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Irish Daily Mirror
10 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
GAA fans fury at 700km trips for hurling and football as Dubs get 2 Croker ties
The GAA's fixture scheduling has been criticised as 'ridiculous' and 'unfair' by fans ahead of this weekend's massive series of crunch matches. The crucial period for men's football and hurling sees eight matches in just two days, starting on Saturday and involving 13 counties from all four provinces. The biggest matches of the season to date will be played across Saturday and Sunday, with three of the 13 competing counties facing two win-or-die games. But the GAA has been hit with accusations from supporters' that the fixture scheduling is 'crazy' and 'stupid' – prompting scheduling chiefs to issue a robust defence to the Irish Mirror. After Donegal's Jim McGuinness last Sunday claimed it was 'unfair' to stage their match against Mayo in Roscommon, fans are now making the same point. For example, fed-up Galway supporters must spend around 10 hours or more in a car and clock up 700 kilometres if they want to back their county's footballers and hurlers this weekend. Some say that is on top of commitments that families have given to attend matches of their local clubs to support loved ones who are also playing this weekend. Loyal fans of Galway must travel over three hours from dedicated GAA villages like Cappataggle to make the 200-km return trip to the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick on Saturday to face Tipperary at 6.15pm in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship quarter-finals. They will get home in Galway late at night and then they must leave early the next morning if they also want to support the county's footballers on Sunday. They will spend at least a quarter of their day in a car to make the 500-km return trip to see Padraic Joyce's side face Down at 1.45pm in Páirc Esler in Newry. Some rival fans of Dublin criticised the decision to hand the Dubs a dream double-header in stark contrast to fans of counties like Galway and Limerick. They say the Dubs' supporters will not have to get out of their seats to cheer on the county this weekend because their heroes are in back-to-back All Ireland action in Croke Park on the same day. The hurlers take on Limerick at 4pm on Saturday in the championship quarter-finals and the footballers face Cork at 6.15pm in their preliminary quarter-final clash. Limerick's footballers and hurlers also have two games in Croker – but their SHC quarter against the Dubs is on Saturday and their Tailteann Cup semi against Wicklow in Croker is on Sunday. Limerick supporters say this means paying exorbitant hotel rates for overnight accommodation in the most expensive city in Ireland if they want to cheer on their county's football and hurling stars. They complain that if Dublin's two matches had been split between Saturday and Sunday, their fans could have gone home for the night. Some fans accused the GAA's Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) of not considering travel arrangements and claimed the fixtures, including venues and times, should all be available at the conclusion of last weekend's games, not delayed for 36 hours until Monday morning. CCCC chairperson Brian Carroll was appointed in February of last year and revealed in December that planning for this season was already underway at that point. He said: 'There is a lot of work that goes into compiling the fixtures and putting the fixtures programme together for 2025. The CCCC starts by reviewing the previous year, which included feedback from counties.' He said last Sunday that it can be 'difficult to find an ideal venue'. But some fans have expressed their frustration, with one saying: 'Will they ever do away with these draws on a Monday morning. Games are on the next weekend, so draws should've been [on Sunday] evening and venues known no later than the next morning. Daft stuff.' Another posted: 'I agree, totally. It's unfair on players and supporters.' One said: 'It's approximately a 10-hour round trip from Galway to Newry. They could have pushed the time out a couple of hours. It's called being reasonable.' Some argued that Galway's match with Tipperary and Limerick's tie with Dublin should have been a double-header at Nowlan Park in Kilkenny. Another asked: 'Would it not have made more sense to have the two Limerick games on the same day, rather than both Dublin games? Expecting a lot of Limerick supporters to travel to Dublin twice in the one weekend.' Louth fans face a five-hour return journey of over 300 kilometres for their match against Donegal in Ballybofey at 4pm on Sunday. One asked: 'How's that fair on Louth fans who have to travel across Ireland late on a Sunday evening with work and school early Monday morning?' Another complained: 'Louth have a five-hour round trip to Donegal. It's a 10-hour round trip for the majority of Galway supporters.' A supporter raged: 'Ridiculous fixtures. Crazy having Limerick on two separate days. Wouldn't do it to the Dubs of course. Crazy decisions.' One more said: 'Should be limerick in the double-header on Saturday, not Dublin. How stupid.' Galway County Board chairman Paul Bellew told the Irish Mirror: 'It's unfortunate that the two matches are both on the same weekend. We've made our views clear about this. It should be a week-on, week-off schedule. We have to get on with it, but it is a challenge. "Our strong support base covers both matches, but there's no doubt that people will have choices to make this weekend. Supporters are showing great loyalty to the county. They have been all over the country this year already. It is challenging and we are grateful for the support.' Limerick County Board vice-chairman Frank Reidy told us: 'Limerick fans are the best in the country and many of them will say we've been long enough waiting for a match in Dublin. As for two matches on separate days, we accept that there are logistical arrangements that are set in stone around different sponsors for the Tailteann Cup.' Amid the various speeds and differences across Ireland's network of regional and primary roads, GAA fans face several hours in the car. Cavan fans estimate a nine-hour round trip of over 600 kilometres to Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney for their All-Ireland SFC preliminary quarter-final against Kerry. Cork football fans reckon it is a six-hour return journey of 500 kilometres to Croke Park in Dublin for their preliminary quarter against the Dubs. Limerick fans say they face travelling five hours for the 410 kilometres to Croker and back for their matches, while Galway fans who attend both matches could potentially clock up 10 hours or more on the road. Louth fans are looking at a round trek of 300 kilometres to MacCumhaill Park to take on Donegal. Fans of Wicklow, Kildare and Fermanagh will also be hitting the road for Croke Park. The Irish Mirror asked for a comment from the GAA and its Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC). A spokesperson listed several 'challenges associated with fixture making for two distinct sporting codes'. He said: 'The Down v Galway game is on Sunday instead of Saturday to avoid a clash with the Galway v Tipperary hurling fixture. Down finished second in the group, and it's a home game for them in rule. 'Tipperary v Galway is traditionally played in Limerick when it's a neutral venue. The time of the hurling games is based on requests from broadcasters and to ensure both games are broadcast live. Last year, when the quarter-finals were played earlier due to TV requirements, we received a lot of negative feedback. The Donegal v Louth game is at 4 pm due to a request from the Gardaí in Donegal, who looked for a late throw-in on Sunday afternoon. 'As the Donegal International Rally is taking place this weekend, the Gardaí had concerns it would not have the capacity to police the event. The two football games are scheduled to allow for both games to be broadcast live. For Limerick, in advance of the Championship, it was agreed that the hurling quarter-finals would take place on Saturday and the Tailteann Cup semi-finals would take place on Sunday to ensure they received live TV coverage for the four games on RTÉ. 'The double header for the semi-finals in Croke Park was part of the original proposal passed at Congress for the Tailteann Cup competition, aimed at promoting the competition. It has been very successful over the past few years.' All eight matches will be screened live across RTE and the streaming service GAA+ that replaced GAA GO.
The Irish Sun
15 hours ago
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Tipperary legend makes confident prediction for county's future as quarter-final vs Galway looms large
THE appearance of green shoots in Tipperary helped to convince Patrick 'Bonner' Maher it was time to bring an end to his days in blue and gold. As a three-time All-Ireland SHC winner, the Lorrha-Dorrha half-forward played a prominent role in Tipp's greatest days of the recent past. Advertisement 2 Maher is an ambassador for the Electric Ireland GAA All-Ireland Minor Championship Credit: Inpho 2 Oisin O'Donoghue, 15 and Darragh McCarthy, 13, amongst teammates after beating Kilkenny in May's All-Ireland U20 final And Maher, who Three weeks since The All-Ireland Under-21 triumph of 2010 was an important launchpad for what Maher went on to achieve at the highest level. Promising youngsters such as Darragh McCarthy, Oisín O'Donoghue and Sam O'Farrell are already making a similar transition now. Advertisement Read More On GAA Maher said: 'It's great to see and there's huge potential in that Under-20 squad to come up and get into that senior panel. 'From our perspective back in 2010, it was huge for us to get into the senior panel and get involved in senior games, so that will bring them on immensely as well. 'There's a good few of them boys that I think will have a bright future and long careers ahead of them wearing a Tipperary jersey.' For Maher, there was no fairytale ending as his swansong season was utterly wretched. Advertisement Most read in GAA Hurling Liam Cahill's men were dumped out of the Championship with a game to spare in the Munster round robin. Just five years after the county's 28th Liam MacCarthy Cup triumph, it painted a bleak picture for the state of Tipp hurling. Nevertheless, Maher viewed the situation from a different perspective. 'Just in time for Father's Day' - Dublin GAA legends welcome the birth of precious baby daughter He explained: 'Coming to the end of 2024, I know the campaign didn't go well but I could see the green shoots that were in there around the group and I knew Tipperary would do well moving forward. 'Another thing I kind of said to myself was maybe the time for me to step away is now and give some younger player, one of the Under-20s, an opportunity to come into the panel and to take a place and get an opportunity to drive it on from there.' Advertisement COMING GOOD Having come under intense scrutiny following the failure of last season, Cahill has overseen an impressive response in 2025. A victory over Galway in Maher continued: 'It's just one of those things when you train so hard to peak at a certain time and it just doesn't happen for whatever reason. 'But the group got back together. They went hard at it early this year and the fruits of that are showing now. Advertisement 'An awful lot of these younger players, the likes of Jake Morris and these boys, are stepping up, which is huge and it's needed. 'Ronan Maher is always a leader, Mikey Breen, there's an awful lot of these boys putting their hands up to show that they have the leadership quality there that they always potentially had. "But they're really shoving it on this year, which is great to see.' MAGICIAN MCGRATH While the injection of youth is serving Tipperary well, Maher also hailed stalwart Noel McGrath, 34, who is still central to the cause in his 17th season. Advertisement The two-time All-Star said: 'Noel is a generational player. He's always had it since we were playing together at minor and I suppose Under-16 level. "He's always had something special about him. Fair play to him, he's some operator. 'It was a joy to play beside him for so long. You probably don't see half the work that he does away from the field to get himself into the condition. "He looks after himself fierce well to still be able to operate at the level he is. It's great to see that he's still doing the job and it looks like there's plenty left in the tank with him too.' Advertisement PATRICK 'BONNER' MAHER is an ambassador for the Electric Ireland GAA All-Ireland Minor Championship.
Irish Examiner
a day ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Blow for Galway as Burke a major injury concern ahead of All-Ireland quarter-final
Fintan Burke is a major injury concern for Galway ahead of their All-Ireland SHC quarter-final against Tipperary on Saturday. Burke is not expected to feature in TUS Gaelic Grounds after it was found his knee injury is worse than was originally feared. The St Thomas's man hurt his knee minutes prior to the Leinster final and was replaced in the closing stages of the first half of the defeat to Kilkenny. He had damaged it prior to the Round 1 game against The Cats in April. Speaking about the injury last week, 27-year-old Burke played down its significance. 'I got a small niggle in my knee. I have it, probably have it a few weeks now, and I just kind of hurt it in the warm-up. 'I thought I might run it off, but obviously when you're on a player of the likes of TJ [Reid] and Mossy Keoghan inside, it's hard enough to mark them when you're fully fit. So look I said it was time to go before any more damage was done.' In 2019, Burke tore his cruciate in the All-Ireland senior club final defeat to Ballyhale Shamrocks. If he is unable to play, Darren Morrissey will be expected to replace him, having come on for him in Croke Park earlier this month.
The Hindu
2 days ago
- Health
- The Hindu
Lack of awareness, limited facilities affect soil testing in Tamil Nadu's delta region
Soil testing, a vital scientific process to determine micro-nutrient levels and guide fertiliser use, remains underutilised in the delta districts of Tamil Nadu. Despite repeated government campaigns, a combination of limited testing infrastructure and low farmer awareness continues to affect soil health and crop productivity across this crucial agricultural belt. 'There's no other way to assess nutrient levels except by testing,' said A. Anuratha, Associate Professor of Soil Science at the Agricultural College and Research Institute, Kilvelur. 'Just like we go for regular health check-ups, the soil must be tested seasonally. In Nagapattinam, for instance, salinity is steadily increasing. Overuse or incorrect use of fertilisers only degrades soil further and affects yield,' she explained. K. Coumaravel, Associate Professor of Soil Science in PAJENCOA & RI, noted that 'at the global level, indicators show consistent deterioration in soil health due to climate change and unscientific farm practices. Knowing the micronutrient profile can help correct deficiencies that limit crop potential.' Last State-wide soil sampling in 2018 Although both the Union government's Soil Health Card (SHC) programme and Tamil Nadu's Tamil Mann Valam portal aim to promote testing, field-level implementation remains inadequate. Official targets for SHC distribution are set annually, but large sections of the farming population remain outside its coverage as getting an SHC has not been made mandatory. According to government data, just 7,900 cards were generated in Nagapattinam and 7,350 in Mayiladuthurai for 2024-25—numbers that fall far short of total cultivators who have not got SHC's. Experts point out that while the Tamil Mann Valam portal includes soil data for each village, most of it is not precise. The last State-wide mass soil sampling was conducted in 2018–19. 'Unless regular fresh surface samples are tested in labs, we cannot get accurate results,' said a soil scientist, adding that online records alone cannot replace lab analysis. Only five soil labs However, with only five labs and just two mobile testing units for the entire delta region, many farmers are unable to access timely services. Mayiladuthurai district has no lab of its own and must rely on Nagapattinam's. 'Even drinking water has turned saline,' said Vellamperambur Durai Ramesh, of the Cauvery Urimai Meetpu Kuzhu. 'Several villages in Thanjavur and Thiruvaiyar now report poor water-soil integration. Village-level soil testing is essential—we can't travel to town every time, and most farmers still apply fertilisers by guesswork.' Vayalur N. Rajendran, Treasurer of the Farmers' Wing of Tamil Maanila Congress, added, 'Even when farmers get test results, the advisory is weak. Key micronutrients are not stocked in government co-operatives, forcing farmers to tap private markets. Testing alone is not enough—follow-up support must be ensured.' In Tiruchi, agricultural officer M. Nagaraj from the Soil Testing Centre said awareness was growing among farmers, particularly those interested in fruit cultivation and plantations. 'Many now voluntarily bring in elite soil samples for analysis,' he said. At just ₹30 per sample, the tests provide clear and actionable results.
The Hindu
2 days ago
- Health
- The Hindu
Lack of awareness and limited facilities affect soil testing in delta region
Soil testing, a vital scientific process to determine micro nutrient levels and guide fertiliser use, remains underutilised in delta districts. Despite repeated government campaigns, a combination of limited testing infrastructure and low farmer awareness continues to affect soil health and crop productivity across this crucial agricultural belt. 'There's no other way to assess nutrient levels except by testing,' said A. Anuratha, Associate Professor of Soil Science at the Agricultural College and Research Institute, Kilvelur. 'Just like we go for regular health check-ups, the soil must be tested seasonally. In Nagapattinam, for instance, salinity is steadily increasing. Overuse or incorrect use of fertilisers only degrades soil further and affects yield,' she explained. K. Coumaravel, Associate Professor of Soil Science in PAJENCOA & RI, noted that 'at the global level, indicators show consistent deterioration in soil health due to climate change and unscientific farm practices. Knowing the micronutrient profile can help correct deficiencies that limit crop potential.' Although both the Union government's Soil Health Card (SHC) programme and Tamil Nadu's Tamil Mann Valam portal aim to promote testing, field-level implementation remains inadequate. Official targets for SHC distribution are set annually, but large sections of the farming population remain outside its coverage as getting an SHC has not been made mandatory. According to government data, just 7,900 cards were generated in Nagapattinam and 7,350 in Mayiladuthurai for 2024-25—numbers that fall far short of total cultivators who have not got SHC's. Experts point out that while the Tamil Mann Valam portal, includes soil data for each village, most of it is not precise. The last State-wide mass soil sampling was conducted in 2018–19. 'Unless regular fresh surface samples are tested in labs, we cannot get accurate results,' said a soil scientist, adding that online records alone cannot replace lab analysis. However, with only five labs and just two mobile testing units for the entire delta region, many farmers are unable to access timely services. Mayiladuthurai district has no lab of its own and must rely on Nagapattinam's. 'Even drinking water has turned saline,' said Vellamperambur Durai Ramesh, of the Cauvery Urimai Meetpu Kuzhu. 'Several villages in Thanjavur and Thiruvaiyar now report poor water-soil integration. Village-level soil testing is essential—we can't travel to town every time, and most farmers still apply fertilisers by guesswork.' Vayalur N. Rajendran, Treasurer of the Farmers' Wing of Tamil Maanila Congress, added, 'Even when farmers get test results, the advisory is weak. Key micronutrients are not stocked in government co-operatives, forcing farmers to tap private markets. Testing alone is not enough—follow-up support must be ensured.' In Tiruchi, agricultural officer M. Nagaraj from the Soil Testing Centre said awareness was growing among farmers, particularly those interested in fruit cultivation and plantations. 'Many now voluntarily bring in elite soil samples for analysis,' he said. At just ₹30 per sample, the tests provide clear and actionable results.
