logo
Galway's brilliance scuppers Down's masterplan and secures All-Ireland last-eight spot

Galway's brilliance scuppers Down's masterplan and secures All-Ireland last-eight spot

Galway marched into Pairc Esler as heavy favourites in Sunday's preliminary Quarter-Final and, although they did escape with a victory, anyone who thought this was going to be one way traffic doesn't know the work that Down have put into their preparation over the past few years.
Conor Laverty and his management team leave no stone unturned, and they cooked up a plan that pushed last year's All-Ireland finalists right to the very brink as the Ulster side went into the game fully committed to executing their strategy, undeterred by the bookies, outside noise or the opposition's haul of All-Stars.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

McGuinness 'delighted' with Donegal progression
McGuinness 'delighted' with Donegal progression

BBC News

time2 hours ago

  • BBC News

McGuinness 'delighted' with Donegal progression

Donegal manager Jim McGuinness says he is "delighted" after securing an All-Ireland quarter-final berth. Conor O'Donnell and Ciaran Thompson netted as the Ulster champions ran out 2-22 to 0-12 winners over will be pitted against either Meath or Ulster rivals Monaghan in the draw for the last eight on Monday."We're delighted to be in the quarter-final draw, that was the overwhelming ambition coming into the game," McGuinness told BBC Sport NI."We're very happy to be there."The quarter-final will be a ninth Championship match in the space of 13 weeks for Donegal, a schedule McGuinness admits is "gruelling".However, the Tir Chonaill boss is looking at the positives and says "we don't want to go down that road"."We had three big games ahead of us. Thankfully we've navigated two and we've one more ahead of us. "We're delighted to have that opportunity to play in that game, regardless of who we get in what will be a very tough draw."We'll take the positives and take the learnings from today, and hopefully we can build on that for next week."It's going to be very difficult to navigate the next round but that's were we want to be."

Devine wins third Donegal International Rally in a row
Devine wins third Donegal International Rally in a row

BBC News

time3 hours ago

  • BBC News

Devine wins third Donegal International Rally in a row

Callum Devine came through a demanding Donegal International Rally to win the event for a third year in a row. The 2023 Irish Tarmac Rally champion won the three-day event - one of the most famous rallies in Europe - alongside co-driver Noel O'Sullivan by 20.5 seconds ahead of Wales' Meirion Evans, while local driver David Kelly was third. Skoda driver Devine, 31, led after Friday's six stages but a gruelling Saturday saw a number of big names drop out of contention. European Rally Championship driver Jon Armstrong posted a number of fastest stage times and was challenging Devine on Saturday's first loop but a differential problem on his Ford Fiesta dropped him out of contention, and a second mechanical issue halted his recovery later in the day. Two time ERC champion Hayden Paddon, a late entry for the rally from New Zealand, was in the mix for victory but rolled out on Saturday's penultimate stage. The final stage on Saturday claimed British Rally Championship title challenger William Creighton, who slid off the road with a slow puncture and decided to retire his Toyota Yaris. The various issues for front runners took away from what could have been a titanic battle for the win in the Donegal hills as just 20 seconds separated Devine, Creighton, Evans and Paddon after 12 as his rivals faltered, Devine, who himself battled handbrake issues, kept his cool to win the rally for the third consecutive and co-driver Ger Conway were a comfortable second and, despite his issues, Armstrong and co-driver Shane Byrne had moved back into podium contention but the Fermanagh driver retired after an off on the final promoted Kelly and navigator Arthur Kierans onto the final step of the podium for the second year in a row.

Donegal beat Louth to reach All-Ireland quarters
Donegal beat Louth to reach All-Ireland quarters

BBC News

time3 hours ago

  • BBC News

Donegal beat Louth to reach All-Ireland quarters

Donegal eased past Louth by 2-22 to 0-12 at Ballybofey to reach the last-eight of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. Jim McGuinness' side will head into Monday's draw knowing they'll be paired against either Monaghan or Meath as they have already played Tyrone and Armagh, the other two sides in pot one in this years Championship. Pre-game conversation centred around the late arrival of the Louth team after the team-bus took a wrong turn on their journey to Ballybofey. The Leinster champions arrived at the venue just before 15:15 BST for the scheduled 16:00 BST start, but the game was not delayed and the ball was thrown in as preliminary quarter-final clash was Donegal's eighth Championship outing in just 12 weeks, and that perhaps contributed to the lethargic nature of their first-half performance. Donegal led 0-5 to 0-1 after 16 minutes as Oisin Gallen, Paedar Morgan and Michael Murphy were all on target. But Louth replied with four score in a row, three of which came from the boot of Ryan Burns to level the game ten minutes before the break. Donegal finished the half strong to lead 1-6 to 0-7 at the interval, and Oisin Gallen grabbed their first score in 14 minutes before Sean Patton's kick-out was flicked to Ciaran Moore, who found Conor O'Donnell with a looping hand-pass over the top and he made no mistake as he fired into the back of the net. Louth needed a response in the second half and Sam Mulroy kicked his first score of the game to mark the start of the second stanza, but the Ulster champions would reply with five scores in a row, two of which came from an inspirational two-pointer from Murphy. Mulroy replied for the Leinster champions before their season completely imploded in the space of 10 Thompson blasted into the net after a fine set-up from Gallen before Louth were temporarily reduced to 14 as Peter Lynch was shown a black-card. The home team took real advantage throughout that spell and kicked 0-7 without reply, including another two-pointer from Michael Langan, and 2-18 played 0-9 as Lynch marked his return to action with Louth's first score in 13 minutes. Niall O'Donnell, Daire O Baoill and Caolan McColgan added late gloss to the scoreboard as the Tir Chonaill finished with 12 different scorers, and all but one of their points came from play as they safely secured their passage back to Croke Park for the Shaun Patton; Finbarr Roarty (0-2), Brendan McCole, Peadar Mogan (0-1); Ryan McHugh, Eoghan Ban Gallagher, Ciaran Moore; Jason McGee, Michael Langan (0-3 1 2pt); Caolan McColgan (0-1), Ciaran Thompson (1-0), Shane O'Donnell (0-1); Conor O'Donnell (1-2), Michael Murphy (0-3 1f 1 2pt), Oisin Gallen (0-5).Subs: Hugh McFadden (0-1) for J McGee (HT), Daire O Baoill (0-2) for R McHugh (49), Patrick McBrearty for M Murphy (52), Niall O'Donnell (0-1) for C O'Donnell (55), Odhran McFadden-Ferry for E Ban Gallagher (55)Louth: Niall McDonnell; Daire Nally, Dermot Campbell, Donal McKenny; Emmett Carolan, Peter Lynch (0-1), Craig Lennon (0-1); Tommy Durnin, Dara McDonnell (0-1); Conal McKeever, Ciaran Downey (0-1), Paul Matthews (0-1); Dan Corcoran, Sam Mulroy (0-3 2f), Ryan Burns (0-4).Subs: Conor Grimes for E Carolan (HT), Sean Callaghan for T Durnin (49), Ryan Walsh for P Matthews (52), Kieran McArdle for C Lennon (54), James Maguire for R Burns (56)Referee: Barry Cassidy (Derry)

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store