Angry Kildare won't settle for last eight berth
Kildare manager Pat Sullivan said reaching the quarter-finals of the TG4 All-Ireland Championship is the stuff of dreams — but they are not going to settle for that after seeing off Armagh to reach the last eight.
'It's hard to put into words. Nobody outside of our circle gave us any chance. We drew with teams and beat teams in the league but we were still given no chance. We had a lot of anger and this is a really good squad. Our first year in Division One, there's no player in this circle has ever been in an All-Ireland quarter-final.
'So for them to achieve what they've achieved is a dream and we're not there to make up the numbers, we're there to give it everything and we're delighted to be there,' said Sullivan after their superb 1-12 to 1-10 away to Armagh.
The sides were deadlocked at 0-6 apiece at the end of the opening half. Kildare captain Laoise Lenehan edged them in front after the restart and then after an exchange of points struck a major blow when she finished to the net after being set up by Roisin Byrne.
Armagh responded well after Kildare extended the lead to five and captain Lauren McConville fired home a goal after being set up by Niamh Henderson, before Aimee Mackin cut the gap to the minimum but Mia Ryan's second point wrapped up the win for the Lilywhites.
Tipperary never trailed as they beat Donegal by 0-11 to 1-6 in Bansha to set up a quarter-final against Meath after their best performance of the year.
A superb display from Anna Rose Kennedy helped Tipperary to 0-8 to 0-3 lead at the interval before extending it with a couple of points from Aisling Moloney after the restart.
'In the first half we really controlled the game,' said Tipperary manager Ed Burke. 'We kicked some lovely scores from distance, we were patient, and we restricted their scoring. It was a real serious Tipperary team performance.
Goals in each half from Katie Quirke sent Cork into the quarter-finals as they held off a late Mayo fightback in Castlebar to advance by 3-8 to 1-10.
'The goals were crucial scores,' said Cork manager Joe Carroll. 'We started fairly well but I thought we rushed the play a small bit. We got our kicks blocked down a few times and took a few shots we needn't have, that's something we need to work. We were better at it in the second half.
'We'll just have to get ourselves ready for Dublin, an exceptional team. They won the Leinster championship, so we'll have some work to do to beat them.'
Cork led by 2-3 to 0-6 at the break with Máire O'Callaghan shooting to the net in the opening seconds of the contest. Mayo fought back in the second half and points from Sinead Walsh and a goal from Annie Gough reduced the gap but Cork held on to set up a quarter-final against Dublin.
'The last few weeks at this level, we haven't been aggressive in the second half,' said Mayo manager Liam McHale. 'We went down to Kerry and played well in the first half but only scored a point in the second half against the wind. We had a couple of goal chances but we couldn't seem to catch a break.'
Waterford had six different goalscorers as they ousted Leitrim by 6-16 to 3-4 in Carrick-on-Shannon to book a quarter-final date with Galway.
'The first 15 minutes their backs were on top of us the whole time and we were finding it hard to get our shots off,' said Waterford full-forward Clare Walsh. 'Any shots the first few minutes their keeper saved them. Once we got into the flow, the points and the scores came. There were loads of scorers and some of our backs were up there too.'
Lauren McGregor and Karen McGrath found the net in the opening half to lead by 2-7 to 1-1 at the break, with Laura O'Dowd getting the Leitrim goal.
Waterford pushed on for victory with further goals from Brid McMaugh, Katie Murray, Clare Walsh and Megan Dunford sealing the win, with Leitrim pushing them all the way with goals from Rachel McIntyre and Aisling Quinn.
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Irish Times
21 minutes ago
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Football quarter-finalists laid bare and what else we learned from the GAA weekend
The road n ot take n Spare a thought for the Louth bus driver. In an era where everything is analysed to the last grain of sand and nothing is left to chance, one wrong turn coming out of an unfamiliar town can leave the whole thing in a heap. And next thing you know, you're in Sligo when you're supposed to be in Ballybofey. Shit! Instead of making the journey to Donegal all in one go on Sunday, Ger Brennan and his team stayed in Enniskillen on Saturday night. But somehow on Sunday, when it was time to go to the game, the bus headed southwest instead of northwest. What should have been an hour's drive took two hours and 20 minutes. Which is more or less what it would have taken from Louth had they slept in their own beds. Donegal's Ciarán Thompson celebrates a goal during the preliminary quarter-final against Louth in Ballybofey. 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Irish Daily Mirror
44 minutes ago
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'Something ominous' in the way Dublin are grinding out results, says Eamonn Fitzmaurice
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Eamonn Fitzmaurice reckons there is 'something ominous' about the way Dublin are grinding out results as they face into a crunch All-Ireland quarter-final encounter with Tyrone next weekend. And Fitzmaurice says he 'wouldn't be surprised' if there was a shock in either the Meath versus Galway game or Monaghan's encounter with Donegal. The former Kerry All-Ireland winning manager also believes 'team to beat' Armagh is 'the right game' for the Kingdom after last year's All-Ireland semi-final defeat by Kieran McGeeney's side. It was already known that Kerry would face Armagh, but this morning's draw threw up a huge tie in the shape of Dublin against Tyrone. Tyrone comfortably defeated Dublin in the League earlier this year, but Dessie Farrell's side are coming off back to back Championship wins over Cork and Derry, while they also defeated Galway in Salthill with a last gasp Tom Lahiff point. Surprisingly, it's the first time they've won back to back games since February 22, when they followed up a one point Division 1 win against Kerry in Tralee by comfortably disposing of Derry at Croke Park. Dublin also left Con O'Callaghan out of last weekend's victory over Cork, and didn't even call on him when it got tight. O'Callaghan was forced off injured in the win over Galway, missed the Armagh defeat and returned to spark Dublin to victory over Derry. Speaking on RTE radio after the draw, Fitzmaurice said: 'The Tyrone/Dublin game is obviously going to be a massive game. The last league game, Tyrone beat Dublin above in Healy Park and played very well. 'It's kind of a fresh Tyrone team coming in against a Dublin team that had a couple of weeks (of games). 'Dessie took the risk of keeping Con back last weekend, a key player, and it will probably pay off for them now, because the Dubs with him are obviously a different team. 'There is something ominous about the Dubs at the moment. They are grinding it out. They are showing a different side to themselves, but they are getting the job done. 'Tyrone are coming fresh to Croke Park as well and they have forwards that are capable of doing a lot of damage up there.' Speaking about the Kerry/Armagh game, Fitzmaurice continued: 'It's a game that certainly the Kerry players and management would have been waiting for all season. Maybe they wouldn't have expected to have gone through the preliminary quarter-final. 'They have a few injuries and everything else, but there are no excuses from here on in. 'Armagh are obviously the team to beat at the moment, but that opposition is right for Kerry and certainly the way they played (against Armagh) in the league game in the middle of March, it kind of inspired them to go to new levels. 'I'd be hoping from a Kerry perspective that it will be something similar next weekend.' Fitzmaurice says that Donegal could have done with a week off. Jim McGuinness side have played more Championship games that anyone else their year. This weekend's encounter with Monaghan will be their ninth, while their opponents will be playing just their sixth game. Donegal, Kerry, Galway and Dublin are all facing into their third game in two weeks. 'In some circumstances I think it is (a disadvantage), but not for Kerry to be honest,' said Fitzmaurice. "I think they needed the game, particularly with the way they played against Meath the previous weekend. 'They were better off having a game and flushing it out of their systems and getting ready for next weekend. 'Some of the other teams, Donegal in particular, could possibly have done with a weekend off, considering the amount of games that they've played recently. 'I actually think the Cavan game was good for Kerry and hopefully it will have them in a good position.' Donegal defeated Monaghan in the Ulster quarter-final back in April, but there were only two points in it at the end. 'Gabriel Bannigan (Monaghan manager), after that game, he was very disappointed with how Monaghan had played in the first half,' said Fitzmaurice. 'They were six down at half-time, but they played very well in the second half. Again, you have a team coming with energy versus a team that are slightly fatigued, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was a shock somewhere along the line between those two games in particular (Donegal v Monaghan and Meath v Galway).'
