Dublin captain Con O'Callaghan named on the bench for All-Ireland quarter-final against Tyrone
Con O'Callaghan has been named on the Dublin bench for tomorrow's All-Ireland quarter-final with Tyrone.
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The 42
36 minutes ago
- The 42
'He's a different player' - The late developer that has provided Dublin's midfield solution
A CROKE PARK press box conversation midway through the second half of Dublin's win over Cork last Saturday, when the Dubs were a point down and taking on water. 'Which of the golden era performers would you take back, if you could have just one? Which of Dublin's former stars would make the most difference if slotted back into this current, stuttering, side?' Jack McCaffrey's jet heels from wing-back or James McCarthy's bulldozing power and surgeon's touch around the middle would certainly help. As would Michael Fitzsimons' defensive miserliness or Paul Mannion's rapier instincts closer to goal at the opposite end. All four of them retired after last year's championship while Dean Rock walked away 12 months earlier. The options are endless, right back to talisman performers like Paul Flynn, Bernard Brogan or Michael Darragh Macauley, who operated as recently as 2019. The answer everyone settled on? Brian Fenton. On the basis that the midfielder of his generation was so good, and so impactful, in such a central position, that he could immediately transform a team's fortunes. This Sunday is the one year anniversary of Fenton's last game for Dublin, alongside McCarthy at midfield, when they lost to Galway in the 2024 All-Ireland quarter-finals. But wait! There's a strong final 15 minutes from Dublin against Cork and ultimately a three-point win which wouldn't have been possible without the interventions of Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne, Fenton's replacement. Paddy Small was named man-of-the-match afterwards but O Cofaigh Byrne should have been. He's not the new Fenton, as Flynn pointed out on The Saturday Game that evening. 'He's a different player,' said Flynn. Cork's Colm O'Callaghan and Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne of Dublin in action last Saturday. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO But he's making a good effort all the same at plugging the gaping hole left by, perhaps, the game's greatest ever midfielder. Advertisement It's already a different game too, from when Fenton played, with a strong emphasis on ball-winning ability at midfield this year, the one area where Ó Cofaigh Byrne may even trump the Raheny great. Six-foot-seven inch Cuala powerhouse Ó Cofaigh Byrne tortured Cork with his aerial ability. And it was the 25-year-old that won the free which created the opening for Brian Howard's goal. 'We just need him to win primary possession and lay it off, and that's what he's doing, and he's doing it better than anybody else in the country,' said Flynn. One analysis piece produced on Ó Cofaigh Byrne's impact prior to Dublin's fourth game of this year's championship, against Armagh, showed he had won primary possession and come away with the ball from 50 percent of the aerial contests he'd been involved in. That lord-of-the-skies ability helped propel Cuala to an All-Ireland club SFC title win that last January that nobody saw coming. Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne celebrating Cuala's All-Ireland club final win. Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO And it is the sort of form which could very soon have people picking someone other than Fenton when considering which ex-Dublin star they'd like to pluck from retirement. Fenton came late to the Dublin party, in 2015, with no great underage career to speak of, complimenting the skills of MacAuley, the 2013 Footballer of the Year, at the time. Prior to that, Ciaran Whelan had stoked the fires in the Dublin engine room. Ó Cofaigh Byrne has had to bide his time too but now looks set to be the county's latest midfield totem. The son of TV presenter Blathnaid Ni Chofaigh made his Dublin senior debut as a sub in the 2019 Super 8s game against Tyrone. But a combination of hamstring and groin problems in 2020 and 2022, allied to the enduring excellence of Fenton and McCarthy, restricted him to just four more championship appearances, and only two starts, across the next five seasons. For three of those championship campaigns – 2020, 2022 and 2023 – O Cofaigh Byrne didn't feature at all. It wasn't until Fenton and McCarthy exited the stage that opportunity suddenly came knocking for him. 'It is an opportunity, definitely,' said Ó Cofaigh Byrne last January. 'But they are 100 percent tough boots to fill, James and Brian's.' After returning late to Dublin duty following the club success, Ó Cofaigh Byrne has started the last seven games, and all five in the championship. The standard is about to jump significantly with he and Ciaran Kilkenny set to go up against Tyrone's 2021 All-Ireland winning midfield pairing this Saturday evening; Brian Kennedy and Conn Kilpatrick. Tyrone's Brian Kennedy with Dara McVeety and Cormac O'Reilly of Cavan. Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO The expectation is that Ó Cofaigh Byrne will go head to head with Kennedy, who is also six-foot-seven. Former Tyrone midfielder Sean Cavanagh met Kennedy at a game in Moy recently and found himself looking up to the 2021 All-Star when speaking to him. 'Ó Cofaigh Byrne is a good player, don't get me wrong, but I think if you stand beside Brian Kennedy, you'll realise that he'll not be overawed by the size of anyone,' said Cavanagh. 'Unless they've Shaquille O'Neal playing for Dublin on Saturday night, I don't think it's going to annoy him!' Dublin great Barney Rock summarised the modern game, as in football under the new rules, as 'all about the break around the midfield'. He has been impressed so far by trainee solicitor Ó Cofaigh Byrne's impressive numbers around clean fetches and breaking ball. But there is a but. 'Ó Cofaigh Byrne now is going to be meeting somebody equally as tall as him from here on in,' noted Rock. Fenton always rose to that challenge and Ó Cofaigh Byrne has suggested so far that he can too.
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Neil Doak names Ireland Under-20 side for World Championship opener against Georgia
Under-20 World Championship Ireland v Georgia, Stadio San Michele, Sunday, 5pm Irish time (Live on Rugby Pass TV) It's been a difficult season to date for the Ireland Under-20s, losing four of five matches in the Six Nations and finishing bottom of the table. To compound matters they suffered a heavy defeat to Scotland, the only team they beat in that tournament, in a warm-up game ahead of the World Championship. There were some mitigating circumstances for Neil Doak's side, injuries depriving them of key players, but it doesn't begin to explain the recurring performance glitches that undermined their ambition. Aspects of their patterns were good, they didn't lack courage or character, but they got lost very easily in the weeds of their mistakes. The playing personnel didn't deviate much despite the results with the majority of changes coming in a turnstile selection within the matchday 23 from one game to the next, where starters were benched and then reinstated and vice versa. READ MORE There is a presumption that secondrow Alan Spicer and tighthead prop Niall Smyth are still sidelined through injury. In more uplifting news, prop Alex Usanov, Luke Murphy and Derry Moloney are all fully rehabilitated in time for Sunday's opening game in Calvisano. Ireland's Páidí Farrell. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho Tullamore native Páidí Farrell, who plays with Old Wesley, will make his first start in a tournament game. He possesses a rare attribute in Irish rugby circles, top-end pace and given reasonable ball is a try-scoring threat as he demonstrated capably and consistently in the All-Ireland League. There is a nice balance and plenty of footballing ability in the back three of Farrell, Charlie Molony and Derry Moloney, while the relocation of Ciarán Mangan (younger brother of Leinster's Diarmuid) from wing to outside centre bodes well from an attacking perspective. He plays alongside the hard running Eoghan Smyth in midfield. Tom Wood, son of former Ireland international Keith, has won the number 10 shirt, with Clark Logan at scrumhalf. In the Six Nations, Wood showed a nice skill set and self-possession to play his way through tougher moments. He has a better kicking game than his dad. Billy Bohan, a player to emerge with credit during the Six Nations, teams up with Henry Walker and Alex Mullan in a ball-playing frontrow. Mahon Ronan and Billy Corrigan put in huge shifts in every match, while Murphy's addition to a backrow which also contains captain Éanna McCarthy and Michael Foy, introduces steel and quality. Foy was arguably Ireland's best player in the Six Nations, a turbocharged presence on both sides of the ball. Ireland's bench has a number of players who can change the tempo of a match, none more so than replacement scrumhalf Will Wootton. Georgia will test Ireland's mettle at the set piece, breakdown and on the gain-line. As they demonstrated last year when the sides met in this tournament, the Georgians are very sticky opponents, with Ireland squeezing home in a one-score game. They'd bite your hand off for a similar result here. Doak's side will later play hosts Italy and New Zealand in their other pool games. IRELAND: Charlie Molony (UCD); Páidí Farrell (Old Wesley); Ciarán Mangan (Blackrock College), Eoghan Smyth (Cork Constitution), Derry Moloney (Blackrock College); Tom Wood (Garryowen), Clark Logan (QUB); Billy Bohan (Galway Corinthians), Henry Walker (QUB), Alex Mullan (Blackrock College); Mahon Ronan (Old Wesley), Billy Corrigan (Old Wesley); Michael Foy (UCC), Éanna McCarthy (Galwegians, capt), Luke Murphy (Young Munster). Replacements : Mikey Yarr (UCD), Alex Usanov (Clontarf), Tom McAllister (Ballynahinch), Conor Kennelly (Highfield), Bobby Power (Galwegians), Will Wootton (Sale Sharks) Sam Wisniewski (Old Belvedere), Daniel Green (QUB). Referee : J Rozier (France). Under-20 World Championship Fixtures (all Irish times) Sunday, June 29th Ireland v Georgia, Calvisano, 5pm Friday, July 4th Ireland v Italy, Viadana, 7.30pm Wednesday, July 9th Ireland v New Zealand, Calvisano, 5pm
Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Johnny Murphy will referee Cork v Dublin semi-final
Last year's All-Ireland SHC referee Johnny Murphy will take charge of Saturday week's All-Ireland semi-final between Cork and Dublin. Wexford's James Owens has been given the duty of the Kilkenny-Tipperary semi-final on Sunday week. Murphy was the man in the middle for Cork's comprehensive win over Tipperary in April as well as their final provincial round victory over Waterford last month. He also officiated Dublin's Leinster SHC meeting with Offaly. Owens, who deputised for injured Thomas Walsh in the extra-time of the Munster final earlier this month, sent off Richie Hogan in the 2019 All-Ireland final when Tipperary prevailed against Kilkenny. Early indications would appear Galway's Liam Gordon is in the frame for the All-Ireland final appointment on July 20 and Waterford man Walsh's last game in charge in this championship was the Munster final. The Munster final has been an unfortunate assignment for referees in recent years with a number of them not being requested to take charge of latter championship fixtures.
