Five years ago, the hurling and football championship was thrown into turmoil when with the arrival of Covid, the GAA was left with no alternative but postpone the games scheduled for the months of May and beyond. New York were due to host Galway in the Connacht Championship in Gaelic Park on May 3, 2020, but that game was never played, and New York and London didn’t compete in the football championship that year, and neither did Sligo due to Covid. It was surreal to see the hurling and football championships being played in empty stadiums in the months of November and December with the hurling final between Limerick and Waterford on Dec. 13 and the football final between Dublin and Mayo six days later.
Covid also had a part to play in the introduction of the “split season” in the GAA and continuous pressure from the Gaelic Players Association means that we are probably going to have a split season for the foreseeable future, with intercounty action confined to the first seven months of the year and club games slated for the period August to December.
Now as we look ahead to a new championship campaign the major talking points focus on the new rules being introduced into Gaelic football. The rules have been trialled in the National Leagues and not everybody is happy, but let us be honest, Gaelic football had become unwatchable last year and Jim Gavin and his Rules Committee were tasked with trying to make the game attractive once again. The idea of keeping three players in the opponents’ half of the field has certainly got rid of the so called “puke football,’”but I think there is still too much hand and foot passing across the field outside the 40-metre arch as players wait to pick out a colleague who can kick a two-pointer from outside the arc. Not everybody is happy with goalkeepers joining the attack, but goalkeepers leaving their own goal unmanned can lead to jeopardy. Last year GAA president Jarlath Burns used that word “jeopardy” to describe what was lacking in the football championship.
DONEGAL VS. DERRY
IS GAME TO WATCH
Prior to Covid the honor of kicking-off the football champions normally fell to Gaelic Park. Well, the Big Apple will be involved again Sunday next, when All-Ireland finalists Galway travel to Gaelic Park, but we also have four championship games in Ireland on Saturday. The last year’s beaten finalists for the Sam Maguire Cup will be hot favorites to overcome New York and watch for Shane Walsh, one of the best players in Ireland right now to kick a two-pointer. Likewise in Ruislip on Saturday, Roscommon are likely to have an easy win over London. No doubt McCumhaill Park, Ballybofey, hosts the biggest game of the weekend. Donegal are tipped to account for neighbors Derry who were relegated to Division 2 of the National League a few weeks back. But never put your money on an Ulster championship game, no matter what the odds are. Also, on Sunday in the Leinster Championship Meath, still longing for a return of the halcyon days of the 1980s, should be too strong for Carlow, who lost their manager Shane Curran last week. The action gets under way in Munster on Saturday where Cork will beat expected to take Limerick and set up a semi-final meeting against old rivals Kerry. Tipperary will be fancied to beat Waterford, one of the weakest football teams in the country.
MCMANUS IN THE
MIX AT AINTREE
As reported last week, trainer Gavin Cromwell, after consultation with owner J.P. McManus, decided not to send the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Inothewayurthinkin to Aintree on Saturday to try for the double. McManus, who owned the last two Irish winners of the Grand National – I am Maximus, trained by Willie Mullins last year and the Henry de Bromhead-trained Minella Times in 2021. However, the Limerick-born businessman could still have as many as six horses in the race, including I Am Maximus. The Irish have a good record at Liverpool in recent years and Gordon Elliott’s success with Tiger Roll in 2018 and 2019 means we have won in four of the last six years; there was no race in 2020 due to Covid.
CORK, TIPP BRIDGE
65-YEAR FINAL GAP
It’s hard to believe that next Sunday’s National Hurling League final between Cork and Tipperary at Pairc Ui Chaoimh will be the first National League final meeting between the counties since 1960 and the first knock-out league game between the old Munster rival since 2012. Back in 1960 the legendary Christy Ring was in the Cork team; he scored three goals and four points at the Athletic Grounds, but Cork still lost to Tipp on a score of 2-15 to 3-8. We have a double header on the banks of the Lee on Sunday as the curtain-raiser will feature Waterford and Offaly in the Division 1B final.
Cork haven’t won national trophy since winning the MacCarthy Cup in 2005, but I think they should add to their trophy cabinet on Sunday evening. Some Offaly and Waterford supporters are not happy about having to travel to ground on the banks of the Lee for the curtain raiser where all 45,000 tickets sold out in less than 24 hours. T
PENDERGAST
SIGNS DEAL
Good news for Leinster who play Northampton in the Champions Cup last 16 at Croke Park on Saturday, with confirmation that out-half Sam Prendergast has agreed a new contract with the province. An extension will keep him with the Blues until the end of the 2026 season. The deal is with Leinster only and is not a central contract with the IRFU. Prendergast has already played 18 games this season, seven for Leinster, eight for Ireland, and three for Emerging Ireland on their tour of South Africa in the autumn. Sam agreed his first senior deal in August 2023, and while Connacht explored the possibility of signing him on loan last year, the Kildare native backed himself to earn the No. 10 jersey at his home province.
IRELAND PLAY
GREEKS TWICE
The Republic of Ireland’s Women’s National Team are back in action in the Nations League on Friday when they play Greece in Herakleon on the island of Crete and then on Tuesday next Greece are due in Tallaght Stadium for the return leg. The Irish women got off to a winning start under new manager Carla Ward in February when a goal from Kyra Carusa gave them an unconvincing 1-0 win over Turkey in Tallaght. A few days later in Koper they were beaten 4-0 by Slovenia, their heaviest defeat in seven years. After that defeat manager Ward said the Irish girls probably “overachieved by qualifying for the 2023 World Cup and they are currently undergoing a transition period and building with a younger squad.” Ward, who previously managed Aston Villa. also conceded that her own tactical and selection errors were partly responsible for the Irish women’s worst defeat since 2018.
FARRELL SELECTS
BACKROOM TEAM
British and Irish Lions head coach Andy Farrell revealed last week than an initial list of 75 players has been drawn up by himself and his backroom team for their summer tour of Australia. Interim Irish coach Simon Easterby, and Irish scrum and attack coaches John Fogarty and Andrew Goodman will be part of Farrell’s backroom team for the tour. England’s Richard Wigglesworth and Scotland’s John Dalziel will also be part of Farrell’s team. Farrell said: ‘‘Putting together a Lions coaching team is an honor and a privilege and the five phone calls made to this group of coaches reminds you just how special and unique it is.’’ Farrell made no apology for not picking a Welsh assistant and said he will not bow to quotas on the basis of nationality when it comes to naming his playing squad on May 8.
DEATH OF LEGENDARY
CYCLIST MANAGAN
The death occurred last week in Dublin of Kerry-born cyclist Gene Managan. He became a national sporting sensation in 1955 when he won the Rás Tailteann at the age of 18, the youngest ever winner of the round Ireland race. Gaelic football is the number one sport in Kerry and in 1955 Kerry beat Dublin in the All-Ireland final. So it gave Gene great pleasure to be named Kerry Sports Personality of the Year by the Kerryman newspaper that year. He was also honored in the first-ever Texaco Awards in 1958.
JOHN HERRICK, 78
Former Cork Hibernians star John Herrick, at the age of 78. Herrick made close to 200 appearances for Hibs and won the League and FAI Cup with the Cork club. A tough defender Herrick also played for Shamrock Rovers, Limerick, Drogheda and Galway. He was the first player from Hibs to play for the Republic of Ireland in 1971 and in total won three caps. John later managed Galway, Westport United and Limerick.
