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Irish Examiner
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
'A blatant disregard for fairness': GAA Palestine outraged after Irish visit postponed over visa refusal
The organisers behind an upcoming trip to Ireland for 47 Palestinian children and coaches to play hurling have expressed their outrage over the likely cancellation of the visit. GAA Palestine issued a statement on Monday evening, saying that despite numerous attempts to engage with the Department of Justice, it was now clear the trip could not go ahead. Over the weekend, both All-Ireland football semi-finals saw protests urging the Department of Justice to 'Let Them Play,' with the tour originally set to begin on Friday. In the statement, GAA Palestine said: "We are also troubled by the fact that other agencies have successfully brought children from various countries to Ireland on similar tours, and their travel has been permitted without issue. "Yet, it appears that because these children are Palestinian, our government is refusing to allow them to come." They called the situation "deeply concerning" and said it raises questions about the "fairness and impartiality of the process." On Monday, the GAA Palestine executive travelled to Dublin to seek clarity and resolution. They say they initially met with a Department of Justice secretary, who assured them a senior officer would meet them. However, at 4.38pm, they say received an email dismissing their concerns and directing them to an appeals process. This process, they were told, would take an indefinite amount of time, effectively preventing the team from travelling on July 18. The executive will remain in Dublin for the coming days in an effort to seek a resolution. "We are hopeful that in the final 24 hours, a resolution can be found. We genuinely want to come together and work constructively to remedy this situation. We are ready and available to engage in meaningful dialogue and to explore any options that might allow our players to participate. "It is deeply disappointing that common sense and fairness have been ignored. Our government's decision to hinder our players' travel is unjust and unacceptable. We call on the Irish authorities to reconsider their stance and facilitate the safe and fair travel of our team." Bas O'Curraoin with Children from GAA clubs across the country joined forces in Croke Park to appeal to the Irish government to let the 33 children into Ireland for their GAA Palestine Irish tour next week. Picture: ©INPHO/Tom O'Hanlon GAA Palestine founder and chairman Stephen Redmond said, "We are deeply disheartened and outraged by the Department of Justice's outright refusal to allow our team to travel to Ireland. "Despite providing all necessary documentation and engaging in good faith, we have been met with dismissiveness and an appeals process that, in reality, guarantees our trip will not happen. "This is not just a logistical setback; it's a blatant disregard for fairness, transparency, and the spirit of sport that unites us all." The Irish Embassy in Tel Aviv's requirement that flights be purchased before visa approval resulted in a €38,000 loss on non-refundable tickets for the club. The statement added: "This reckless requirement, combined with the visa refusals — despite some members having previously travelled to Ireland this year without issue — raises serious questions about transparency and fairness. "Our players deserve better, and we will continue to fight for their right to participate and showcase their talent. We remain committed to finding alternative solutions and will not be deterred by this unjust treatment."
The 42
13-07-2025
- Sport
- The 42
'We massively underachieved in our eyes. When Jim came back, standards were raised'
TWELVE MONTHS ON and a vastly different All-Ireland semi-final experience for Donegal. Last year they were left with the stinging pain of regret as their second-half fadeout was the root cause of their loss to Galway, only scoring a single point after the 47th minute of the game. Today had the strong sense of satisfaction, posting 3-13 on the board after half-time illustrated their power in the closing period on this occasion as they blitzed Meath. 'It was a long road back, a hell of a long road back, but delighted to get over the line and obviously go one step further than last year,' remarked manager Jim McGuinness. 'We knew we had trained well, I suppose without covering old ground again, the difference between a one week turnaround and a two week turnaround really. You're going to get one session done in a one week turnaround, and I would say with a two week turnaround, you're looking at five or six. 'That's massive from a coaching point of view, trying to get the information pulled together, but to get out on the pitch and repeatedly work on the things that you feel would be important in the game. Advertisement 'We spoke about it as coaches in the hotel this morning that it feels like there is a performance in them because a lot of the things that we were looking to achieve in the game, there was a consistency in our training. 'So that's brilliant and obviously we get another two weeks now into the final and hopefully we can go down the same road.' Jim McGuinness with Donegal players after the game. Tom O'Hanlon / INPHO Tom O'Hanlon / INPHO / INPHO Victory propels Donegal back into the final for the first time in 11 years, a wait that captain Patrick McBrearty would not have envisaged at the time. 'Definitely not. When we left here 2014, I didn't think it would be 2024 until we reached our next semi-final. We massively, massively underachieved from '14 to '24 basically, in our eyes. 'When Jim came back, standards were raised back to where they were and we're just delighted to be back here, but you know they were a barren couple of years. 'We were winning Ulsters, teams were tipping us to go on and win All-Irelands and we couldn't do on the big days. Getting this man back obviously for that and getting back to days like this two weeks is gonna be massive.' Donegal's play was stunning to watch, their running power enabling them to mow Meath down in the second half. The sequence of play that led to Ciarán Moore netting in the 49th minute encapsulated the range of strengths they have to offer. 'There's a good bit of commentary about how we play sometimes,' remarked McGuinness. 'And maybe it is a wee bit different than other teams, but without covering the same ground all the time, that's who we are like at this stage of the game. We know what we want to do and it's been in our blood for a long, long time and we just try to tap into that and I think it was Finbarr (Roarty) that turned that one over. 'A brilliant turnover and we got all the way up the pitch and made it count which is great. It's encouraging, we're creating, even in the (the) first half, we created some goalscoring opportunities and we kind of felt that if we could keep at it and keep trusting ourselves, we could get into more goalscoring opportunity moments and that's the way it panned out.' *****
The 42
12-07-2025
- Sport
- The 42
Seventh All-Ireland final beckons for Kerry's self-styled football outsider
MENTION TO JACK O'Connor that he is heading for his seventh All-Ireland final, and he throws it on to the players. 'This group have been in a few finals like. They were here in '22, '23…,' he begins. 'They were here in '19, sorry — '19, '22, '23 — so this will be their fourth final, most of those boys. 'Paul Murphy, Paul Geaney were there in '14. And '15. So there is a good bit of experience in the group, yeah.' And what it means, of course? 'Sure of course it counts. Where it counts more than anything is in the build-up to it. You know to avoid getting carried away in the euphoria of the thing, and keeping the main thing the main thing, if you know what I mean. 'Keeping your priorities right, and keeping the focus on arriving here in your best physical and mental condition. To play the game rather than the occasion.' If there is one thing he laments, in what he calls the 'old days', it was the month of a lead-in to the final. But that can't be helped either. The season starts with the bang of a gun and teams have to put their head down to make the early yards. There's barely a chance to get the head up and see where everyone else is. All you can do is take nothing for granted, and Tyrone are not a side that O'Connor has learned to take for granted. Advertisement O'Connor shakes hands with Peter Teague. Tom O'Hanlon / INPHO Tom O'Hanlon / INPHO / INPHO 'Tyrone had some big results that almost went under the radar. They beat Donegal above in Ballybofey, very few teams do that. I don't think it was picked up too much in the media,' said O'Connor. 'Beat Dublin here; I don't care what they say about Dublin, Dublin are still a hard team to beat here in Croke Park. They would have come into this game with a lot of confidence and there was lot a noise about our game, which meant Tyrone were coming in under the radar. 'I thought that showed early on. I thought, in the first 15 minutes, Tyrone were the better team. They settled quicker and had us in a lot of bother on breaking ball around the middle of the field. As soon as we got to terms with that, I thought the game changed and David's goal settled us.' The kickout count was heavily in Tyrone's favour before Kerry arrested that. In the second half, Tyrone simply couldn't cope. A good part of that was the man sitting beside O'Connor in the press briefing. Gavin White won three break balls from Niall Morgan's kickout in the third quarter alone. 'No better man than this man here,' said O'Connor of the Dr Crokes man. 'That was the thing that was killing us early on. There was a bit of a disconnect between Shane's kickouts and fellas getting to the pitch of the breaks. We spoke about that at half-time and that was a big factor in the second half.' This win was less of the Catherine Wheel spectacular of the win over Armagh, but it could have been even more impressive. It doesn't feel like a performance is being magicked up out of nowhere. 'It was a more rounded performance because I thought that spell against Armagh was a bit freakish. It was like they just couldn't get their kickout away and we kept the ball up that end of the field,' said O'Connor. David Clifford celebrates. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO 'I think this was a more rounded performance because Tyrone are very big around the middle of the field, Kennedy and Kilpatrick are big men and they have a lot of targets, and Morgan has a serious weapon of a kickout. The two boys (O'Shea and O'Brien) plugged away great for most of the game, and then Joe finished up midfield and what a game Joe had. Powerful game, he is getting better all the time.' Kerry supporters have had all sorts of things thrown at them. Occasionally, outsiders paint a pretty vulgar picture of their assessments of players. But this team seem to be reaching for a deeper connection. You can see it in David Clifford most of all. He has been appealing for greater turnouts of fans, and when he plundered his first-half goal here, made a huge show of trying to raise the decibel level among the Kerry support. It's working. 'I mean it was no secret that Armagh seriously outnumbered us here at this stage last year,' said O'Connor. 'And I know I got stick for it but I said at the time that they were a factor in the game. And I don't think anyone could dispute that. '(The) Kerry crowd were a factor today big time. So delighted with that. The support travel in huge numbers. 'And long may it continue. I mean these boys are giving everything for the cause. And they're playing good football. So they deserve to be supported. And we're delighted that, you know, I don't have the language to describe it. 'But it's working both ways, you know. They're getting energy from the crowd. And the crowd are getting energy from the players.' Meanwhile, O'Connor noted at the end of his press conference that Paul and Conor Geaney, along with Tom O'Sullivan, will be in a position to make a contribution in the final. * Check out the latest episode of The42′s GAA Weekly podcast here
The 42
26-06-2025
- Sport
- The 42
How 'bio-banding' is helping Clare's young hurlers to reach their potential
FROM SMALL, AND sometimes large, acorns, mighty oaks grow. Exhibit A: The Clare minor hurlers that will contest Saturday's Electric Ireland All-Ireland minor championship final with Waterford. That Clare group will include the first batch of players exposed to the bio-banding training process which kicked on for Clare U14 academy teams in 2022. It is a disarmingly simple idea designed to max out every last ounce of potential in talented young players of all sizes – split them into separate training groups based on their biological age, not their chronological age. So the smaller, lighter players, who may still be some way off Peak Height Velocity, or their growth spurt, train together, while the taller, heavier players, who are closer to full maturation, do likewise. Now, instead of an early developing, six-foot powerhouse 14-year-old ploughing through a skillful but smaller defender, which does little for the development of either player, it is a much more level playing field. Applying bio-banding to Clare academy teams was the brainchild of Rob Mulcahy, who headed up their underage athletic development department, and is now in its fourth season. In 2023 they played the first bio-banded challenge games against Limerick. 'It's actually a brilliant idea, where the smaller lads would be in their pods, they're all hopping off each other, and then the bigger lads who would usually be pushing away the smaller lads are now off in their own group and up against a guy who is the same size at 14 or 15,' said Clare minor manager Ger O'Connell, who has guided his team to Saturday's final in Thurles. 'Now they have to use their feet more, they have to speed up their hurling because the other player they're meeting is as big and they can't push by him or push him away. It also helps the smaller lads to develop more confidence in tackling and winning the ball quickly and sharply. It's a brilliant idea.' Advertisement Clare minor hurling manager Ger O'Connell. Tom O'Hanlon / INPHO Tom O'Hanlon / INPHO / INPHO Ronan Keane, Clare's U14 technical coach, gave an insight into the approach in an explainer video put together in 2023. 'We've all seen mismatches that have occurred at this age,' said Keane. 'But yet you'd say that you'd never put an 11-year-old out marking a 17-year-old because that would be illogical and that wouldn't make sense. But in reality that's what can happen at U14 with the biological and chronological ages being different. It can be as great as plus or minus two or three years.' Left to their own devices, bigger players at underage level tend to run more in straight lines. Because the shortest route from A to B is a straight line and they can generally clear a path for themselves with their power. 'When they're put with players of their own stature, they have to develop the finer skills, their agility and movement-based skills,' explained Keane of the early developers. The same phenomenon exists in Gaelic football, of big players standing out in their early teens, often scoring goals for fun and dominating games, only to be overtaken as the years go on by players whose growth spurt came later. Often those late developers, like current Galway football powerhouse Damien Comer, worked harder on their skills at an earlier age. 'I see this now as a school-teacher working with younger lads – the smaller lads who are battling away might be struggling a little bit, but you know they will be fine,' said Comer earlier this year on The Puke Football Podcast. 'While the bigger lads who are getting it easy when they're younger, they always struggle if they don't work on their skills, they always struggle when they get older.' lare's James O'Donnell wins the ball ahead of Cork's Colm Garde. Tom O'Hanlon / INPHO Tom O'Hanlon / INPHO / INPHO What Clare did was to intervene and to give both the early and late developers a better chance of meeting their full potential. The process works well with the large, 70-plus group of players in the academy groups, at U14 and U15. The data collected a couple of years back from one group of academy players, who were all born in 2008, was striking. One player, aged 14 years and one month, had a projected adult height of over six-foot-two and had just 5% of height left to gain. Another player in the same group, who was projected to reach a similar height, had another 12% of height to gain. In the Clare football academy in 2023, one player was six-foot-six and over 15 stone and another was five-foot-four and just over six stone. The data helped Clare to group academy players based on three distinct groups; those who were less than 90% matured, those between 90% and 95%, and those above 95%. Former Clare senior camogie manager O'Connell worked with Clare underage teams for three seasons before being appointed minor manager for 2025. He dealt with players who had been through the bio-banding process at U14 and U15 level. The hope is that, by the time they get to minors, they should all be more developed and better able to exist together on the pitch. 'When you get to, say, our minor team now, the likes of a Liam Murphy, who is a smaller lad, he has to be able to hold his own against a Jack O'Halloran or an Evan Crimmins or a Dara Kennedy who is six-foot-two or three,' said O'Connell. 'I think the confidence these lads build up from 14s, 15s, 16s is brilliant, for when they're training with us now three or four days a week as minors 'These lads now would have been the first group that would have gone through it at 14. Now three years on, they're minors. It's a great idea and I know the U14s are continuing that on. It's brilliant because it allows the smaller lads to gain confidence and it gets the bigger lads developing parts of their hurling game that they'll need as they get older.' Check out the latest episode of The42′s GAA Weekly podcast here
The Journal
21-06-2025
- Sport
- The Journal
Dublin stun Limerick to snatch All-Ireland semi-final spot as Tipperary also advance
The 42 The 42 is the home of quality journalism for passionate Irish sports fans, bringing you closer to the stories that matter through insightful analysis and sharp sportswriting. Dublin 2-24 Limerick 0-28 MASSIVE UNDERDOGS DUBLIN are through to an All-Ireland SHC semi-final against Cork after producing a stunning upset against Limerick. Two goals midway through the second half, which arrived within seconds of each other from substitute John Hetherton and Cian O'Sullivan, put the Dubs in a winning position at Croke Park. And Dublin, who had been reduced to 14 men following a red card for Chris Crummey, held on for a famous win. The 42 Subscribers can read the full match report here (€) Advertisement Tipperary's Oisín O'Donoghue celebrates after scoring a goal. Tom O'Hanlon / INPHO Tom O'Hanlon / INPHO / INPHO Tipperary 1-28 Galway 2-17 Tipperary are heading back to Croke Park for the first time since the 2019 All-Ireland final after a comfortable eight-point victory over Galway. The Premier will face Kilkenny in that semi-final on Sunday, 6 July. The result in front of 15,404 fans at the Gaelic Grounds also means that giant-killers Dublin will meet Cork the previous evening. The 42 Subscribers can read the full match report here (€) The 42′s award-winning team produces original content that you won't find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women's sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye.
