Clare v Tipperary live updates from the crucial Munster SHC clash at Cusack Park
Pat Nolan outlines what's at stake in Ennis - and for All-Ireland champions Clare, in particular - in the piece below.
Clare as All-Ireland champions - lose to Tipperary and they'll be on brink of unwanted hat-trick
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Irish Examiner
28 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
Moran's leap into the Mayo hotseat: 'This is 24/7. It is a hard job. Do it when you are young'
Andy Moran has a rare ability to overlook the negatives and amplify the positives. Despite a disappointing campaign, a sour end to the previous reign and a host of off-field issues, he has grasped the challenge of one of the biggest jobs in the country. Why now? Why not. On Thursday, Moran was ratified for a three-year term as manager at a County Board meeting at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park. It comes after a frustrating 2025 that saw Mayo fail to reach the knockout stages. Kevin McStay was relieved of his role via a harsh statement and there was an extraordinary special meeting of the board last May to detail their loan agreement with Croke Park and the campaign of abuse aimed at officers of the board. Into that maelstrom walks Moran. Beaming. A beacon of buoyancy. 'I look at this job, this is 24/7. With Leitrim for three years, with Monaghan for the last 12 months, it is not a 40-hour-a-week job. It is a 60-hour-a-week job,' he said. 'You are up at six o'clock in the morning, it is the last thing you do before you go to bed. You're putting your kids to bed, you go back on the laptop looking at HUDL. From Monaghan, it was 20 hours a week travelling on top of that. It's not a normal job. I'm 41 years of age. I've a family at a good age, a very supportive wife. You're getting into your 50s, your 60s, it is a hard job to do. Do it when you are young, do it when you have energy, do it when your fresh.' That innate desire to graft is what attracted him to former team-mate Colm Boyle, sitting by his side at the first press conference and a crucial member of the new coaching team. 'We all know what Colm did in terms of his career, getting dropped, coming back, winning four All-Stars, being the player he became. But it is the work he has done since. This management thing, people think, we are all in the room, we are the intercounty senior managers, we know no more about football than anyone in this room. 'But it is the work you are willing to put in around it. Are you willing to give the hours that the McGeeneys, McGuinnesses, the Jim Gavins, the Jack O'Connor's, these boys give? Can you give the 60, 70 hours a week? This man has done it with a team that didn't even exist over the last couple of years with the U19s.' Mayo need work. The last time they reached the final four was 2021. 'We need to up our scoring rate,' said Moran. 'The scoring rates have went up but ours has kind of stayed the same. So one thing we need to work on straight away is upping our scoring rate. We'll be chasing fellas down who are putting up big scores in club championship over the next couple of days to see can we pick fellas out that can complement the new rules.' His coaching career started before he retired from football. The Ballaghaderreen man is still playing with his club, recently lining out in their Division 2 league final victory. During an injury-blighted spell from 2012 to 2014, the realisation hit home that playing wasn't going to last forever. From that point on, he started to think about what would come next. He studied James Horan diligently in 2019. He has been influenced by awesome clubmen like John O'Mahony and Frank Kelly. Moran tried to play a certain way when in charge of Leitrim and coaching Monaghan. 'I think you'll be able to see the style we want to play, without giving too much away,' he said. 'My own style of football, I think every team has their own personality. You read Jim McGuinness' book, he explains why they handpass the ball so much, because of the winds and blah, blah, blah. We run the ball. We have flying wing-backs. Some of our best players ever came from the backline, Keith Higgins, Colm Boyle, Noel Kennelly, James Nallen. We have a style of football that we play and the key for me, Colm and Paddy is that we maximise that style of football. We don't change it. We try to make the best of the way we play.' That is part of the gig. Bar an enjoyable conversation after a challenge game against Derry earlier this year, Moran hadn't interacted with All-Ireland winning coach Paddy Tally previously. When he approached him about Mayo, he had to sell the vision. 'You have to always sell the project. You know, Mayo at the minute is looked upon, are we in the top-rated counties? Maybe not. Is it going to take much to get us back there? Let's wait and see. I think people can always see potential and there is definitely potential within the group. Paddy could see that.' Excited, enthusiastic yet far from naïve. When asked for specific targets for 2026, Moran was measured. 'We're setting targets for August. We're setting targets for September," he explained. "Some of them is getting some of our guys closer to home, getting them jobs closer to home. That's our job in the background. There has been a lot of hard work on that in the last 48 hours.' What of the dark clouds? The criticism of the team and the county infrastructure? As he speaks, the Mayo GAA secretary and treasurer were also by his side. No better man to make setbacks seem like suitable raw material for the upcoming rebuild. 'I look at the guys either side of me, they're young, they're fresh, they are new into this. As a board, we're getting blamed for an awful lot of stuff that happened in the past," argued Moran. 'What we're trying to do, all of us together here, it's not management team against county board, we'll be working together to really push this thing forward over the next six to twelve months and into the second year. What you do there is you build the structures from 17s to 20s to seniors. 'It's not my job here to just manage the senior team. It's my job to promote Mayo football, to promote the brand and to make people believe in the thing again.'
The Irish Sun
an hour ago
- The Irish Sun
Lee Chin draws inspiration from Tipperary's rapid rise as he vows Wexford can bounce back in 2026
CHIN UP Lee Chin draws inspiration from Tipperary's rapid rise as he vows Wexford can bounce back in 2026 THE light went out on Wexford's season much sooner than they had planned – but Lee Chin believes Tipperary's resurgence is proof of how quickly the darkness can lift. Having failed to record a Championship victory in 2024, Tipp won six on the bounce to be crowned All-Ireland champions last month. 2 Lee Chin of Wexford reckons they can bounce back after a poor 2025 season 2 Chin is certain they can gain promotion back to the top tier Wexford skipper Chin said: 'I just think that's what hurling is now. You have a team that potentially might not be at the level they desire one year and they win the All-Ireland the year after. "Tipperary have high standards and their ambition is to win All-Irelands. "I don't think those sorts of goals would have changed for them coming into this year, regardless of how the previous couple of years went. "To come out and go all the way was incredible to see. And of course it gives you some sort of light at the end of the tunnel to think that regardless of how your year went, you can still turn things around the following year.' A win over Kilkenny in May was ultimately irrelevant for Wexford as the game was already a dead rubber. Their Leinster SHC campaign also yielded victories over Antrim and Offaly. Yet the Model men came up short of a top-three finish due to costly defeats to Dublin and Galway. Speaking exclusively to SunSport ahead of his involvement in the 2025 Hurler for Cancer Research match, Chin reflected: "We had to wait for other results to come our way by not getting the victory up in Salthill and obviously the Dublin game had left us under pressure as well. 'If you'd managed to get a win there, you would have put a bit of comfort in your way. Unfortunately we weren't able to go to either of those two venues and get a victory. "We kind of had to keep ourselves out of the relegation picture come the game against Offaly. The Kilkenny game was an odd one then because we knew that was the last day we'd hurl for 2025.' With 20 minutes remaining in their Parnell Park clash with the Dubs, Wexford were in the driving seat with a three-point lead. Scottie Scheffler suffers major blow ahead of PGA Tour playoff event after $43 million season earnings are revealed But a significant moment that turned the game in favour of the hosts was Seán Currie's penalty. While replays showed that the sliotar had not crossed the line, a goal was awarded by ref Michael Kennedy nonetheless. But Chin insisted: "Obviously when things like that do occur, you have to just suck it up and move on. After the game when you reflect, you can be very frustrated. "But as time moves on, you accept that these things happen and that's just sport. 'You get on with it. It's just foolish to be thinking about what could have been. At the end of the day, we didn't do enough in that game against Dublin. "We just need to improve. There are a lot of other areas that we needed to be better in on that day. "Just conceding too many goals, too many scores and ourselves probably as a forward line didn't really get into any sort of a rhythm through the Championship. "There are a lot of things we just need to address in terms of our performances. We can't really put it down to one incident or two incidents. We've got to be accountable for our own performance. We've just got to go searching for better." Next season will be Chin's 14th as a Wexford senior hurler. And with the county board this week proposing that Keith Rossiter be ratified to remain in charge for 2026, the veteran forward reckons they still have the right man at the wheel. He said: "I suppose we've gone through various different changes over the last number of years. As a county and especially as a player who's been around for a while, the one thing you want is continuity. 'You don't want change occurring all the time because any manager who comes into a project like ourselves, they want a year or two to bed in, to figure out players and who's in Wexford. "And obviously just to get everything in order for themselves. 'For someone like me, if that were to start all over again, that's probably not something I have time on my side for anymore. "If change was for the betterment of Wexford, I'd obviously support that. But for ourselves at the moment, we know what quality Keith brings. 'The county board are probably confident in that too and that's the reason he's going into his third year. I'm delighted that's happening." PROMOTION PUSH As well as reaching a first Leinster SHC final since the triumph of 2019, promotion back to the top tier of the National League will be among Wexford's top priorities in a year that will mark the 30th anniversary of their last All-Ireland win. And with Tipperary showing what is possible for teams who have lost their way, Chin is adamant that Rossiter's side can also turn a corner. The Faythe Harries man, who turns 33 in October, said: "I think a lot of teams are capable of bouncing back positively with how much they have at their disposal in terms of preparation and organisation and how detailed managements can be. "It's just fine lines and narrow margins with results or decisions that cause you not to get out of Leinster or Munster. "Small things can cause you to end up on one side or the other and it can make it a completely different year for you. "This was just a year that we were disappointed in. Our ambition would be to get back to Leinster finals and compete and go into an All-Ireland series. 'It wasn't to be and it's something that we'll look to rectify. Obviously getting relegated in the league didn't help with confidence either. "But we'll put our heads down over the winter and we'll work hard on sorting out a few things that we need to address. Hopefully we'll have found the improvements coming into 2026." *LEE CHIN will be one of the stars on show in the annual Hurling for Cancer Research match. Supported by Centra, it takes place at Netwatch Cullen Park in Carlow on Monday at 7.30pm. Tickets – priced €10 for adults and €5 for children – are available from selected Centra and SuperValu stores, as well as online at
The Irish Sun
an hour ago
- The Irish Sun
Wexford star Lee Chin calls for major All-Ireland SHC shake-up with four teams qualifying from Leinster and Munster
Chin says the Joe McDonagh Cup finalists deserve a break and insists extra provincial spots would boost competitiveness in the Championship ALL CHANGE Wexford star Lee Chin calls for major All-Ireland SHC shake-up with four teams qualifying from Leinster and Munster WEXFORD captain Lee Chin has added his voice to calls for four teams to qualify for the All-Ireland SHC from both Leinster and Munster. GAA president Jarlath Burns has vowed to review the current structure of the hurling Championship, admitting that the pathway into the All-Ireland series for the Joe McDonagh Cup finalists could be abolished. 2 County icon Chin says the Joe McDonagh Cup finalists deserve a break and insists more provincial spots would boost competitiveness 2 Wexford skipper Lee Chin has called for a major adjustment to the senior hurling championship campaign Along with the likes of Clare's Tony Kelly and Waterford's Stephen Bennett. Chin was one of many leading players whose season ended in May after Wexford failed to secure the top-three finish required to advance from the provincial stages. He said: "Every inter-county hurler wants to be hurling as late into the year as they can. It'll be interesting to see what will come if they do potentially change what way the format goes. "My own feelings on it would be that if they're going to keep the same one, maybe change it so that four teams come out of each province. "I mean this with the greatest respect, but the teams that are coming up from the Joe McDonagh over the last number of years, their games in the preliminary quarter-final just haven't really been competitive.' In light of the introduction of participation in the top-tier of Championship hurling as a bonus for Joe McDonagh teams, the 2019 win for Laois over Dublin remains an outlier. Since then, the eight preliminary quarter-finals have ended in victories for the Liam MacCarthy Cup sides by an average margin of more than 17 points. Chin added: "It's quite unfair on them too that they have to go out and play again only a week after playing their All-Ireland. "They're not able to put in the best week of preparation as a result and it's probably something that just needs to change. "If those places were taken by the teams who finished fourth in the provinces, I think it would just add more competitiveness to the rest of the Championship. Scottie Scheffler suffers major blow ahead of PGA Tour playoff event after $43 million season earnings are revealed "From a player welfare point of view, let the Joe McDonagh finalists have their few days to celebrate afterwards or whatever it might be because the bodies wouldn't necessarily be right to go into a high-intensity Championship game. "If there's not going to be any change to that – and I don't know where it's going to be found – then they're going to have to give those teams an extra week or two to be ready for it. "But if the same timeframe is there, the more appropriate alternative would be to have four teams coming out of both Munster and Leinster." Chin's next outing will be the annual Hurling for Cancer Research game at Netwatch Cullen Park, where he will be among an array of big names lining out on Monday evening. He said: "It's an absolutely fantastic occasion each year. I'm privileged to be involved in it and I love heading up to see the players, the coaches and the crowds that have gathered over the years. "Since my first year involved, which was 2015 or 2016, there's been a huge difference in the size of the crowds attending the game and the number of people who have bought into it. "Fair play to everybody who continues to make it happen because it's a brilliant thing they're doing for such a great cause."
