Allianz Hurling and Football Leagues
The Tipperary Senior Footballers played Wexford in Round 6 of the league last Sunday afternoon in Fethard Town Park. The game was originally due to have taken place on Saturday, but due to the poor weather conditions it was postponed and moved to the Tipperary venue on Sunday. Unfortunately there was no luck for Tipperary as Wexford proved to be far superior winning in the end by 4-10 to 0-08. Tipperary’s last game in the league will be against Leitrim this Sunday afternoon and with Munster Championship now only a few weeks away, the players will be hoping to have a winning end to the league campaign.
Our Senior Hurlers played Antrim in Corrigan Park last Saturday afternoon and with results elsewhere having gone their way, they knew that a draw or win would see them through to the league semi finals. With the poor weather of the previous few days, the underfoot conditions in Belfast were challenging but Tipperary got the job done as they ran out winners on a 2-21 to 0-12 full time score. This result now means that Liam Cahill’s men will now play Clare in the Allianz League semi final this Sunday afternoon at 4pm in Laois Hire O’Moore Park.
FBD Insurance County Leagues
The County Hurling Leagues were in full flow last weekend with games taking place across all the six divisions. A number of games did however fall victim of the poor weather and will now need to be refixed at a later date. This coming weekend will see games taking place in both the hurling and football leagues and a full list of games can be seen on the fixtures and results section of the Tipperary GAA website.
Munster Under 20 Football Championship
Our under 20 footballers played out an exciting 2-06 to 0-12 draw with Limerick in the opening round of the Munster under 20 football championship in Fethard Town Park last Friday evening. This tie was the first of three that these sides will play, in the new-look Phase One group stage. The other sides, Clare and Waterford, meet on Saturday afternoon. The top two from the group will progress into another group phase, involving Kerry and Cork. It appears to be a welcomed addition of competitive football, with the knockout format doing little for the progression of football outside of the ‘top two’ in Munster. Since winning the U21 provincial title in 2015, The Premier have managed just two wins (both in 2021), at this grade. Limerick have had their struggles too, though they defeated Waterford in 2023.
Rising Limerick senior star, Emmet Rigter, curled over the opening score inside two minutes, this one of four frees the Treaty would score in a wasteful opening half. Kicking five wides, Shane Kelly also say his men drop plenty short as they struggled to negotiate Tipp’s deep lying defence. A goal from the left foot of Darragh McVicker put Niall Fitzgerald’s men ahead. His effort, with his weaker left foot, dipped into the net after five minutes. Rigter replied with Limerick’s sole point from play in the opening half. Orrin Jones, Joseph Lawrence and McVicker helped open up a four-point Tipp lead. The half drew to a close with a black card to Ballina’s Charlie King. He felled Murray who was rampaging through the middle. Ronan Quirke slotted the free, before Lawrence replied. The home side led 1-4 to 0-5 at the interval. A tremendous finish from Orrin Jones pushed Tipperary five clear on 33, but the visitors didn’t give in. A superb second half from Ronan Quirke was arguably why Limerick got a result. His four points from play in an old-school full-forward role saw his side push ahead with six unanswered points. However, subs Daithi Hogan and Paddy O’Keeffe swung the pendulum once more but the final say went to Hynes who curled over to tie the game. Murray had a chance in stoppage time, but his effort sailed well wide.
Tipperary will now play Clare next Saturday afternoon in Round 2 of the Championship. The game will take place in Páirc Naomh Mhuire Quilty at 2pm.
2024 Masita All-Ireland Post Primary School Hurling Niall McInerney Cup Final
St Mary’s, Newport 6-17 St Enda’s, Galway 1-7
In Tulla, St. Mary’s of Newport were crowned Niall McInerney (Senior D) Cup champions as a Shane Flanagan hat-trick was enough to put clear daylight between themselves and Galway’s Coláiste Einde. The Tipperary school emerged 6-17 to 1-7 winners as they produced a sensational display in their biggest game of the year.
David Minogue’s side were superb from the outset and never trailed as they backed up their emphatic semi-final victory with another impressive triumph. Coláiste Éinde, from Galway city, came through a sensational 13-goal thriller in their semi-final win over Dean Maguire College of Carrickmore, but were unable to trouble their foes’ defence in the same manner today.
St. Mary’s edged in front during the opening exchanges before they struck their first blow when Darren Collopy galloped through and found joint-captain Shane Flanagan, who blasted to the bottom corner of the net. The roles were reversed for the second major as moments later Flanagan found the onrushing Collopy, who shrugged off all would be challengers to force home a second major.
This helped his side lead 2-3 to 0-1 after 10 minutes and although Cian Corcoran stemmed the momentum with four points in the opening period, the Tipperary side were classy. Neat Cillian Collins and Tommy Cusack efforts before the break saw the winners lead 2-10 to 0-5 at the change of ends.
A scintillating team move saw St Mary’s dash any hopes of a comeback two minutes into the second half as Collins and Poole combined to tee up Flanagan to rattle the onion sack from close range. Collopy netted a penalty to register his side’s fourth major while Brian Tobin nabbed his goal as he buried to the net to capitalise on excellent close control from Callum Poole.
Jason Carr, who bagged 4-1 in the Galway side’s semi-final win, managed to find the net after being denied twice previously, but Flanagan completed his hat trick as the game entered injury time to cap a man-of-the-match display and put the final exclamation point on a memorable All-Ireland win.
GAA invites tenders to undertake research in to Hurley and Sliotar performance
The GAA is inviting tenders to undertake research in to hurley and sliotar performance. This research aims to provide an evidentiary base to inform current and future regulations related to the hurley and sliotar. Specifically, the GAA would like to ensure that the testing employed to enforce hurley and sliotar regulations are valid, reliable, and contextually relevant. All tender materials must be submitted to GAA Player Welfare Manager, Eoghan Tuohey (eoghan.tuohey@gaa.ie) via email by COB 04/04/2024. Submissions by each applicant will be noted through return email. Applicants are advised to submit all materials in standard format (PDF or Microsoft Word/Excel).
By Jonathan Cullen Thu 21st Mar
