logo
Antrim to face Wexford in Tailteann Cup preliminary round

Antrim to face Wexford in Tailteann Cup preliminary round

BBC News01-06-2025

Antrim will play Wexford in the preliminary quarter-finals of the Tailteann Cup next weekend.The Saffrons advanced to the knock-out stages with victory over London at Pairc Esler on Sunday as they finished as one of the best third place sides.Wexford, finished second in group four after they were beaten by Fermanagh on Sunday at Croke Park.The Ernesiders will enter the competition at the quarter-final stage after finishing top of the group, alongside Kildare, Wicklow and Limerick.The other preliminary ties see Offaly face New York, Sligo take on Carlow and 2022 winners Westmeath play Laois.The dates, kick-off times and venues for all four preliminary quarter-final meetings will be confirmed on Monday.
Tailteann Cup preliminary quarter-final draw
Offaly v New YorkSligo v CarlowWexford v AntrimWestmeath v Laois

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

'Nearly a dream', Argentina's Contepomi basks in unique Lions win
'Nearly a dream', Argentina's Contepomi basks in unique Lions win

Reuters

time5 hours ago

  • Reuters

'Nearly a dream', Argentina's Contepomi basks in unique Lions win

DUBLIN, June 20 (Reuters) - Argentina coach Felipe Contepomi knew just how special and potentially unique Friday's victory over the British and Irish Lions was, having gone agonisingly close as a player two decades ago. Contepomi was captain when the sides last met before the Lions' 2005 tour of New Zealand, when the Pumas were a Johnny Wilkinson stoppage time penalty away from a first ever victory in the fixture. That game ended in a 25-25 draw, and Friday's contest was just Argentina's second shot at the Lions in almost a century. Their first six meetings were played during tours of Argentina when the Lions did not limit their itinerary to New Zealand, South Africa and Australia. Contepomi said they could not be sure when they would get the opportunity again. "It's kind of a one-off. It's an invitation game and the last time, it was 20 years ago, and we were just there and we couldn't beat them," Contepomi told a press conference. "Coming here 20 years later I think it's incredible. We don't know if we'll ever again be invited or not to play and definitely for everyone who's been involved this week it will be memorable." "It is special. I know how special it is for an Irish, a Scottish, a Welsh or an English player to be a Lion, and for us to play against the best of the best in these islands, it's nearly a dream." The former Argentina flyhalf, who knows British and Irish rugby well, having spent six seasons with Leinster and worked as a doctor during his time in Ireland, said he expected Australia to face a far more ferocious set of Lions next month. "We took a bit of an opportunity because I know they'll be much better in one month's time when they play Australia. They'll be an awesome team, because they have so much quality in there," he said.

'No excuses' says Lions coach Farrell after Argentina loss
'No excuses' says Lions coach Farrell after Argentina loss

Reuters

time5 hours ago

  • Reuters

'No excuses' says Lions coach Farrell after Argentina loss

DUBLIN, June 20 (Reuters) - Coach Andy Farrell had hoped for a tough game against Argentina before the British and Irish Lions boarded their flight for Australia and said his still gelling squad had no excuses after getting more than they bargained for in a 28-24 defeat. "We made it a tough game," a forthright Farrell said when asked if he got the kind of stern test he wanted and that the group's limited time together was no kind of mitigating factor. "I wouldn't give that excuse. We need to be better than that. They're Lions players." While Farrell said he was pleased with the Lions' aggressive scrummaging, the list of areas to improve was long: a "clunky" attack, breakdown, misfiring lineout, kicking game, throwing balls blindly away and battles in the air and on the ground. "It's too much, it's too much when it all comes together... The whole story of the game is that we compounded too many errors and in the end we weren't able to put the pace on the game that we wanted to because of that," Farrell said. "We need to be honest because if we're not honest, how do we gain trust with each other so we have to say it as it is. There were certain things that we said we were going to do and we need to own that." "Losing hurts, especially in this jersey so we need to find the solutions pretty quickly." Farrell had said he expected the Lions to have a fully fit squad in the next week with Jamison Gibson-Park, Hugo Keenan and Huw Jones working their way back to fitness, and at least appeared to come away unscathed on Friday. "Health wise we seem to have come away okay," he said. Centre Bundee Aki, one of the Lions' try scorers who said he was disappointed in his own performance and not connecting better with new centre partner Sione Tuipulotu, said Farrell had been just as forthright in the changing room. "He gives it to us straight, there's no mucking around and we're old enough to take it on the chin. Faz (Farrell) set out a challenge for us to win every game and we've just got to learn quickly," the Irish number 12 said. "You can feel the frustration of the boys in the changing room. (But) that's the great thing about rugby, there's always another couple of days to be able to rectify what was wrong so I'm sure we'll bounce back quickly as a group."

Lions must learn from errors in Pumas loss
Lions must learn from errors in Pumas loss

BBC News

time6 hours ago

  • BBC News

Lions must learn from errors in Pumas loss

Head coach Andy Farrell says the British and Irish Lions must learn "a lot of lessons" from a "disconnected" performance in Friday's 28-24 loss to Argentina in Dublin as they prepare to embark on their Australian tour. The Lions' hopes for victory in their first game on Irish soil were dashed by a slick Pumas side, who scored breakaway tries through Ignacio Mendy, Tomas Albornoz and Santiago Cordero to secure a deserved first win over the hosts at the eighth attempt. Farrell's side travel on Saturday and must regroup in time for their tour opener against Western Force in Perth on 28 June. "We made it a tough game," said Farrell, who was taking charge of his first Lions game."The first and appropriate thing to say is congratulations to Argentina, they thoroughly deserved to win. They capitalised very well on quite a few errors from us, so congratulations and I'm sure that's a big moment in Argentina's history." Bundee Aki and Tadhg Beirne scored tries for the Lions, who were also awarded a penalty try early in the second half, but it was not enough to beat the world's fifth-ranked team. "You can try and throw it all around and say we had plenty of opportunities and we should have done better, but the story of the game is we compounded too many errors and weren't able to put the pace on the game that we wanted to because of that," added Lions travelled to Portugal for a week-long training camp before facing Argentina, but when asked if the squad has not had enough time together, Farrell said he "wouldn't give that excuse". "We need to be better than that. It is what it is," he added."The Lions players are good players coming together. We ask a lot of them and maybe we put too much pressure on the side because it certainly looked like we were a bit disconnected at times. "We'll review what we said we were going to own and we need to make sure we get something positive from that because it's all about how we move forward." 'Some players will be happy, others won't' Given that Farrell was without the sizeable portion of his squad who contested domestic finals last weekend - Ronan Kelleher being the sole exception - Friday's game against the Pumas was a chance for some to stake an early claim for Test selection. And when asked what positives he could draw from the defeat, Farrell said "some people will have done themselves proud" without singling out any players."They'll be hurting for the team because they're all team players," he added."Some players will be happy, others won't and will be dying to get another chance, but look we know where we're at, we're under way so we need to learn a lot of lessons from that." The Lions fielded 14 debutants on Friday and a new captain in Maro Itoje, who described his first outing as skipper as a "spectacular occasion" before echoing Farrell's downbeat comments about the performance. "We gave ourselves numerous opportunities but we weren't accurate enough at times and weren't consistent enough in putting pressure under Argentina," said Itoje. "As we improve our relationships and spend more time together in training and understanding each other's triggers, it'll come. "There are no excuses. We should have been better today but as with other areas of the game, we'll learn and get better together." Line-ups British and Irish Lions: Marcus Smith; Tommy Freeman, Sione Tuipulotu, Bundee Aki, Duhan van der Merwe; Fin Smith, Alex Mitchell; Ellis Genge, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Finlay Bealham, Maro Itoje (capt), Tadhg Beirne, Tom Curry, Jac Morgan, Ben Ronan Kelleher, Pierre Schoeman, Tadhg Furlong, Scott Cummings, Henry Pollock, Tomos Williams, Elliot Daly, Mack Santiago Carreras; Rodrigo Isgro, Lucio Cinti, Justo Piccardo, Ignacio Mendy; Tomas Albornoz, Gonzalo Garcia; Mayco Vivas, Julian Montoya (capt), Joel Sclavi, Franco Molina, Pedro Rubiolo, Pablo Matera, Juan Martin Gonzalez, Joaquin OviedoReplacements: Bautista Bernasconi, Boris Wenger, Francisco Coria Marchetti, Santiago Grondona, Joaquin Moro, Simon Benitez Cruz, Matias Moroni, Santiago CorderoSin-bin: Vivas 45Referee: James Doleman (New Zealand)Assistant referees: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia) and Andrea Piardi (Italy)TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)

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