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The Irish Sun
21-07-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Henry Shefflin picks Sunday Game Hurler of the Year but wants no accountability for selection of best 15
KILKENNY icon Henry Shefflin was given the responsibility to select the Sunday Game Hurler of The Year for 2025. Jake Morris was selected by 3 Nenagh Éire Óg's Jake Morris was selected as Hurler of the Year Credit: @THESUNDAYGAME 3 Seven Tipperary players were picked in the Sunday Game Team of the Year for 2025 Credit: @THEsundaygame 3 The former Galway manager played a big role in the Sunday Game awards Credit: @thesundaygame Shefflin was reluctant to be given the overall decision but went with the 26-year-old Tipperary wing-forward for the honour after Shefflin said: "Ronan Maher was obviously in that conversation, John McGrath was in that conversation and the third one we went for was obviously Jake (Morris). "Three Tipp lads, you talk about the recency bias like there would have been two Cork lads and Jake would have been in that earlier this morning. "And because of their performances in the All-Ireland final, both Ronan Maher and John McGrath jumped into that category of being hurlers of the year. They thoroughly deserved it the three of them. Read more on GAA "I will gladly say I think Jake Morris was in that conversation this morning and in the first half when Tipp weren't firing, he was still the one they looked to to bring them forward. "I thought he was brilliant. I think Jake has become selfless in his game the amount of link-up play he does, the amount of dummy runs he does. "He was a goal scorer up to now, he's now become a fulcrum of that Tipp team. He's the new Tipp team. We've spoken about the younger and older lads, he's in that middle category. "And he is the one I'm sure you've identified has serious potential for a number of years. But I think we've seen it, just like the Tipp team he's grown to a stature that he is our hurler of the year this year." Most read in GAA Hurling The Sunday Game Team of the Year was made up of seven of Rhys Shelly, Robert Doyle, Eoghan Connolly and Andrew Ormond joined their three teammates nominated for Hurler of the Year in the Team of the Year. Liam Cahill speaks to RTE after Tipperary GAA win All-Ireland final Brian Hayes, Seán O'Donoghue, Ciarán Joyce and Darragh Fitzgibbon made up the Cork contingent. Galway's Cathal Mannion was the only player not to reach the semi-finals to make the team. The 2015 All-Star played a major role in getting the Tribesmen into Dublin's Cian O'Sullivan earned a spot in the side thanks to an Huw Lawlor and Martin Keoghan of Kilkenny also got the nod from the Sunday Game panel. The Sunday Game panel struggled to put together their Team of the Year with a unanimous decision almost impossible. The panel understood it was a difficult task at it wasn't going to be perfect with Ursula Jacob accepting there is going to be backlash. The four-time All-Ireland winner with Wexford said: "You can't keep everyone happy, this is just our panel of opinions. I'm sure there will lots of aggro and text messages when we come off air but sure look." Shefflin wanted to take no responsibility for the Team of the Year selection despite taking the decision for Hurler of the Year into his hands. The 11-time All-Star joked: "I wish my vote got a stronger preference in our meeting. I was outside at a meeting for some of it."
Irish Examiner
07-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
'I thought we were goosed' - Kelly admits Tipp enjoyed slice of fortune
All-Ireland camogie quarter-final: Tipperary 1-22 Kilkenny 0-19 AET Six points was the winning margin at the final whistle, just as it had been when Tipperary beat Kilkenny by 0-17 to 1-8 back in March in the league. But there wasn't a soul in Croke Park who felt that there was anything more than a whisker between the sides in yesterday's Glen Dimplex All-Ireland senior quarter-final. After 80 minutes, the game had been decided by the two moments where the ball hit the net – Clodagh McIntyre's stunning strike just before half-time in extra-time, and Caoimhe Keher Murtagh's one-handed sweep that wasn't allowed, as it came just after referee Ray Kelly blew his whistle for a foul on the Kilkenny sub, and a penalty. Laura Leenane saved Aoife Prendergast's penalty, and Tipp never looked back. 'I'll definitely be sending Ray a Christmas card for that one!' quipped Tipperary manager Denis Kelly afterwards, praising Leenane for her immense contribution since taking over the number one jersey this year. 'Look, they fall for you at times. I thought we were possibly goosed if that went in. 'Laura's been a huge find. We lost Nicole Walsh (who retired) so we needed someone to fill the boots and she's definitely done that. That was a huge save, as was Mairéad's,' he added, referring to Mairéad Eviston's block on a Keher Murtagh goal effort midway through the first half. 'All these things add up at the end of it, it's another game of inches.' It was a game of inches because of how Kilkenny put the shackles on a freescoring Tipp attack, holding the Premier County to 0-16 in the hour. Much of this was down to Tommy Shefflin deploying Maria Brennan as an extra defender, with Katie Power and Laura Murphy doing the work of three players to compensate at the other end. 'We brought Maria back as sweeper and just encouraged them to use the ball,' Shefflin said. 'When you're playing with five forwards you have to have good ball going in and in fairness to Katie Power, she got three wonderful scores in the first half when she was outnumbered. 'It's not a traditional thing for Kilkenny to play with a sweeper so we went against the curve with that. But we didn't want to come up here and leave ourselves wide open, maybe going a goal or two down after five or ten minutes. We wanted to stay in the match as long as we could to take belief from that, then to push up and attack the game with a few minutes to go to try and win it.' On paper, it's another quarter-final exit for Kilkenny but the mood in the Marble County will be very different to that on this day 12 months ago, when they were knocked out by Dublin in this fixture. 'We asked them for one thing – to give us something on the line that we can jump up and down, encourage each other, and to give the crowd something as well,' said Shefflin. 'The hooks, the blocks, the turnovers, at half-time we had 29 turnovers so that tells its own story. We couldn't have asked for any more." Kelly acknowledged that Kilkenny's set-up caused them some headaches, and noted that it was only after they were able to make adjustments at half-time that they found their feet. 'They were clever about it, to be fair. We were putting up big scores, they're a young team, they've a few experienced women but there's a lot of young players there. So I suppose they decided to put the sweeper there. 'At half time, we restructured that and we just decided to switch sides and get people into space a little bit more, pushing Karen (Kennedy) to centre-forward. While she wasn't having as much possessions as she normally has, she really drew them in around her." As for Jean Kelly, the Éire Óg Annacarty player was crucial to the win with three points after being introduced as a sub. 'Jean is so good off the bench. She's a little wizard there, she comes in and she gets her scores and she's zipping around. She gives us such impact off the bench.' Scorers for Tipperary: G O'Brien 0-9 (8fs); C McIntyre 1-0; C McCarthy, C Hennessy 0-2, J Kelly 0-3 each; M Burke, R Howard, C Maher, C Hennessy 0-1 each. Scorers for Kilkenny: A Prendergast 0-7 (4fs); L Murphy 0-5; K Power 0-4; L Greene 0-2; S Barcoe 0-1. TIPPERARY: L Leenane; M Eviston, K Blair, E Loughman; N Costigan, C McCarthy, S Corcoran; K Kennedy, C Maher; R Howard, M Burke, E Heffernan; C McIntyre, C Hennessy, G O'Brien. Subs: J Bourke for Costigan (23); J Kelly for Burke (46); L Purcell for McIntyre (48); N Cunneen for Howard (60+2); McIntyre for Purcell (full-time); Howard for Heffernan (79); E Cunneen for Hennessy (80). KILKENNY: A Norris; M Teehan, T Fitzgerald, D Quigley; K Doyle, N Deely, C Dowling; A O'Gorman, L Greene; S Fitzgerald, L Murphy, M O'Connell; A Prendergast, K Power, M Brennan. Subs: C Keher Murtagh for O'Connell (half-time); S Barcoe for O'Gorman (50); S Holden for Doyle (58); K Nolan for Brennan (67); S O'Dwyer for Power (74). Referee: Ray Kelly (Kildare).
The Irish Sun
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Henry Shefflin hilariously dabbles in Gaelic football punditry as RTE's Saturday Game debuts format change
THERE was a noteworthy format change in The Saturday Game which led to an amusing moment where Henry Shefflin gave his two cents on the Ulster football final. Donegal's Advertisement 2 It's not the usual set-up for the hurling and football analysts to be on at the same time Credit: @TheSundayGame 2 One of the greatest hurlers ever admitted he had limited football insight to offer Credit: @TheSundayGame Typically during either the Saturday or Sunday version of the highlights programme, the football and hurling pundits don't appear on-screen at the same time. However, on this weekend's edition Shefflin and Diarmuid O'Keefe remained at the table while Sean Cavanagh and Vinny Corey joined the party as attention turned from Initially host Damien Lawlor threw to former Wexford ace O'Keeffe on account of him being a brother-in-law of Armagh ace Jarly Og Burns. But he then asked the Kilkenny icon for his view on the latest memorable provincial final to unfold before a packed house in Clones' St Tiernach's Park. Advertisement Read More On GAA Shefflin chipped in with: "Well, we were sitting here in the dark studio here all day today while everyone else was enjoying the sunshine. "But you could feel the tension (in Clones) from all the way over here and that's the great thing about the football and hurling Championships this year. "I think it's pure drama and sport at its finest, going right down to the end and that's what we want in sport." With a smile he then literally held his hands up and added: "Now that's all I can say. As for football tactics Damien? No, I'll pass on this one to be honest with you!" Advertisement Most read in GAA Hurling Amid all five men laughing in the moment of levity, Cavanagh then suggested: "Football is the new hurling eh men?" Only for Shefflin to fire back: "Hold on, I wouldn't go that far now!" Henry Shefflin hilariously dabbles in Gaelic football punditry as RTE's Saturday Game debuts format change On a more serious note, there was one unsavoury aspect to the Ulster Championship decider as there was a The situation was defused before Donegal skipper McBrearty lifted the Anglo-Celt Cup. Advertisement Donegal boss Jim McGuinness did not see what caused the ruckus. He said: 'I don't have a perspective on that. It's not nice to see. It shouldn't happen. "I was giving my daughter a hug at the time. I didn't see what happened, but it shouldn't be in the game.' His Armagh counterpart Kieran McGeeney has to lift his players for a group of death with Dublin, Galway and Derry but hopes they can bounce back after raising Sam Maguire last July. Advertisement He said: 'We've been in the group of death for the last three years, so what's new? 'It's a tough one. Derry are playing well. Dublin are Dublin, and Galway are probably one of the best teams in the country. There's no easy ones left.'
