Latest news with #Kilkenny
Irish Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Galway are due one huge display but I dread thought of penalties
There'll be no trophies given out in Limerick on Saturday evening, but the result will determine which of Micheál Donoghue or Liam Cahill ends the season in All-Ireland semi-final would represent Cahill's best performance yet as Tipperary manager. But lose and it'll be an anti-climax after a very decent showing in Munster, much like two years the last four would represent a decent year's work for Donoghue. Anything less and it will mean that they will have failed in the three biggest tests put down to them in this year's Championship.I would doubt if either side can take out Cork, if that's how it works out, but reaching a semi-final is not to be sniffed have struggled for consistency all year. Two things stand out with them for me - the lack of a goal threat and their inability to get up for every game. Worryingly, their work rate varies from match to they scored six goals against Antrim, but we were a man down and weren't set up as we normally would be they have to come with that bite this time. They had it against Dublin. It wasn't there against Kilkenny until it was too late. Kilkenny, for example, always have that bite. Galway need to find it more often.I feel that they are committing too many bodies back the field too. I can understand that to a degree, but sometimes they only have two in the opposition fairness to Donoghue, this is his first year with a different group to when he last managed Galway. It takes time. Cahill has had three years Tipp side were very hardworking against Limerick and had a massive game in Ennis against Clare which was all the more impressive for the fact that they withstood a fierce second half comeback, dug deep and found a way to win. They showed resilience when things were going against them - something that wasn't too apparent last year. Cahill made some big decisions in the off-season when cutting a couple of regulars from the panel, which can sometimes cause a manager to lose a group. But it appears to have had the opposite work rate and intensity is way up from 2024, especially from the forwards, who are tracking back in numbers but also getting back up the field swiftly. Fitness levels need to be off the charts for Doyle, Michael Breen and Eoghan Connolly have been very solid in the full-back line. Ronan Maher has played a captain's role at centre-back, or wherever he's asked to front, Jason Forde, Darragh McCarthy and Jake Morris are playing really well and, crucially, working extremely McGrath has recaptured some of his old form, which is great to see, and then you have the likes of his brother Noel, Oisin O'Donoghue and Sam O'Farrell coming off the bench, underlining their strength in depth up full-back line of Pádraic Mannion, Daithí Burke and Fintan Burke has been solid too and while Gavin Lee is a very talented hurler, I'm not sure he's holding the middle well enough for Fahy has done ok at wing-back but I feel he'd be a better option at Mannion is a top class forward who will score from anywhere and I'd expect that Tipp will man-mark him. Who that will be, I'm not sure. It won't be Maher, maybe Craig Morgan might be the Galway need Mannion no deeper than the middle of the field. He's too dangerous to be working back in Whelan is a player I've always rated highly but he hasn't hit the levels yet this year. I'd like to see him closer to goal in a two-man inside line alongside Brian Concannon, with Kevin Cooney drifting out. That's an inside line that could wreak serious havoc and supply the goals that Galway are Fleming is a different type of forward with a high workrate and is worth his spot, but Conor Cooney's struggles to break into the side puzzle me. He's a serious forward with goals in him.I expect that the game will be really tight and Tipperary have earned their status as favourites. But I believe that there's a big one in Galway and I'm going to give them the slight course, it could go to extra time and beyond. I only wish they wouldn't resort to penalties to decide the outcome and give the two teams a replay. On paper, Limerick should have way too much for Dublin and while I expect that they'll win, it mightn't be as straightforward as people have improved under new management this year, though they will have been very disappointed with their performance against Galway. They lacked the grunt that day that had been apparent in other games. I expect that it will be back I would imagine that losing their Munster title will have a massive impact on Limerick's attitude. It should fuel their hunger even interesting that the game isn't in a strictly neutral venue, as is normally the case for quarter-finals. Obviously Limerick are taking up the opportunity to play in Croke Park with an eye on an upcoming Park is a massive field with wide open areas and Limerick are so good at working the ball short that they will utilise every pocket of space that is I love about Limerick is how they vary their play. How they use the short ball to get to the half-forward line to take a long range score, or how they can bypass the opposition half-back line, with their ability to win 50-50 ball why I believe it's a smart call to play at Croke Park - it suits their style of Dublin, Paddy Smyth and John Bellew have been good at the back but it's Chris Crummey that makes them we were preparing to play Dublin with Antrim, one of the things that stood out was how much ball goes through Crummey out of defence. He's a solid defender but links up so well with the midfielders and forwards. But a huge aspect of this game is whether Crummey will sit back in the pocket or push forward on Cian Lynch and mark conundrum there is that you can't leave a big space in front of Aaron Gillane no matter how good the defender marking him is but, on the other hand, you can't give a playmaker like Lynch the freedom of the park can hope that a midfielder will drop and pick him up but that's a 50-50 situation; it will only come off some of the time. So Dublin need to pick someone to man-mark him and it's a big call because so much of Limerick's play goes through midfield battle should be interesting. Adam English has brought a lot to Limerick there.I expect Dan Morrissey to pick up the imposing John Hetherton and no better man for the job. Morrissey is an outstanding defender and, if there was a transfer market, he'd be highly sought Dublin forwards will need to work tirelessly to stop Limerick building from the back but, collectively, they'll need to scale new heights just to give themselves a chance Limerick will likely be in an uncompromising mood after the Munster final and should set up a mouth-watering semi-final with Kilkenny.
Irish Times
11 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Joe Canning: Everything is coming together for Tipperary at the right time
At other times of the year, momentum is something that you can build towards. At this time of the season, nobody wants to be looking for it. The reality with the hurling quarter finals , though, is that at least two teams arrive damaged every year, and a third team are probably licking their wounds too. This year, Tipperary are the team coming with their tails up. Even though they finished third in Munster, there's hardly a mark on them. They haven't lost a game since they were beaten by Cork at the end of April, and that game was a free hit once Darragh McCarthy was sent off in the first minute. That's the only game they've lost since the league final. In the last couple of months, everything has come together. They were very good against Limerick , good enough against Waterford , excellent against Clare and professional against Laois . Their under-20s won a brilliant All-Ireland against Kilkenny and the crowds have come back. The whole mood has changed. Liam Cahill started the season pleading with the Tipp supporters to get behind the team. The memory of them being outnumbered five-to-one by Cork supporters for a game in Thurles last summer would still have been fresh in his mind. READ MORE The embarrassment of that day is long gone. There were four teams in Portlaoise last Saturday for a hurling and football double-header and the biggest crowd was from Tipp, even though everyone knew they were going to win handy. For the first time since early in 2023, Tipperary have momentum. There's an energy about them. Half a dozen of the under-20s are on the senior panel and three of them have made a breakthrough this year: McCarthy, Sam O'Farrell and Oisín O'Donoghue. Tipp needed that injection of freshness. They have more consistency in key positions, and they needed that stability too. Ronan Maher is no longer going around putting out fires: he's their number six and that's it. Eoghan Connolly is the established full back now, even though there is a doubt about his fitness for this weekend. Jake Morris and Andrew Ormonde have been effective at centre forward at different times and both of them have been terrific. John McGrath has come back in from the margins and has had a brilliant championship at full-forward, and his brother Noel has influenced games off the bench. The only big change they've made during the championship has been with the goalie. Otherwise, the spine of the team has been settled. Tipp haven't had that for a long time. Tipp is the kind of place where confidence tends to take off. When the provincial championships were finished, I saw Tipp supporters online mapping out their path to Croke Park: Laois, Galway, then Cork. In their minds, Laois and Galway were just stepping stones. When the Tipp crowd came back, that kind of thinking was going to come with them. Micheál Donoghue made it clear that Galway didn't play in the Leinster final the way they had planned. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho Galway are not in that place at the moment. I didn't think they'd beat Kilkenny in the Leinster final , but I thought they'd bring a performance. I don't think anybody thought it would be like the game in Nowlan Park a few weeks earlier. For an hour it was just as bad. Galway have been here before, coming into a quarter final on the back of a disappointing Leinster final. The pattern, though, is that Galway have usually come up with something. The last time Galway lost at this stage of the championship was in 2013, when Clare beat us. Since then, Galway's record is five from five. I can't remember any year when we were bouncing into the quarter finals feeling great about ourselves. In 2016 we had been poor against Kilkenny in the Leinster final and were hammered in the media afterwards, but we still came out and beat Clare. Galway blew a Leinster final against Kilkenny two years ago but played very well against Tipp in the quarter-final two weeks later. When you look back at the teams from that match, Tipp have made more changes than Galway in the last two years. I've heard people say that Galway are still depending on players from the 2017 team for leadership, and it's hard to argue with that: the two Mannions, the two Burkes, Conor Whelan. [ Tipperary are back in the groove and Jake Morris admits county minors helped light the spark Opens in new window ] But how many leaders do you need on a team? It's a funny thing. Before we won the All-Ireland in 2017, people were always saying that we lacked leaders. Players from the team of the late 1980s – the last Galway team to win an All-Ireland before us – were always giving interviews, pointing out what we were lacking. It used to drive me mad. New leaders will emerge in this group too but it's hard for younger players to step into that role when results haven't been great. Since the 2017 All-Ireland final, Galway have won just one championship game in Croke Park – against Wexford in 2020, at the height of the pandemic. For the last few years Galway have been coming up short in big matches. In that environment, it's not easy for young players to flourish. I'm certain that Galway will come up with something this weekend. After the Leinster final Micheál Donoghue made it clear that Galway didn't play the way they had planned. They've had a fortnight to sort that out. They obviously need more from their forwards: not just a higher work rate, but more scores. The whole package. Cathal Mannion's form has been outstanding but whatever he scores won't be enough unless others chip in. [ Galway's Fintan Burke bullish in advance of championship quarter-final against Tipp Opens in new window ] When Galway and Tipp met in the quarter final two years ago Conor Whelan scored 1-4 from play. That year he was playing in his customary position close to goal; this year he has been playing in the half-forward line. They need him there as a target for puck-outs, but it also means Galway's threat close to goal has been reduced. That's a hard balancing act. I'm convinced that we'll see a positive response from Galway on Saturday. I hope the Galway crowd turn up, but I wouldn't be sure about that. The Tipp crowd definitely will. They're on a roll. It might not stop this weekend.
Irish Independent
18 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Rory McIlroy smiling again after stunning 64 at Travelers Championship
As Austin Eckroat shot 62 to set the pace at TPC River Highlands, the world number two made 108 feet of putts to share second in the clubhouse with US Ryder Cup skipper Keegan Bradley and Wydham Clark, who apologised for smashing lockers at Oakmont. 'It was good,' McIlroy said. 'I said yesterday, this is a nice tonic compared to last week in terms of it's a slightly more benign golf course and the penalty for missing isn't quite as severe. 'You can give yourself plenty of chances for birdies, which Keegan and I did today. 'Overall, it was a good start to the tournament, and I think when you're in a two-ball like that we can sort of feed off one another a little bit, too, that's nice, as well.' 'I've had a lot of highs and lows in my career, especially this year some lows,' said the former US Open champion, who missed the cut by a shot last week. 'I made a mistake that I deeply regret. I'm very sorry for what happened. 'But I'd also like to move on, not only for myself but for Oakmont, for the USGA, and kind of focus on the rest of this year and things that come up. I still want to try to make the Ryder Cup team.' It was also a good day for Leona Maguire, who was just four shots off the lead after opening with a battling level par 72 in the KPMG Women's PGA in Texas. The Co Cavan star, who arrived at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco struggling for form on the back of four successive missed cuts, made two birdies and two bogeys in a solid round as Thailand's Jeeno Thitikul shot 68 to head Australia's Minjee Lee by one stroke. ADVERTISEMENT On the HotelPlanner Tour, Max Kennedy (23) planned a dip in the sea to cool off after scorching to a 10-under-par course record 60 to grab the lead in the Blot Play9 Golf in Brittany. The Royal Dublin rookie (23) made six birdies and two eagles in a career-low round at Bluegreen de Pléneuf Val André to lead by four strokes from England's James Morrison. 'Yeah, very happy,' said 72nd-ranked Kennedy, who can take a massive leap this week in the race for 20 DP World Tour cards. 'Obviously, a very nice round. I didn't miss a whole lot of shots, and it was even nicer to save a good par on the last. 'It would have been nice to give myself a chance on the last for a 59, but still, I'll take a 60.' While Kilkenny's Mark Power was joint fourth after a 66, Ballymena's Dermot McElroy followed an eagle two at his first hole with a quintuple bogey 10 at the next, the 11th, en route to an 84. Meanwhile, County Louth's Gavin Tiernan (19) used all his links experience to battle his way into the quarter-finals of the Amateur Championship at Royal St George's. But while he beat Belgium's Jarno Tollenaire by two holes before seeing off France's Gaspar Glaudas 3&2 to take his place in the last eight, he's not dreaming of the Masters place awarded to the champion just yet. 'No, I'm just taking it hole by hole, one shot at a time,' said the East Tennessee State University star, who will face Estonia's Richard Teder in the quarter-finals. 'That's been my motto this week, just one shot at a time.'
RTÉ News
a day ago
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Jackie Tyrrell: Limerick aura 'slowly eroded' but still playing at high level
Jackie Tyrrell feels Limerick's aura may have "slowly eroded" but that an All-Ireland Hurling semi-final match-up with Kilkenny would be good fixture for both teams, provided John Kiely's side emerge victorious from Saturday's quarter-final against Dublin at Croke Park. Limerick lost the Munster final to Cork by way of a penalty shootout after a gripping contest a fortnight ago but will be favourites to bounce back when they take on the Dubs this weekend. The prize for the winner will be a crack at Tyrrell's native Kilkenny in the semi-finals and should Limerick get past Dublin per pre-match expectation, an intriguing clash awaits in two weeks' time, as the nine-time All-Ireland winner told the RTÉ GAA Podcast. "I think both teams will fancy it if Limerick come home at the weekend," he said of a potential Limerick v Kilkenny clash for the ages. "I think it's a good fixture for both. I think Kilkenny know the way Limerick play. Limerick are very, very attritional, so are Kilkenny. They'll welcome that. "They play at a really high level, have some exquisite players, Limerick have. But I think Kilkenny won't be overawed, and I would say the aura of this Limerick team where they were almost unbeatable for years, that has slowly eroded because Cork have beaten them a couple of times now and other teams have beaten them. "So I don't think that mental baggage that might have been there before when it comes to 60 minutes and Limerick turn the screw, I don't think that's probably as strong as it was before. "But I think it would be a good fixture for both. I don't think any of them would fear it. I think the fact that it's in Croke Park I think would bring the best out of each other and it would be some, some fixture if it transpires that way." While Limerick continue to operate at an elite standard, Tyrrell noted brief moments when Kiely's multiple Liam MacCarthy Cup winners have endured uncharacteristic lapses. "That's only natural and if you look closely and I'm probably being over-critical here, but when did we see a high ball coming in and Nicky Quaid miscontrolling it out for a '65 at a crucial moment?" he said. "When did we see Darragh O'Donovan, 50 yards out with the chance to win the game, missing it? When did we see Aaron Gillane missing that '21 free? Normally he nails them. "Peter Casey had a great chance. I know it was windy down there, absolutely, they were out on their feet. "But they are probably small little traces of just that mental fatigue. Because everytime Limerick have gone out probably for eight years, it's been an All-Ireland final. "So it's only natural. But still, it's a testament that they still hung in there and for me they didn't really lose the Munster final. Cork beat them in a penalty shootout. It's an amazing feat they're still there playing at such a high level. "To get over this weekend, I think John Kiely and Derek Lyng will be rubbing their hands at a cut off each other." However, Dublin are still part of the equation although they will be underdogs against Limerick on Saturday. In terms of the gameplan that could give Dublin an outside chance of staging an upset, Tyrrell feels going long and direct and trying to discommode the Limerick half-back line could be "the only option". "You have to engage this Limerick team physically, just to survive and be in the game," he said. "Maybe we will see Conor Burke for the first 15-20 minutes maybe dropping in centre-back and maybe Chris Crummey dropping off or maybe Conor Burke will just go back because they just need to stay in the game, build from there and get their confidence. "Is there merit in putting Ronan Hayes or Hedgo (John Hetherton) on the edge of the square and going long and direct? Because I don't think running through this Limerick team, you're going to get much success. They're just too physical and powerful for this Dublin team right now. "So maybe that long ball route in - you've seen the success that Brian Hayes probably has early in there - although Seán Finn and Mike Caseh are extremely good defenders, they're not going to be catching balls. "If they can break that ball, move Kyle Hayes around... there's probably elements of the Cork game that Dublin can look at. How they interchanged their half-forward line, how they moved Kyle Hayes around and maybe bypassing that half-forward line, trying to pull them out and go long in and see if they can get success. "But staying in the game, growing into the game is hugely important from Dublin. The thing from Dublin though is they have been leaking soft goals throughout this round robin and that's maybe why there is merit in dropping an extra man back."
Irish Examiner
a day ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
TJ Ryan: 'Galway haven't put the consistency around a 70 minute performance to say 'this is the team''
TJ Ryan sees flashes of the old Galway in recent displays but knows they are far from the finished article as he spoke on Dalo's Hurling Show for the Irish Examiner. Micheál Donoghue's side last won an All-Ireland back in 2017 when they beat Waterford. They reached the final the year after, losing agonisingly to Limerick by a point. Since then it has been the great struggle for The Tribesmen. For Ryan the solution was - somewhat - simple: "If Galway are to be successful they need to get with quick ball into the forward line, they need to get goals and they need to get a style that suits them and that they all buy into." With their All-Ireland quarter-final against Tipperary in Thurles looming, Ryan claims it is the 'perfect game' for Donoghue's team. "I think this is the perfect game for Galway. There was a few flashes in them during Leinster championship where they looked like they were getting back to where they wanted to be. "Cathal Mannion is hitting Hurler of the Year form, his striking has been off the charts, he's been a beacon. David Brooks is back in the middle of the field, Daithí Burke is back. We've found a centre back in Gavin Lee. "But, they haven't put the consistency around a 70 minute performance to say 'this is the team'. "There's a positive in that they stuck at it in the Leinster final, now how much of that was Kilkenny falling away, we don't know." Galway manager Micheál Donoghue during the Leinster GAA Senior Hurling Championship final match between Kilkenny and Galway at Croke Park. File picture: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile Former Limerick manager Ryan emphasised the importance of showing up on the big occassion, something Galway have failed to do on a handful of occassions in recent memory - including the beginning of this year's league campaign. "One thing I would say for Galway people here, and I'd nearly put this in the dressing room for them, is if you don't show up you won't win. They've got to show up here. They went into the first round of the league this year and they didn't show up at all. "Galway people, being the sort of hurling fanatics that they are, they want to play their way, they want to push up, they want to have a go and if they get beat by a better team they'll say alright fair enough. "Even Micheál [Donoghue] alluded to it after the Leinster final they they weren't doing what he wanted them to do. So, I think that that is where some of the confusion is." It goes without saying Galway have a wealth of individual talent but, as Ryan points out, a lack of cohesion in the forward line has cost them. "Conor Whelan is a very good inside forward but they haven't been getting supply to him, that hasn't been working so they've had to bring him out the field and he's played well at times. "Brian Concannon has had flashes where he's scored plenty aswell. They've moved Cathal Mannion in and out. The inside forward line and the delivery of ball into the inside forward line are the two things that need to click for Galway".
