TipperaryGAA) 4 minutes ago Ahead of the 2.0pm throw-in in Thurles, Malachy Clerkin has a live update on the team news. Gorgeous day in Thurles for what is pretty much a knock-out game between Tipperary and Waterford. Darragh McCarthy has been brought in to replace Noel McGrath in the starting team for Tipp. Waterford play as named. Tipperary: Rhys Shelly; Robert Doyle, Eoghan Connolly, Michael Breen; Sam O'Farrell, Ronan Maher, Bryan O'Mara; Willie Connors, Craig Morgan; Conor Stakelum, Andrew Ormond, Jake Morris; Darragh McCarthy, John McGrath, Jason Forde. Waterford: Billy Nolan; Ian Kenny, Conor Prunty, Iarlaith Daly; Mark Fitzgerald, Tadhg De Búrca, Gavin Fives; Paddy Leavey, Darragh Lyons; Stephen Bennett, Kevin Mhony, Jamie Barron; Jack Prendergast, Mikey Kiely, Dessie Hutchinson. 6 minutes ago In case you missed it, Dublin got their All-Ireland football challenge back on track with a narrow win over Galway in Salthill yesterday evening, winning their opening round of the All-Ireland series. Gordon Manning was there, and called it 'one of those picture postcard Saturday afternoons in sun-baked Salthill for Dublin'. He added: 'The stamped dispatches mailed back to the capital went something like this – lovely day out west, we had ice cream on the prom and later that evening watched Tom Lahiff put the cherry on top, talk of our demise has been greatly exaggerated. We'll be home soon, see you at Croke Park.' Read his full report here – 17 minutes ago 🚨TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT🚨 🗓️Sunday 18th May @ 2PM 🏟️FBD Semple Stadium, Thurles 🥎Waterford v Tipperary 🎟️ Best of luck to the team and management. — Waterford GAA (@WaterfordGAA) 20 minutes ago Sean Moran's two hurling previews deftly set the scene for what's in store in Thurles and Limerick. Tipperary v Waterford, FBD Semple Stadium Thurles, 2.0– Having done a decent job on refitting Tipperary, Liam Cahill knows the importance of getting out of the province to continue the development work and is at the same time mindful of this fixture's pitfalls. Even with their blank record in the round-robin, Waterford are unbeaten by Tipp since the format resumed in 2022. The home side did well, however, to bounce back from the Páirc Uí Chaoimh calamity and beat Clare in Ennis. They are getting good, productive form from the forwards and if the defence can lose focus, it brings high energy and will need to if Waterford get a run on them. On balance, though. Verdict: Tipperary Limerick v Cork, TUS Gaelic Grounds Limerick, 4.0 – This fixture has created plenty of fireworks since the round robin began, most vividly last year in two matches that Cork nicked despite Limerick having every opportunity themselves. Even in the league, Limerick chose this fixture to put in a performance and led by four going down the stretch but again, Cork caught them for a draw. The home side will hope to bring further incremental improvement to their packed-to-capacity venue and put pressure on the visitors' fault-lines: a mysterious disinclination to sustain 70-minute displays and a slight recurrence of the disciplinary issues that dogged their early championship last year. 26 minutes ago Good afternoon, and welcome to The Irish Times live GAA blog for what is another massive Sunday in the Munster hurling championship, with plenty of football action too. In the penultimate round of the Munster hurling championship, Tipperary take on Waterford, at FBD Semple Stadium in Thurles at 2pm, followed by the headline clash between Limerick and Cork at TUS Gaelic Grounds in Limerick at 4pm. Two critical games which could ultimately influence the progression of all four teams. In Leinster, there is also a fourth round meeting between Kilkenny and Dublin at UPMC Nowlan Park (3pm). In football, Clare face Down (Cusack Park, 2pm) and Mayo host Cavan (MacHale Park, 2.30pm) in the first round of the All-Ireland series, and there are also four games in the second round of the Tailteann Cup; Leitrim v Sligo, Carrick-on-Shannon, 1.30pm; London v Westmeath, Ruislip, 2pm; Carlow v Wexford, Netwatch Cullen Park, 2.30pm; Longford v Fermanagh, Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, 3pm
Irish Times
12-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Louth win first Leinster title since Éamon de Valera was taoiseach
A measure of how long it had been since Louth last won a Leinster football title? As Malachy Clerkin tells us, Éamon de Valera was taoiseach at the time . And that's not today nor yesterday. Sixty-eight years ago, to be exact, so little wonder the Louth fans in the 65,786 crowd were 'bouncing in delirium', as were manager Ger Brennan and captain Sam Mulroy when Malachy spoke with them after. Donegal were a bit chuffed themselves after winning a cracker of an Ulster final against Armagh, Gordon Manning in Clones to see Jim McGuinness's side retain their title. Both counties, though, will nervously await the referee's report on the brawl that broke out after the game , McGuinness not best pleased with the schemozzle . On the women's side, a strong finish in the Leinster final powered Dublin to victory against Meath , while three goals proved decisive for Armagh in their Ulster final win over Donegal . The Orchard County had, then, something to cheer about in Clones. In hurling, while there were wins for Kilkenny , Galway and Dublin over Offaly, Wexford and Antrim, respectively, Clare's defeat by Tipperary on Saturday left Nicky English wondering if the reigning All Ireland champions can stay alive in this year's Championship. They need 'a whole sequence of results to fall their way if they are to survive,' writes Seán Moran who was in Ennis for the game and who heard from a relieved Tipp manager Liam Cahill . READ MORE There's no relief yet in skorts-gate , Saturday's Munster final postponed with less than a day's notice because the players planned on wearing shorts. The whole affair, writes Denis Walsh, is yet another example of 'a dysfunctional relationship between the officer class of the Camogie Association and its elite players'. In rugby, it was another mixed bag of a weekend for the provinces, Leinster pulverising Zebre, 76-5, while Munster's 38-20 win over Ulster kept their hopes of reaching the play-offs alive. Connacht, though, bowed out of the race after their defeat by Edinburgh. Ian O'Riordan has decidedly good news from the World Athletics Relays in China where the Irish women's 4x400m and mixed relay teams secured qualification for September's World Championships. No joy, though, for Shane Lowry in Philadelphia where he came 'close, but not close enough' to winning the Truist Championship. Philip Reid brings you the details. In soccer, Ken Early notes the contrast in the receptions the Real Madrid-bound Xabi Alonso and Trent Alexander-Arnold received on their home turf at the weekend, the former cheered, the latter booed . After a shambles of a season for Madrid, as evidenced again by their capitulation against Barcelona on Sunday, they'll both have plenty of work to do when they arrive in the Spanish capital during the summer. And in racing, Brian O'Connor has news of another successful trip to Longchamp for Aidan O'Brien , Henri Matisse giving him his sixth French 2,000 Guineas triumph. TV Watch : Sheffield United, 3-0 up from the first leg of their semi-final, can book themselves a place in the Championship play-off final if they see off Bristol City this evening (Sky Sports Football, 8.0). At the same time RTÉ2 and TG4 have, respectively, highlights from the rugby and GAA weekends.
