Three inter-county Gaelic football goalkeepers will be trying to secure a place with an American Football club when they take part in a Combine in Indianapolis in the state of Indiana, from Feb. 27 to March 4. Rory Beggan, the Scotstown and Monaghan goalkeeper, Down’s Charlie Smyth and Wicklow’s No. 1 Mark Jackson have all been invited to try out in the city famous for its 500-mile autor race.
Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan was also in the reckoning, but after impressing at a kicking competition run by Tadhg Leader, a former Connacht rugby player who runs Leader Kicking, in Loughborough, England, he had an off day in a Dublin follow-up event. Morgan averaged 73 yards when kicking at Loughborough and was number two in the rankings. But in Dublin his average was 63 yards and the benchmark for NFL kickers is 65 yards.
Scouts from all 32 NFL teams will watch the three GAA goalkeepers. The goalkeepers will miss some games in the National Football Legue. Wicklow manager Oisin McConville admits that it was not a conversation he was expecting to have when he was told by Jackson about the offer last week. McConville said ‘‘We are lucky in Wicklow to have two good ‘keepers in Mark and Shane Doyle. Very few free-takers now kick off the ground in Gaelic football now, apart from Rian O’Neill and Seán O’Shea. But where goalkeepers are concerned, kicking off the ground is their lifeblood. To have a good kick-out you need distance and accuracy.’’ There are already a few Irish kickers playing at college level in the U.S., like Kerry’s David Shanahan at Georgia Tech, Ross Bolger from Laois at Idaho State and Cavan’s Ronan Patterson with Monmouth University in New Jersey. And Wicklow-born Daniel Whelan with Green Bay Packers in the NFL.
Down through the decades only a few Irish-born players had much success as kickers in American Football. Neil O’Donoghue from Round Towers in Dublin, who played for St Louis Cardinals, was probably the best known. Neil, the tallest kicker in the NFL, was nicknamed The Sidewinder because he kicked the ball with the side of the foot as Gaelic footballers normally do. Also, former Offaly forward Tom Furlong was on the books of the New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons in 1966.
SYD MILLAR, 89
The death occurred last week of former Ulster, Ireland and British and Irish Lions prop forward Syd Millar. He was 89. Millar, who was born in Ballymena, was capped 37 times for Ireland and made nine Test appearances for the Lions in a successful playing career. He then coached the Lions in 1974, when they went undefeated in their 22-match tour of South Africa, and coached Ireland from 1973 to 1975. He was Ireland manager at the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand in 1987. Millar was appointed president of the Irish Rugby Football Union in 1995 before being named chairman of the International Rugby Board in 2003. He gave up both roles in 2007.
Ireland manager Syd Millar during the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand in 1987. [Inpho/Billy Stickland]
The death also occurred of Jonathan Irwin, the founder of the Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation, at the age of 82. Irwin was instrumental with his charity work but he was also the former managing director of the Goffs sales company and he was one of the most colourful figures in the bloodstock racing industry. Educated in Eton and at Trinity College, he first came to prominence when appointed MD of the Goffs Sales company in 1975, at the early age of 33.
4-YEAR DEAL
FOR FARRELL
Andy Farrell has signed a new four-year contract with the IRFU. The new deal will see the 48-year-old remain as Ireland head coach until the end of the 2027 World Cup. Farrell’s current deal was due to expire in 2025. IRFU performance director David Nucifora described Farrell’s new contract as a ‘‘significant coup’’ while IRFU chief executive Kevin Potts welcomed it as ‘‘a hugely positive boost for the game in Ireland.’’ Farrell first joined the IRFU as assistant coach to Joe Schmidt in 2016, before succeeding Schmidt as head coach following the 2019 World Cup. Having steered Ireland to a historic Test series win in New Zealand last year, the Wigan native led Ireland to Grand Slam success in 2023, as well as winning their World Cup group with ease, defeating the holders and eventual winners South Africa, before exiting after a narrow quarter-final loss to New Zealand.
RUGBY SELLOUTS
FOR UI CHAOIMH
Munster Rugby has confirmed their upcoming games against Leinster in Thomond Park and against Crusaders in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, are now both sellout fixtures. The URC game against Leinster will be played on St Stephen’s Day at 7.35pm in Limerick before a crowd of 25,600. Then on Feb. 3 Munster will have their second game at Cork GAA Páirc Uí Chaoimh which a full house of 40,885 is expected. Munster previously played South Africa A at the Ballintemple venue in Nov. 2022.
BARRY MURPHY FOR
2ND HALL OF FAME
Eight years after he stepped down from the role of Cork senior hurling manager Jimmy Barry Murphy’s name still resonates after he was inducted into the Munster GAA Hall of Fame at the weekend. Barry Murphy, who was also an excellent footballer, had already been inducted into a hall of fame for his services to greyhound racing in 2021. And before that he also entered the GAA Museum Hall of Fame in 2015. He was honored by the Munster Council in Killarney on Saturday alongside former Tipperary dual star Declan Browne. The Moyle Rovers clubman was Tipperary’s first-ever football All-Star in 1998. One of his proudest days in a Tipperary jersey came in 2005, when he captained Tipp when they beat Wexford to win the Tommy Murphy Cup final in Croke Park. He also played hurling for the county and won an All-Ireland minor medal in 1996. Later Declan represented his country against Australia in the 2003 and 2004 International Rules series.
OFFALY’S DOOLEY
SAYS GOODBYE
Offaly hurler Shane Dooley has brought the curtain down on his 17-year inter-county career. The son of three-time All-Ireland hurling winner Joe and nephew of Billy and Johnny, his career coincided with a much leaner spell for the Faithful County. The 37-year-old made his National League debut against Cork in February 2007 and played his last competitive game against Carlow in this summer’s Joe McDonagh Cup final. He captained Tullamore to their first Offaly senior hurling title in 45 years in 2009, won an Inter-provincial medal with Leinster in 2012 and also represented his country in the Hurling/Shinty series against Scotland. Also a talented footballer, Dooley won two Offaly senior football medals with Tullamore in 2013 and 2021.
KERRY SPENT €1.6M
ON COUNTY TEAMS
The cost of preparing inter-county hurling and football teams seems to have been the main topic at many of the GAA conventions all over the country this year. The total spent on all of Kerry’s inter county teams in 2023 grew from €1,445,730 in 2022 to €1,679,852 this year, an increase of almost €234,000. The cost of running the senior football team was €738,906. And this figure does not include medical and physiotherapy expenses which increased from €191,014 in 2022 to €208,458 this year. It is estimated that at least half of this figure was for the senior team. Even though gate receipts from the Kerry club championship dropped by €200,000 in 2023 the Board still reported an operating surplus of almost €400,000. Their total income in 2023 was over €6 million. Kerry treasurer Tom Keane revealed that Kerry earned €1.3 million in commercial income in 2023.
In Wicklow GAA treasurer Colm Finnegan said that the current costs of preparing and funding county teams presents a “grave danger that this race is spiralling out of control and threatening the very core of the amateur ethos on which our organisation was built.’’
Meanwhile in Galway treasurer Michael Burke said that Croke Park must accept some responsibility for the part they played in a “financial disaster” which ended up costing the county almost €3 million. Burke said that the purchase of land at the height of the Celtic Tiger near Athenry for the development of a huge hurling training centre was a “dreadful mistake” by Galway but that the GAA hierarchy in Croke Park must also be held accountable for the part they played in its purchase and also insisting on the sale of the land.
