Tailteann Cup: Kildare and Fermanagh join Limerick and Wicklow in quarter-finals
Kildare
may have secured the home quarter-final that they wanted in the
Tailteann Cup
on Sunday afternoon, but Sligo's late rally at Dr Hyde Park highlighted some of the vulnerabilities of the competition favourites.
It finished 4-19 to 1-24 in favour of Brian Flanagan's side, with Daniel Flynn once again proving his value as he hit 2-3, following up from his tally of 2-4 against Tipperary last time out.
Playing with a strong breeze at their backs, Kildare responded to Cian Lally's early goal for
Sligo
by hitting three of their own in the first 15 minutes. Flynn hit the first, toe-poking in a rebound after Aidan Devaney saved his initial effort, then James McGrath powered forward to find the bottom corner of the net and Alex Beirne added a third.
But a pair of two-pointers was a poor return on a day when kickouts from the town end were easily covering 80 metres of ground if needed. A half-time score of 3-11 to 1-7 was not an insurmountable lead, though it looked a lot more convincing when Flynn added his second goal and Kildare led by 15 points with 50 minutes played.
READ MORE
Eventually Sligo found their shooting boots. Niall Murphy was unmarkable close to goal, shooting 0-10 in total from nine kicks, while Pat Spillane came off the bench to shoot two doubles. The lead briefly went down to two points (4-17 to 1-24) but Lee Deignan and Alan McLoughlin both missed the target from distance, Cian Lally turned down another scorable effort from range, and Mark Dempsey made a crucial fingertip save to prevent Murphy from playing in O'Connor with just the goalkeeper to beat, all in the last five minutes.
In Group 1's other game, Leitrim won their first game of 2025 against Tipperary in Mullingar, but as the last-ranked third place team, their season still came to an end. In a low-scoring first half, Cian Smith's two-pointer was the only score in the opening 15 minutes, and goals from Jack Flynn and Tom Prior pushed Leitrim 2-2 to 0-3 ahead at half-time.
Joe McGloin settled the game when his goal put nine points between the sides after 56 minutes. Leitrim didn't manage another score for 12 minutes, but still saw out the game 3-9 to 0-10.
That result meant Antrim needed to beat London by at least eight points to keep their season alive, and they did that in Newry, running out 1-22 to 0-14 winners. London actually led 0-14 to 0-13 going into the final quarter, but Antrim came with a wet sail as Niall Burns (1-1), Dominic McEnhill (0-6) and Ryan McQuillan (0-4) scored well.
Longford were the only team already eliminated going into Sunday's games, but despite that they turned out in style against Carlow in Tullamore, shooting seven first-half two-pointers to go with Oran Kenny's goal. Matthew Carey racked up 0-15 in total, including five of those first-half doubles, in a 1-20 to 1-15 win that pushed Carlow into third spot in the group.
Fermanagh confirmed their passage through to the last eight in Croke Park where they outscored Wexford 0-9 to 0-4 in the final quarter. Seán Nolan's goal had Wexford in front by five with 30 minutes played, but Fermanagh grew into the game with Conor Love (0-9) leading their attack.
Fermanagh now join Kildare, Limerick and Wicklow in the quarter-finals as group winners. In the preliminary quarter-finals next weekend, the home teams will be Sligo, Wexford, Offaly and Westmeath. They will be drawn to face Carlow, Antrim, Laois and New York on Sunday evening.
Weekend Tailteann Cup results
Group 1:
Leitrim
3-9 Tipperary 0-10;
Kildare
4-19 Sligo 1-24
Group 2:
Offaly 3-16
Laois
3-18;
Wicklow
3-29 Waterford 0-21
Group 3:
Westmeath 0-18
Limerick
0-19;
Antrim
1-22 London 1-14
Group 4:
Carlow 1-15
Longford
1-20;
Fermanagh
0-25 Wexford 1-17
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Irish Sun
42 minutes ago
- The Irish Sun
‘I find it strange' – Tomas O'Se calls out GAA's mid-season rule change – but fellow Sunday Game pundit disagrees
TOMÁS Ó'Sé has questioned the GAA's Football Review Committee tweaking a rule 'four or five weeks out from the All-Ireland final'. Last week the rule around when a 50-metre penalty would be implemented was instituted. Advertisement 2 He noted a lot of teams were moving frees beyond the arc so that they became two-pointers Credit: @TheSundayGame 2 Derry legend Chrissy McKaigue felt a change had to be made Credit: @TheSundayGame Specifically, it centred on when marks are claimed from kick-outs as up until this weekend, a 50-metre punishment was to be applied whenever the mark was adjudged to have been prevented from quickly being taken. This led to instances where an opposition player would make an honest effort to catch the ball but would wind up technically in the way of the claimer from immediately being able to send a kick pass up the field. Speaking on The Sunday Game, the Kerry great outlined how he felt this was a case of the right action being taken at the wrong time. He said: "I'd agree with it but I just don't agree with it being changed mid-season. Advertisement Read More On GAA "We're about four or five weeks out from the All-Ireland final. We've gone through all of the provincials and groups stages - and the next thing you bring this change in. "Now players and management have to change around the way that they're changing as well. "So yeah I think it's the right thing to do but managers gave out so much throughout the League about all of the chopping and changing of rules. "Now halfway through it (there's more change). I just find it strange to be honest." Advertisement Most read in GAA Football Comment Interestingly, Chrissy McKaigue defended the rapid change brought about by Jim Gavin and the rest of the FRC. He countered: "I'd echo the sentiments of Tómás but like Watch as Pope Leo is gifted special GAA jersey in the Vatican "It was actually bad-looking for the game because no one could really get their heads around some of the infringements called. "There was a considerable breeze so every 50-metre penalty was a two-point score. Advertisement "So for me it's the right decision (to change it now). I understand it's not ideal changing it within the season. "But I think the FRC probably realised it was going to come to a stage where it was going to decide a really big game. "And I suppose they didn't want all of their work to be, for that to end up as the defining factor of it. "So I'm glad it's gone and I think it makes the job that bit easier for the officials and we do need to be mindful that at the minute there's for the refs to contend with." Advertisement The original version of the rule had copped significant flak from high-profile figures over the course of the League and Championship to this point. O'CONNOR CRITICISM Kerry boss After the May 31 clash he fumed: 'That's going to have to be tidied up. 'I felt all along that was going to cause problems and it is. You can't just disappear. Jesus Christ, like, you're battling for a ball. It isn't as if you're cool, calm and collected. Advertisement "You're battling in the middle of a gang of men for the ball and then you're supposed to have a clear head to realise which way the free is going and disappear out of the way.' From now on instead of a 50-metre advancement if a player is impeded within four metres of claiming a kick-out mark, a free will be awarded from where the challenge has occurred. The amendment was voted in by 38 of 39 Central Council delegates.
Irish Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Jim McGuinness hails Donegal star who has been 'a breath of fresh air'
Louth got lost en route to Ballybofey and ultimately lost their way in the second half to bow out of the Championship. After staying overnight in Enniskillen, the Louth bus took a wrong turn and managed to end up in Sligo - 90km from Ballybofey. Ger Brennan's Leinster champions stayed in touch with Donegal for the first half, but were blown away after the restart. 'Donegal just steamed through on a cruise liner and punished us for every error,' said Brennan. 'They're a superb team.' Conor O'Donnell and Ciaran Thompson bagged the goals for Donegal, who outscored Louth 1-16 to 0-5 in the second half. Brennan said: 'They obviously showed their seriousness and ability as potential All-Ireland contenders. So congratulations to them. 'And look at the second half, they just really upped their tempo. We weren't able to live with it.' O'Donnell scored the opening Donegal goal in the 34th minute to give the home side a 1-6 to 0-7 lead at half-time in front of 15,369. After Dara McDonnell drew Louth level, at 0-6 apiece, Shaun Patton arrowed a kick-out in the direction of Michael Murphy. The flick-on fell for Ciaran Moore who sent O'Donnell scurrying away. The Carndonagh man had his spot picked long before he pulled the trigger, riffling past Niall McDonnell with real precision. However, Ryan Burns hit four points in the first half and when Sam Mulroy landed a free early in the second half, Louth were within a point, 1-6 to 0-8. Donegal took charge, their purple patch kick-started by teenage corner-back Finnbarr Roarty's fisted point - his second of the game. 'He's like a breath of fresh air for everybody watching him,' said Donegal boss Jim McGuinness. 'He's always been a brilliant tenacious defender the whole way up through the ranks, but now he's playing at senior inter-county level and he's difficult to take the ball off as well. 'He's been excellent at that and very good agility and very good at avoiding tackles and he adds so much to our attack.' Thompson, who was playing his 50th successive Championship game for Donegal, blasted to the bottom corner in the 52nd minute to seal the game. Louth lost Peter Lynch to a black card moments later and Donegal reeled off the next seven points, including a two-pointer by Langan. Murphy arrowed over a two-pointer and in-form-again Oisin Gallen landed five points as Donegal eased their way to the quarter-finals. McGuinness said: 'We were clinical and done a good job to get over the line and get over the line with 20 minutes to spare, basically and give us a chance to get some players on the pitch as well that have been doing well in training. 'You want to be ruthless and you want to be clinical all the time and we were that in the second half. 'We took care of the ball better in the second half and that gave us more energy then to actually defend properly in the phases when it was needed.' Donegal had Jason McGee back in the starting XV for the first time since the All-Ireland semi-final loss to Galway last year. A half-time withdrawal was not a concern for McGuinness, who confirmed that the Corduff player was only ever set to play 35 minutes. He said: 'We just wanted to get him in there and get him exposure to Championship football from the start and run through the warm up and straight into the game and hopefully that'll bring him on.' After a magical year, including their first Leinster crown since 1957, it's season over for Louth and Brennan admits he will take some time to consider his future. He said: 'I haven't talked about to be honest because it's all focus on the game. 'The journey so far with the lads has been absolutely incredible. 'I think everyone should sit down and review the game critically as a group because that's something, that process that we got into was something that we had to keep and then you try to plan from there.'
Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
‘Limerick didn't take Dublin for granted', insists Kiely
Always chasing. That's how it felt on the sideline on Saturday afternoon for Limerick manager John Kiely. The pre-match All-Ireland favourites did lead for much of the first 25 minutes, and for a brief period between the 51st and 53rd minutes when they were 0-19 to 0-18 up, but they were, surprisingly, the hunters for the most part when they'd spent the guts of a decade being the hunted. "It was very like the Munster final, we struggled to get in front and apply the pressure on the opposition," said Kiely. "That was the key piece, we were always the team that was under pressure, chasing the game." And yet it wasn't as if Limerick flopped or underperformed. They were flatter than normal for sure, particularly after Chris Crummey's 15th-minute dismissal, but Adam English, Gearóid Hegarty, Cian Lynch and Aidan O'Connor at times, all brought excellence. "Whatever happened after the sending off, there was most certainly a response from Dublin that we didn't have or give, and once Dublin got their teeth into the contest, they really gave themselves a great chance," continued Kiely. "I just thought they did really well on breaking ball. The analysis and detail will be done and will show they did really well on second ball, breaking ball in particular. Primary puck-out as well, they do strongly there, and obviously their accuracy, when they got shooting chances they took them." That's not entirely true. Dublin lamped nine first-half wides and Cian O'Sullivan dropped a couple more point attempts short. And yet they still led by 0-15 to 0-12 at half-time, which only underlines how Limerick weren't quite at it. Maybe they took Dublin for granted? Not consciously at least, according to Kiely. "Not at all, we had all our analysis done of Dublin and their performance levels in the Leinster championship were of a very high level, puck-outs, accuracy had been very good, in one game they had a 85 percent shooting accuracy," he said. "They brought that forward and pulled it all together. They mightn't have done it altogether in a single game in Leinster but they were extremely competitive. They lost two of the main games but only by a couple of points. They got their performance levels right and great credit to them." There was no great speculation around Kiely's position on Saturday evening. He has another year to run on his deal with the Limerick county board. He and Paul Kinnerk will spend autumn reflecting on the most punishing loss of their time together with Limerick. Kiely said the goals ultimately won it for Dublin but the post-mortem will be far more comprehensive and will tear apart Limerick's entire buildup and season as a whole. Kiely is confident he won't look back and wince at how Limerick used the spare man after Crummey's exit. "We used the extra man in a typical way that any team would, we had three-versus-two in the inside line, 99 percent of teams would do something similar," he said. "We have no qualms about that, that's not a concern for me right now. Ultimately we were just not 100 percent sharp on the ball, we turned over balls we shouldn't have. "Everything just seemed to be a little bit harder for us when we were on the ball and ultimately when you are a little bit off, it gives the opposition a chance and Dublin, to be fair, they were super."
