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Irish Times
7 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Dublin's path forward becomes clear and what else we learned from the GAA weekend
Dub l in draw some comfort, whi l e Derry curse their l uck In the aftermath of Saturday's defeat to Dublin, Derry's 11th and final competitive game of a winless 2025 season, Oak Leaf manager Paddy Tally highlighted the hurdles they were tasked with jumping over the course of the campaign. 'We're the only team in Ireland that's played nothing but Division One teams this year,' said Tally. 'Every other team has played a lesser [team], we've played all our [games] against Division One teams. Nobody else has done that.' Across the way, Dublin manager Dessie Farrell was chatting about recovery and waiting to see what Monday morning's draw would throw up in terms of preliminary quarter-final opponents for his side. READ MORE Division Two outfit Cork was to be the answer. It will be Dublin's sixth championship game and their third against a team from outside of Division One. So far they have played Wicklow (Division Four), Meath (Division Two), Galway (Division One), Armagh (Division One), Derry (relegated from Division One). Dublin manager Dessie Farrell. Photograph: Evan Logan/Inpho Having ended up in the so-called Group of Death for the round-robin series, there is now a decent chance Dublin could progress to the All-Ireland semi-finals without encountering another Division One team. Should they beat Cork next weekend then their potential opponents in a quarter-final would be Meath (Division Two), Monaghan (promoted from Division Two) or Tyrone (relegated from Division One). Dublin cannot play Armagh as they met in the All-Ireland group stages. Kerry could advance to the quarter-finals without playing a single Division One team having so far faced Cork (Division Two) twice, Clare (Division Three), Roscommon (promoted from Division Two), Meath (Division Two). They will play Cavan (Division Two) in the prelims. They could however face Armagh in the quarters. 'There's no let-up now, you've just got to keep going,' said Farrell last Saturday night. 'We know that there's huge room for improvement, huge room for growth.' The draw might just help provide Dublin with that room. – Gordon Manning No more second chances from here on out Mayo accepted that their defeat by Cavan had been the iceberg, which ultimately sank their season and that, having lost three matches, they could really have no complaints. 'Look,' said Stephen Rochford afterwards talking about Group 1, 'we weren't good enough to win that game. Donegal had a loss as well, Tyrone had a loss, and they've gone through. So, you know, we suck up our medicine for that.' The carousel effect of counties losing matches and their future depending on who beat them has thrown out significant effects. Donegal lost to Tyrone, who lost to Mayo, and will now have an additional match in this year's itinerary, which was already the longest of any team left in the championship because of their having to play a preliminary round in Ulster. Dublin lost to Armagh, who lost to Galway, and now have to follow the same extended route. Aidan O'Shea after Mayo's defeat to Donegal on Sunday. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho What stands out is the fact that with 12 teams left in the All-Ireland championship, not a single county is unbeaten and of the dozen, five have lost two matches en route to the knock-out stages. Only Monaghan managed a 100 per cent record in their group but lost to Donegal in Ulster. Meath were unbeaten in the group but lost the Leinster final to Louth. The county's spectacular win over Kerry made this year the first since 2001 that Meath have defeated both Dublin and Kerry. For the first two years of the All-Ireland group matches, whereas defeats are more likely to occur, there were teams at this stage of the championship still unbeaten. In 2023, Dublin became the most recent team to win the All-Ireland without losing, and last year, Armagh took Sam Maguire, having lost just the Ulster final on penalties. Anyway, from now on, there are no more second chances. As Rochford summarised: As Rochford summarised: 'They're tight games. If you're not ahead on the final whistle, I'll speak the obvious here, you're nowhere.' – Seán Moran L averty has Down moving in an upward direction The job Conor Laverty has done with Down can't be lauded enough. It's worth remembering that when he took over in late 2022, the county hadn't won a game of any kind in over a year. They had beaten Laois in a Division Two relegation play-off in June 2021 but after that, they had to wait until January 2023 against Tipperary in Division Three to see their next positive result. Piece by piece, he has built them back up. Beating Donegal in 2023 ended a three-year stretch without an Ulster championship victory. They made a run through to the Tailteann Cup final that year before coming back to win it the following summer. They were promoted to Division Two last year and were damn unlucky to fall back out of it this time around, relegated on their head-to-head record with Louth despite having amassed six points and a better scoring difference. The crucial result was a one-point defeat on Drogheda in February. Down manager Conor Laverty shakes hands with referee David Coldrick after Sunday's game against Monaghan. Photograph: James Lawlor/Inpho They are in the Sam Maguire on the basis of being Tailteann champions and they have done the competition proud. Before this year, the record of the second-tier champions in the group stages read: Played 6 Lost 5 Drew 1 Won 0. Westmeath and Meath had a combined points difference of -38 across those six matches. Down have made a much better fist of it. Beating Clare was expected. Beating Leinster champions Louth – and gaining revenge for that league defeat – wasn't. Running Monaghan to the pin of their collar would have surprised nobody. Doing it in one of the most enjoyable, high-octane games of the whole summer showed that they have, definitively, arrived. So now they have Galway, in Newry, this weekend. They are fit and firing and mostly injury-free. They won't be one bit scared to see Pádraic Joyce's team coming to town and will pack the sort of ravenous crowd into The Marshes that hasn't been seen in well over a decade. Whatever happens, Laverty has them pointed in the right direction. – Malachy Clerkin L eads can't be protected any more – they must be attacked Of the teams remaining in the football championship this weekend nobody had lost more often than Cork. Only one of their three defeats, against Kerry in the Munster semi-final, would have done anything for their self-esteem; the second Kerry game exposed a gulf in class; the performance against Meath was demoralising. On Saturday they looked like a team trying to convince themselves they could win on the hoof, in real time. 'In the first half I thought we were tentative and nervous,' said John Cleary, the Cork manager. How could they be any other way? One of the beauties of the new rules, though, is that there is no way of tiptoeing around winning. In recent years, Cork were one of the teams happy to sit deep and hunker down behind sandbags. They didn't trust themselves to play on the front foot. Now, there is no choice. Cork's Daniel O'Mahony intercepts a pass to Roscommon's Diarmuid Murtagh. Photograph: Leah Scholes/Inpho 'You can't control the game, big-time, any more,' said Cleary. 'You can't defend leads any more.' Just like in hurling, the only way to defend a lead in football now is to attack it. You can't deposit it in a savings account. There is no rate of interest. Cork led by six points midway through the second half on Saturday but scored just twice in the 18 minutes that remained. In the old rules, a six-point lead with just a quarter of the game to go would have been gold. In the end, Cork needed a diving block from Daniel O'Mahony to spare their season for another week. Of all the gifts bestowed on football by the new rules, skittish scoreboards might be the most satisfying of all. – Denis Walsh Ga l way face conundrum of a strong pane l By his own blunt own admission, Galway football manager Pádraic Joyce has a lot of difficult calls to make this week. Considering the big difference between the team that started and finished in Saturday's one-point win over Armagh, which kept alive Galway's season for another week at least, what now would be his best starting 15? The quick turnaround for the trip to Down this weekend, and real knock-out football, will focus that matter even further. Injury may well decide the fate of a couple of players, but Joyce will need to call on all his managerial experience when trying to get this one right. Before the throw-in in Cavan on Saturday evening, goalkeeper Connor Gleeson was replaced by Conor Flaherty, and 2024 footballer of the year Paul Conroy was replaced by Peter Cooke. When Galway fell nine points behind in the first half, with Rob Finnerty and Matthew Tierney both missing penalties, changes were promptly made. Conroy came in for Tierney after 33 minutes, and went on to have an excellent game, the 36-year-old winning the free just after the hooter that set up the winning score for Shane Walsh. Tierney later came back on for Cooke, on 59 minutes, making his presence felt in the helter-skelter endgame. Galway's Seán Fitzgerald in action against Armagh. Photograph: James Lawlor/Inpho Full back Seán Fitzgerald sustained a head injury early in the second half, and was replaced by Cian Hernon, who slipped seamlessly into the role. Both Fitzgerald and Hernon have been in and out of the starting 15 of late. Liam Silke was also replaced at half-time by Daniel O'Flaherty: Silke had a small bug in the week, and Joyce was happy to get the first half out of him. Cathal Sweeney came in for Dylan McHugh, scoring a point that helped sustain Galway's comeback. Damien Comer, originally named at number 26, didn't make the matchday panel at all, replaced by Colm Costello, and Joyce admitted that Comer's latest injury setback was likely to rule him out this weekend too. 'You can pick only 15, and it gives us huge headaches the next day trying to pick lads that are fresh again,' said Joyce. 'Teams nowadays are trying to finish with a stronger team than what starts, and there's different players and different horses in different courses. Galway's Liam Silke in action against Armagh. Photograph: James Lawlor/Inpho 'But it's tough, because Cathal Sweeney and Cian Hernon came in there, Danny Flaherty, and all to a man were really, really good for us. They put their hands up as well. 'Look, [that's] my job as manager, there's people picking teams in Galway every day of the week, and my job is to pick what I see in training. Paul [Conroy] probably struggled in the last couple of games, we spoke about that, and probably better have his impact off the bench. 'With Tierney, you're taking a big risk taking a man off and putting him back on, but he was just out of sorts in the first half. I know it's probably a bit of a harder one for the subs that didn't get on. But the lads are close enough to know that we have to do what we have to do to win the game.' It should make for a couple of telling training sessions in Galway this week. – Ian O'Riordan
BBC News
15-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
All-Ireland performances will 'build character'
Paddy Tally believes his Derry side are "not that far away" from beating the top teams despite exiting the All-Ireland in the group 0-22 to 0-20 defeat by Dublin left Tally's side bottom of a hotly-contested Group Four. Their sole point came from a draw with Galway, but Tally believes the narrow defeat in Newry by Dublin shows his side are on the right track."We didn't plan this to be the last day of the season," Tally told BBC Sport NI."The team were starting to go really well and we looked in better shape than we've been in for a while, but we hit a good Dublin team today."Group Four had been billed as the 'group of death' with reigning All-Ireland champions Armagh, beaten finalists Galway and 2023 winners Dublin drawn with the Oak were also pitted against eventual winners Donegal in the preliminary quarter-final of the Ulster Championship. Tally admits that made for a "difficult" first year in charge, but says the strong performances against Division One opposition will only fuel the belief his team belong at the top table of gaelic football."Everything that fell for us was really difficult this year, but that will build character. "These boys will understand it, not that it will help because they believe they are good enough and they are good enough."I think they have realised that we're not that far away. It's going to take a really big effort to get back up there next season again."
Irish Daily Mirror
14-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Dublin vs Derry LIVE score updates from All-Ireland SFC round three clash
Three into two doesn't go and Dublin and Derry are in a battle for survival in the 2025 All-Ireland SFC this evening. Along with Galway, they face the prospect of an early exit with current All-Ireland champions Armagh along confirmed as winners of Group Four. Dubbed the 'Group of Death' from the minute the draw was made, it has certainly lived up to its moniker. Ironically, it was Dublin's unexpected loss to Meath in Leinster that saw them enter the draw as third seeds and the best Dessie Farrell's side can hope for is a home preliminary quarter-final next weekend. Paddy Tally's side would require a favour from Ulster rivals Armagh at Kingspan Breffni in order to have a chance of finishing second behind the Orchard County, but they also need to win their first game of 2025 this evening. The Oak Leafers last won a game in 70 minutes when they defeated Westmeath at this juncture last season before beating Mayo on penalties in the preliminary quarter-finals. We'll have all the latest team news and build-up ahead of throw-in at 6.30pm. Meath have pulled off a shock 1-22 to 0-16 win over Kerry in Tullamore to top Group Two and progress to the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals. Kerry, who finish second, will have home advantage in next weekend's preliminary quarter-finals. In Portlaoise, Cork have beaten Roscommon 0-19 to 0-17 to take third spot with the Rossies crashing out of the Championship. The Rebels will be on the road next weekend. The GAA have confirmed that the draws for the All-Ireland SFC preliminary quarter-finals and the Tailteann Cup semi-finals will take place on Monday morning on RTÉ Radio 1 at 8.30am. The draws will be presided over by CCCC Chairperson Brian Carroll and Feargal McGill, GAA Director Player, Club and Games Administration. In the Sam Maguire competition, the four second-placed teams from the group stages will be drawn to play at home against the four third-placed teams, subject in the first instance to the avoidance of repeat provincial final pairings and, where possible, repeat pairings from the group stage. The last-four draw for the Tailteann Cup will be subject to the avoidance of repeat pairings from the championship. Fixture details will be finalised by the CCCC later that day, and the games will take place over the weekend of June 21 and June 22. Armagh have made history by becoming the first team since the group format was introduced to progress to the last eight with a game to spare. Back-to-back wins over Derry and Dublin, coupled with a draw between Galway and Derry in Celtic Park last weekend means the All-Ireland champions are the only team certain to be in the quarter-finals at this point. Kieran McGeeney's men will still have a major role to play in round three as they could, potentially, knock Galway out of the Championship with a win at Kingspan Breffni Park. The Orchard County will face one of the preliminary quarter-final winners in the last eight, thereby avoiding the other group winners. Despite being winless in 2025, Derry are showing signs that things are starting to come together under Paddy Tally. They left it too late to get going against Armagh in round one and couldn't hold out against Galway last weekend, but did well to salvage a draw in Celtic Park. That leaves their fate in their own hands and the Oak Leafers will progress to the preliminary quarter-finals if they beat Dublin in Newry. A draw would be enough provided Armagh beat Galway in Kingspan Breffni. However, a loss would spell the end of their Championship unless Galway also lose. In that case, Derry need a six-point swing in the scoring difference to oust the Tribesmen. Dublin are through with a win this evening and they'll progress with a draw along with Derry if Galway lose to Armagh. A defeat for Dessie Farrell's men would leave them needing Armagh to beat Galway. Last season's beaten All-Ireland finalists will go through to the knockout stage if they beat the Orchard County in Kingspan Breffni. Should they lose and Derry lose, the margin of defeat for both teams would be vital with Galway (-1) currently boosting a better scoring difference than Derry (-4).
BBC News
14-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Derry would ignite season with Dubs win
Former Derry captain Chrissy McKaigue believes his county will go into Saturday's crunch Group Four game against Dublin with "full belief" despite their winless 2025. Derry, Dublin and Galway (who take on Armagh with the All-Ireland champions having already booked their quarter-final spot) all enter this weekend with a chance of progressing to the last 12 of the All-Ireland series. The Oak Leafers have struggled throughout the 2025 season and have only been able to muster two draws from their 11 league and championship games to date."It's time to win again, there's no question, and it'll be some time to win in terms of igniting their season," McKaigue told BBC Sport NI. "But it's a group that's used to winning, it's a group that's used to winning with their clubs and they've won their fair share with Derry too"So I don't think they'll be overly fazed by the streak they've gone through, although it's clearly not desirable. They'll go in this weekend having full belief they're capable of beating Dublin."McKaigue, who was part of the Derry side that beat the Dubs in last year's Division One final at Croke Park, believes good memories from the fixture can be of benefit to Paddy Tally's side. He added: "I think when you go in with that belief that you're able to beat this Dublin side, it goes and stands a long way because there are many teams who go out against Dublin and they feel that they're beaten before they go out and that's not the case with this Derry group."The game will take place at Pairc Esler in Newry and the former Ulster winning captain believes the venue will suit Derry better as Dublin move away from the comforts of Croke Park and into an Ulster provincial arena. "That helps Derry, it has to you would think, but Dublin have shown and you would see that they don't like being categorised as a team that can't play outside Croke Park."Derry need a performance this weekend and more than that they need to find a way to win ugly if required because the only currency that really matters in championship football is victory and Dublin will be aware of that, Derry will be aware of that."You don't get through to the next round after a good performance and not having won the game. Winning is all that really matters in Championship football and that's why it's set up for such a good game because the stakes are so high and it's a proper knockout game."
The 42
12-06-2025
- Sport
- The 42
As Derry seek to kick losing habit in Dublin game, kickouts and attacking role are key
THEY SAY YOU should never leave the fear of losing triumph the excitement of winning. If Paddy Tally can channel his inner Banksy and cut loose with an aerosol can to leave his mark on the Newry dressing room this Saturday evening, he could do worse than commit that piece of wisdom to a plastered wall. In truth, it is one so obvious to his Derry team right now that a post-it pad message on the fridge door would suffice. In the eyes of some, he is no longer a manager of a football team but a head doctor to a team that no longer knows how to win. It is 11 games and counting since they won a game and even that came with an asterisk. They won a post match lucky dip in Castlebar 12 months ago, where instead of a tin of USA biscuits they were given a pass to the All-Ireland quarter-finals. The last time that they won a game of ball in the conventional sense – by actually scoring more than the opposition – you have to go back one week earlier to a final round group game, when Emmet Bradley's goal five minutes from the end would prove defining in an edgy winner takes all encounter with Westmeath. By happy coincidence, that game was also played in Newry where they will lock horns with Dublin this weekend; the latter also needing to get a result to be certain of staying in the All-Ireland series. Advertisement By an even happier opportunity for positive reinforcement that was also the last time they turned a final quarter lead into a defining one. It is not just that Derry have not been winning, it has been their capacity to lose games that they had already won which maddens and, perhaps, even haunts. It started out in Celtic Park in February, when having posted an array of match-winning leads against Kerry, their final one was a three-point advantage at the death. When the final whistle blew 90 seconds later, they had lost by three. It was filed at the time as a freak; God bless our innocence. Midway through the spring, they dominated Donegal from the first minute to the 60th to lead by eight, but lost the remaining 10 minutes by 11. And, of course, last time out they had all but terminated Galway's interest in the championship as they led by eight points deep into the third quarter, yet somehow were left thankful at the death for Conor Doherty's leveller. As the summer hits the point of no return, they have the feel of a team whose preparation time would be better invested lying prostrate on a psychiatrist's couch playing word association games than playing backs and forwards on the training pitch. The thing is, though, that is where it has got to be sorted. There is little doubt that in going from being back to back Ulster champions to here they have been psychologically compromised by the departure – and the circumstances surrounding it – of Rory Gallagher, who was as much their architect as their manager. Gavin Devlin, who spent last season coaching them under Mickey Harte, was in little doubt of that when he suggested during the close season that it was as if the players were 'sulking' in Gallagher's banishment, while advising Tally to 'run a million miles away from the job.' Derry manager Paddy Tally. Lorcan Doherty / INPHO Lorcan Doherty / INPHO / INPHO The way things have unfolded for the latter, Devlin may have a future in career consultancy should he give up his current gig with Louth. In many ways, the clarity and purpose which Gallagher invested in the team is almost impossible for anyone else to replicate and, as a result there has been obvious slippage, while a new game has also shredded what remained of the old blueprint. The lack of depth in the panel – which was an issue in Gallagher's time – is a constant and for all of Derry's underage success, it is a production line that has yet to kick into gear. On top of that, luck has not been kind. The long-term loss of key players in Gareth McKinless and Conor McCluskey to injuries has had a profound impact on an option-challenged squad, but perhaps the most significant miss of all has been goalkeeper Odhran Lynch, who may return at the weekend. Ironically, Tally toyed with the idea of upgrading the latter at the start of the season when revealing himself to be a slave to fashion by seeking to turn Neil McNicholl into Derry's version of Ethan Rafferty. It never worked but the mystery was why he persisted with it come the championship, by which stage a mid-spring rule tweak seeking to limit the impact of the fly goalkeeper was in place. There is no single area where Derry have fallen down, but kick-outs have probably been the one which has dogged them all season. Those final quarter-fade outs – starting with McNicholl's gift-wrapped present to Paudie Clifford back in February has hurt – but it has much to do with set-up as personnel, as pointed out by Irish News journalist Cahair O'Kane in a recent piece, which cast a jaundiced view on the tendency to go for a crude overload kick-out option. In changing to a more varied approach against Galway they found joy, which is not surprising given the arguably unrivalled quality of their midfield partnership of Conor Glass and Brendan Rogers. Related Reads Five counties have players included in GAA U20 football team of the year 'It wouldn't be a straightforward decision' - AFL door still open for Tyrone star Calculators out: The final permutations for the All-Ireland football group stages Dublin's Brian Howard and Derry's Conor Glass after last year's league final. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO But if those twin powers are as imposing as ever, another seems to have dulled. Here is a stat to startle; one of the perceived weaknesses of Derry in their Gallagher pomp was an over dependence on Shane McGuigan for scores from frees and open play. Going into this weekend, the Slaughtneil man is not even in the team's top four scorers from open play, with just 0-4 trailing in reverse order Dan Higgins, Paul Cassidy, Rogers and Glass – with the latter having also outscored his strike forward in the league from open play by 3-16 to 1-14. In a new game perceived to facilitate the top inside forwards, McGuigan is struggling for form and impact, primarily because he does not have the explosive speed to exploit the increased space. His positioning may need retweaking to a deeper role – he thrived being the focal point of Derry's more structured build up in the recent past – as the one thing he has not lost, is a ball striking ability as pure as it is rare. If Derry are to kick their losing habit, helping him find his kicking habit would help them find their winning one. *****
