Latest news with #RobertDowney
Irish Examiner
2 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Tipperary blow Cork away in second half to secure All-Ireland hurling title
All-Ireland SHC final: Tipperary 3-27 Cork 1-18 Tipperary are the All-Ireland Hurling Champions after the blitzed Cork in the second half at Croke Park. Cork had a six point lead at half time, but Tipp ralied in the second period to seal the Liam McCarthy Cup. The Rebels finished with 14-men after Robert Downey was shown a yellow card for conceding a penalty. Tipp outscored Cork 3-14 to 0-2 with John McGrath leading the way with two goals. More to follow...
Irish Times
5 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Why Robert Downey still draws inspiration from Patrick Horgan
The four-year age gap means that Robert Downey didn't play a game of hurling alongside his brother Eoin until 2021. Since then, it's a rare day when they aren't taking to the field together. All the same, the pair grew up constantly pucking around on the streets and ball alleys of Cork's northside, honing their innate interplay which fuses the Rebel team around its defensive spine. While Eoin had Robert as a model of high performance, the older brother was not short of inspiration either. Patrick Horgan was always knocking around the Glen Rovers ball alley and would take on the teenagers once he'd outlasted his senior team-mates. 'I beat Hoggie. I remember beating him when I was quite young, actually,' says Downey of those one-touch games. 'In fairness to him, he is probably the best of us, but I think I could give him a good run for it!' READ MORE How did Hoggie take being beaten by a young buck? 'He was alright! I was nearly more surprised than him to be honest,' replies Downey. 'He'd be in there with the senior team, we might have been 13, 14, in the viewing area, watching him for hours and hours, and he'd call us in for the last two or three games. 'At that stage, the sliotar was worn out, but it gave us the bug to want to get to the levels he was at and to practise as hard as he did. 'It's funny now, even in the off-season, I could ring him or he could ring me and there'd be a few of us going to the alley again. We always find ourselves back there.' The influence of the hurling championship's record scorer runs deep in the Glen. Cork's Patrick Horgan, Robert Downey and Eoin Downey celebrate with the Munster championship trophy. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho 'We were lucky we had such close access to Hoggie,' reflects Downey. 'He was our role model and I suppose there's a reason we love it so much too and always pucking around and making up games. 'The nights we're not training with Cork, we're always up in the club watching Glen training. He's always there, still down pucking around.' Downey's uncle, Len, grew up playing football alongside Roy Keane on Rockmount and Irish underage teams. Snooker was his father's preferred game, but the same man was always a 'mad hurling fan'. The brothers still play a good bit of snooker alongside Hoggie and Brian Hayes. Not as skilfully as those ball-alley sessions, though. Robert estimates his highest break at 27, adding, 'I could be there months and I'd say I wouldn't get it again'. Horgan may be 37, but he retains that youthful enthusiasm on these big days. 'I remember seeing Hoggie getting on to the bus (for the Dublin game),' says Downey. 'I won't call him old, but he's the oldest on the team, and he was giddy, laughing. He knew: these days don't come around too often.' His younger brother wouldn't remember it, but Robert has a 'very vague memory' of watching at home the last time Cork captured Liam MacCarthy in 2005. On Sunday, he hopes to follow Seán Óg Ó hAilpín's footsteps up the Hogan Stand as captain. Pat Ryan has emphasised how this group is more player-led than ever before. In the minutes before they take to the field, the management team and subs vacate the dressingroom, leaving the starting 15 alone for a final few words. Downey keeps it simple in those moments: 'You're just telling fellas how hard we've worked and just to express ourselves really.' Downey grew up hurling at centre back for the Glen, although he was pushed up to full-forward for his final year as a Cork minor in 2017. Those attacking instincts showed when he bagged a goal-of-the-season contender in last year's All-Ireland final defeat to Clare. On the back of their displays, the Downeys were named together on the All-Star selection. Cork's Robert Downey after his side's semi-final win over Dublin. Photograph:Tom O'Hanlon/Inpho While he's since lifted league and Munster trophies, Robert has endured his frustrations in a year disrupted by niggly injuries. He has averaged 39 minutes per game played and missed the Waterford win entirely. That Déise clash was a far more nervous experience than if he had actually been taking part, although he had full confidence in his team-mates to extend their summer. The preceding Limerick loss was the lowest point, though. Those lessons will set the bar for Cork's performance on Sunday. 'We didn't tackle hard enough. You can talk about systems and tactics and game-plans, and they are very important, but when it boils down to it, it's the team that works hardest and tackles the most and wants the ball and wants to win will win the game at the end of the day. 'Limerick were streets ahead of us in those departments that day.' The prize for avenging that defeat was a four-week break as Munster champions. It enabled Downey to shake off any injury worries. Despite taking a bang to the neck and cramping up towards the end, the Dublin game was the closest the centre back has come to completing 70 minutes since the league final. Was that seven-goal exhibition as good as this team has produced? 'I'm not sure. That's up for ye guys to talk about it really,' Downey responds. 'Obviously, there's aspects of the performance that we were thrilled with, and like with any performance, there's things we can work on too. 'If we play like that the next day, it probably isn't good enough to win the All-Ireland. So we'll be knuckling down to nail things and tweak things coming into the Tipperary game.'
RTÉ News
15-07-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Cork defender Robert Downey rates All-Ireland final as 50-50 clash
Cork defender Robert Downey believes the All-Ireland hurling final clash with Tipperary is a 50-50 type game, despite the Rebels being considered favourites to lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup. With the dominant side of much of the last decade Limerick out of the competition, the Munster champions showed their credentials by demolishing Dublin to reach the showpiece occasion. It's a first-ever meeting between the counties in an All-Ireland final, adding to many tales of provincial clashes which the Cork captain is familiar with. Downey told RTÉ Sport: "You're probably reared on stories of Cork and Tipp when you're growing up. The older crowd in Cork would always be talking about the great days when playing Tipp in Munster finals and things like that and I'm sure it's the same in Tipperary. It's a real traditional game, two traditional counties going at it. "We've played them twice this year and it's like any game at this stage of the year to be honest. There's going to be nothing in it. It's 50-50, everything will have to be fought for and I suppose on the day it'll just be a bounce of the ball here or there or a decision here and there that'll probably swing it." Cork are in the decider for the second year running and third time in the last five years. It is not a new feeling for Pat Ryan's side, but going one step further for the first time in two decades is the big goal. Downey said: "As a team and as a group we're really looking forward to the game. I think at the start of the year every team's goal and ambition is to get to the All-Ireland final. "We're there now and we're really looking forward to it. I think you would have your own routine that you would stick to. It's important to block out a few extra bits that might go on today too. "Look, we're lucky that we were up there this time last year and we know the running of things and we stay in the same place and things like that. We would stick to our own routines and what works for us. I think it's important. Obviously you're up there for a reason and you don't want to get distracted." 'Two traditional counties going at it' - @OfficialCorkGAA on facing @TipperaryGAA again, this time in an All-Ireland final #rtegaa #sundaygame — RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) July 14, 2025 Downey has played a restricted role this year due to injury. But he has timed it well to start the semi-final victory over Dublin and be in prime conditions for the showdown with Tipp on Sunday. He explained: "Injury can be a small bit frustrating and things like that but I suppose I was lucky that it wasn't one long bad injury. It was just a couple of two or three different small niggly injuries where I was able to get over quite easily but it just took a small by the time. "I think it shows the importance of your squad and the depth in your squad that if one fella does go down with an injury, it's just the attitude is next man up.
The Irish Sun
10-07-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Cork GAA charging four-figure sum for table at All-Ireland final dinner with match tickets NOT included
CORK GAA is reportedly charging €5,000 per table at its All-Ireland final gala dinner - with match tickets NOT included. Per Advertisement 2 Captain Robert Downey will be hoping he gets to lift Liam MacCarthy this time 2 The Rebels have not won a senior hurling All-Ireland since 2005 What's more, whereas tickets to the 2024 fundraising dinner also ensured you'd receive match tickets to the Croke Park showpiece, that is no longer the case. Instead, there is a separate charge in order to snag tickets to the match itself. The Irish Examiner report that an email from Cork GAA's commercial wing outlines: 'A donation of €5,000 will allow you to enjoy a table of 10 with the option to purchase 10 All-Ireland final tickets." In spite of this hike in price for lesser reward, the dinner has already sold-out ahead of its July 16 date at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Advertisement Read More On GAA All donations are said to go towards the Cork players training fund. Clearly, there is a huge buzz around this particular team owing to their swashbuckling style and their 20-year All-Ireland drought. The fever around the side Scoffing at the notion of keeping such a secret in the county at the moment, he remarked: "You can't keep anything in Cork anyway! I don't want to be telling the players, 'Don't say this now to anyone.' "They have to go home and tell their mam and dad are they playing, are they not playing. Your friends, you're getting texts. I find that's only putting more pressure on them for the following week." Advertisement Most read in GAA Hurling In Cork, where the hurling team are under a constant microscope, Ryan reckons keeping secrets from the public would be a futile exercise. He said: "I'm not going to question any manager who wants to put in dummy teams or doesn't want to put in dummy teams. Watch RTE pundits' contrasting reaction to full-time whistle of Tipperary's epic win over Kilkenny "But realistically, bar probably Limerick, I think everything gets out of every other dressing room. "If you look at Nickie Quaid this year, nobody knew that was coming. That shows how tight they are and that's probably a challenge for all of us to be. Advertisement "Our training sessions aren't closed-doors either really – to a degree. We don't want to invite 25,000 people down. "We often get a mother coming up with her kids looking for autographs and she's sitting on the side of the field. "Look, this isn't my team. This is the Cork public's team and it's the players' team more than anything. We try and be as straightforward as we can."
The 42
02-07-2025
- Sport
- The 42
Cork make three changes for All-Ireland hurling semi-final against Dublin
CORK BOSS PAT Ryan has made three changes for Saturday's All-Ireland senior hurling semi-final against Dublin. Captain Robert Downey, Niall O'Leary and Declan Dalton all start. Seamus Harnedy and Cormac O'Brien miss out through injury, while Damien Cahalane drops to the bench. The Rebels return to action four weeks after their dramatic Munster final win over Limerick. Dublin sensationally knocked the Treaty out in the quarter-finals. Throw-in at Croke Park on Saturday is 5pm, with the game live on RTÉ 2 and BBC NI. Kilkenny and Tipperary face off in the other semi-final on Sunday. Cork 1. Patrick Collins (Ballinhassig) Advertisement 2. Niall O'Leary (Castlelyons), 3. Eoin Downey (Glen Rovers), 4. Seán O'Donoghue (Inniscarra) 5. Ciarán Joyce (Castlemartyr), 6. Robert Downey (Glen Rovers), 7. Mark Coleman (Blarney) 8. Tim O'Mahony (Newtownshandrum), 9. Darragh Fitzgibbon (Charleville) 10. Diarmuid Healy (Lisgoold), 11. Shane Barrett (Blarney), 12. Declan Dalton (Fr O'Neill's) 13. Patrick Horgan (Glen Rovers), 14. Alan Connolly (Blackrock), 15. Brian Hayes (St Finbarr's) Subs 16. Brion Saunderson (Midleton) 17. Damie Cahalane (St Finbarr's) 18. Ger Mellerick (Fr O'Neill's) 19. Tommy O'Connell (Midleton) 20. Ethan Twomey (St Finbarr's) 21. Luke Meade (Newcestown) 22. Brian Roche (Bride Rovers) 23. Jack O'Connor (Sarsfields) 24. Shane Kingston (Douglas) 25. Robbie O'Flynn (Erins Own) 26. Conor Lehane (Midleton). *****
