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RTÉ News
11-06-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
Burns warns 'time is money' over Casement Park project
GAA president Jarlath Burns has welcomed the British Government's pledge to provide £50m towards the redevelopment of Casement Park but warned that more may be needed to finally see ground broken on the project. The stadium, the home of Antrim GAA, has been derelict for over a decade and, with the current likely final cost currently sitting around £270m and rising, Burns has challenged the Stormont Executive to bump up their 2010 promise of £62.5m in line with "inflationary uplift". "On behalf of the GAA we welcome this decision. We welcome the funding that has been given by the British government. We welcome funding from wherever it comes from. We worked very hard along with Ulster GAA and the executive to receive that funding," Burns told RTÉ Sport. "We still don't have enough for Casement Park, and we're now really just waiting to see what the [Stormont] Executive does in terms of its inflationary uplift to the £62m that was promised in 2010," he added. "We don't want to get into specific figures as to what inflationary uplift looks like now," Burns cautioned. "We're now back into the position of spectator because the British government have said what they're giving. The Irish government have said what they're giving. "The executive now have to meet, and it's between really the two government parties to decide how they are going to make up the deficit that still exists between Casement Park not being built and Casement Park being built." Burns was coy on whether any of the GAA's own coffers could help further bolster the Casement Park fund, pointing to projects elsewhere in the country as evidence of the association's pressing financial commitments. "It is not for me as an ordinary member of the GAA – even though I'm president – to make a comment on that at the moment. We have to see exactly how close we get to the figure that we need," Burns explained. "We have a lot of other infrastructure priorities. We're building a stadium from scratch in Louth. We have to spend almost 10 million on Thurles at Semple Stadium and all around the country. "So we have to be very strategic in how we invest our money, but certainly we will be very interested to see what the executive does and how close that gets us to the figure we need." As to the final figure needed to build the new jewel in the Ulster GAA crown, in a time of spiralling costs, that seems to be a moveable feast. "You are really well over £270m at this stage, bearing in mind that the cost goes up by about £140,000 every month if we don't do anything because of the rising cost of infrastructure and building. Time literally is money here," Burns pointed out. "It is so difficult to put a cost on that stadium because it rises every month and if you're going to be needing upwards of £270m at this stage to build a stadium where we can comfortably house 32 or 33,000 people who want to attend Ulster finals. "Every penny that we get puts us a little bit closer, but every month that goes by pushes it a little further away. We owe it to Ulster GAA, we owe to Antrim GAA – who have been so patient for all of these years without a ground of their own – to get this stadium built as quickly as possible." Michael Geoghegan, President of Ulster GAA added: "With this announcement there is now growing momentum and belief that Antrim's home and Ulster's provincial stadium is a step closer. "We look forward to the project getting started and hosting some of the largest, most exciting and significant games on the island of Ireland while also significantly adding to economic recovery and regeneration in Belfast and beyond."
Irish Times
04-06-2025
- General
- Irish Times
Seán Moran: Leinster hurling final and the battle for relevance
There was a picture that prompted much agonising after the 1998 Leinster hurling final. It was of Kilkenny 's corner back and captain, Tom Hickey, trudging across an empty Croke Park pitch, the Bob O'Keeffe Cup dangling from his arm like a bag of groceries. The photograph was widely used to intuit Kilkenny's sense of the underwhelmed despite having just beaten Offaly to win their first provincial title in five years. In the perennial comparison between the provinces, Munster hurling finals always come with the blessings of posterity and tradition, whereas Leinster bear the burdens of pale comparison and, at times, faint praise. Back in 1998, this eternal truth was further endorsed by news that then president of Ireland, Mary McAleese, (currently wrangling the three associations as chairwoman of the integration group), would attend her first GAA match of the year, the following weekend in Thurles for the Clare-Waterford Munster final. It felt as if the bar for her presence had been appropriately raised. READ MORE For context, this was the second year of the new championship structure – in the vernacular, the back door – which notionally rendered the provincial finals less important. That was unlikely to be the reason for Kilkenny's lack of excitement, though. A year previously, when the back door was first put on the latch, Clare regained Munster and triggered Anthony Daly 's famous speech about his county's mission to show 'that we are no longer the whipping boys of Munster' before a capacity crowd in Páirc Uí Chaoimh . Closer to home, the 1997 Leinster finals had attracted record attendances for both the semi-finals and final. Wexford beat Kilkenny a week after the Munster final, encouraging Rod Guiney to deliver a swift homage to Daly by declaring his team to be no longer the whipping boys of Leinster – a curious reflection for the captain of the All-Ireland champions. The contrast between the provincial finals has been heightened in recent years for two reasons: Kilkenny's domination of Leinster; and the big box-office success of the Munster round robin and particularly its finals, although they are not linked into the rest of the championship. At the same time, Limerick have been equally dominant in Munster, but their provincial finals have produced some fascinating matches. Unlike Leinster, where Galway are the only team playing in the province to have won the All-Ireland since 2015, Munster have produced three different champions even during Limerick 's six-year reign in the province. Galway's migration eastwards in 2009 has become routine and, in a way, anti-anticlimacticught in to intensify competition by providing a foil for Kilkenny, they have won three provincial titles in that time, 2012, '17 and '18. Galway's distance from Dublin hasn't helped attendances in recent years, as crowds of only 25,951 and 24,483 turned up to the last two finals to feature Kilkenny and the Connacht county. Yet Galway 's clash with Wexford eight years ago created a new record for a provincial hurling final and broke the 60,000 barrier for the first time. Galway's arrival has not transformed the provincial championship. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho The missing ingredient is Wexford, whose last two appearances in the final in 2017 and '19 have attracted the century's highest attendances for Leinster hurling's biggest day. For all that Galway's arrival hasn't transformed the provincial championship, it's as well to ask where would it have been without them? They have provided opposition for Kilkenny in nine of the 11 finals they have contested since they crossed the Shannon. The move has certainly added depth to the championship and helped to position Galway to contest three All-Ireland finals, winning one, and seven semi-finals. Another factor in Leinster's labouring box office is that it fulfils a role as a development competition, which features two of six teams every year earmarked for a relegation clash and in general not carrying much jeopardy for the other counties. In six years, the bottom teams have recorded two wins and three draws against established opponents. Since Kilkenny's last success 10 years ago, they have lost four finals. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho The main drag on the province's status, however, is its lack of All-Ireland relevance. Since Kilkenny's last success 10 years ago, they have lost four finals whereas Galway have won one and lost one. The record unbroken sequence for counties from the same province winning Liam MacCarthy is seven. It was set in the 1940s by Limerick, Cork's four-in-a-row team, Tipperary and Cork coming back for another in 1946. After Kilkenny broke that sequence in 1947, the next seven also went to Munster, from Waterford's first in 1948 and sequential three-in-a-rows for Tipp and Cork. Wexford stopped the run in 1955. This year Munster have again won the last seven, mostly Limerick but with help from Tipperary and Clare, and it looks certain that a new record will be set in July. Kilkenny and Galway will attempt to dispute that and next Sunday, one of them will qualify for the All-Ireland semi-finals. Back in that year of 1998, Offaly created history by becoming the first All-Ireland champions to have lost a match en route to winning the All-Ireland. That alternative approach has rarely been exploited in Leinster. Kilkenny walked that path in 2012, having avenged a provincial final defeat by Galway, but hardly any counties in the province could aspire to a national target if beaten in Leinster. Last year, Clare were just the latest side to avail of a route to the All-Ireland after losing in Munster. They joined Cork (2004), Tipperary (2010) and Limerick (2018). Even after defeat, counties in the south can see the bigger picture. It is fair to suggest that whoever loses next Sunday in Croke Park is unlikely to have a realistically similar view.
The Irish Sun
28-05-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
My friend's French-Canadian visitors took in the Munster Hurling Championship – and naturally were totally won over
FROM ice hockey to hurling, the French-Canadian Tipperary supporters' club has been formed. Last month I got a text from my old pal Michael Anderson inquiring about GAA fixtures on the weekend of May 17/18. Michael is the Father Larry Duff in my life — minus the accidents and avalanches — he's tremendous fun. There's a sense of divilment in this Aston Villa supporter that only a mix of Arranmore Island and his Scottish blood could create. Michael's wife Marie is French-Canadian and her sister Kim was visiting with her boyfriend James earlier this month. They were flying in from Montreal. Hockey country, not a hurling stronghold. Read More On GAA They knew Ireland had our own sports, but that was it. When Mike asked about the fixtures that weekend so he and his guests could take in a game, the small ball was your only man. Mike and Marie live in Slane but had been residents of Clonliffe Road, right next to Croke Park, for the best part of a decade. They were HQ regulars but it would be empty on the weekend in question. No big deal, there was plenty of action elsewhere. Most read in GAA Hurling Keen to deliver a peak Championship experience, they hit for Thurles to take in It was a big match, with the summer on the line for both teams. Were Tipp really back or would the Déise spoil the party? 'Like something out of the French Revolution' - RTE GAA pundit Donal Og Cusack slams Dublin star's reckless swipe A detour via Kilkenny whetted the appetite as fans of the Cats and Dublin gathered ahead of the But we all know Munster is the real deal, right? The visitors' car wound its way into Thurles and Mike parked up. A happy-go-lucky parking steward, with obligatory hi-vis vest, gave them a lift to hurling's temple. Bucket hats and Bulmers. Horns blaring and 99s melting over retro jerseys. Liam Cahill versus Peter Queally. Shane Long against John O'Shea. Finches versus Yop. Noel McGrath or Ken McGrath. This was it. Tom Semple's field was awash with colour as the smells of cider and burgers filled the air. Mike's visitors were stunned by the age demographic of the crowd, as young and old from both sides poured in, sat together and mingled, all in their county colours. You wouldn't see this at a Montreal Canadiens game. 1 People from all over the world end up being amazed by the skill level of hurlers Credit: Sportsfile In true Irish sporting fashion, throw-in was delayed by 10 minutes as 28,758 punters all turned up at once. The Tipp squad gathered in a huddle in front of where Mike and the gang were perched in the old stand towards the empty Town End terrace. Amhrán na bhFiann sounded as our own Babs Keating watched his beloved blue and gold team. The crowd roared, the temperatures soared and Stephen Bennett rattled the net within 11 seconds. The Déise supporters went bananas, the Tipp fans fell silent. Following the play was a challenge for the curious Canucks, but they got there. No matter who scored, the place erupted. By half-time, the hosts were leading by three and it was into the belly of the stand to escape the heat and down a cool beer. TIPP THE BALANCE Hurling's new foursome were fully on board as the Premier powered ahead to chants of 'Tipp, Tipp, Tipp'. Oisín O'Donoghue's goal sealed safe passage to the All-Ireland series, with Bennett's 1-11 haul not enough for the neighbours. Mike's gang thought the pitch invasion was hilarious, as fans young and old streamed on to the field for selfies, autographs and a chat with the players. James was hooked and ordered a Tipp jersey online as soon as he got back to the car and they pointed for Slane. You can have all the leprechauns, Guinness or cliffs you want — this is the ultimate Irish experience. The colour, the sights, the smells, the scores, the roars. It's a reminder of how unique our games are — and the French-Canadian Tipperary supporters' club are fully on board.
Irish Times
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Waterford's failures in Munster are everyone's concern and what else we learned from the GAA weekend
How much more pain can Waterford hurling take? Once hurling's round robin system started in 2018, nine counties have been ever present in Munster and Leinster . Of those only Waterford have failed to qualify at least once for the knockout stages of the championship. Everybody else has come out at least three times. In three of those years, they started with a big win at home in the opening round and failed to build on it. Even one of their first-round defeats was a heartening effort against Limerick, when Thurles was Waterford's temporary home, and the All-Ireland champions at the time were at their wit's end to beat Waterford by a couple of points. But you wonder how much more of this they can take? How often can they make themselves believe that they're not too far away? Peter Queally said after the Cork defeat that they had played 'very well' in three of their games, but that assertion doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Waterford's Jack Prendergast dejected. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho They were very good against Clare and not good against Tipperary. The murderous six-day turnaround was clearly a factor in their defeat to Limerick, but given the gap in class between the teams that evening it is hard to imagine how the outcome would have been different with another week's rest. READ MORE Given what had happened to Cork in the Gaelic Grounds, the league champions were widely perceived to be vulnerable in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday, and yet Waterford only made them sweat for about 10 minutes in the first half and another 10 minutes at the beginning of the final quarter. Cork's dysfunctional shooting was the principal reason why only six points separated the sides: Cork had 17 wides, another three shots dropped short, and there were some misses that Pat Ryan described as 'brutal.' For Waterford that is the unpalatable reality. The worry is that their greatest players of the modern era are all nearing the end: Tadhg de Búrca, Jamie Barron, Stephen Barrett and Austin Gleeson have all been playing for more than a decade. Two of them have been haunted by injury. Gleeson took a year out and this season, for various reasons, he couldn't force his way back into the team. Waterford's consistent underachievement at age grade levels over the last 10 years means that there is not a ready supply of new talent coming through. The hurling championship cannot afford any team to fall off a cliff. How Waterford arrest this slide is everyone's concern. – Denis Walsh Teams go goal-crazy in All-Ireland series Maybe life without the four-point goal ain't so bad after all. The explosion in green flags since the end of the provincial championships in football has been remarkable. The first round of Sam Maguire matches ended on Sunday having seen 24 goals scored across the eight games. The equivalent figure after round one in 2024 was just 11. Now, as the great Eamon O'Shea once replied when asked would his Tipperary team be able to handle Clare in a league semi-final, you should be careful making forecasts with very little data. This is one round of games, nothing more. In fact, it was a round of games where an avalanche of goals was badly needed in order just to catch up with the overall total from last year's championship. There were actually significantly fewer goals in the provincial championships this year than last year – 57 compared to 69. The Tailteann Cup totals have stayed broadly the same – 35 after two rounds this year, 37 after two rounds last year. And overall, it's a statistical wash, more or less – 116 goals in the 2025 championship as against 117 at the equivalent stage of 2024. Meath's Jordan Morris scores a goal despite Seán Meehan of Cork. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho The pointy heads at the Games Intelligence Unit have told us that while goalscoring has stayed more or less the same under the new FRC rules, goalscoring chances are slightly up. Maybe all that happened over the weekend is that the finishing got better – although it feels likely that the greasy conditions had a part to play as well. But even just the eye test tells you that some teams had gone after weaknesses in the opposition and chased goals. Two of Louth's four against Monaghan came from gorgeous kick passes to one-on-one matchups in the box. Tyrone's Seánie O'Donnell drove at the heart of the Donegal defence in a way other sides have been reluctant to. Jordan Morris's speed and menace and finish for Meath against Cork was elite stuff. Goals are coming. Hallelujah. – Malachy Clerkin Galway will play Kilkenny in far better shape There has been a good bit of comment on Micheál Donoghue's eventful weekend, returning to Parnell Park to see out the Leinster championship group with the same fixture as he had 12 months previously. This time, of course, he was back with own county having conducted a Coriolanus raid on Salthill this time last year, which hastened the end of Henry Shefflin's management out west. As Dublin manager that day, Donoghue was accused of agitating for David Burke's first-half sending off. Burke was Donoghue's captain in Galway's All-Ireland winning team of 2017. For all the speculation on a ruptured relationship, the manager on his return last year made sure to invite Burke to stay involved and he was excellent on Sunday. It was a mirror image in many ways of last year's denouement. In both years, Donoghue's team scored 29 times, winning 12 months ago by six and this time by five, albeit the margin slightly defamed Galway at the weekend. Galway's John Fleming with Conor Donohoe and John Bellew of Dublin. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho In both years, Donoghue's team played against a formidable wind in the first half and laid the foundations for victory by managing it well, trailing by 0-2 at half-time in Salthill and level last Sunday. The same referee Cork's Colm Lyons, at the centre of the 16th-minute decision to red-card Burke, once again had to weigh up the decision whether to send off a Galway player after Daithi Burke's shuddering frontal challenge on Conor Burke in the 26th minute, but this time issued yellow. That was hardly the difference between losing and winning but Burke was excellent in shutting down the option of old school aerial barrage that Dublin had been harnessing effectively this championship. Galway will play Kilkenny in Sunday week's final in far better shape than they looked, in the subdued defeat by the champions on opening day back in April. Donoghue has overseen a 30 per cent turnover in Galway's match panel between the two seasons and having concluded the group campaign on a consistently improving trajectory, now has the chance to add to the two Leinster titles he oversaw in 2017 and 2018. – Seán Moran Leinster hurling championship set up to be yo-yo model Kildare's run in this year's Joe McDonagh Cup has brought some much-needed freshness to hurling's middle earth. The promotion-relegation zone between the Liam MacCarthy and Joe McDonagh competitions has become a yo-yo system involving a handful of teams. Since the inception of the McDonagh Cup in 2018, only six counties have contested finals (Carlow, Westmeath, Antrim, Offaly, Kerry, Laois). Kildare will become the seventh. Increasing the number of teams in the Leinster SHC has helped but there has still tended to be a pattern of the promoted Joe McDonagh team suffering relegation within a season or two of competing in Leinster. Tempers flare between the two teams during the game. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho At this time of the year, the question tends to emerge as to why the bottom team in the Munster SHC doesn't find themselves facing the same level of jeopardy as their Leinster counterparts. Should the bottom team in Munster face the bottom team in Leinster in a relegation playoff? With respect to this year's Joe McDonagh Cup finalists, Laois and Kildare, would they have a better chance of being competitive in the Leinster or Munster SHC next year? Admittedly, squaring the promotion-relegation circle is a difficult conundrum for the GAA. But within the current format it is hard to see anything other than a continuation of the yo-yo model where the same glut of teams constantly move up and down the ladder. Is that progress? – Gordon Manning Provincial winners need to get over their hangovers quickly In the microcosm of a season that is the All-Ireland football series, every team has its own manifestations of hunger and of a hangover. There was ample evidence of both as Louth faced Monaghan in Newbridge on Saturday evening, as seen in some other venues too. Louth were out just 13 days after winning their first Leinster football title in 68 years, also completing a revenge act on Meath after what happened in the 2010 final. A day like that demanded some raising of glasses long into the night, and perhaps the following day or two. It was the fourth longest famine in between winning provincial football titles in GAA history. Monaghan were out five weeks after their late surge against Donegal in the Ulster quarter-final saw them beaten by just two points, 0-23 to 0-21. Louth's Tommy Durnin and Gary Mohan of Monaghan. Photograph: Ciaran Culligan/Inpho It didn't take long for the hunger and the hangover to manifest themselves. Monaghan held up possession from the throw-in and slowly moved the ball around, before closing in for some blood, Stephen O'Hanlon racing at the goal and firing low past Niall McDonnell, who did well to get a half-block on the shot. Not long after, Sam Mulroy lined up his first free for Louth, well within his range, only it came off the upright. Mulroy did complete a superb pass from Tommy Durnin moments later to rattle the Monaghan net, but Louth were always chasing the game, never getting in front and in the end suffering the politely termed six-point hammering. Louth had only four different scores compared to Monaghan's eight, and went without a score for 15 minutes during the first half, and the opening 13 minutes of the second. They scored 1-1 at the death, but by then Monaghan's absolute dominance was complete. Hangover versus hunger. Ger Brennan didn't deny that hangover afterwards, the Louth manager saying his team 'were probably at four out of 10 today overall, and that is just down to maybe the effects of winning the Leinster final'. With a short trip to face the in-form Down in Newry next Saturday evening, Louth will be hoping any lingering hangover will be turned into hunger. Three of the four provincial football champions this year suffered such fate, Connacht champions Galway losing to Dublin in their opening game last weekend, Ulster champions Donegal also beaten by Tyrone on Saturday evening. The All-Ireland series format is changing again for 2026, the 16 Sam Maguire teams competing in a single-elimination round, with the winners advancing to Round 2A and the losers to Round 2B. The winners of Round 2B will face the Round 2A losers in a preliminary quarter-final, before the four Round 2A winners and the winners of Round 2B advance to the quarter-finals (and subsequent knockout stages). Which would appear to leave even less room for any provincial winning hangover, should that be the case. – Ian O'Riordan
Irish Times
18-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Limerick's monumental display a stark reminder of their enduring power
The Munster Championship is alive and dead. Technically, mathematically, statistically, it has a pulse. But after a Sunday that felt clarifying in the extreme, Limerick's monumental display against Cork has left it weakened. John Kiely's side had 16 points to spare in the Gaelic Grounds and are all but guaranteed a tilt at a seventh Munster title in a row. Is that your idea of competition? Everyone else has to satisfy themselves with various half loaves. Tipperary's win over Waterford in Thurles guarantees them knockout hurling in June. READ MORE Cork have Waterford at home next week and if they handle their business, they'll see Limerick again in the final. Waterford beat Cork last year so they can maybe convince themselves a repeat is possible. At this time of year, no act of self-deception should be dismissed out of hand. That kind of thing isn't Limerick's vibe though. They gave Cork the full Ezekiel 25:17 treatment in front of a full house on the Ennis Road. Great vengeance, furious anger, the lot. Aaron Gillane ran in 2-7 for himself, all loose-limbed panther menace. Cian Lynch was a one-man variety act, juggling knives, drumming with his knees, playing Beethoven's Fifth on the harmonica. They scored 2-18 from 25 shots in the first half. Cork were 15 points down at the break, worse even than the 2021 All-Ireland final when the gap was 13 at half-time. The tills finally stopped ringing at 3-26 to 1-16 to Limerick. Talk about taking the good out of it for everyone else. Tim O'Mahony looks dejected late in the game during the Munster championship defeat to Limerick at the TUS Gaelic Grounds, Limerick. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho 'We got beaten by Cork twice last year,' said John Kiely afterwards, just in case anyone was wondering where his team's display came from. 'They are one of the top teams in the country. You're at home in the Gaelic Grounds in the championship, you only have two games here so we have to deliver on days like today. You have to deliver. You just have to. We had too much work put in.' Thing is, so had everyone else. And at the start of the day it was still possible for every team in Munster to kid themselves that there was something to aim for. Two points separated top from bottom, leaving ample room for bargaining. Even Clare, hobbled and winless from their first three games, weren't quite toast yet. It would take a moon shot combination of results, allied to a prevailing wind and the sum of the square on the hypotenuse for them to pull it off. But it wasn't impossible. It is now. Tipperary's 1-30 to 1-21 victory over Waterford means that the All-Ireland champions have no route to a continued defence of Liam MacCarthy. Brian Lohan's team are the first champions not to at least make the following year's All-Ireland quarter-finals since they themselves fell in the qualifiers in 2014. It has been a wretched few months but at least the agony has ended for them now. Tipperary's Oisín O'Donoghue celebrates scoring a goal against Waterford at FBD Semple Stadium. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho Waterford are the obvious favourites to be the next to join them. Peter Queally's side couldn't make the best of their fast start in Thurles – after they sprinted out to a 1-3 to 0-1 lead in the fourth minute, they lost the rest of the way by 14 points. So many of their players looked shrunken and listless against the more purposeful Tipperary, with maybe only Jamie Barron coming out of it with any real credit. It means their showdown with Cork next Sunday could be a nervy affair between two teams who have spent the week getting over a hammering. The next seven days assume a vulgar simplicity for Queally and his squad. Cork will survive with a draw but anything short of a win and Waterford are gone. 'They just need to get their heads around it now,' Queally said afterwards. 'It's not over. It's the nature of the Munster championship, the nature of the round-robin. A win next week will hopefully get us through. That's what we need to be mindful of now. There's no point in dwelling on it, no point in feeling sorry for ourselves.' That's the way of it for all of them. Get up and get on. Limerick's shadow is back hovering over the province like Gulliver doing jumping jacks so they have to bathe in the shards of light they can find. When it was all over in Thurles, a string of Waterford players came up to Liam Cahill and congratulated their former manager on his success. All the while, his young daughter clung to his leg, resplendent in her communion dress, a magnet for almost as many well-dones as her father. Limerick are looming, big and bad and forbidding as ever they were. But nobody needed to convince Cahill that there was good in the day for him and his county too.
