Louth Young at Heart senior citizens real winner of Jayo/Tig Hig Buster
The Argus
On Friday evening I headed for Herity's Bar in Dromiskin for the finale of the Jayo/Tig Hig Football Buster was taking place. The buster has been run on the English Premiership since 2020 and along with regular winners; it also donates a portion of the money connected to the local 60 + Young At Heart senior citizen group who were in receipt of €1000 on the night.
I wasn't too long in the door when I met proprietor Eoghan Herity who told me they had been running the buster before 2020 and were approached by local Jason Mulligan who helped to increase the interest in the buster and hugely increased the numbers actively taking part. Unfortunately Jay passed away soon after and as the numbers increased, the organisers decided to honour the man by calling it the Jayo/Tig Hig Buster.
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Extra.ie
30-06-2025
- Extra.ie
Queensland Reds game is make-or-break for Porter and Keenan's Lions chances
It's now just 18 days until the first Test against the Wallabies and time is running out for players to stake their claim to feature in the series opener in Brisbane on July 19. Andy Farrell rung the changes on Monday morning, making 14 changes to the side which made light work of Western Force in the first tour game on Australian soil. Finn Russell is the only player to be retained. It's an instructive selection from the Lions head coach. It probably wasn't in the initial plan for the Scot to start back-to-back games so early on tour, but Jamison Gibson-Park's hamstring injury has changed the picture. Finn Russell is the only player to be retained. Pic: INPHO/Dan Sheridan The Leinster scrum-half admitted himself that the injury, which ruled him out of the URC Grand Final triumph against the Bulls last month, was far from a niggle and it could have put Gibson-Park's entire tour in jeopardy. Now, he is starting alongside Russell against Queensland Reds at a sold-out Suncorp Stadium and that half-back pairing must now be short odds to start en bloc against Australia at the same venue in Brisbane later this month. In truth, both were frontrunners before this tour. Jamison Gibson-Park will start alongside Finn Russell. Pic: INPHO/Billy Stickland Russell, despite some well-documented disciplinary issues in the past, is a more mature and rounded player, on and off the field, these days. The fact that Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend appointed him as a vice captain last year spoke volumes, given how fractured that relationship had been in the past. Russell has only recently guided Bath to a first English Premiership title in 29 years. He's well on the way to becoming a Test centurion for his country. Fin Smith, his nearest rival on tour, is only 23 and has just 11 Test caps to his name. Marcus Smith, meanwhile, looks miles back in this No10 pecking order. 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Jack Conan is another Irish candidate who can cement his Test credentials with a big showing. This is the Leinster No8's first outing on tour. Conan has not been a guaranteed starter in Ireland's ranks in recent seasons. Indeed, it wasn't the case for long stretches of Leinster's campaign either, with Ryan Baird and Max Deegan getting the nod ahead of their esteemed fellow backrower ahead of a lot of big Champions Cup games. Jack Conan is another Irish candidate who can cement his Test credentials with a big showing. Pic: INPHO/Billy Sitckland But Conan has timed his run perfectly. Caelan Doris' injury opened up a slot in the Leinster pack and the Bray native seized his opportunity. The manner with which he guided the province to URC glory in the wake of the Northampton debacle spoke volumes. Conan has a lot of credit in the bank with Farrell and, crucially, he is the only specialist No8 in this squad. 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The Irish Sun
21-06-2025
- The Irish Sun
Jack Conan solely focused on British and Irish Lions duty just days after URC glory with Leinster
WITH precious little time between lifting the URC trophy and linking up with the Lions, Jack Conan made sure to worry more about care of the dog than the hair of the dog. Along with the retiring Cian Healy and the injured Caelan Doris — for whom he stood in as team captain — Conan raised Leinster's long-awaited latest piece of silverware last Saturday at Croke Park after the 32-7 final victory over the Bulls. 2 Dan Sheehan and captain Jack Conan of Leinster celebrate with the URC trophy after the win over the Bulls 2 Jack Conan is solely focused on the Lions after the club season ended in glory This was cause for celebration but with Conan being one of 12 Blues players selected in the Lions squad for the upcoming trip to Australia, there was never going to be a huge amount of time for him to bask in URC glory. While he did not feature against Argentina at the Aviva Stadium last night, he was in UCD yesterday morning as a number of Lions players hosted a training session for 90 schoolchildren from right across Ireland. And pressed on how much time he had to enjoy his province's success, the back-row ace said: 'The afterglow went pretty quickly on Monday morning when you had to pack up for the next eight weeks of your life. 'We had a great few days, it was nice. A few pints on Sunday as well early doors, which was good. I felt fresh enough on Monday morning. read more on rugby 'I had to go down to Bray at seven in the morning to get the dog. I was home early, so I was being wise. 'Monday was good. We didn't have much to do. We just came in, met everyone and got our gear. 'We had a proper runout here on Tuesday, which was soul-searching stuff. We had to run out the demons. 'You'd love to be playing against Argentina, but it is what it is. Everyone has been training away for the last week without us, so hopefully get a run out soon.' Most read in Golf Just a few short months before starting all three Tests that the Lions played during their tour of South Africa in 2021, Wicklow native Conan was in the Leinster side for their PRO14 final win over arch rivals Munster at the RDS. That was the last major title the Blues got their hands on until they collected the URC crown last weekend so Conan, 32, will hope for the same again as he looks to follow up a trophy in blue with a big summer in red. 'Big weekend' - Peter O'Mahony embarking on hectic gardening project as he aims to add '300 plants' There are still some question marks over whether the 2024-25 season will be deemed a success or a failure for Leinster given their latest Champions Cup bid ended in a shock semi-final loss to Northampton Saints at the Aviva Stadium. Yet even though he acknowledges their defeat to the English Premiership outfit was a difficult one to take, Conan stressed any campaign that sees a team winning a trophy ought to be regarded as a satisfactory one. He added: 'I think any season where you win something can never be deemed a failure. 'Obviously we want to go well in both competitions. I think if it hadn't been for the performance against Northampton . . . even if we had lost that game but we performed really well, I don't think people would have said much about it. 'The problem is when you are winning most of the time, it papers over cracks a little bit, so we had to have a good hard look at ourselves. 'You get to win a trophy in Croke Park with all your mates. 'At the end of the day, I would have taken that. 'I definitely wouldn't say it was a failure but there's definitely more in this club and in the lads. 'Hopefully a big few years still now ahead of us.'
Irish Examiner
20-06-2025
- Irish Examiner
Jack Conan eager to witness fanfare of a full-blown Lions tour
Jack Conan has been a British & Irish Lion before but given it was the Covid-hit tour to South Africa of 2021, the Ireland No.8 is relishing the opportunity to embrace a proper Lions touring experience when the squad leaves for Australia on Saturday. Conan, 32, was in the stands at Aviva Stadium on Friday night as Andy Farrell's squad faced Argentina ahead of departure for Perth and an opening tour match against Western Force next Saturday. Like another eight of the 12 Leinster players heading Down Under as Irish Lions, the back-rower was held at bay six days after lifting the URC trophy at Croke Park but he was kept busy on matchday. He and four provincial team-mates Jamison Gibson-Park, Hugo Keenan, Andrew Porter and Josh van der Flier as well English Premiership final participants, Finn Russell and Will Stuart from newly crowned champions Bath and runner-up Ollie Chessum of Leicester Tigers were on Lions duty at Dublin's UCD Bowl earlier in the day, hosting a training session for 90 school children, girls and boys ranging from 8-12 years of age, and from four primary schools nominated by the Irish provinces. Even a meet and greet with young rugby fans was out of bounds for the Lions on their last tour, with South Africa in lockdown and matches played in empty stadiums as Conan started all three Tests at No.8 against the Springboks, each game behind closed doors in Cape Town with the players bussed in and out from a secluded team hotel and training base outside of the city. The chance to experience a proper tour, backed by tens of thousands of travelling supporters forming a 'Sea of Red' in Australia, is a return to tradition, albeit one eagerly awaited by Conan. "Four years ago was still great, I loved it and had a great experience,' he said. 'In a way, you get to know the lads in such a different way because it was eight weeks of kind of solitary confinement. You have to mix. 'You still have to mix now but you're getting out and about in smaller groups whereas four years ago, everyone was just kind of sitting around.' Conan was even looking forward to watching the Lions on Friday night as they played on Irish soil for the first time in their illustrious 137-year history, just to see those red jerseys play in front of the fans, giving him a taste of what is to come over the next six weeks across 10 tour matches and three Tests against the Wallabies in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. "The only taste we got of that was four years ago against Japan in Edinburgh (pre-tour) and there was around 16,000 there with spaced seating, so definitely a bit different. 'I can't wait to get over there, everyone says it's just a different fanfare, a different level of excitement when you get properly on tour. But you can even see it walking around town at the moment, people in jerseys, there's a pop-up shop, so many kids outside the Shelbourne (Hotel). It's special and I'm looking forward to getting a proper run-out at some stage." Conan does believe the 2021 tour, which ended in a 2-1 Test defeat to Rassie Erasmus's 2019 World Champions, can stand him in good stead for this summer's tour, with certain provisos. 'You know what's expected of you when you put on the jersey and when you come into this environment, into camp. Other than that, it's more just the detail, the plays, calling structures and all that, it's different. 'You've lads from other countries coming in is a little bit differently than we would do, so it's just getting used to each other a little bit. 'Now, luckily, the way we want to play is quite similar to how Ireland would play so it's not that difficult to get up to speed, but the calls are all different. There's a bit of overlap with a few Leinster calls but they're different things. The same wording, so I was caught out a few times on Tuesday when you just go into autopilot a little bit. 'So that's the real challenge. But no-one expects it to be perfect in the first few days. Even in the first few games we're going to build throughout the tour and continue to get better. That's the challenge, more than anything else.'
