Tribe on the Warpath

Galway 4-17 Tipperary 3-14

THE Tribesmen are back and they are angry. Galway made a serious statement in the senior hurling division on Sunday when they defeated Tipperary by six points in this high scoring contest.

Their last title came in 1989 but they certainly are now the favorites for this year’s championship after this well deserved victory.

With a dominating display by Dave Ellis they were ahead at the break by four before running off a 2-5 total between the 10th and 20th minutes of the second half that clinched the victory.

The sides had four points each in the first 12 minutes, with Damien Murray getting all of Tipp’s scores from frees and play while Ellis was the chief Galway marksman with three. Aiden Moylan had the fourth.

The game was been played at a furious pace on a sweltering day. Ellis was causing untold damage for the Tribesmen, and his shooting was clinical.

They continued to point on each end, with Paul Loughnane getting the Tipp score after he bulled his way through three tackles.

Galway had their best run of the first half as the break approached. Henley, Ellis and Aiden Ruane slotted over points, with the Ellis effort an excellent score.

After two Loughnane scores in reply Galway responded before the break. Ruane secured the ball deep in the left corner; he made ground and then flicked to Kieran Geary. The big man still had work to do but he swiveled and blasted to the net for a 1-8 to 0-7 halftime lead.

Galway had the first two points of the second half before Tipperary came back at them. John Madden had a point before Loughnane had a goal when Murray did the hard work for him.

After a Moylan point for Galway Tipp again went to the net. A point by Murray was followed by a ground stroke net shaker by Madden who had arrived of the bench.

That awoke Galway to the task at hand, however, and over the next 10 minutes they rattled of 2-5 without reply.

Ellis started the bombardment with two points from play, both excellent long distance scores before he grabbed a goal when Ruane set him up.

The second goal came immediately after when a long ball from Geary was dropped behind the goal line by the keeper to push the lead out to 3-13 to 2-9.

Two Henley points completed the spree, then Tipperary pulled a point back from Madden.

Galway again went to work, with Ellis going on a long solo run before feeding Ruane for goal number four.

Tipperary did dominate the last seven minutes with 1-4 against two points for Galway, but the lead that had been built to that point was easily able to hold up and the win was secure.

Galway had a host of stars on the day. Alan Whelan was confident in goal, while Alan Leach, Michael Sexton, and Tadgh O’Callaghan did well at the back. Aiden Moylan was excellent in the middle of the park, while Henley, Geary, the very effective Ruane and the outstanding Dave Ellis gave Tipperary problems all day.

The Premier County will look at the displays of John Devane, Fintan Meehan, Paul Loughnane and Damien Murray as their best. 

Tipperary: 1 Gary Donaghue, 2 John Devane, 4 Rory McNamara, 5 Shane Stapleton, 6 Rory Maloney, 7 Fintan Meehan, 8 Dave Loughnane (1-0), 9 Conor Hayes, 10 Conor Goff, 11 Paul Loughnane (1-4), 12 Jason Daly, 13 Damien Murray (0-8), 15 Sean Brennan. Subs: Sean Brennan, Mark Joyce, John Madden (1-2).

Galway: 1 Alan Whelan, 2 Alan Leach, 4 Matthew Silk, 5 Barry Aird, 6 Michael Sexton, 7 Tadgh O’Callaghan, 8 Liam Butler, 9 Aiden Moylan (0-2), 10 Glen Galvin, 11 Dave Ellis (1-10), 12 Kieran Geary (2-0), 13 Aiden Ruane (1-1), 15 Roy Henley (0-4).

Man of the match: Dave Ellis (Galway).

Referee: Brendan Cagney.


Thriller Goes to the Wire

Cavan 3-7 Kerry/Donegal 1-10

A thriller between these two rivals in the ladies league went down to the wire before a goal by Kelly McArdle secured the win for Cavan in an outstanding contest.

The lead changed hands five times while the sides were level on seven occasions in a tremendous struggle to the wire. In the end Cavan prevailed because Fiona McLaughlin had kept them in the game with three brilliant saves and an outstanding five player move gave them their winning goal.

The game opened with Cavan having the first major chance. It came after four minutes when McArdle forced Benny Touhy to make a very brave stop at the expense of a 50 that came to naught.

K/D then moved down the field for an Allie Kelly point. They followed it with a Denise Dunnion free before Cavan replied with two points from Colleen Jordon, a free, and Emma Clarke but they were also rescued by a brilliant save by Fiona McLaughlin on Dunnion.

Cavan moved into the lead when Caitlin Hynes soloed in for a goal, but K/D answered with four of the next five scores. Dunnion had two of the points, while Sarah Grealish and a brilliant long range effort from Anita McKenna were the others. They also forced Fiona McLaughlin to make another excellent save and went into the break on level terms 0-6 to 1-3.

K/D continued their scoring ways with 1-1 to open the second half. A long run by Grealish set up Clare Hannon for the point while Dunnion then crashed a goal opportunity into the side netting.

When Dunnion was fouled as she bore down on goal two things resulted. Ashley Callery was sin-binned for 10 minutes and Kelly crashed the penalty to the net.

Cavan reacted to the player down with a very positive eight minutes. Jordon had a point and then after a long solo run Aimee Gomez fired to the roof of the net from 20 yards out.

More points by Jordon and then McArdle after a Brady score at the other end had the side’s level at 1-9 to 2-6 with five minutes remaining. The teams again swapped points as the clock ticked down, before Cavan had the crowning moment.

The ball moved down the left wing and passed through five hands including McKeon, Jordon, Clarke and King before McArdle was the final player who buried the ball in the net.

Fiona McLaughlin was outstanding for Cavan, with brilliant saves and expert awareness around her goal. Ashley Callery, Shauna Kiernan and Aimee Gomez excelled at the back. Linda McKeon had an excellent second half, while Emma Clarke was more of a point guard on this occasion and did it very well.

Colleen Jordon and Kelly McArdle got the all important scores.

Benny Touhy made a couple of very important stops for K/D, while Kathleen Hickey, Jennifer Moran and Aoife Gibson did well at the back. Sarah Grealish has very good speed and she put the Cavan defense back on its heels when she ran at them.

Denise Dunnion, Allie Kelly and Anita McKenna, who played in front of the back line, were others who had major roles for Kerry/Donegal.

Cavan: 1 Fiona McLaughlin, 2 Nicola Rogan, 3 Ashley Callery, 4 Bridget Mulligan, 5 Caroline McBrien, 6 Shauna Kiernan, 7 Aimee Gomez (1-0), 8 Linda McKeon (0-1), 9 Caitlin Hynes (1-0), 10 Nora Kilkenny, 11 Emma Clarke (0-1), 12 Rosie O’Reilly, 13 Nicola King, 14 Coleen Jordan (0-4), 15 Kelly McArdle (1-1). Subs: Sharon Brady, Ciara Griffin.

Kerry/Donegal: 1 Benny Touhy, 2 Niamh Britton, 3 Una Burke, 4 Kathleen Hickey, 5 Jennifer Moran, 6 Louise Lilly, 7 Aoife Gibson, 8 Michelle McVann, 9 Kelly Roche, 10 Sarah Grealish (0-1), 11 Catherina Brady (0-1), 12 Allie Kelly (1-1), 13 Denise Dunnion (0-5), 14 Clare Hannon (0-1), 15 Anita McKenna (0-1).

Player of the game: Fiona McLaughlin (Cavan).

Referee: Dean O’Connor.

Easy Pickings for Leitrim

Leitrim 3-17 Donegal 1-11

LEITRIM were easy winners in this senior football contest as they scored at will to overpower Donegal.

With man of the match Jamie Doolin scoring 2-5 over the hour, the side was never threatened as they coasted to victory.

Leitrim had a wonderful start to the contest. They had two Doolin goals in the first five minutes as he was set free by his midfielders.

He finished both expertly. He followed it with a point before Donegal opened their account.

They had two points from Kieran Tavey, but they were easily cancelled as Leitrim fired four points over.

As the last 15 minutes rolled by Donegal did have a good period when they were able to change the scoreline dramatically. They had five of the final eight points, but Leitrim were still able to casually stay in front. Indeed they were never hitting high gear and were still able to hit the open man at their ease.

Leitrim gave their opponents a two point head start to open the second half and then ran off six points in a row. Doolin had a pair, while O’Driscoll, O’Neill, Cronin and O’Sullivan had the others.
They were firing on all cylinders as they moved the ball intelligently low into the forward line, while also quenching and kindling off hope that Donegal had at the other end.

Donegal finally had a brace of scores 15 minutes in when Paul Nolan had a point and Michael Mone a goal, which was quickly cancelled out at the other end. Eoin O’Neill, Doolin and Dan Doona linked to set free Kenny O’Connor who fired to the net.

His side followed with five of the last six points of the game for the comprehensive victory.

The defense was rock solid for Leitrim, with Stephen Brown, Aiden O’Sullivan, Eoin O’Neill and Johnny Goldrick all impressing. Pat Madden was the best of the midfielders, while five of the six forwards scored, with John O’Neill and Cian Tobin impressive and Jamie Doolin brilliant.

Another tough day at the office for Donegal after last week’s promising showing. James Huvane was excellent at the back, and John Brennan, John Bingham, Kieran Tavey and Jackie McHugh also tried hard.

Donegal: 1 Tom Hardwick, 2 Anthony Kelly,  3 James Huvane, 4 Tony McMahon, 5 Mark Downes, 6 John Brennan, 7 Brian McCaffrey, 8 John Bingham (0-1), 9 Brian O’Connor, 10 PJ Flanagan, 11 CJ Molloy (0-3), 12 Mickey Mone (1-0), 13 Jackie McHugh, 14 Ciaran Tavey (0-4), 15 Paul Nolan (0-3).

Leitrim: 1 Pa Ryan, 2 Lonan Maguire, 3 Stephen Brown, 4 Dermot Keane, 5 John Goldrick, 6 Aiden O’Sullivan (0-1), 7 Eoin O’Neill, 8 Pat Madden, 9 Gary Driscoll, 10 Colm Cronin (0-1), 11 Adrian O’Connor (0-3), 12 Cian Tobin (0-3), 13 John O’Neill (0-1), 14 Dan Doona, 15 Jamie Doolin (2-5). Subs: Ken O’Connor (1-1), Danny O’Sullivan.

Man of the match: Jamie Doolin (Leitrim).

Referee: Sean Jones.

Down Are Kings of Queens

Down 1-13 Cavan 1-10

DOWN took the honors in a battle of two Queens based senior football sides in a titanic struggle that went down to the wire. They scored 1-5 in a run over the last 10 minutes of the game that paved the way to victory.

The first half began with Paddy Smith firing over a majestic score inside off the throw in. Rory Dunne added a second before Down had a reply when Mark Dobbins fired over.

Over the course of the next 15 minutes Cavan added three points to their total while nullifying scoring threats from Down. They also had an excellent goal move when Enda Lenard fed a sprinting Rory Dunne in the center. His powerful shot crashed of the cross bar and was cleared to safety by a relieved defense.

Down finally got their shooting boots back on and they had a dominating final seven. Sloan had two points; Kevin O’Rourke had the same while Pakie Downey fired over their sixth.

Cavan had one point in reply but the sides were level at the break at 0-06.

Smith had the opening score of the second half and it was a beauty. Eoghan Carew set him up with a long ball and he shot low to the net.

Eugene Keating added a point before Kevin O’Rourke pulled one back for Down. The sides swapped four points and Alan Hearty had to make a very good stop on Sean Kelly when the Down defender shot low to the left.

Down started to take the initiative, and they pressed forward in waves carrying the ball to the 45 and then hitting the inside forwards.

Eddie Reilly was now stationed at full forward and he was causing untold damage. He fired over two of the next three Down scores, with Michael Sloan getting the other.

Cavan were not helping themselves by constantly turning the ball over when they were threatening to attack. Further scores by Downey and Reilly again preceded a strong move up the left wing.

Reilly fed the ball to Downey and he was pulled down for a penalty. Kelly stepped up, and with some of the Down supporters and mentors saying put it over the bar, the Drumahaire native slotted low to the right corner for a goal.

Cavan did have one last hurrah when Frankie Barry shot a point, but the swarming Down defense did not allow a goal chance to develop.

Down had some major stars in the win. The halfback line was very assured throughout.

Sean Munnelly returned to the side after some weeks away with an injury and slotted in comfortably. Michael Sloan, Eddie O’Reilly, who tormented his former club, and Pakie Downey were tremendous up front. Midfield broke even which was a major part of the winning equation.

Alan Hearty kept Cavan in the game with a couple of brilliant stops. His kickouts were varied which was a very good idea. Nobbie Smith was excellent when he was roaming after Mark Dobbins, Ciaran Shields battled hard against Downey.

Enda Lenard and Frankie Barry showed constantly up front, while Tomo Smith never got anything close to decent service at full forward.

Cavan: 1 Alan Hearty, 2 Ciaran Martin, 3 Ciaran Shields, 4 Nobbie Smith, 5 Brendan Reilly, 6 Rory Dunne (0-1), 7 Alan Carolan, 8 Eoghan Carew (0-2), 9 Kevin Smith, 10 Frankie Barry (0-1), 11 Eugene Keating (0-1), 12 Kevin Carden (0-1), 13 Enda Lenard (0-3), 14 Paddy Smith (1-1), 15 Declan Fitzpatrick.   Subs: James Moynagh.

Down: 1 Mark Kelly, 2 Brian Murray, 3 John McCarthy, 4 Dermot Hayes, 5 Sean Munnelly, 6 Brendan McGourty, 7 Sean Kelly (1-0), 8 Alan O’Hara, 9 Robbie Moran, 10 Sean Fee, 11 Michael Sloan (0-3), 12 Eddie O’Reilly (0-4), 13 Kevin O’Rourke (0-3), 14 Pakie Downey (0-2), 15 Mark Dobbins (0-1).  Subs:   Brian Annett.

Man of the match: Eddie O’Reilly (Down).

Referee: John Fitzpatrick.