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Irish Daily Mirror
09-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Weekend fixtures confirmed as Kildare get Newbridge double header
The revamped Cedral St Conleth's Park will host a Kildare double header on Saturday. Fresh from their superb Joe McDonagh Cup final win over Laois, the Kildare hurlers are back in action six days later as they face Dublin in the All-Ireland preliminary hurling quarter-final in Newbridge, which, at the very least, will act as a useful barometer for manager Brian Dowling ahead of their return to the Leinster SHC in 2026. The game will have a 4pm throw-in and will be followed by the Kildare footballers' Tailteann Cup quarter-final against Offaly, which gets underway at 6.30pm. It will be the third meeting of the counties this year after they were paired together in this morning's draw, with Offaly beating Kildare in round six of the League and again in the Division Three final at Croke Park. There's another repeat of a League final with Wexford travelling to Limerick, who beat them in the Division Four decider. That quarter-final will take place on Sunday at the TUS Gaelic Grounds. The other two quarter-finals see Wicklow entertain Westmeath in Aughrim, also on Sunday afternoon, with Fermanagh at home to Sligo on Saturday. The Laois-Tipperary hurling preliminary quarter-final will be played on Saturday afternoon at Laois Hire O'Moore Park at 1.45pm as O'Moore boss Tommy Fitzgerald faces the difficult task of getting his players up for a game against top tier opposition just days after losing a season-defining game. Tailteann Cup quarter-finals Saturday, June 14 Fermanagh v Sligo, Brewster Park, 5pm. Kildare v Offaly, Cedral St Conleth's Park, 6.30pm. Sunday, June 15 Wicklow v Westmeath, Echelon Park, 1.15pm. Limerick v Wexford, TUS Gaelic Grounds, 3.45pm. All-Ireland hurling preliminary quarter-finals Laois v Tipperary, Laois Hire O'Moore Park, 1.45pm. Kildare v Dublin, Cedral St Conleth's Park, 4pm.
The Irish Sun
09-06-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
‘A joke' – Laois boss blasts GAA for quick turnaround from Joe McDonagh Cup final to All-Ireland outing
LAOIS manager Tommy Fitzgerald reckons it is a 'joke' they must play Tipperary this weekend. The 2 Tommy Fitzgerald, right, and selector Niall Corcoran during Sunday's Joe McDonagh Cup final loss 2 Kildare won on a scoreline of 2-26 to 1-19 Tier two winners Kildare will host Dublin and Laois will be at home to Tipp in Portlaoise — most likely on Saturday. Laois upset Dublin at that stage of the competition in 2019. But they lost to Wexford by 12 points last year and face a tough task to pick things up. Fitzgerald said: 'It's very raw at the moment but we will regroup and it's important we represent the jersey and the county as well as we can the next day. Read More On GAA 'But it's a bit of a joke doing it next Saturday.' Successive final defeats are a bitter pill to swallow for Laois — but they were fortunate to be in the decider having sneaked in on goal difference. And this was their second heavy defeat to Kildare this season having lost in the group stage in Portlaoise. Fitzgerald felt their awful shooting in the first half cost them. Most read in GAA Hurling He said: 'We had 11 wides in the first half and a few dropped short. A lot of them were good scoring opportunities. 'I don't know how many times we hit it wide on the near post. It hurt us. RTE GAA pundits argue over who started halftime row as Cork eventually topple Limerick in Munster epic final 'We were still in a decent position when we got the goal at the start of the second-half. "We probably struggled on our own puck-outs. That's where they really hurt us with their intensity. 'We did a lot of work on them in the last two weeks but Kildare are a well coached team. They're a good side and they punished us.' Experienced performers Paddy Purcell and Podge Delaney fired four points between them. Purcell surged through to set up the Laois goal too. They were on the Laois team that won the 2019 Joe McDonagh Cup. But Fitzgerald is satisfied that he does not need to rip up the script and start again. He said: 'There's not that many, one or two maybe, that are coming towards the end. 'Apart from that, the age profile is quite good. We'll be hoping they can develop as a group, stick together and build something over the next few years.'
Irish Independent
07-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
‘He'd demand standards without being a b*****ks that demands standards'
In an ideal world, Tommy Fitzgerald would have waited a few years before answering his county's call, but the GAA rarely works like that and circumstances saw him quickly parachuted into the role of Laois senior hurling boss.
RTÉ News
26-04-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Down ship six goals again at hands of rampant Laois
Down's wretched start to the Joe McDonagh Cup continued with a 39-point mauling at the hands of a rampant Laois in Ballycran. Tommy Fitzgerald's side began their championship campaign with an impressive nine-point win over Westmeath last weekend and they were in rampant mood from the get-go Saturday afternoon. Early goals from Cha Dwyer and Ben Conroy put them into a 2-05 to 0-02 lead after 10 minutes and the visitors never let up in a first-half blitzkrieg. Laois had nine different scorers in that opening period, with Aidan Corby, Tomás Keyes, Jer Quinlan and Podge Delaney among those to float over points as they ran up a scarcely believable 2-23 to 1-04 lead by the halfway point. Pearse Óg McCrickard found the net for the hosts, whose form has collapsed since they went unbeaten to win Division 2 in the spring. Paul Sheehan and Eoghan Sands lobbed over points for Down as they at least kept the scoring rate down in the early stages of the second half, but Conroy proceeded to fire home his second goal with 20 minutes remaining, pushing the margin out to 26 points. James Duggan and PJ Scully got in on the act with a pair of goals in quick succession with 10 minutes left, as Down's morale lay in tatters. Daithi Sands landed a brace of points as the clock wound down but there was time for Duggan to find the net again, marking the second time in the space of seven days that Down had shipped six goals. Laois, who are dropping down to Division 2 of the league for 2026 while Down head the other way, finished with a staggering tally of 6-36, Ryan Mullaney and early goalscorer Dwyer rounding off the scoring. The midlanders, last winners in 2019, host Kerry next week with a pep in their step, while a shell-shocked Down are away in Westmeath.
