by Acting PRO Joe Bracken.
ALLIANZ HURLING LEAGUE DIVISION 1A
TIPPERARY V CORK
On the back of four great wins, the Tipperary senior panel claimed top spot in Roinn 1A of the hurling league with the slenderest of victories over Cork last Sunday. In completing a 2-28 to 4-21 victory, the side showed tremendous composure and patience in carving out a victory when lesser teams would have folded. The desire to do the right thing at all times paid rich dividends in the end with the net result all of Tipp went home happy on the day. It was also great to see players on the injury list return to competitive action which will no doubt bolster the side and make competition for places even more intense.
Again, a great Tipperary following rallied behind the side when needed, however, fantastic credit is due to the players who, when found themselves in arrears worked tirelessly as a unit and laid down a significant marker of attitude, steeliness and response and the supporters followed and roared them on, well done to all.
TIPPERARY V OFFALY
So a quarter final berth against Offaly is the resulting assignment for the team next Sunday, March 29th in O’Connor Park, Tullamore at 3pm. This is certain to be another testing fixture as Offaly have showed great progress in 1B of the league and will no doubt relish the challenge of welcoming Tipp to their backyard. It all makes for a very interesting afternoon ahead.
So how have the stats stacked up in previous meetings? In the league Tipp and Offaly have met on 40 occasions with the balance of power quite firmly in Tipp’s favour with 32 wins, Offaly have 6 and there was 2 draws. The last 10 games are equally conclusive with Tipp on 7 wins and Offaly on 3. The last meeting between the sides was in round 4 of the league in Nenagh on March 13th, 2011 when Tipp emerged victorious on a score-line of 1-20 to 0-10. The Tipp goal scorer that day was Gearóid Ryan who ended with 1-1 from play while Brendan Maher was man of the match, shooting 0-4 from play. Once again, it would be a huge lift to the team and management to see a large Tipperary contingent in the ground to shout them on as the side looks to push hopefully towards a semi-final spot against either Galway or Waterford.
ALLIANZ FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION 3
TIPPERARY V SLIGO
The Tipperary senior football team take on Sligo at home in Semple Stadium, also on next Sunday, March 29th at 3pm in round 6 of the Allianz Football League Division 3. Again it’s a must win tie to keep the pressure on the top two in the division. Coming on the back of recent successes over Louth away and Clare at home, the side has built up great momentum and will be really up for this encounter. Unfortunate to clash with the hurling league fixture, the side are deserving of as much support as possible to encourage them on and get the all-important victory. Therefore if you’re not heading to Tullamore, make Semple Stadium a must and support the senior footballers in this their penultimate league fixture. The referee for this one is John Hickey from Carlow.
MUNSTER U21 FOOTBALL
Last Wednesday night March 18th, the Tipperary Under 21 footballers had an excellent victory over Clare 0-15 to 0-7 in the EirGrid GAA Football Under 21 Munster Championship semi-final to reach another successive Munster Final. The prize now waiting is a home Munster Final against Cork on Thursday, April 9th next. The Tipp lads will know they face a sterner challenge against the Rebels who are looking to make it 5 Munster titles in a row at this grade, what better time than for Tipp to derail the Cork chariot. The talent and ability is certainly within the panel to do it and so a mouth-watering tie is in prospect.
COUNTY LEAGUES
Action continues this week in both the hurling and football leagues, please check fixtures for latest updates, times & venues.
REFEREES
This weekend in the Allianz Football Leagues, Derek O Mahoney (Ardfinnan) will take charge of the Allianz Football League Roinn 2 Round 6 tie between Laois and Kildare in Portlaoise on Saturday evening.
SCÓR SINSEAR
Best wishes to all our Scór Sinsear participants this Saturday, March 28st, in the Munster Scór Final in Ovens Cork, which commences at 6.30pm. Tipperary are represented in 6 of the 7 events.
REGISTRATION OF FULL MEMBERS
Next Tuesday, March 31st, is the closing date for full members to be registered. So with the clock ticking down rapidly, club registrars and secretaries are urged to make the final push in getting the membership up to and above the 2014 figure. Failure to register by March 31st could have serious consequences for clubs especially where issues arise at AGM time where only full members registered before March 31st can vote.
PLAYERS INJURY SCHEME REGISTRATION
Here too there has been a low number of clubs registered to date for the Players Injury Scheme, but thankfully since last weeks’ notice some clubs have taken this on board and remedied their affairs. Croke Park have warned that claims from clubs will not be entertained unless registered and if payment is not received before next Tuesday also, March 31st from those who have registered. So act now on both members and players injury registration and if you have any queries to contact our IT and Registration Officer, Lisa Stapleton at itofficer.tipperary@gaa.ie
NEW TIPPERARY GAA DRAW
It’s that time of year again when we focus on the new draw. The final draw in the current scheme takes place on April 2nd so we need to start rolling out the new draw immediately after that as the first draw is scheduled by the draw committee for Fri May 22nd.The Draw Committee have introduced major increases in commission as follows, which should prove very attractive to clubs;
50% up to 200 members,
60% for members between 200 and 300,
70% for members after 300
All this and still retaining a €500,000 Prize Fund
Clubs should immediately attend to the following;
Confirm whoever is acting as your club draw co-ordinator for the new draw.
Decide on the layout of your clubs personalized brochure with pictures of winning teams, draw prize winners, club development, team mentors details and introduction text. This info should be returned to Co. Draw Co-Ordinator Siobhan Barrett in Lár na Pairce over the next seven days at email reception.tipperary@gaa.ie
Do a thorough examination of your draw membership database and correct errors with names, addresses and promoters. Also be aware of draw members who have passed away since last year so make sure to amend these before the new return cards/receipts are printed and avoid causing distress to bereaved families. This should be done immediately and email amendments to Siobhan before she goes to print next week.
Remember this is “The Tipperary Clubs Draw” and it’s up to every club to contribute to its survival. It has served the county well for 27 years and has survived very recent tough economic times. Now is a great opportunity for all our clubs to grow its draw membership and bring in much needed revenue with no risk or no cost.
The Draw Committee and the Co. Board are looking forward to a renewed effort by all clubs to restore “our” County Draw to its former greatness.
HANDBALL
The Tipperary juveniles make the long journey to Kingscourt in Cavan on Saturday next March 28th, to contest 5 All-Ireland Finals, in Boys Under 14 Doubles, Boys Under 15 Doubles, Boys Under 17 Singles, Girls Under 15 Doubles and Girls Under 16 Doubles. Play commences at 11am and best wishes are extended to all our juveniles in the finals, more details are on the Tipperary GAA website.
POST PRIMARY COMPETITIONS
Congratulations to Thurles CBS who defeated St. Peter’s College Wexford 0-18 to 1-12 in the Masita GAA Croke Cup {Senior Hurling “A”} semi-final last Thursday. They now meet St. Kiernan’s College, Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final in Semple Stadium on Easter Saturday, April 4th at 5pm.
Best wishes to two Tipperary schools in action next weekend; Cisterican College Roscrea play St.Declan’s Kilmacthomas in the Masita GAA All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Cusack Cup (Senior Hurling ‘C’) Final on this Saturday, March 28th, at 2pm in Dr. Cullen Park, Carlow.
While in the Masita GAA All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Drummond Cup (Senior Football ‘B’) Abbey School Tipperary Town take on Colaiste na Carraige, Donegal in Cusack Park, Mullingar also on Saturday at 3.30pm.
TIPPERARY SUPPORTERS CLUB GOLF CLASSIC
Your support is requested for this the 30th Tipperary Supporters Club Annual Golf Classic at the Tipperary Golf and Country Club, Dundrum on Thursday May 21st and Friday May 22nd, 2015. Many of our team participants have been with us since 1986 and we hope you can enter a team again this year. This is one of our major annual fund raising events and we want to continue our support to our management and team as they bid to win the All-Ireland title this year. All funds will be used to defray costs for looking after the team preparation for this year’s championship.
Please mail your team entry, to John Tierney, Chairman, Tipperary Supporters Club at 105 Laraghcon, Lucan Village, Co. Dublin or email to johntierney105@gmail.com
RULE CHANGES
The new and amended Rules as passed at Congress become operative four weeks from the date of Annual Congress, unless otherwise specified. However, Central Council may bring forward or defer the date of the implementation of a new or amended rule.
At Congress 2015, a number of changes were made to the playing rules of football and hurling, including the introduction of the ‘one-on- one penalty’ and advantage rule in hurling. The final wording of the revised playing rules will come before Central Council for approval this Saturday, March 28th, four weeks after Congress.
It is vital that players and referees have an opportunity to familiarise themselves with changes in playing rules before they become operative and as a result Central Council has, therefore, decided to defer the implementation date of the revised playing rules until Saturday, April 11th.
TIPPERARY SUPPORTERS CLUB MEMBERSHIP 2015
The Tipperary Supporters Club membership for 2015 is now available and continues to grow. Membership is €30 per person, unchanged since 2006. Anybody who would like to take some Supporters Club memberships is welcome to contact Supporters Club PRO, John Coman on 087-9087105 or by email at info@tippsupportersclub.com
TIPPERARY GAA SCENE
Information concerning all areas in the GAA will appear in this section in the future. If you wish to include any item of interest in future articles, please e-mail at pro@tipperary.gaa.ie on or before 3.00pm on Monday. Visit the Tipperary GAA web site at https://tipperary.gaa.ie to keep up to date with all the latest news in Tipperary GAA circles.
