County senior hurling and camogie final season is now in full swing with the Offaly, Westmeath, Roscommon, Carlow and Waterford finals being played last weekend. There were wins for Four Roads in Roscommon, their 8th final in a row, with a 3 pt. win over Padraig Pearses. Cathal Dolan was in fine form, striking the sliotar over the bar 6 times, 3 from play. St. Mullins retained their Carlow crown with a 7 pt. win over Mt. Leinster Rangers.
Clonkill dethroned Raherney in the Westmeath decider with a 4 pt. win. Niall Dowdall got the deciding score when he drove the sliotar to the Raherney net late in the game.
Ballygunner won back to back titles in Waterford when they beat Tallow in an entertaining final before a large croud in Walsh Park. Brian O’Sullivan with 5 pts. was the main difference between the teams, showing great accuracy with the Sliotar throughout.
In Offaly, Coolderry used the long tradition of winning Senior titles to overcome a young and determined St. Rynagh’s team to win their 30th title. Rynagh’s, who came from 7 points down shortly after half time to take a 3 pt. lead with 5 mins. to go succumbed to a late Coolderry charge led by veteran Joe Brady who scored the vital goal when catching the sliotar high in the air and beating Conor Clancy in the Rynaghs goal.
Tag: Hurling
All-Irelands are completed and County Final season begins.
All-Irelands are completed and County Final season begins.
Clough-Ballacolla came from 6 pts. down early in the second half to claim their 3rd Laois senior hurling title in 7 years. Stephen Maher was the star of the show scoring 12 pts. ten from placed balls, striking the sliotar with great accuracy from all angles. Zane Keenan will feel particularly disappointing having scored 1-09 and still ended up on the loosing team. Laois hurling has been on the up in recent years and this was a high quality County Final, showing that hurling is in a good state in Laois.
Meanwhile, Ballycran defeated their old rivals Ballygalget in the Down final. They, like their Laois counterparts, came from 5 pts. down to win by 2, scoring 1-04 without reply in the last 10 mins. 7 pts. from Scott Nicholson lead the way for Ballycran.
Limerick take U-21 hurling Championship in style.
Limerick take U-21 hurling Championship in style.
Limerick gave a scintillating display of fast, open, skilful hurling to defeat Wexford in the All-Ireland U-21 Hurling Championship by 0-26 to 1-7. Following their Munster final win over a fancied Clare team going for 4 in a row, Limerick continued on their rich vein of form to completely overpower Wexford. Right from the start Limerick were the sharper team, controlling the sliotar and striking some great points. 7 Limerick players scored, with Ronan Lynch, 6 and Barry Nash, 5, top of the list for a Limerick team that led by 11pts. to 4 at half time. The open fast hurling was in marked contrast to the very physical nature of the hurling that we saw in the senior final six days earlier.
Game of the Year… (To Date)
Galway triumph in hurling ” game of the year” to date.
On what was one of the most exciting, skilful and dramatic games of hurling ever played Galway won their way to the All-Ireland hurling final against Kilkenny by a single point scored in the 3rd minute of injury time by substitute Shane Maloney. In a game where Tipperary full forward Seamus Callinan scored 3-9 and still ended up on the loosing side, Galway were the better team but Callinans goals kept Tipperary in the lead for long spells of the game. Galway scored 0-26 pts. some of which were outstanding points with the Galway forwards striking the hurling ball with great accuracy. Joe Canning, 10 pts. Jason Flynn and Cathal Mannion 5 pts. each accounted for 20 of Galway s pts. Both goalkeepers brought off some spectacular saves also, deflecting the sliotar out for 65s from point blank shots. There was a total of 45 scores in 70 mins, what other game would produce this much entertainment and skill in 70 mins.
If Galway can reproduce this display they will be very hard to beat in the All-Ireland final.
Galway and Waterford rebound after Provincial Final defeats.
Galway and Waterford rebound after Provincial Final defeats.
After their defeats to Kilkenny and Tipperary in the provincial finals both Galway and Waterford had emphatic wins over Cork and Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter finals. Galway were especially dominant in defeating Cork by 12 pts. From the first minute when Jonathan Glynn soloed through and finished the hurling ball to the Cork net, Galway always had the upper hand, with Cathal Mannion scoring 7 pts. from play and teenager Conor Whelan adding 1-02, his goal was a spectacular ground shot driving the sliotar like a bullet to the Cork net. They go on to meet Tipperary in the semi-final, which will be an intriguing game, too difficult to call.
Meanwhile, Waterford took control of their game against Dublin in the 2nd half to win by 5 pts. Maurice Shanahan was the star of the match scoring 1-12, striking the sliotar with great accuracy, and also laying off the hurling ball for his team mates to score. They meet Kilkenny on the other semi-final where Kilkenny will start as favourites for this one.
No surprises in big weekend for Senior Football GAA Championship.
In a major weekend of Gaelic Football, Cork and Kerry came through their Munster Championship semi finals without too much trouble, although Tipperary did launch a challenge to Kerry in the first half. But Kerry, with Gooch Cooper back after a long injury, took control in the second half and were convincing winners.
Donegal sent out a warning to all opponents with a very big win over Armagh. Nobody saw this coming but Donegal completely dominated the game from the off to win by 9 points putting Armagh into the playoffs. The game of the day turned out to be the clash of Mayo and Galway in the Connacht semi final. Galway were determined to improve on last years thrashing, and they did, pushing Mayo, who are going for 5 Connacht Championships in a row, to the final whistle with Aidan O Shea being the difference between the teams.
Elsewhere, Kildare defeated Laois convincingly in their replay, Meath defeated Wicklow and Westmeath defeated Wexford.
Wexford, Galway, Laois and Waterford advance…
Wexford, Galway, Laois and Waterford advance in first major weekend for hurling Championship.
Laois bridged a 43 year gap when they comprehensively defeated Offaly in the Leinster Championship Quarter final with Willie Hyland and Cha Dwyer striking the sliotar with great accuracy, scoring 12 pts. from play between them. Wexford had a comfortable win over Westmeath in their quarter final with Ian Byrne scoring 1-7 for Wexford, crashing the hurling ball to the net just after half time. In the game of the day, Waterford followed up their defeat of Cork in the League final with a good win over them again on Sunday. Maurice Shanahan was the star for Waterford, scoring 1-9 and hurling with great skill and endeavour, leading Waterford to a Munster final meeting with either Tipperary or Limerick.
Dublin and Galway finish level in entertaining contest.
In the first round of the Leinster Hurling Championship Dublin and Galway ended up level at 0-20 to 1-17 in an entertaining but low standard Championship game in Croke Park. In sometimes difficult conditions Galway came from a point down when Aidan Harte struck the sliotar between the posts to earn a replay in Tullamore on next Saturday. Galway opened up a six point lead in the first half after Joseph Cooney had scored a brilliant goal, picking the hurling ball on the run, soloing on goal before striking the ball to the Dublin net. But this only served to awaken Dublin who went on to dominate most of the proceedings, without putting Galway away. They depended mainly on David Treacy to score from placed balls, striking the hurling ball with great accuracy, scoring 11 points in total. The extra game next Saturday will give the winners, hard to say who that will be, an advantage going into the semi-finals.
Last weekend in GAA 26/05/15
Limerick advance to Munster semi final in controversial circumstances while Westmeath and Laois make it to the Leinster Championship proper.
Limericks defeat of Clare in the Munster Championship by a single point last Sunday gives them a home game v Tipperary in the Munster semi final. In an exciting game with typical munster Championship hurling in which two players were straight red carded, Limerick showed the greater composure to come out on top. With 19 year old Cian Lynch scoring 3 points, striking the sliotar with great accuracy and second half substitute Aaron Cunningham scoring 2 great goals, the second in which he gathered the hurling ball well out field, turning and soloing 30 meters before crashing the sliotar to the Limerick net, Limerick did enough to deserve their win.
Meanwhile, Laois came from 7 pts. down just after half time to beat Westmeath in their must win game to advance to the Leinster Championship proper. Laois looked in trouble until Zane Keenan to the game to Westmeath making great us of the sliotar to set up scores for his teammates. Laois now meet Offaly and Westmeath meet Wexford on June 7th in the Leinster Quarter finals.
Last weekend 17.05.15 in GAA
Westmeath footballers follow their hurlers in keeping the County colours flying. In a mixed weekend for the Midland teams in the first round of the Leinster football Championship, Westmeath and Laois had good wins while Offaly had a disappointing defeat to Longford, whom they had trounced by 13 pts. only 3 weeks ago in the division 4 league final. Offaly were 7 pts. ahead early in the second half but allowed Longford to take control of the game and go on win by 3 pts. Westmeath meanwhile defeated Louth in their opening game and continued the counties good run in all grades at present. Laois also had a big win over Carlow in their opening round and will be hoping to improve on last year’s performances and win a Leinster football final.
