Christy Ring, Nickey Rackard, Lory Meagher Cup finals: All you need to know

RTÉ News​

4 days ago

SATURDAY 31 MAY
Christy Ring Cup final
Derry v London, Croke Park, 5pm
Nickey Rackard Cup final
Mayo v Roscommon, Croke Park, 1pm
Lory Meagher Cup final
Cavan v New York, Croke Park, 3pm
ONLINE
Live scores and reports from all three games on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app.
TV
All three finals will be broadcast on the Spórt TG4 Youtube channel.
Highlights on The Saturday Game from 10.50pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
RADIO
Live updates on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1 and Spórt an tSathairn Lae ar RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta.
WEATHER
Saturday will start off mainly dry. Rain will spread eastwards across the country through the morning and early afternoon. The rain will clear during the afternoon with sunshine and showers following for the rest of the day, some heavy in the northwest. Highest temperatures of 15 to 19 degrees.
For more, visit met.ie.
The championship comes to an end in three of the five tiers in hurling with the Christy Ring, Nickey Rackard and Lory Meagher finals all taking place at Croke Park on Saturday.
Derry out to end losing run
In the Christy Ring final appearance list, Kildare sit top of the pile having played in the decider six times.
In joint second before this weekend's action, along with Westmeath and Carlow, are Derry on four. The big difference is that while the other three sides now have multiple titles to their name and have moved onto bigger and better things, the Ulster side have a 100% losing record in the final. Four games, four losses. Even Saturday's opponents London have one win from two appearances.
Three of those Derry losses have come in the last four seasons with Kildare (4-21) and Offaly (0-41) making light work of them while there was a narrow loss to Meath in there too.
While they came into some of those finals as big underdogs, there is no doubting that this is a golden chance for Derry to end their wait.
Team captain Cormac O'Doherty is averaging nine points a game, attacking half-back Ruairí Ó Mianáin is an incredibly exciting talent while corner-back Patrick Turner is having an excellent season for Johnny McGarvey's team.
The Exiles, who are coached by former Cork goalkeeper Anthony Nash, bring a real danger to Croke Park with goal-scoring their main currency.
Five group games produced 14 in all with only Kilkenny in the Leinster SHC having a better goals per game rate across all 2025 group stage championships. Jack Morrissey and Conor O'Carroll lead the way with four goals apiece.
Derry have proven a bit of a fly in the ointment for the Exiles having won the last four clashes between the sides, but London's narrow loss earlier in the competition owed plenty to O'Carroll's dismissal heading down the stretch.
Neil Rogers' side have reached the final despite the loss of last year's joint-captains Jack Goulding, who was also named 2024 Christy Ring Hurler of the Year, and Kevin Reid. Clare's Sean Glynn will lead them out at HQ.
Connacht derby in Rackard decider
Roscommon enter their fifth Nickey Rackard final on Saturday and strangely for them, Ulster opposition won't be awaiting.
Their four previous finals have brought a pair of wins against Armagh and defeats to Donegal and Tyrone, but it's fellow Connacht side Mayo squaring up to them this time around. Maybe not such a good thing given Mayo's aggregate advantage over the Rossies this season stands at 26 points after their league and round-robin clashes.
Kevin Sammon's side do bring momentum to Croke Park though as while the opening two rounds brought just a single point, they have been followed by wins over Armagh, Fermanagh and Louth to book a final spot.
Séán Canning has been key to that revival with a hat-trick against the Wee County making it five goals over those three wins.
In-form goalkeeper Enda Lawless took a blow to the head and had to be removed early in the second half against Louth, but Sammon is hopeful he will have recovered in time for this.
With the Mayo men's and ladies' footballers struggling this season and their camogs disbanding in February, the hurlers have been a rare chink of light for the county's long-suffering supporters.
Last year's final loss to Donegal will undoubtedly provide the motivation to make amends, especially as they threw away a six-point second-half lead.
Mayo have certainly been hurling a team on a mission and claimed the Division 3 title back in March, beating a London side that will play in the main event this weekend.
In Shane Boland, Eoin Delaney and Liam Lavin they have three reliable score-getters as they aim to return to their more familiar terrain, the Christy Ring Cup.
New York and Cavan chase maiden title
This year's Lory Meagher campaign has not been without controversy but when all is said and done, New York will be hoping to claim their first national silverware since 1996 when they come up against Cavan, or are they?
In the blazing heat of Gaelic Park 29 years ago, the American side took Derry apart to win what was seen as an All-Ireland B final by some, while others claim it was an All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final. Whatever it was, Galway hammered them the next day a few hours before Michelle Smith's first Olympic gold in Atlanta with then New York boss Monty Maloney angrily revealing that his team had enjoyed a night on the town prior to the fixture.
Such shenanigans simply wouldn't be expected these days with volunteers like current manager Richie Hartnett fighting hard to find New York a spot in the Irish calendar.
After last year's Connacht league triumph they were granted a spot in this year's Lory Meagher Cup, joining at the semi-final stage.
That brought ire, most notably from Arthur Hughes, manager of semi-final opponents Monaghan, who labelled it "an absolute disgrace" prior to their 1-29 to 2-13 loss.
Aidan James Willis scored the goal and David Mangan hit 10 points, but they can expect a trickier challenge from the Breffni County.
Ollie Bellew's Cavan side have made amazing progress since ending a six-year absence from inter-county hurling by competing in the 2017 Lory Meagher Cup.
They reached the final in 2021 and have since won the Division 3B title.
Cuala's Colum Sheanon is part of the current squad and they warmed up for the final with a challenge match against the former All-Ireland kingpins.
Breffni captain Enda Shalvey is expected to overcome a hamstring issue to line out.