With St Thomas’ from Galway and Kilkenny’s O’Loughlin Gaels already through to All-Ireland club hurling final on Jan. 20, we will know the football finalists by Saturday evening as these games will have extra time and penalties if necessary to get a winner on the day.
In first of the football semi-finals, Castlehaven from Cork will start slight favorites against St Bridgid’s from Roscommon in Thurles. St Brigid’s caused a bit of surprise when they accounted for the much-fancied Corofin in the Connacht final, while the West Cork club needed penalties to beat Dingle in the Munster final. Cork dual star Damien Cahalane went in goal for the penalty shoot-out and then scored the winner for the ’Haven. He is the son of former Cork star Niall Cahalane. Damien has previously played in goal for Cork junior soccer club Greenwood alongside Irish international John Egan. So definitely a good man to put between the posts for a penalty shoot-out.
The second semi-final is a repeat of last year’s final with Kilmacud Crokes from Dublin and Glen from Derry meeting in Newry. Twelve months ago it looked like the GAA might order a replay when it was discovered that Crokes had 16 players on the pitch for the final few minutes of the game. But common sense prevailed and there was no replay, but now Glen have an opportunity to get their revenge on the field of play. Derry inter-county player Conor Glass is a great leader with Glen, but Crokes also have plenty of inter-county stars, including Galway’s Shane Walsh and Dublin’s Paul Mannion.
COMPETITIONS KICK OFF
The secondary provincial competitions also get under way this week. Most focus will be on Derry and their new manager Mickey Harte when they play Down at Owenbeg on Saturday in the first round of the Dr. McKenna Cup. Also on Saturday, there will curious Donegal fans in MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey where Jim McGuinness takes charge of Donegal in what will be his competitive debut in his second term as manager. The Connacht GAA Air Dome in Bekan, Co. Mayo, will once again host all of the Connacht Football League and Connacht Hurling League fixtures this month. Games started on Monday. London’s involvement means there will be two quarter-finals in the Connacht Football League and New York has a team in the hurling league and their first game was against Leitrim on Monday. The Cup and Shield finals are scheduled for next weekend.
There is O’Byrne Cup action in Leinster, the McGrath Cup and the Hurling League in Munster. The Leinster football and hurling competitions have a new sponsor, Health and Wellness company Dioralyte. All-Ireland champions Dublin are likely to field an experimental team in the O’Byrne Cup, but just before Christmas Dublin captain James McCarthy confirmed that he is staying for another year to try and win his 10th All-Ireland medal. Goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton and defender Mick Fitzsimons also have nine medals, but neither have spoken about their plans for 2024 so far.
GAME TO BE
RESCHEDULED
The Israeli Basketball Association has criticised Basketball Ireland for “not standing by us and not responding in the spirit of sports” in the wake of Basketball declining to host the Israeli national team next month for their rescheduled women’s Group E Eurobasket qualifier. Instead, it appears the game will be played in neutral Riga. The Irish senior women’s team were due to play Israel in Tel Aviv on Nov. 9 but the game was postponed in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and the Department of Foreign Affairs advising against Irish citizens travelling to the region. At the time BI CEO John Feehan said:, “We will continue to work with FIBA and our counterparts in Israel to explore alternative arrangements for the fixture to be fulfilled at an appropriate time.”
Meanwhile Basketball Ireland has announced plans for a €35 million redevelopment of the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght, including the doubling of the capacity to 3,300. The proposed work is set to get underway in the summer of 2025, and is expected to take 18 months to complete before the start of the 2026/27 season. The 8,000 square metre facility will have space for four basketball courts. The project also has the support of Badminton Ireland, Irish Squash and Volleyball Ireland, who have all expressed an interest in using the new state-of-the-art amenity.
NEW DEAL
FOR DORIS
Leinster and Ireland No 8 Caelan Doris has signed a new IRFU contract until 2027. Doris, who has been one of the leading players for club and country in recent years, has been promoted to a lucrative central contract. Up until now, the 25-year-old had been on a Leinster deal that was due to expire at the end of the season. However, the IRFU have not wasted any time in securing the services of one of their key men. A former Ireland under-20 captain, the Mayo native is set to remain a key figure for Andy Farrell, too, as the Ireland boss rebuilds towards the 2027 World Cup. Doris said: “I am delighted to sign this contract extension and look forward to continuing my journey at home in Ireland with Leinster over the coming seasons. It has been a dream come true to play in ambitious environments at club and international levels and I believe that the best is yet to come, both for me personally and as a collective.’’
Also, Leinster have managed to persuade South African World Cup winner R. G. Snyman to join them for the start of 2024-25 season from Munster. The South African, who will be 29 this month, has been plagued with injuries since joining Munster in 2020 and is currently out injured with a shoulder injured, picked up at the World Cup finals.
HIGH HOPES FOR
HOME CUP TIE
Ireland’s Davis Cup captain Conor Niland believes next month’s home tie against Austria will give the sport a potentially huge platform in the country. On Feb. 3-4 Ireland will host an Austria team set to feature 2020 US Open winner and former world number three Dominic Thiem in a play-off with the aim of qualifying for World Group I, the second tier of the Davis Cup. The game will be played the UL Arena in Limerick and it will be the first home tie for the Irish since 2015 and be just over 40 years on from the only occasion when Ireland played at the elite top tier level when they took on John McEnroe's USA in a relegation play-off at Dublin's RDS. Nilan said: ‘‘From a draw perspective for a World Group 1 playoff, it's a tough ask because Ireland hasn’t played in the last couple of years. It’s a massive opportunity for us and just a brilliant opportunity for the Irish tennis public to watch some truly world-class players playing, supporting their home team and hopefully we can upset them. All 3,000 tickets for the UL Arena were sold out within hours of going on sale last month.
BIG GUNS ENTER
AT CUP’S 3RD RD
This weekend is a big one for many clubs England as they get an opportunity to take on big-name competition in the FA Cup. It’s the 3rd round when the Premier League and Championship clubs make it a round of 64, joining League One and League Two survivors of earlier rounds, as well as teams from lower tiers who’ve come through the preliminary round process.
In recent years there have been plenty of shocks as some of the top clubs don’t seem to take the competition that seriously. The action gets under way tomorrow and runs right through to Monday. One of the big games is on Sunday when Arsenal visit Anfield for the second time in two weeks. On Dec. 23 the teams played out an exciting draw with Liverpool probably denied a penalty. FA Cup holders Manchester City should have no problem at home to Huddersfield Town, but you never know with Man United, who were beaten in the final by City last year. United have had such a roller-coaster season that League One club Wigan will probably fancy their chances when United travel to the DW Stadium on Monday night.
Dubliner Graham Coughlan will be hoping to make it to the 4th round. One of the few Irishmen managing in England right now, Coughlan leads League Two club Newport County, who are at home to non-League Eastleigh, who knocked Reading out in the last round.
ARGENTINA APPOINT
ASSISTANT CONTEPOMI
Former Leinster out-half Felipe Contepomi was recently appointed head coach of his native Argentina. The 46-year-old who spent was assistant to Michael Cheika at the Rugby World Cup and said he hopes he can continue on the work Cheika did in a positive manner. ‘Doctor Phil’ played for Leinster from 2003 to 2009 and made116 appearances for the province. He was part of the Leinster Heineken Cup-winning squad in 2009. He had some great duels with former Munster out-half Ronan O’Gara. Contepomi, who won 87 caps for Argentina, also spent some time as a Back Coach with Leinster.
KATIE IS IRELAND’S
MOST ADMIRED
Katie Taylor finished 2003 with a great win in her rematch with Chantelle Cameron in Dublin at the end of November and it was no surprise when the Bray-born boxer was named Ireland’s Most Admired Athlete for the seventh year in a row. In a poll conducted by PR company Teneo Sport, Katie got 20 percent of the votes. Her closest rivals were rugby players Bundee Aki and Johnny Sexton, who each got nine percent. Jockey Rachael Blackmore was fourth with six per cent of the votes.
