RTÉ GAA Podcast: Louth have their day in the sun, Clare's All-Ireland defence in tatters
Dessie Dolan joins Jacqui Hurley and Rory O'Neill to look back on a bountiful provincial weekend for Donegal and Louth.
The celebrations will continue into this week, especially in the Wee County, but the All-Ireland race is only just beginning.
The battle for the Liam MacCarthy is very unlikely to include defending champions Clare, after the Banner were beaten by Tipperary at the weekend.
Shane McGrath joins to look at that game, and wonders if the Dublin hurlers might finally be about to ditch the bridesmaids tag in Leinster.
Watch The Saturday Game this weekend from 9.40pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
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The Irish Sun
15 minutes ago
- The Irish Sun
Captain Eoghan Frayne insists upset of Kerry didn't come as a shock to those within Meath's panel
EOGHAN FRAYNE knew giant-killers Meath could topple Kerry. The Royals shocked Dublin in the Leinster Championship in April, beating their ancient foes for the first time since 2010, but then fell against Louth in the provincial final a fortnight later. Yet Robbie Brennan's men have bounced back big time in the All-Ireland series. Meath finished top of Group 2 thanks to Saturday's It means they will be one of the last eight teams standing in the Championship for the first time since 2019. And captain Frayne is not surprised — he was sure the team could cause another upset after what they did to the Dubs. Read More On GAA He said: 'It's a great feeling. I suppose a lot of people probably wrote us off coming into the game but we had the belief, the same as the Dublin game. 'We had the belief in the squad and we knew we could trouble Kerry. It was just great to get over the line in the end and top the group. 'You obviously hear things and you can use certain things to give you a bit of fuel or whatever and things like that. 'You try not to listen to it, to be honest. We had to just focus on ourselves and keep it internal and do the best we could. Most read in GAA Football 'It was just good to see that what we talked about came off.' Frayne, 22, made hay against Jack O'Connor's men with 0-5 as Bryan Menton's goal paved the way for Meath's first Championship win over the Kingdom since a 2001 All-Ireland semi-final. 'Just in time for Father's Day' - Dublin GAA legends welcome the birth of precious baby daughter And the Summerhill man hailed Meath's response to their Leinster final loss against Louth to storm into the quarters in two weekends' time. He said: 'Yeah, we're really happy with that. It was a tough week after the Leinster final. 'There's a good few young lads in the squad luckily so you don't really think too much about it. 'Maybe the older lads took it a bit tougher. They might have thought it might be their last chance. But we gathered the troops, put the heads down, got back to work and it's showing now. 1 It's already proven to be a Championship to remember for the Royals 'There's great competition within the squad. You can see, it's just the next man in. 'When the goal went in, it was probably a big moment. It kind of gave us that momentum just to kind of get on top of them. I'd say that was kind of the turning point. 'You have to back the depth in your squad to come through and everyone coming on has to know their role as best they can. That showed again so credit to the lads on the bench. 'It's very exciting now for Meath football. It was great to see so many kids on the pitch after the game and hopefully we can keep going.'
Irish Examiner
21 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
Emotional Conor Meyler finally back from a lonely place
Conor Meyler felt the rush of emotion at Brewster Park Sunday as he stepped onto the field of play for the first time in two cursed years. Injuries, too many to contemplate, had threatened to end the career of the Tyrone star whose dashing performances in 2021 had earned him an All-Star and a Footballer of the Year nomination. Knee surgeries, hamstring problems and issues with groin, achilles, hip and foot contrived to rob the Omagh man of the joy of playing the game he loves so passionately. But dedication and a dogged refusal to surrender to the demons which had ravaged his stricken body rewarded the 30-year-old. Getting to play out the closing stages of the All-Ireland SFC group game against Cavan, his first appearance in a Red Hand shirt since the 2023 All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Kerry, was a very special gift. 'It was emotional, it's been a long two years, because probably nobody will really understand what you really go through when you're on your own,' he said. 'Injuries are a very lonely place, because although you can be around people, you can feel quite alone. 'I'm just grateful to get the day over. I hadn't thought too far ahead, to be honest. It was just about getting back on the pitch, getting a bit of game time. 'You were chomping at the bit to get on the last few days, and it didn't come, and you have to pick yourself up and go again. So, I'm just glad I did back myself and got to this moment. Whatever happens after this is probably all bonus territory, personally.' The support of family and close friends helped him through the darker times, and their presence at more positive stages of a tortuous journey meant the world to Meyler. 'I'm just very grateful for mum and dad, and there's a couple of good people around me who know who they are, and they really supported me and helped me. 'And that's the important thing, is just keep good people around you, because there will be days where you're not really feeling it, and motivation's low. So it's important to have that.' Hope came calling on a number of occasions, but time and again, relapses, setbacks and complications intervened to dash all positive expectations. It was a lonely existence at the best of times, a solitary world for an elite athlete to inhabit. 'Anyone who's been through long-term injury will know how lonely it can be. Sometimes you're even around people and you still feel alone, but that's the nights where you're away from the set-up, that can be tricky, and that's why you say. 'I'm very fortunate to have a good family, because there's plenty of days where you wonder, is this opportunity going to come? 'You have to keep picking yourself back up again and again and again, and nobody really sees what goes on behind the scenes, even as an inter-county footballer. But then, one who's injured, it's even tougher. So yeah, just grateful is probably the overwhelming feeling.' Sunday's Group 1 decider, which Tyrone won comfortably to take topspot and go through to the All-Ireland quarter-finals, saw Meyler make the matchday squad for the third successive game. The moment was edging ever closer, and finally the nod came from manager Malachy O'Rourke, who felt the time was right to make the call which was to raise the loudest cheer of the day from Tyrone supporters at the Enniskillen venue. 'I wasn't really expecting it. It just shows you I'm very grateful to be from Tyrone, and had the opportunities I've had to play for Tyrone. 'People in other counties wouldn't have had the opportunities that I have. Some unbelievable players in other counties just haven't got that chance to play in Croke Park, to win All-Irelands. 'The friends it's given me, the opportunities it's given me, it's given me some of my best days of my life, and it's also brought me some low moments, but you wouldn't change any of it.'
Irish Times
30 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Royal Ascot: All eyes on Colin Keane as Irish champion jockey teams up with Field Of Gold for Juddmonte
The spectacular Royal Ascot show starts on Tuesday and firmly in the spotlight will be the famously 'unshowy' Irish jockey Colin Keane . Appointed number one in Europe to the Juddmonte organisation just last week, Ireland's six-time champion will be under scrutiny throughout the five days of British racing's showpiece event. Pressure might indeed be a privilege in elite sport, but it can quickly become a burden too. Racing history is littered with examples of a coveted position becoming too onerous. The great South African rider Michael Roberts never quite convinced when appointed number one to Sheikh Mohammed in the 1990s. Jamie Spencer lasted only a year at Ballydoyle . READ MORE At 30, Keane is the same age as when compatriots Michael Kinane and Johnny Murtagh broke through on the world stage. He has been handed a glorious opportunity to do the same. But far from any gentle easing into the position, there could hardly be a deeper end to be thrown into than Royal Ascot. Even his biggest chance of the day underlines how quickly fortunes can fluctuate. Kieran Shoemark went into last month's 2,000 Guineas supremely confident of a potentially career-defining classic success on Field Of Gold. Colin Keane and Field of Gold win The Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho He emerged defeated and frustrated, guilty of over-confidence in a narrow defeat by Ruling Court. Within days, he was fired from the job of number one to the Gosden team. Keane took over on Field Of Gold in the Irish Guineas, won easily and sealed his credentials for the Juddmonte job. Just how fickle the big-race fates can be, though, won't be lost on the rider. A day after Field Of Gold's Guineas success at the Curragh, he endured a rare nightmare in the Tattersalls Gold Cup on White Birch, finding himself riding for luck and not getting any. It's an occupational hazard but one the very best avoid when it counts most. Delivering in the biggest races on the biggest stages is what defines the elite. Excuses can prove to be very expensive. It's why Ryan Moore has lasted longer at Ballydoyle than anyone else. His taciturn instincts are at odds with the most supreme showman of all, Frankie Dettori. But behind the histrionics, the Italian delivered at Ascot like no one else. Keane is a cool customer who has delivered in Group One races around Europe and twice at the Breeders Cup in the US. His personality instincts lean more to Moore than Dettori. With the privilege of the pick of Juddmonte's vast team in Britain, France and Ireland comes the responsibility to deliver results. It means Keane is going to be firmly in the limelight, every move and manoeuvre examined closely by a global audience. It is an audience that might coldly consider how he has just a couple of Royal Ascot winners under his belt to date. The upside is how that statistic could quickly change. Aidan O'Brien has been top trainer for the week 12 times at Royal Ascot. Photograph: Tom Maher/Inpho Field Of Gold has been odds-on for the clash of Europe's three major 2,000 Guineas winners in the St James's Palace Stakes. Tuesday's most valuable contest is the opening Queen Anne Stakes, which is worth almost €1 million. Keane rides Lead Artist. He won the Lockinge last month under Oisin Murphy. Keane has five other rides on Tuesday but a good start for Juddmonte may prove to be even more than half the Royal Ascot battle. No trainer has enjoyed more Royal Ascot glory than Aidan O'Brien. The Irishman has been top trainer for the week 12 times already and is odds-on again. In 2016, he saddled a record equalling seven winners through the week. Six more last year brought his overall tally to 91. [ Epsom Derby is the original, but sadly it is not the best any more Opens in new window ] In contrast, his National Hunt equivalent, Willie Mullins, has 'only' 10 successes to his name on flat racing's grandest stage. But even though Mullins isn't contesting the Group One prizes on Tuesday, he too might feel the heat from an unusual spotlight. Reaching High carries the colours of King Charles and Queen Camilla in the marathon Ascot Stakes and will be ridden by Moore. The first horse ever trained in Ireland for a reigning British monarch has already been heavily punted in ante-post betting. Mullins has won the Ascot Stakes four times previously. The prospect of royalty successfully teaming up with racing royalty brings an added layer of intrigue. David Egan and Bucanero Fuerte win The Sole Power Sprint Stakes at Naas in May. Photograph: Morgan Tracey/Inpho Irish-trained horses will line up in all seven races on day one, including the failed stallion Bucanero Fuerte in the big sprint, the King Charles III Stakes, formerly known as the King's Stand Stakes. It is the St James's Palace Stakes, though, that supplies an intriguing clash of classic winners. The Ballydoyle team will hope their French Guineas hero Henri Matisse can trump both Field Of Gold and Ruling Court. It is a scenario that mirrors last year's St James's Palace Stakes when all three Guineas winners clashed and Rosallion, the winner in Ireland, got revenge on his Newmarket conqueror Notable Speech. The French winner Metropolitan finished third. In 2016, the Newmarket victor Galileo Gold beat O'Brien's The Gurkha with Awtaad in third. If he is given a typically unflappable steer from Keane, Field Of Gold could well confirm himself the best of his generation. If sentiment is behind Shoemark on Dancing Gemini in the Queen Anne, the hunch remains that Rosallion may improve past him. Earlier, a massive Coventry Stakes field could be dominated by Postmodern if the evidence of his spectacular Yarmouth debut last month is anything to go by. Royal Ascot : 2.30 - Rosallion 3.05- Postmodern (Nap) 3.40 - Regional 4.20 - Field Of Gold 5.00 - Manxman 5.35 - Sons And Lovers 6.10 - My Mate Mozzie. Nap and Double - Postmodern and Sons And Lovers
