Skorts-gate finally over as sanity prevails
Hallelujah, skorts-gate is over. 'After 121 years,
it only took the Camogie Association a little under half an hour to make history at Croke Park
on Thursday night,' writes Gordon Manning, 98 per cent of the Special Congress delegates backing a motion allowing players the choice of wearing shorts or skorts. Gordon's mission, should he choose to accept it, is to track down the two per cent and ask 'what were ye thinking?'
Joe Canning is wondering
what the Cork hurlers were thinking when they played Limerick last weekend
. Were they playing 'a long game', keeping their powder dry until they, possibly, meet Limerick again in the championship? If so, 'that is a risky business,' says Joe, 'if they don't beat Waterford at home on Sunday their season is over'.
Mathew Costello is
hoping there's plenty left in Meath's season yet
, Gordon talking to the forward ahead of the start of his county's round-robin campaign at home to Cork in Navan on Saturday.
In soccer, Gavin Cummiskey hears Colin Healy stand by his charge that the FAI's outgoing chief football officer Marc Canham and its chief executive David Courell
lied about the nature of his departure from his role as assistant coach
to the Republic of Ireland women's team.
READ MORE
Gavin also talked with
new Shelbourne CEO Tomás 'Mossy' Quinn
, the Dublin All-Ireland winner who, having switched football codes, is now trying to guide the club through the challenges ahead, among them ensuring Tolka Park meets Champions League standards.
In rugby, former Irish captain Ciarán Fitzgerald tells Gerry Thornley about
the 'Spirit of Garbally' campaign
, the aim to ensure that the name of his famous alma mater is incorporated in to the title of the new amalgamated Ballinasloe schools, Ardscoil Mhuire and St Joseph's College, Garbally Park. For now, it is to be known as Clonfert College.
Gerry also has news that
Leinster plan on hosting this season's URC final at Croke Park
... if – and it's a big one – they actually reach the final. First they have to negotiate a passage past Scarlets in the quarter-finals and, if successful, whoever they might meet in the last four.
Johnny Watterson, meanwhile, brings us the grim tale of the 'Enhanced Games',
a sporting freak show with a cast of drugged-up athletes
, which are scheduled to take place in Las Vegas next year. 'A poorly designed drug trial with no ethical oversight, it will,' he writes, 'be a ripping success if the athletes do better than Barnum's belugas and some don't die.'
Shane Stokes has
the latest from the Rás Tailteann
, Cycling Ulster's Odhrán Doogan slipping in to the yellow jersey on Thursday, while Brian O'Connor retraces
the story of the redevelopment of the Curragh
. 'It is a modern facility, which, by most measures, is lovely to look at. It is also, by most measures, predominantly unloved.'
TV Watch
: Following Wednesday's 124-run victory, Ireland play the West Indies in the second of their three-match one day international series in Clontarf (TNT Sports 1 from 10.30am). Kerry and Cork meet in this evening's Munster minor football final (TG4, 7.30) and St Patrick's Athletic host Waterford in the Premier Division (Virgin Media Two, 7.45).
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The Irish Sun
37 minutes ago
- The Irish Sun
Star singer to perform at Gaelic Grounds as warm-up for mouth-watering Munster final between Cork & Limerick
GAVIN James will set the scene for Saturday's Munster final spectacular by playing a 40-minute warm-up set. There is the distinct possibility that Limerick are "in the heads" of their Cork foes considering they 3 Once again the TUS Gaelic Grounds in Limerick will play host to the rivals 3 Gavin James is set to serve as the warm-up act before hurling takes centre stage And ahead of Saturday's 6pm throw-in Limerick GAA has announced that Dublin singer-songwriter James will get the occasion going from 4.35pm. "Gates will open on Saturday June 7 at 4pm. "Honing his performing and song writing gifts as a busker and pub performer in Dublin, to sold out world tours, Gavin's come a long way. Read More On GAA "James has built a community of fans that have seen his music streamed three billion times across the globe and earn diamond and platinum records in multiple countries. "He has also sold more than 250,000 tickets (and counting) worldwide with a live show that is as transporting as it is uplifting. "This June, James returns with a new single 'Cherry Cola', a precursor to a new album of original material that he's recording in a studio on a mountain outside his home city of Dublin." Earlier this week, Tipperary great Patrick 'Bonner' Maher Most read in GAA Hurling Speaking at the Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Championship launch, he said: 'I think Cork should come back. They'll have a bit of a bite after what happened in the last game. 'I'm hoping for a classic Munster final, fire and brimstone, where two teams go hammer-and-tongs at each other. Tipperary GAA star 'had to do live apology on RTE' the day after cursing during All-Ireland interview - 'It's going to be a hard one to call. Both of them are going to go hard at each other and see where the pieces fall. 'Judging on the last day, you'd say Limerick are one or two points ahead. 'But I wouldn't write off Cork because those boys are well able to play.' Limerick, who have won five All-Irelands and six Munster titles since 2018, are often placed in opposition to Brian Cody's four-in-a-row Kilkenny crop in debates over the greatest hurling team of all time. 3 Maher at the 2025 Electric Ireland GAA All-Ireland Minor Championship launch Credit: Inpho Maher came up against John Kiely's Limerick on several occasions in the latter half of his career, having also been part of the Tipp side who scuppered the Cats' quest for a fifth consecutive Liam MacCarthy Cup in 2010. But the three-time All-Ireland winner said: 'It's very hard to compare a team in one period to a team in the current period. 'There are so many variables, it's hard to say if they're as good or better than that Kilkenny team. 'I was lucky enough, or unlucky enough, to play against both. For their time and their moment playing, they're the best team that's there at that moment. 'I wouldn't compare against the Kilkenny team because they were a different animal and that was in their time. They're two serious outfits.'
RTÉ News
an hour ago
- RTÉ News
Brendan Cummins: Cork must restructure to avoid dentist chair pain
Tipperary legend Brendan Cummins believes Cork must adopt a more pragmatic approach if they are to dramatically turn the tables on Limerick and win a first Munster title since 2018 this Saturday. In their round-robin encounter last month, the Treaty County ruthlessly put 3-26 on the Rebels as they continually exploited the space left by Cork's aggressive attacking approach – especially on puck-outs. Cummins, who guided Tipperary to All-Ireland Under-20 glory last Saturday, believes Pat Ryan has to adapt if they are to reverse their fortunes. "Has there been much talk in Cork about the structure of the game against Limerick," Cummins asked on the RTÉ GAA podcast. "(Cork) played with all their forwards up the pitch, the half-forward line never came back to help their own half-back line which meant players were doubled-up on in every position around the middle third of the pitch. "Were there any murmurings that 'we can't go with this project of man-to-man all over the pitch like Clare did last year and got success. Maybe we need to tweak.'" One of the big issues for Cork against Limerick in the round-robin game, as examined by RTÉ GAA analyst Shane McGrath this week, was Darragh Fitzgibbon's inability to get to terms with the influence of Kyle Hayes. "Will O'Donoghue will mark Darragh Fitzgibbon and that will allow Kyle Hayes to come back a bit," Cummins offered. "That was the problem the last day that Darragh Fitzgibbon had, he was stuck between two big trees. Normally he comes out the pitch and he floats around but to be fair to Limerick, the Limerick midfielder picks up the opposition 11; you can't really see that in the general play and that's why Will O'Donoghue is so good. "Darragh Fitzgibbon came back out the pitch and everywhere he went he was tracked by a midfielder so there was none of these loose ball that we saw Tony Kelly get on for years at 11 or Cian Lynch. "The reason Lynch is so good is because he can stand in between that channel at the 65, you can hit it at him through the letterbox and he makes it stick whereas Fitzgibbon's not that kind of hurler. "Cork had no anchor there to play it through." Cummins also feels that the dramatic peak and trough disposition of the Rebel fans is also becoming a factor with the atmosphere for their round 5 win over Waterford noticeably subdued for such an important fixture in their season. "Below in Páirc Uí Chaoimh the last day, the supporters were fair jumpy and anxious against Waterford, it was like sitting there in the dentist chair waiting to know when the drill was going to go off and when the pain was coming. "I said before about the supporters, you're on an unbelievable high, you're going to win the All-Ireland, 'no we're not', this kind of thing."
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Troy Parrott a doubt for Ireland's friendly with Senegal
Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson is confident that Troy Parrott can shake off a bug and be available for selection for Friday night's friendly international against Senegal at the Aviva Stadium (7.45pm). Parrott was confined to his room in the Castleknock hotel earlier in the week with a bug, but Hallgrímsson expects the 23-year-old to train on Thursday. 'Troy was sick yesterday and he stayed in his room but he was feeling much better this morning,' said Hallgrímsson. 'He is the only concern we have. Otherwise everybody is fit, ready and looking forward to Senegal. 'Troy will train today and we will see how he reacts to the session before selecting the team.' READ MORE If Parrott does not recover, Evan Ferguson or Adam Idah will lead the line against the 19th ranked country in the world. Ireland are currently placed 60th on the Fifa list. Brentford's new signing Caoimhín Kelleher is expected to start in goal behind Matt Doherty, Nathan Collins, Dara O'Shea and Robbie Brady, who was named the FAI men's international player of the season. 'It shows how s**t youse have all been if I'm winning this,' Brady jokingly told his team-mates after assistant coach John O'Shea presented him with the award on Wednesday. Everton's Jake O'Brien and Celtic's Liam Scales are alternative options in defence against Senegal and when Ireland travel to Luxembourg next Tuesday. Will Smallbone is expected to return to the line-up, as an attacking midfielder, potentially ahead of Jason Knight and Jack Taylor with the Spanish-born, Cameroonian qualified John Joe Patrick Finn in line to make his debut for Ireland. 'It is important that we have more than 11 players ready to play and knowing everything about how we want to play,' said Hallgrímsson. 'We wanted to have a camp in May to add knowledge to more players, see new faces and rock the boat. 'We've been more or less picking a similar squad so when we lost out on the May camp we still opened spots for new players to come in.'
