
Mayo GAA star Matthew Ruane announces engagement to girlfriend Moya Mannion
The GAA ace went down on one knee and proposed while the two were soaking up the sun on holiday.
Both Matthew and Moya took to Instagram to give their followers a glimpse of the joyous occasion, posting pictures aboard a boat at sunset with Moya flaunting her stunning diamond sparkler.
Their Instagram post was simply captioned with the date of their engagement: "29.06.25".
A wave of congratulations quickly swept over their social media as friends and fans expressed their delight, reports RSVP Live.
One user commented, "Wow wow congrats guys! ! So happy for you both," beneath the post.
Another chimed in saying, "Huge congrats to ye both," and others joined the chorus of celebration with comments like, "Congratulations guys! ! So exciting!".
This marks another romantic milestone for Mayo GAA, following closely behind the engagement announcement from the county's football captain Paddy Durcan to Alannah, his future wife.
The couple, just settled into their new home, got engaged in an atmosphere filled with balloons and candles, evident in the Instagram photos showcasing them outside their lovely abode and the cosy kitchen where Paddy got down on one knee.
Alannah shared her excitement online stating: "What a way to top off our first night in our new home. Here's to forever with my best friend."
Joining in on the outpouring of well-wishes, teammate Aidan O'Shea exclaimed, "Massive congrats guys! Enjoy the celebrations!".
Meanwhile, Lee Keegan showed his admiration with a succinct, "Class news!".
Rob Hennelly and Diarmuid O'Connor also extended their warm wishes, with Galway players Shane Walsh and Damien Comer joining in to congratulate the happy couple.
This comes as a welcome piece of good news following another challenging year for Mayo football.
After suffering a defeat at home to Cavan, it seemed like the team were on track to qualify from their All-Ireland group after drawing level at 70 minutes against Donegal.
However, they were dealt a blow when they conceded a winning point with the final kick of the game, resulting in their exit from the Championship.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Extra.ie
an hour ago
- Extra.ie
Noah Kahan & Shane Lowry hit it off ahead of Marlay Park gig
Noah Kahan took to the stage at Marlay Park on Tuesday evening but was rubbing shoulders with Irish golfing legend Shane Lowry before the big show. The Sticks Season singer headlined the Dublin outdoor venue in what was his biggest Irish gig to date, with support from Stranger Things actor Joe Keery. It's been an exciting few weeks of gigs in the capital, with major stars relaxing and unwinding in Dublin hotspots in between gigs. Noah Kahan takes to the stage at Marlay Park on Tuesday evening but was rubbing shoulders with Irish golfing legend Shane Lowry earlier on Tuesday. Pic: Pitch Ireland/ Instagram Pitch Ireland were delighted to welcome not only Noah Kahan, but Shane Lowry to their location on Dawson Street on Tuesday ahead of Noah's show. The Indoor Golf Experience is the leading indoor golf club in Europe with the singer and golfer snapped laughing during their time at the venue. — Ticketmaster Ireland (@TicketmasterIre) July 1, 2025 'When two worlds collide… today's visitors @noahkahanmusic & @shanelowrygolf,' the company shared on social media. They followed up to show Noah's gesture of kindness — a signed vinyl of his debut album, Stick Season. Pic: Pitch Ireland/ Instagram They followed up to show Noah's gesture of kindness — a signed vinyl of his debut album, Stick Season. 'Pitch is the greatest!' the American singer-songwriter commended. Taking to social media on Tuesday morning ahead of the Marlay Park gig, Noah appealed to attendees to 'arrive early' to show the support acts some love. Later in the day, the singer was ready to go, sharing a picture of himself dressed in an Irish Rugby jersey. Pic: Noah Kahan/ Instagram The 28-year-old added that he wanted to play loads of his new music but was only being allowed to play some select new pieces, joking to attendees to 'boo' him if they don't vibe with him. Later in the day, the singer was ready to go, sharing a picture of himself dressed in an Irish Rugby jersey. 'Dublin let's f*****g go our biggest headline show ever tonight,' the singer wrote. Last year, prices for Noah Kahan tickets angered some music fans with Limerick creator Reece Creed noting that while the singer was 'talented', €120 was a lot. 'Like Sabrina Carpenter literally has a Polly Pocket stage, dancers, outfits. Eras Tour. Three and a half hours, Paramore as the opener, multiple eras, multiple outfits….' they said.


Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Seán Moran: 25 years since tyranny of sudden death ended in championship football
This is the 25th championship since the tyranny of sudden death was ended in championship football – allowing that its brief reinstatement was one of many unhelpful consequences of the pandemic in 2020 and '21. The new qualifiers coincided with the introduction of a calendar-year league, compressing the intercounty season into something resembling a coherent schedule. There was immediate impact on the championship. Galway , All-Ireland finalists from the previous year, had fizzled out in a Connacht semi-final in June. They would go on to become the first 'qualifier' All-Ireland winners in the new system's inaugural year, 2001. Hurling had already taken that plunge and Offaly three years previously became its first champions to have lost a match along the way – the 1998 Leinster final against Kilkenny. READ MORE [ Kerry blitz Armagh and again prove masters at confounding expectation Opens in new window ] The significance in football was that counties coul now resurrect an apparently failed campaign. It worked best for teams who already had an All-Ireland and knew the ropes but it was now possible to apply the hard-learned diagnostic of defeat in the same season. In the format's first 10 years, the majority of All-Ireland champions would travel that route. That changed in the last decade, largely because of Dublin's unbeaten progress to seven All-Ireland titles but also the provincial supremacy of other champions, Donegal and Kerry . The pace of change has quickened since 2010 with the introduction of round-robin fixtures as part of the Sam Maguire structure. Teams are now getting used to losing along the way – to the extent that going into last weekend's quarter-finals, all eight counties had already been beaten. So evenly matched have most of the teams been that it was well on the cards one might make a decisive move and by consensus that was Kerry. Post-match reaction was full of references to the county's previous experiences of processing defeat and rebounding: literally, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. [ Turnstiles click for a game transformed and the most open championship in decades Opens in new window ] The great Down team of the early 1990s won two Sam Maguires. The second in 1994 was a case study with contemporary relevance. As 1991 champions, Down had two terrible seasons living up to this ground-breaking status (they had been the first winners from outside Munster and Leinster in 23 years). Eventually, manager Peter McGrath reconfigured the team: Conor Deegan from full back to centrefield, Barry Breen from centrefield to centre back, James McCartan from corner forward to wing forward et cetera. The varied responsibilities helped to reignite their challenge. Down Football 1994 Manager Peter McGrath. Photograph: Lorraine O'Sullivan/Inpho But it needed a significant test, a stone to whet the knife. That came in the first match in Ulster, against then All-Ireland champions Derry, who had beaten them with increasing severity in the previous two years. That provincial quarter-final draw hung over Down like a memento mori from the moment it was made in the autumn of 1993. In the event, they survived a dressingroom bust-up, the departure and return of players to win one of the great matches of the decade. As soon as Down had done that, they were again All-Ireland contenders and duly won the title the following September. Compare that with Galway in 2001, who made similar switches to shake up the team: Michael Donnellan from half forward to centrefield, Tomás Mannion from corner back to centre back and Joe Bergin from centrefield to wing forward. The difference in the strategies was that the late John O'Mahony was able to execute his in one season. Galway's whetting stone was the third-round qualifier against Armagh, who had taken champions Kerry to a replay in the previous year's All-Ireland semi-final. It was a terrific contest, won after an Armagh comeback that threatened to derail their opponents, when Donnellan blocked a kick, raced forward and laid it off to Paul Clancy, who pointed the winner with 35 seconds remaining. Four matches later, they had regained the All-Ireland. Kerry's point of reference at the weekend was the 2009 quarter-final against Dublin by which stage they had lost in Munster to Cork and suffered a near-death experience in Tralee when only a missed penalty by Sligo saved the home side from defeat. Then they were losing to Antrim at half-time in the next round and just level with an hour gone before winning by a goal. Jack O'Connor, who had dropped Colm Cooper and Tomás Ó Se that week, was dismissive of media speculation about the disciplinary measure and compared to last weekend, relatively Zen about the coverage. 'It actually wasn't a worry, believe it or not. The only thing I was worried about was that the squad would stick together. That's all that matters, really. The stuff that you fellas write doesn't affect us as much as you think it does.' Dublin proved Kerry's whetting stone 16 years ago just as Armagh did on Sunday. The 17-point defeat, characterised by Pat Gilroy's description of his team as 'startled earwigs' provide blast-off for Kerry's All-Ireland and a productive rethink for the Dubs. Of course, this season is not over yet. Kerry's delivery of a masterclass on Sunday may have made them favourites but no verdict on the 2025 championship can be made until the end of July. We don't yet know for certain where the Kerry resurgence will lead. In the semi-final, they face Tyrone, a county that has twice won the All-Ireland by beating Dublin in the quarter-finals, as they did on Saturday, and subsequently, Kerry. As Kieran McGeeney prophetically replied when asked were Armagh better than last year after they had beaten Dublin: 'As you know, it's like everything else, all the writing's done at the end. No matter what I say now, no matter what you say, it doesn't make any difference. It's always the final chapter when it comes to sport that determines the content of the book.' Now, read on.


Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Darragh Ó Sé: David Clifford and Seán O'Shea showed the leadership that inspired Kerry's victory over Armagh
Leadership is a hard thing to define, but you know it when you see it. One of my favourite bits of play at Croke Park last weekend came late in the Tyrone v Dublin game . Young Eoin McElholm got the ball on the arc, looked up and saw Ciarán Kilkenny ahead of him. Instead of turning back or playing safe, he licked his lips and went for it. He didn't give a damn about the number of All-Irelands Ciarán Kilkenny has won. It didn't occur to him for a second that the fella standing in front of him is one of the most athletic players the game has ever seen. He didn't care that he was playing into Hill 16, in the last 10 minutes of an All-Ireland quarter-final, with only a point between the teams. Eoin McElholm: THE FUTURE IS NOW! 🔥 Point on the board for — The GAA (@officialgaa) All he saw was a chance to put the head down, press the accelerator and take his man on the outside. He skinned Kilkenny and left him chasing his shadow. It was as if he was saying, 'move over kid, you've had your time'. I thought it was one of the best bits of leadership you could ever see. It was there in the Meath game too . Look at the composure Mathew Costello showed when he was setting up the goal for Jordan Morris. Meath had a three-on-one when he got the ball, so the goal was on, no question about it. But Galway were after getting a run on them and there were nine minutes left on the clock. Nothing is a given at that stage. READ MORE After a cagey first half, the second half has exploded into life as Jordan Morris swings the game back in Meath's favour with their second goal 📱 Updates - — The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) As the move was developing, you could see Costello run away from Morris to create space. Then, when he got the ball in his hands, he made a point of not looking in Morris's direction. Instead, he made a very small, subtle move with his hands and eyes as if he was considering trying to go around Connor Gleeson and grab a goal for himself. That's all that was needed. Gleeson reacted, Costello kept his eyes on the goalkeeper but flicked the ball to Morris on the back post and it was an open goal. The right move at the right time and Meath were back in charge. Compare that to the chance Tiernan Kelly made a mess of in the first half of the Armagh v Kerry game . He made a brilliant steal from Dylan Geaney on the Kerry 45 and headed for goal. Armagh had a four-on-one, with Niall Grimley and Rian O'Neill to one side and Oisín Conaty to the other. One simple pass was all it needed. But even in the moment, you could see that Kelly had no notion of passing. Once he didn't lay it off straight away, you could sense that he was going to keep running until he got close enough to go for goal. Tiernan Kelly is denied by Shane Ryan as Armagh threaten a goal early on 📱 Updates: 📺 📻 — The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) And if you and I can see that from the stands, you can be damn sure Shane Ryan in the Kerry goal could see it at ground level. So Ryan was able to take a calculated risk; he steadied himself for the save rather than having to move across to whichever option Kelly used. Once Ryan tipped the shot over the bar, you could see Conaty, Grimley and O'Neill all give Kelly an earful. Leadership is about doing the right thing rather than the spectacular thing. I heard people saying at half-time that David Clifford was very quiet in the first half. But I thought he was exceptional. Seán O'Shea shot the lights out but the amount of running Clifford was doing to pull Armagh defenders out of position was a sight to behold. [ Conor McManus: Armagh found out that a Kerry team with a point to prove is an animal like few others Opens in new window ] He was getting extra attention the whole time, with Ross McQuillan dropping back in front of him and Barry McCambridge marking him from the side. But he still fought his way into the action and scored that incredible point off his right leg. And then, straight after it, he won a free and got the crowd lifting again. The huge thing from a Kerry point of view was that so many of them caught fire at the same time. They caught onto that leadership shown by David and Seánie and kicked on themselves. Joe O'Connor was an obvious example in the second half. Graham O'Sullivan and Gavin White scored two points apiece. Kerry's Joe O'Connor takes the ball forward against Armagh last Sunday. Photograph: James Lawlor/Inpho You need that domino effect. So many Kerry players followed their leaders. Mark O'Shea had a whale of a game in midfield. Seán O'Brien had the game of his life. In that spell when the Armagh kickout was being hammered, they were the ones getting into the middle of the battle and making it awkward for the All-Ireland champions. Nobody was singling them out as match-winners beforehand, but they were vital to it. The contrast with Galway's lack of leadership in the early game was so clear to see. Other than Damien Comer when he came on, so many Galway players just weren't trusting themselves to break free and show the others what the day needed. They were tentative with their shooting and only really went for Meath in that short spell in the second half when they put up 2-3 in quick succession. Comer was brilliant for those few minutes. He came on when they were six points down. He touched the ball four times and they were level. But too many of Galway's big leaders faded from view. Paul Conroy couldn't get into it when he came on, John Maher wasn't able to get a foothold outside of setting up the goal, Shane Walsh was obviously finding the slippy surface tricky to keep his feet on. They left themselves open to being nailed and Meath took full advantage. All in all, it was a brilliant weekend of football and I had most of it wrong from the outset. My thinking was that Donegal, Dublin, Galway and Armagh would come through. But whatever about the first game, the big leaders in the other three were what brought Tyrone, Meath and Kerry through to the last four.