Latest news with #Oisín
RTÉ News
6 days ago
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Tipperary fans embracing the underdog tag as buzz builds for final
Tipperary were outsiders going into the 2025 season, but they've surprised people. Ahead of the All-Ireland hurling final on Sunday when they'll face Cork, supporters from the Premier County are bunting everywhere - from Carrick on Suir in the county's east, out to Lattin in the west. A good year if you're selling it, as Louise Cahill of Premier Sports in Cashel can confirm. "It's like Christmas in the middle of the summer," the Waterford woman tells RTÉ News. "We're just flat out." And her best customer? It might be superfan James 'Sid' Ryan over in Tipperary town, whose entire house is now a shrine to the team. "Put up a good start to the game very well, make sure Cork don't get any goals, we'll drive on and take Liam home," he says. Looking at how fans have built up to this game, you would be forgiven for thinking it was Tipperary's first final and not their 42nd. A six-year wait is a long time to them, but what is also fuelling it is the team's underdog status which supporters here seem to like. Close to Tipperary town is Lattin village, where another group of excited Premier fans met up outside P Ryan's pub. The car they crowd around was put together ahead of the team's 2019 triumph. "TIPP TIPP TIPP" the kids scream, as Maurice Crowe speaks to the camera. "We've had a few quiet years but thank god it's out in full spirit today" "A few of us got together in the local bar here in Lattin and we decided to put a car together for it," he said. "Local businesses, Willie Mulcrone the local spray painter, Mike O'Dwyer Fine Signs, Jerry O'Dwyer and local publican Pa James Ryan, and we decided to get a car together and this is the result. "We've had a few quiet years but thank god it's out in full spirit today." He said the buzz has been "brilliant" around the village, which is well known for its hero, former hurler Nicky English. It will be the first time Tipperary and Cork meet in an All-Ireland Senior Men's Final, and the first final for a number of young Tipp men who've broken into the squad over the last six years. One who could end up on the Croke Park pitch on Sunday is 19-year-old Oisín O'Donoghue, and his club Cashel King Cormacs GAA are over the moon to see him and his cousin Eoghan Connolly flying the blue and gold flag. "We're all very proud of what Oisín has achieved," said his father Seán, who is chairman of the club. "But it's not only us as a family that are behind him, the town of Cashel and the club are behind him." He added that Eoghan has "taken Oisín under his wing". Oisín has plenty of people to turn to for advice around this club, with former All-Star Conal Bonnar among them. "We've two of the best characters, Eoghan and Oisín," Conal says. "It's just brilliant, they're here on the field every evening pucking with all of the kids, they're training with the club, they're walking around the town. It's just so exciting." Another clubman who has seen it all is Seán Ó Duibhir, who has been to every Tipp final since 1958. So how will this one compare? "I'd feel Tipp are in a great position, who wants to be hot favourites? I feel Cork can be tumbled," he said. He said the team has nothing to fear and has "proved us all wrong so far this year and it's most refreshing to see". Seán's fellow clubman Kieran Kelly agrees. "For the last couple of years we've been down and haven't got out of Munster, but the breakthrough has come this year and the players are great. "And our own lads Oisín and Eoghan have been a driving force - I'd say Sunday will be tight but Tipp will do it hopefully." Like Kieran, the kids around Cashel are also confident that their heroes will pull of a result on Sunday, but regardless of what happens there's one message coming in loud and clear.
Irish Examiner
17-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Cashel's King Cormacs new princes aiming to help Tipperary reclaim All-Ireland hurling throne
Seán and Catherine O'Donoghue missed Oisín's goal last Sunday week. There they were in Croke Park alright, sitting in the Hogan Stand, but the folks in front of them were on their feet by the time they rose to theirs and their 19-year-old son had struck that audacious shot. Then a voice said O'Donoghue was the man who put the ball in the Kilkenny net, then another and his parents turned to each other and embraced. Teenagers scoring senior majors in Croke Park has become a lesser-spotted thing. Shane O'Donnell's hat-trick in 2013 would come to mind but the gap between under-age and senior had supposedly become a gulf. Darragh McCarthy, Sam O'Farrell and O'Donoghue have debunked that theory. And Oisín, scoring his third championship goal and second in as many games, is U20 again next year. At the final whistle, Oisín jumped into the arms of his team-mate, Cashel King Cormacs club-mate and big cousin Eoghan Connolly, Just as he did as a fan after the end of the 2019 U20 All-Ireland final against Cork when Eoghan was part of Liam Cahill's winning side. 'He idolised him big time,' says Seán. 'Eoghan Connolly is a gentleman on and off the field. All the juveniles look up to him. He has taken on that mantle and is involved in coaching in the club. You're seeing the real Eoghan Connolly now, a man who can really hurl. He's turned out to be one of the top backs in the country.' Tipp U20 ace Oisin O'Donoghue with his father Sean Catherine's sister Theresa is married to TJ Connolly, who has managed the Tipperary U21s and led Cashel King Cormacs back to senior level last season. The Butlers from Holycross-Cahill, the sisters have strong claims for their sons's prowess and O'Donoghue and Connolly were players of note themselves, part of the club's sole senior county championship success in 1991 when they later added Munster honours. Both played at various levels for Tipperary. Seán captained the minors in 1990 and was part of the team that lost to Kilkenny in the following year's final before featuring for the U21s in 1994. Connolly was a dual player at minor level for two years and at U21 for three. Sunday is the first All-Ireland senior final since '91 that Cashel King Cormacs have had more than one representative in a Tipperary panel when the Bonnar brothers were in their pomp and reflects the strides they have been making in recent years. 'It has taken a lot of time to get here,' says O'Donoghue, who is also club chairman. 'We kind of took our eyes off the ball in the 1990s when the seniors were successful and the juveniles weren't brought on at the same time. But in the last 11, 12 years, the juvenile section has been brought back to where it should be.' Anyone who witnessed Cashel claim a premier intermediate title last season would have been taken by their size. Oisín himself is superbly conditioned for a teenager. Connolly has handed over the baton to Fergie O'Loughlin and Eoin Cadogan this season with hopes high of marking their return to senior level with a bang. 'The gym we have is top class and our juveniles have a qualified strength and conditioning coach overseeing their training and ensuring they do things proper,' says Seán. 'We're definitely on the right track.' O'Donoghue is an outgoing man and the pride he takes from seeing Oisín and Eoghan is unmistakable. The pair were back in Leahy Park pucking a ball around the evening after the semi-final as children gathered to train and that image filled his heart. 'The boys would have similar personalities. They're very cool, calm and collected, very humble. Their feet are firmly on the ground and they know what this means to Cashel King Cormacs. The club keeps our juveniles on the straight and narrow and makes good men of them in the future.' When Oisín was confirmed as the goalscorer, Seán's thoughts turned to his late father Pat and brother James, who was on that stand-out Cashel team with him and Connolly. 'That they couldn't be there to watch Oisín in Croke Park,' Seán's voice falters for a second. 'My father came to Cashel as a detective in 1963. He was on duty when the great Jack Lynch hit the first hurling ball in Rockwell College in '64. He was a big football man of course but hurling too and involved in the club many years.' Tipperary forward Oisin O'Donoghue with his parents Seán and Catherine. Seán would admit to pucking every ball with his son and nephew-in-law. 'I would be vocal at matches and Catherine at times wouldn't like that. I wear my heart on my sleeve. I like to see our players do well, especially the Cashel King Cormacs men.' In 1991, there were five sets of brothers in the Cashel squad comprising 15 of the 27-man panel – the Bonnars (Cormac, Colm, Conal and Ailbe), the O'Donoghues (Pat, Seán and James), the Fitzells (Pa, Peter and Willie), the Grogans (Johnny and Tommy) and the Slatterys (Tony, Ger and Seán). Currently, six of the Cashel senior panel are related – Margaret Butler is married to Brendan Bonnar and their sons Con and Ross are there as is Ronan, Eoghan's younger brother. He was joint-captain of the Harty Cup-winning Cashel CS team, which Oisín was also a member of two years ago. And that number is likely to grow. Oisín is the eldest of Seán and Catherine's five sons. After him, there's Briain (18), Ultan (16), Cormac (14) and Tiernan (12). This week will be expensive but 'it becomes an after-thought,' insists Seán. 'Occasions like this don't come around too often.' Oisín finished his first year in UL and is currently working with Martin Bourke's Farm Relief Services in Cahir for the summer. 'I'd say he hasn't been out once on a social night out in UL because of his commitment to his hurling between senior and U20 hurling since last November,' reckons Seán. 'For every county player now, I imagine it's a life of discipline and everything Oisín does is down to the minutiae from diet to recovery. He doesn't eat rubbish. It's all about getting ready for big days like this.' Father and son wouldn't talk too much about hurling. When they do, it's short and to the point. Oisín's attitude about playing in Croke Park for the first time last Sunday week was simply he would no longer be a rookie after the game. This Sunday morning, from their homes four miles apart, the O'Donoghues and Connollys will send off their sons as they have done for all their championship games. Seán's advice for Oisín will be the same as it always is: 'Loads of movement.' The handshake, the hug, the kiss – they will say a lot more.
The Journal
10-07-2025
- General
- The Journal
Debunked: The most popular baby name for boys in Galway is.. not Muhammad
THE FACTOID THAT the most popular name for newborn baby boys in Galway is Muhammad has been shared for years. For so long, in fact, that it has ceased to be true. However, this has not dissuaded anti-immigration activists from continuing to spread it as evidence that Islam is 'taking over'. 'Do you know what the number one name in Galway for newborn boys is?' the anti-immigration activist Philip Dwyer asks in a video posted to Facebook on 5 July. 'It's not Sean. It's not Patrick.' he tells a woman he appears to have approached on the street. 'It's Muhammad. Do you think that's a good thing for Ireland?' 'Your commentary is a bit racist,' she replies. 'It's a name.' 'So, you're OK with Islam taking over countries?' Dwyer continues. 'I don't think they're taking over,' she says. 'It's the number one name in County Galway,' Dwyer repeats. 'Doesn't matter' she retorts. 'It matters a lot!' Dwyer says as the woman turns and walks away. The video, which has been viewed more than 99,000 times, was posted with a description that questioned whether the woman's response was 'why Ireland is in so much peril', along with links to donate money to Dwyer. The most popular name for boys in County Galway last year was Rían, not Muhammad. In Galway City, the most popular name was a tie between Jack and Oisín. Most Popular Boys Names by County, 2024 CSO CSO Muhammad was not the most popular name for boys in 2023 either — it was Jack for the County Galway and, again, Oisín for the city. Advertisement Despite Dwyer's claim, Muhammad has never been the most popular name for newborn boys in County Galway. It had, however, been the most popular baby name for boys in Galway City in 2022, the same year it ranked the 86th most popular name in the country. Its tenure at the top was short-lived; the name was never recorded as topping the city's list of newborn names any year before or since then. Muslims have had a presence in Galway City since at least the 1970s (as shown in this old RTÉ footage ), which is home to Ireland's only purpose-built mosque for the Ahmadiyya Muslim community. In 2022, the year when Muhammad was the city's most popular name, there were 3,699 Muslims living in the whole of Galway county, comprising about 2% of the county's population of 177,737. (Figures on the religious makeup of the city alone are not readily available). Given the relatively small numbers of Muslims in Galway, how did a traditionally Muslim name top the chart in the city that then had a population of about 86,000 ? In brief, it doesn't take many newborns with the same name to make it the most popular in a county. Jack, which last year was the most popular name nationally (and joint-most popular name of newborn boys in Galway City), was given only 490 times in the entire country. The CSO doesn't give exact numbers for Galway City, but we can roughly extrapolate from the data. Galway City has about one-sixtieth of Ireland's population, which indicates that a name given to about eight newborns would have a decent chance to top the city's list. The UK Office of National Statistics (ONS) also released some possible explanations for the popularity of the name Muhammad in Britain. While the size of the Muslim community plays a large part, the name's popularity is also bolstered by wider society using more variation in naming their children (Rían is one such example of a name that would not have been popular in decades past), while the name Muhammad remains 'dominant' in the Muslim community The ONS also speculates that Muslim minorities might be more likely to name their boys Muhammad 'to remind them of their heritage as they grow up in a non-Muslim country.' Claims that Muslims are seeking to take over countries are common in anti-immigrant groups. However, as in the case of hoax stickers promoting Shariah law in Ireland, the evidence of these claims do not stand up to scrutiny. This year, The Journal has debunked claims Ireland is establishing a National Hijab Day , that RTÉ is replacing the Angelus with a Muslim call to prayer , and that the largest mosque in the world is being built in Ireland. Want to be your own fact-checker? Visit our brand-new FactCheck Knowledge Bank for guides and toolkits The Journal's FactCheck is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network's Code of Principles. You can read it here . For information on how FactCheck works, what the verdicts mean, and how you can take part, check out our Reader's Guide here . You can read about the team of editors and reporters who work on the factchecks here . Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... It is vital that we surface facts from noise. 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The 42
10-07-2025
- Sport
- The 42
Oisín McConville to continue as Wicklow manager
WICKLOW GAA HAVE confirmed that Oisín McConville's term as manager of the country's senior footballers has been extended by two years. McConville had been linked with a number of vacant positions but has committed his future to the Garden County. Advertisement Wicklow finished third in Division 4 of the National League this year, narrowly missing out on promotion to the third tier, and reached the semi-final stages of the Tailteann Cup. McConville joined Wicklow as manager in 2022, and the Wicklow County Board said the decision to extend his term in charge was voted through 'overwhelmingly' by delegates. A Wicklow statement read: 'Since taking the reins, Oisín has overseen a marked upturn in performance and squad development. 'This year, under his leadership, Wicklow came within a score of promotion and delivered a thrilling Tailteann Cup semi-final display, only to be edged out by Limerick in the closing minutes. The progress achieved on and off the field has been widely commended by players, supporters and County Board delegates alike. 'As Oisín embarks on his fourth season with the county, we look forward to building on this momentum. His commitment to fostering emerging talent, refining our tactical identity and driving a high-performance culture gives us every confidence that Wicklow football will continue to flourish. 'We thank Oisín for his dedication to our county and look forward to another exciting chapter under his stewardship.'
Irish Examiner
10-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Oisin McConville extends stay as Wicklow boss
Wicklow GAA have confirmed that senior football boss Oisin McConville will remain in the position for another two years. Speculation around McConville's future in Wicklow was rife, with several managerial vacancies around the country, but the former All-Ireland winner with Armagh has decided to stay put. Crossmaglen clubman McConville took over prior to the 2023 campaign and his journey in the post led him to a Tailteann Cup semi-final this year, where his Wicklow side narrowly lost out to Jimmy Lee's Limerick. "Since taking the reins, Oisín has overseen a marked upturn in performance and squad development,' a statement read. 'This year, under his leadership, Wicklow came within a score of promotion and delivered a thrilling Tailteann Cup semi-final display, only to be edged out by Limerick in the closing minutes. "The progress achieved on and off the field has been widely commended by players, supporters and County Board delegates alike. "As Oisín embarks on his fourth season with the county, we look forward to building on this momentum. His commitment to fostering emerging talent, refining our tactical identity and driving a high-performance culture gives us every confidence that Wicklow football will continue to flourish. "We thank Oisín for his dedication to our county and look forward to another exciting chapter under his stewardship.'
