Gavin Devlin set to be ratified as Louth senior football manager
The 42 understands the Tyrone native will take charge after Ger Brennan stepped down earlier this month.
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Devlin spent three years as Harte's assistant with Louth from 2021 to 2023. The duo guided the Wee County to a Leinster final in 2023 while climbing the National League ranks, before departing for Derry.
After one season with the Oak Leaf county, Devlin returned to Louth as underage football development co-ordinator. Having helped rejuvenate youth systems while training the senior team, he kept a good relationship with Louth GAA while with Derry.
The Ardboe clubman is now set to be appointed to the top managerial job.
Brennan vacated the hotseat at the beginning of July. The former Dublin footballer helped Louth to their first Leinster senior football title in 68 years.
- With reporting from Declan Bogue
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Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
League of Ireland talking points: Derry and Bohs draw marred by ugly scenes
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Neither side threw much caution to the wind from then on, with Robbie Benson coming closest to a winner 10 minutes from time. READ MORE Shamrock Rovers will be delighted with the outcome, as their lead at the top now stands at seven points. Both teams' ultras are known for their anti-fascist identity. — Antifa_Ultras (@ultras_antifaa) Sligo Rovers win thriller to ignite survival bid Trailing by two with half an hour to go, Sligo Rovers left Turner's Cross with all three points and an 11-point lead over Cork City, who will require something miraculous now to avoid finishing at the foot of the League of Ireland premier division. This was a game full of emotion. Rovers have shown lots of heart in recent weeks, digging out unlikely results to hoist themselves back into the mix for eighth place. That resilience was absent in the first half as City, offering the sort of toothy desperation you need at the bottom of the table, took a deserved lead into half-time. Evan McLaughlin scored the decisive goal in the Leesiders' last league win, all the way back in April against Waterford. He opted against returning a one-two to Kitt Nelson early on, taking ownership inside the penalty area instead and deceiving Sam Sargeant with a clever, reversed finish at the near post. Sligo were always likely to improve in the second period, but just as they looked to be taking control, City doubled their lead. Persistence and composure are attributes that have long clung to Seanie Maguire, and they were central to his goal on 55 minutes. Many would have lashed at the rebound that fell to him near the penalty spot, but Maguire swivelled and took an extra touch before burying it in the corner. If Sligo Rovers survive this season, their ambition in the transfer market will be a key factor. 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RTÉ News
4 hours ago
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Stopping the inevitable: Lessons in handling David Clifford
The first time David Clifford's name was committed to print, it appears, was in the Fossa notes on P65 of the Kerryman in May 2005. The club's Under-10 mixed panel had competed in the Community Games at Dr Croke's and the players had included the duo of David Clifford, only six at the time, and older brother 'Padraig' Clifford, Dingle ending their hopes of advancing to the county final later in the week. Twenty years on from that snippet in the corner of a local newspaper, Clifford's name is dominating the media build-up to Sunday's All-Ireland final between Kerry and Donegal. Rarely - if ever - has there been such focus on one player going into an All-Ireland final. Even Michael Murphy, who retired, changed the rules, and came back to test them out is playing second fiddle to the Kingdom ace. The question in every article has been the same too - and it's no different here - just how do you defang one of the greatest forwards to ever play the game? RTÉ Sport has spoken to former Derry minor manager Damian McErlain, who watched the Fossa genius score 4-04 against his side in an All-Ireland minor final, and Armagh defender Barry McCambridge, who held him to a single point from play in the Orchard County's famous 2024 All-Ireland semi-final win. In the 2017 All-Ireland Minor final, David Clifford provided one of the best underage performances ever witnessed at Croke Park as he hit 4-04 from play as Kerry beat an incredibly strong Derry side by 24 points. Just 16 seconds had passed when he turned brilliantly to get away from Conor McCluskey - a future All-Star - and finished expertly past Oran Hartin. The second saw him show incredible strength to get off the ground, side-step a couple of players and finish to an empty net. The third goal saw him leap high into the air to fetch, breaking out his trademark bounce dummy to create the space to fire home, with his final goal also seeing the bounce unleashed to bamboozle the players around him. Going through the four points from play would exceed the word count but the performance can't be truly analysed without mentioning his defence-splitting pass to set up Fiachara Clifford for Kerry's third goal of six. Seeing the pass was one thing, executing it to such perfection was genius. But here's the thing, if presented with a do-over, McErlain admits he probably wouldn't change too much. The year before, McCluskey had blunted Clifford's blade in an All-Ireland quarter-final before being moved to put out another fire, but for the manager, amid a note of caution for Donegal this weekend, looking at the individual battle is pointless. "What had clouded our thoughts is that we had played the year before and Conor marked him for 25 minutes and kept him to a point and we were in no doubt that Conor was the best full-back in the competition," said McErlain, who twice led the Oakleaf County to All-Ireland glory at the minor grade. "The calculation was that if we keep this man to five or six points – Donegal are probably thinking the same – we're in with a shout. "Our biggest issue was that we were getting blown away all over the place and that meant the supply was just constant and relentless. With Clifford on the end of that supply, we were just hit with the reality of the situation in the worst possible place. "With Clifford on the end of that supply, we were just hit with the reality of the situation in the worst possible place." "We looked back at the video and it was 22 minutes before there was a ball put in that a sweeper would have been any use for, even if you had went that way. "What sort of sweeper would you have had to have been to have stopped that at minor level? "There's a lesson there maybe because minor football then is maybe akin to what senior football is now with the new rules. "New game, new rules, whatever, but it is all about the whole management of the situation across the pitch. "The Cork hurling full-forward line were lauded last week, you can't mark them, then Tipperary said 'sorry, we can mark them.' "The Donegal push will have to come from all over the pitch, it's about the rest of the team and the system further out the field. That's how you stop him." It was an eye-opener for sure for the Derry management team, especially as the previous year had been all about trying to stop a different Kerry forward even though Clifford's name was on the team-sheet. "In 2016, we had to move 'Clucky' (McCluskey) off Clifford to put him on Seánie O'Shea because he was kicking points from the Hogan Stand, the Cusack Stand, I've never seen anything like it. "Clifford had kicked on a lot between those two seasons, he was more like a man the second day. "In 2016, Seánie was the man. Seánie had played against us in 2015 so we knew about him whereas we didn't really know about Clifford. Then in 2017 we knew about David but Seánie had been the man the year before. "I can't rate the two of them highly enough." For McErlain, Donegal probably have the best defensive set-up in the country to deal with Clifford's threat – but that style also carries a warning. "I think Donegal's style leans itself to adapting to dealing with the threat, there's a fierce intensity in defence, a fierce sharpness. That defending in zones. "Twos and threes, doubling up and Jim McGuinness no doubt will have to tweak the shape to make sure Clifford isn't getting the freedom of Croke Park. "Donegal's defenders like to bomb on but if they're turned over there will be space there; Kerry might have to replicate their 2014 All-Ireland final win over Donegal, suck a bit of play up, turn the ball over and break. "If they do that, the room will be there for Clifford." Few players have ever come away from a duel with David Clifford and, without any shadow of a doubt, earned the spoils. Dublin's Mick Fitzsimons is the most obvious example having kept the Kerry man to two points from play in the 2023 final, but Armagh defender Barry McCambridge was lauded for his performance in the 2024 semi-final. The Lurgan man took on the job again in this year's quarter-final and looked on track for a repeat as Clifford managed to nab just a single point in the first half, but Jack O'Connor's men destroyed the Orchard kick-out in the second half and Clifford made the most of it with an eventual 0-07 tally to help dethrone the champions. Tactically, Armagh were different when facing Kerry in 2024 compared to 2025 but personnel also played a part. In the '24 semi-final and final against Galway, Aaron McKay had operated as a 'plus one' to offer cover having been more focussed on opposition threats in different games. Injury ruled him out of this year's quarter-final. McCambridge and McKay had established a fine partnership throughout 2024 when shutting down opposition dangermen - and although the former had a reputation for regularly getting up for a goal, it was actually the latter - a man with no such reputation - that ultimately brought Sam to Armagh for a second time with a goal in the final. When all was said and done in the 2024 semi-final, apart from frees and a mark, Clifford had scored just a point and McCambridge had out-scored him from play with a goal at the other end. The Irish Examiner post-match player rating of McCambridge read: "Handed the David Clifford brief. Acquitted himself as well as anyone who has held this brief previously." Key for McCambridge, he believes, is that the challenge presented to him brought excitement rather that trepidation. "I end up marking the best players and that's where you want to be as a man-marking, putting yourself up against the best. "I was listening to James O'Donoghue during the week there and he was talking about how Clifford plays like a 5' 9" player, his movement and agility, but I found he also plays like he's 6' 4", how aggressive he is, how strong he is and he's so good in the air too. "It's more about reducing his influence rather than stopping him out. Those top forwards, you can't snuff them out, you can only reduce their impact - especially with these new rules. "With that space, it doesn't matter how well you mark them, there's a good chance they're going to score. "I didn't defend too poorly against Clifford this year and he still ended up with seven points. "When David Clifford gets a score I find it almost counts as double because their fans get such a buzz out of it, so do their players." "When David Clifford gets a score I find it almost counts as double because their fans get such a buzz out of it, so do their players." Verbal warfare is a prominent unseen – or unheard, to be specific – part of the game with casualties limited to those players in close proximity. McCambridge said that there was nothing like that with Clifford, even when Kerry got a run on them this year, and said that anyone trying to use it against him would be just poking the bear. "I wouldn't be into it, if someone was doing it to me it'd just make me want to try harder, really go after it. We were just chatting about the match, bits and pieces, no abuse anyway!" Clifford's championship tallies in 2025 have been 0-09, 2-05, 1-03, 1-08, 0-05, 3-07, 0-07 and 1-09. If McCambridge had one piece of advice for Donegal man-marker Brendan McCole and his support team who will be there to help it would be: concentration. "The new rules changed everything," he said. "Looking at movement patterns, he's so good on the backdoor cut and scoring goals so you don't want to get caught. But if you step off slightly to block out that backdoor cut that's when he starts going into the space in front and scoring, and there's one-point and two-point options there. It's about weighing that up. "I watched him against Tyrone in the semi and he did four or five backdoor cuts and all he needs is for one or two of those to come off. "You just have to defend as well as you can, have good footwork and you need your team-mates to come down and close the space too. "The biggest thing coming up against top forwards like that, not just Clifford, is that you have to be concentrating for every second of the game. "You can't take a second off, that's all it takes for someone like him."
The 42
12 hours ago
- The 42
Shamrock Rovers the big winners as Derry-Bohs finishes all square
Derry City 1 Bohemians 1 Simon Collins reports from the Ryan McBride Brandywell SHAMROCK ROVERS emerged the biggest winners at the Brandywell as Bohemians came from behind to clinch a share of the spoils against Derry City. Former York City striker Dipo Akinyemi put Derry ahead on his home debut with a header from Michael Duffy's cross five minutes into first-half stoppage time. That lead didn't last long as Ross Tierney blasted home from James Clarke's cross on 52 minutes to rescue a point for the second-placed Dubliners. Both teams have now played the same number of games as Rovers, who finished the night seven points clear of the Gypsies and eight ahead of Derry, whom they play at Tallaght in their next outing. There were reports of clashes between both sets of supporters outside the ground in ugly scenes, which marred a match between two teams hoping to ignite a title race. It was the Brandywell pitch that ignited when a flare was thrown over the Southend Park stand during the first half, which scorched the artificial surface and caused a lengthy delay in play. Tiernan Lynch handed a debut to former Hull City fullback Brandon Fleming, who was one of three changes from last week's FAI Cup win over Treaty United. He replaced Shane Ferguson while hat-trick hero Liam Boyce regained a starting berth at the expense of Gavin Whyte, who was a notable omission from the squad. Advertisement Carl Winchester was also back at the expense of Adam O'Reilly, who dropped to the bench. Alan Reynolds made sweeping changes, seven in total, from the team which thrashed their Leinster Senior League opposition, Killester Donnycarney, in the cup. Bohs were enjoying plenty of possession in the early stages, but Derry almost capitalised on a quick counter-attack on 12 minutes with a move started and finished by Akinyemi. The Londoner found the run of Duffy with a clever ball over the top, and when the ex-Celtic winger cut it back to Boyce, the striker fluffed his lines. The ball broke out to the edge of the box, where Akinyemi tried his luck again from distance two minutes later, but Chorazka saved comfortably. Akiyemi was in the thick of the action once again when he found Duffy in space with a neat flick, but the Derry winger dragged his first-time strike on his right foot narrowly wide of the post. There was a five-minute delay when a flare was thrown over the Southend Park stand onto the pitch and set fire to the artificial surface on the half-hour mark. The stewards were slow to react, much to the annoyance of the players, but eventually the flame was extinguished and the action resumed. Bohs carved out a great chance in stoppage time when Tierney's delicate touch from Mountney's cross set up Clarke, but his strike from 12 yards was saved by Maher. Derry broke when Boyce played a ball over the top for Akinyemi to run onto and the striker got in behind the last man, but his strike was saved brilliantly by the outstretched leg of Chorazka. The Polish keeper couldn't do anything about Akinyemi's next effort on goal as the Englishman towered above his marker and headed Duffy's cross into the corner of the net for a timely breakthrough. Diallo tried his luck from just inside the penalty box with the last action of the half, but drilled his effort wide of the post. Bohs were back on level terms early in the second half as Tierney got onto the end of Clarke's cross from the right and volleyed past the helpless Maher. Duffy's curling free-kick from 25 yards was gathered comfortably by Chorazka, and substitute O'Reilly fired a blistering effort over the bar as Derry tried to get back on top. Robbie Benson came agonisingly close to finding the corner of the net in front of a packed North Stand with a glancing header from Duffy's inswinging cross with 10 minutes to go. The second half subs were making an impact and Danny Mullen raced onto a ball over the top of the Bogs defence but his effort on the half volley was beaten away by Chorazka at the near post. From the resultant corner kick, Alex Bannon rose at the back post, but again Chorazka parried it clear, and it was as close as Derry came to finding a winner. Derry City: Maher: Connolly, Bannon, Todd; R. Boyce (Benson 69), Diallo (Frizzell 90), Winchester, Fleming; Duffy, L. Boyce (Mullen 69) Akinyemi (O'Reilly 57) Bohemians: Chorazka; Mountney (Smith 67), Byrne, Kavanagh, Flores; Morahan, Devoy. McDonnell (Parsons 74), Tierney; Clarke (Whelan 74), Rooney. Referee: Damien MacGraith.
