Kerry and Tyrone paths to the All-Ireland MFC Final
Kerry and Tyrone meet in the All-Ireland Minor Football Championship final after impressive championship runs.
MAY 5: Munster MFC, Cork 2-8 Kerry 2-18: Despite conceding a second minute goal to Cork's Donagh Flynn, Kerry soon settled and, by the half-time break, they were on level terms against the hosts at Páirc Uí Rinn, 0-9 to 1-6. On the changeover, Wayne Quillinan's side were a different prospect.
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Irish Daily Mirror
38 minutes ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Legendary Kerry GAA player and manager hits big jackpot in club lotto
The people of Kerry are still celebrating their victory in last month's All-Ireland football final but for one Kingdom legend, the summer got even better. Kenmare Shamrocks GAA is the home of current ace forward Sean O'Shea but a former star player was also making headlines this week. The south Kerry club's lotto draw had rolled over to a whopping jackpot total of €16,400 and was finally won last weekend by another multiple All-Ireland medal winner. Mickey Ned O'Sullivan captained Kerry to their breakthrough All-Ireland success in 1975 and went on to win two more medals as a player in 1976 and 1979. He later went on to manage Kerry at minor, u21 and senior level successfully while he also managed the Limerick senior football team. O'Sullivan had the inevitable task of taking over from Mick O'Dwyer in 1989, winning a Munster title in 1991, but he was also in charge for the infamous defeat to Clare in 1992. A post on the Kenmare Shamrocks Facebook page read: 'Kenmare Shamrocks made Mickey Ned O'Sullivan a happy man yesterday when he received his winning Lotto cheque of €16,400. Mickey correctly picked the four winning numbers of last Sunday night's lotto draw (2, 12, 20, 28).' O'Sullivan, who is a retired schoolteacher, told the Kerryman newspaper: 'It's nice to win anything, you know. I probably have a ticket in there every year since it began and this is the first time I have won.' 'All the money that isn't won goes for the facilities, the all-weather pitch, the gym - there are plans for a new gym - and the maintenance of the facilities, which are great, top-class,' he said. 'It's good to know that the vast majority of the money goes back into the club.'
Irish Independent
40 minutes ago
- Irish Independent
Kerry football legend wins over €16,000 in club lotto – ‘Even Dubs were sending him good messages'
Former Kerry footballer and manager Mickey Ned O'Sullivan, who captained the Kingdom to All-Ireland glory in 1975, won €16,400 after his numbers were drawn in Kenmare Shamrocks GAA's lotto on Sunday evening. Mickey Ned spoke to The Kerryman about his win. 'It's nice to win anything, you know,' he said. 'I probably have a ticket in there every year since it began and this is the first time I have won.' The All-Ireland winner hopes his win will highlight the importance of the lotto for the club. 'All the money that isn't won goes for the facilities, the all-weather pitch, the gym - there is plans for a new gym - and the maintenance of the facilities, which are great, top-class,' he said. 'It's good to know that the vast majority of the money goes back into the club.' Mickey Ned said he has no plans after his lotto win. 'We'll work it out. We weren't expecting it anyway,' he said. 'We won't get excited,' he joked. The lotto win was the cherry on top of a great day for Mickey Ned. He had watched his club beat Dingle in Kenmare in the first round of the Senior Football Championship and his neighbour, Jonah Kirby, won a gold medal in the World Rowing Championships on Sunday. Kenmare Shamrocks PRO, Paul O'Sullivan, told The Kerryman that Mickey Ned is a 'very popular winner' of the lotto prize, which had been growing since Christmas. 'It shows there on our social media platforms - the amount of congratulations that he has got from so many people,' Paul said. 'Across the water, New York, even Dubs were sending him good messages as well, which was a great thing to see!' 'After the numbers came out we realised we had one winner and it was Mickey Ned. ' [Lotto committee chairperson] Timothy rang him and he just called out the four numbers asking Mickey if he recognised them. 'And he said 'Gosh no, were they something to do with the game today'. 'No', he said, 'they are the four numbers that just won you €16,400!'.' Paul said Mickey Ned has been playing the lotto since it began in 2011, and it was great for a local man to win it. The club's lotto draw takes place at 8pm each Sunday and it has proved to be a great fundraiser. Kenmare Shamrocks sell lotto tickets from a tent in the town centre from 3pm until the draw begins each Sunday. 'People call up to us all the time for a chat, a photo with whoever is there, Seánie [O'Shea] is there a lot of the time, so it's all great,' Paul said. Tickets can also be purchased from club officials and through the club's website ( and social media. This Sunday night's club lotto jackpot is €10,000.
Irish Times
4 hours ago
- Irish Times
The All-Ireland final was no classic, but new rules meant a big improvement on 2024
The 2024 All-Ireland football final between Armagh and Galway marked a moment in history. The Orchard County won just their second Sam Maguire Cup, their first for over 20 years, but it will likely be remembered for even more significant reasons. As long as the Football Review Committee's (FRC) proposals are ratified by GAA congress later this year, then Armagh-Galway will be the final intercounty game played without the FRC's rule changes that have breathed life back into football this year. The game itself is something of a time capsule – a tense, dreary game, with all the hallmarks of a sport that needed a speedy redraft. This year's final was hardly a classic itself as Kerry blew away Donegal with an early assault that the Ulster champions never recovered from. But a deeper analysis of both of these game shows that there are major signs of improvement in the wider footballing context. For starters, there was a nearly 20 per cent reduction in handpassing in 2025 compared to the previous final. With Galway particularly intent on playing through the hands, the 2024 final saw 593 fist passes, compared to 485 in this year's edition. Highlighting hand-passing's negative impact on games, over two-thirds of those passes went either sideways or backwards in both finals. READ MORE Kerry's last play of the first half came in for some criticism from neutrals after the final this year. The Kingdom held possession for over two minutes, waiting for the hooter to sound before David Clifford blasted a two-pointer over the bar to end the opening period. Although that possession seemed to last forever because of the lack of action, Galway actually kept the ball for longer on two separate occasions in their loss to Armagh. Those long stretches of idle possession would have been high on the list of priorities for the FRC, and things largely seem to have improved this year. The average length of time that possession was held in the final fell by nearly a quarter from last year – from 45 seconds to 34 – although this was down to an increase in shooting and more direct play rather than turnovers and tackling. One huge difference between the two games was in shooting. The contrast is stark – there were 45 shots in the 2024 final, but this was eclipsed by the total of 68 shots this year, an increase of 51 per cent. There was also a massive increase in the number of scores, from 25 to 41, so in this regard, the FRC changes have absolutely added more excitement to the game. There were far more shots in the 2025 final than in the previous year's game, with Kerry in particular targeting two-pointers. Graphic: Paul Scott Kerry managed five two-pointers, targeting the extra point with 14 total attempts, whereas Donegal failed to do likewise, scoring zero from three attempts. All of these came in the second half as they were chasing the game. While other rules have certainly helped create more scoring chances, the introduction of the two-point arc has been critical in the return of long-range scores. One odd detail from the 2024 final is that Paul Conroy likely would have won Galway the All-Ireland if the arc had been established by then, with the midfielder scoring three from the required distance. However, these were the only such scores, and only three more were attempted, while there were 17 shots from 40 metres or more in the 2025 edition. There were far less long-distance shots in the 2024 final, where Galway's Paul Conroy was a clear outlier. Graphic: Paul Scott Disappointingly, there was only the slightest increase in turnovers in the tackle, up one from last year to 11. The number of blocks was doubled from two to four, as was the number of turnovers in one-on-one situations, but these are very marginal gains. Traditionalists will also have been disappointed with the amount of kickpassing in this year's final. There was slightly less kickpassing than in the 2024 final, and the number of foot passes that travelled forward more than 30 yards fell from by three to nine. Kickouts were radically altered by the new rules, with short restarts having to travel beyond the 40-metre arc. This meant that there were massive changes in kickout strategy between the two finals. In 2024, 29 total kickouts went short to a player under little or no pressure – that number fell to just five in 2025. At the other end of the spectrum, 29 kickouts went long this year, over four times more than in the Armagh-Galway final, creating entertaining scraps for possession in midfield. This was crucial, as Kerry's determination to win the breaking ball on kickouts was the platform that their victory was built on. Galway's Paul Conroy and Oisin Conaty of Armagh. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho Meanwhile, high fielding doubled from last year, with eight clean catches coming from these kickouts. Joe O'Connor, in particular, gave an exhibition of a skill we have not seen enough of in recent years. Overall, despite the 2025 final not being the most thrilling game we've seen this year, it shows that even an average game under the new rules can be an improvement on last year. While some skills of the game like kickpassing and tackling remained disappointingly minor aspects of the final, there were still significant gains in areas that add entertainment for fans, like shooting and high fielding. There are further changes that could be voted in at GAA congress, but after the best championship in years, there's plenty of reason for delegates to stick to the current rules, and not twist one more time. Regardless, it's almost guaranteed that Armagh's victory over Galway will be the final intercounty game played without some FRC changes. It's certainly a good reminder of why we needed these changes to begin with.
