By acting County PRO Ed Donnelly
ALLIANZ HURLING LEAGUE
Tipperary recorded a hard earned 1-19 to 0-19 victory over Dublin on Sunday last at Semple Stadium Thurles in Round 5 of the Allianz Hurling League Division 1A. This result combined with Waterford’s heavy defeat at the hands of Kilkenny ensured Tipperary’s place in the knockout stages of the League for the 7th time in the last 9 years. The only years the Premier County did not qualify during that period was in 2010 and 2011.
Tipperary will now play Cork in the Allianz Hurling League Division 1 Quarter-Final on Sunday next at 3:30pm in Semple Stadium Thurles. The venue was confirmed following a coin toss by the GAA’s Competitions Control Committee on Monday at Croke Park. The GAA have confirmed that supporters can avail of a €5 discount by purchasing adult tickets in advance via your local Centra and Supervalu outlets or online via gaa.ie/tickets. The match day admission price is €20 while all Under 16s are free.
The last meeting between Tipperary and Cork in the knockout stages of the Allianz Hurling League was in the 2012 semi-final saw the teams level on 10 occasions before Cork outscored Tipperary by 9 points in the last ten minutes to record a 1-25 to 2-15 victory. The game was notable for an injury to the Cork captain and goalkeeper Donal Og Cusack who played his last game for the Rebel county, being replaced by Anthony Nash in the 17th minute. The Tipperary team and scorers on that occasion were as follows – Brendan Cummins (Ballybacon-Grange); Conor O’Brien (Eire Og Annacarty), Padraic Maher (Thurles Sarsfields), Michael Cahill (Thurles Sarsfields); Thomas Stapleton (Templederry Kenyons), Conor O’Mahony (Newport), David Young (Toomevara); Brendan Maher (Borris-Ileigh), James Woodlock (Drom & Inch, 0-1); Gearoid Ryan (Templederry Kenyons, 0-1), Noel McGrath (Loughmore-Castleiney, 0-1), Pa Bourke (Thurles Sarsfields, 0-7, 0-5 frees); Shane Bourke (JK Brackens, 0-1), Brian O’Meara (Kilruane MacDonaghs, 1-2), John O’Brien (Toomevara, 0-1). Subs: Shane Maher (Burgess) for Young, Eoin Kelly (Mullinahone, 1-1 frees) for Shane Bourke, Shane McGrath (Ballinahinch) for B Maher, Sean Curran (Mullinahone) for Woodlock, John O’Neill (Clonoulty-Rossmore) for N McGrath.
ALLIANZ FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Tipperary’s push for promotion from Division 4 of the Allianz Football League continues on Sunday with a long trip to Pairc Sean MacDiarmada Carrick-on-Shannon to play Leitrim. Throw-in is at 2:00pm and a win for Tipperary will ensure promotion for the Premier County. Tipperary’s last game is at home to Wicklow on Sunday April 6th at Semple Stadium Thurles.
MUNSTER UNDER 21 FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Tipperary qualified for the 2014 Cadbury Munster Under 21 Football Championship Final on Wednesday last by virtue of a 2-22 to 0-9 victory over Clare at Milltown-Malbay. Tipperary will now play Cork in the Final on Wednesday April 9th in the second game of a double-header at Pairc Ui Rinn. The curtain-raiser will be the Electric Ireland Munster Minor Hurling Championship Quarter-Final between Cork and Kerry at 6:15pm followed by the Under 21 Football Final at 8:00pm. Tipperary have now qualified for six of the last eight Munster Under 21 Football Finals with their sole success to date being the 2010 victory over Kerry in Tralee. During that timeframe, Cork have also qualified for six finals while Kerry have contested four of the last eight finals. Admission for the Pairc Ui Rinn double-header if adult tickets are purchased in advance will be €10. The match day admission price is €15 while the concession price for students and OAP’s is €10. As is the case for 82 of the 87 games organized by Munster GAA annually, all Under 16s will be admitted free.
MUNSTER MINOR HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP
As a result of Tipperary’s qualification for the Munster Under 21 Football Final, the Electric Ireland Munster Minor Hurling Championship game between Tipperary and Limerick has been moved back 24 hours and will now take place on Thursday April 10th at 7:30pm in the Gaelic Grounds Limerick.
JOHNNY RYAN CUP
Drom & Inch, Nenagh Eire Og, Toomevara and JK Brackens recorded Quarter-Final victories in the Johnny Ryan Cup last weekend. In the semi-finals this weekend, JK Brackens will be at home to Nenagh Eire Og and Toomevara will host Drom & Inch.
JIM DEVITT CUP
In this weekend’s Jim Devitt Cup semi-finals, Ballina will host Holycross-Ballycahill while Silvermines have home advantage against Moneygall.
DR FOGARTY CUP
In the Dr. Fogarty Cup semi-finals, Ballingarry host Burgess and Clonoulty-Rossmore are at home versus Templederry Kenyons.
JAMES HOLOHAN CUP
In the James Holohan Cup semi-finals this weekend, Eire Og Annacarty make the trip to Davin Park to play Carrick Davins while Castleiney is the venue for the meeting of County champions Loughmore-Castleiney and Borrisokane. Check the fixtures for all the details of each game this weekend.
COUNTY SENIOR AND INTERMEDIATE HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP
The County Intermediate Hurling Championship will commence on the weekend of the 6th of April for teams that do not have County Under 21 Footballers with the remainder taking place on the weekend of April 13th. The first round of the County Senior Hurling Championship will commence on the weekend of the 13th of April.
DIVISIONAL UNDER 21 FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Clonmel Commercials captured their third South Under 21 A Football title in five years thanks to a 1-13 to 0-5 victory over Ballyporeen on Friday last in Newcastle. In the West Under 21 A Football Final played in Bansha on Saturday last, Aherlow / Lattin-Cullen defeated Golden-Kilfeacle by 2-6 to 0-11.
COUNTY UNDER 21 FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
In the County Under 21 A Football Semi-Final played on Sunday in Gortnahoe, Clonmel Commercials defeated JK Brackens by 1-14 to 1-5. In the County Under 21 B Football Semi-Final played on Sunday in Boherlahan, Upperchurch-Drombane and Cahir finished level on a scoreline of 1-9 apiece.
ALL IRELAND CLUB JUNIOR B HURLING FINAL
Congratulations to the Holycross-Ballycahill team which defeated Templeglantine (Limerick) by 2-12 to 1-9 in the All-Ireland Club Junior B Hurling Final played on Sunday last in Rahenagh, County Limerick.
HURLING FORUM
Following Saturday’s GAA Central Council meeting, the GAA confirmed the membership of a new committee, as mooted by Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael Liam O Néill recently, to examine the state of hurling and to draft proposals to ensure the continued health of the game.
The committee, which will be chaired by Liam Sheedy (Portroe and Tipperary – former All-Ireland winning Tipperary manager), will also include Michael Duignan (Offaly), Ollie Moran (Limerick), Paul Flynn (Waterford), Ollie Canning (Galway), Des Cullinane (Cork), Pat Henderson (Kilkenny), Terence McNaughton (Antrim) and Veronica Curtin (Galway). Rúnaí to this committee will be Ed Donnelly (Moycarkey-Borris and Tipperary). The full terms of reference will be drawn up shortly in conjunction with the members of the committee.
HIGHER EDUCATION FUTURE CHAMPIONS HURLING TEAM
Congratulations to Tomas Hamill (Killea & WIT) and John O’Dwyer (Killenaule and CIT) on being named to the Higher Education Future Champions Hurling team following this year’s Fitzgibbon Cup. The team in full is as follows – Aaron Murphy (LIT & Limerick); Alan Dempsey (LIT & Limerick), David Glynn (UCC & Kilkenny), Tomas Lawrence (CIT & Cork); Eoin Keane (CIT & Cork), Eoin Murphy (WIT & Kilkenny), Tomas Hamill (WIT & Tipperary); Stephen Roche (WIT & Waterford), John Cronin (CIT & Cork); John O’Dwyer (CIT & Tipperary), Pauric Mahony (WIT & Waterford), Harry Kehoe (WIT & Wexford); Conor Lehane (UCC & Cork), Jake Dillon (WIT & Waterford) and Paul Winters (NUIM & Dublin).
GAA VOICE
The GAA has launched an online research panel exclusively for GAA members and supporters called GAA Voice. This online research panel will offer members and supporters the chance to share their opinions through surveys and discussion groups on a wide range of topics affecting the GAA, its members, clubs and supporters.
Up to 5,000 GAA members and fans will be recruited throughout March 2014. Those interested in joining will be asked to complete a brief questionnaire to ensure we have members and supporters from all over the world represented within the community.
GAA Voice will provide invaluable insight into important trends and opinions amongst members and supporters. This insight will assist in the planning, promotion and development of our games and improving the match day experience. Feedback from the panel will be reviewed by the administration team at the GAA and used to inform its strategies moving forward.
As well as offering fans the chance to communicate with the GAA, GAA Voice will offer competitions to win match tickets, merchandise and much more. To sign up go to www.gaavoice.ie.
TIPPERARY GAA SCENE
If you wish to include any item of interest in future articles of the Tipperary GAA Scene, please contact the acting County Public Relations Officer Ed Donnelly at pro.tipperary@gaa.ie on or before 3pm on Monday. Visit the Tipperary GAA web site at www.tipperary.gaa.ie keep up to date with all the latest news in Tipperary GAA circles.
