
Kieran Donaghy steps away from position as Armagh selector and forwards coach
The Tralee native was a huge factor in the county's All Ireland winning success last year but after five years of regularly making the 500-plus-miles round-trip commute, he informed Kieran McGeeney in recent days that his time with the county was done.
Donaghy was in demand for other coaching positions in the past offseason, including some much closer to home, but out of a sense of challenge and loyalty to McGeeney, committed to another year with Armagh.
This season saw Armagh get back to an Ulster final for a third consecutive year only to be foiled by Donegal by a point in extra-time. They also topped their Sam Maguire group after beating Dublin in Croke Park but in the All Ireland quarter-final ran into a Kerry side determined to successfully avenge last year's All Ireland semi-final defeat to Donaghy and his adopted county.
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Irish Examiner
11 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Kerry injury boost as Diarmuid O'Connor takes part in full training session
Diarmuid O'Connor participated in the full Kerry training session on Saturday afternoon, increasing hopes that the midfielder will make his return from injury in next weekend's All-Ireland SFC final against Donegal. Inside forward Paul Geaney (shoulder) also took full part in Saturday's session, with Tom O'Sullivan (calf) still not fully back, manager Jack O'Connor confirmed at the county's All-Ireland final media event. After a powerful start to the spring, midfielder O'Connor has endured an injury-plagued campaign since first hurting his shoulder during the Round 6 League win at home to Armagh in mid-March. His latest setback was at the beginning of the preliminary quarter-final win over Cavan four weeks ago, where he lasted just three minutes before having to withdraw. He has not featured since. Geaney was listed on the matchday panel for both the All-Ireland quarter-final and semi-final victories but was not used on either occasion, while defender O'Sullivan limped out of the quarter-final win over Armagh when picking up a first-half calf injury. 'Paul and Diarmuid trained fully today, and there are a couple more sessions to go, so that's promising,' Jack said on Saturday afternoon. 'Most fellas are back doing some training in some shape or form, which is good. Tom O'Sullivan isn't back fully yet, he's doing bits and pieces, so we'd hope he'd train next week. Outside of that we are not too bad. 'The season is so intense it is just very tricky deal with injuries because you don't really have that much time to get the injury right and then sometimes you are kinda half afraid to throw them into the maelstrom of a game without having done some intense training, so it can be tricky yeah with the tightness of the season.'


Extra.ie
18 hours ago
- Extra.ie
Pat Shortt only recently found out about dad's major achievement
Pat Shortt has revealed that his dad won an All-Ireland medal with Tipperary, with his son only finding out a few years before he died. Parents like to keep secrets for whatever reason; perhaps because they don't want to worry their kids, or perhaps because they need to wait until they're older to tell more sordid tales from their youth. But sometimes, if you won something as big as an All-Ireland, you'd want to scream it from the rooftops — unless if you're Pat Shortt's dad Christy, where end up keeping it under wraps for decades, with your sons only finding out that you won an All-Ireland minor hurling medal in the 1940s after a fella in the pub reveals his granddad played with your dad. Pat Shortt has revealed that his dad won an All-Ireland medal with Tipperary, with his son only finding out a few years before he died. Pic: RTÉ 'We only found out a few years before he died,' Pat told Off the Ball ahead of this Sunday's final between his beloved Tipp and Cork. 'He died last year and we found out about two years before he died! 'One of my brothers was on holiday in Wexford, and he met a fella at a bar, and he says 'where are you from yourself?' He said Thurles [and that his name was] Shortt,' with the lad in the pub saying ''oh yes, my grandfather's from Thurles, and he won an All Ireland with your father.'' Pat was relayed the information by his brother, with one of his other brothers — whom he referred to as 'the son who's usually closest with the dad' to ask if the story was true; and their father Christy confirmed that he had in fact won a medal in the 1947 minor championship, albeit in typical Irish dad fashion. @otbgaa 🗣️ 'He died last year, and we only found out about two years before he died!' 🗣️ 'I rang him… did you win an All Ireland medal?' 🗣️ 'I did, yeah! What about it?' 😂 Tipperary icon Pat Shortt never knew his father was an All Ireland winner! | 🤯 ♬ original sound – OTB GAA '[My brother] rang and said 'daddy, did you win an All-Ireland?' He said 'I did yeah. What about it?'' Pat laughed. 'That's the way they are in Tipperary ya see. Everyone wins so many.' Pat revealed that his father had played every game in the minor championship as a left forward before having what he described as 'a crap day' in the semi final when he was moved to the centre midfield, and despite him winning the medal Pat reckons he felt he didn't deserve it as he didn't play in the final. 'So he never told anyone he had it. And before he died we brought it back to him. That's what killed him, he died of a broken heart,' he joked. Pat's father Christy passed away in 2023, aged 92. Pic: As for why he never went senior, Pat learned of his dad's hurling ability during a charity gig that he hosted when the All-Ireland senior winning captain Pat Stankelum, who played with Christy two years prior in the minors. 'He came up to me and said 'yeah I played with your dad, and he should've been on the 49 senior team but he had a cruciate ligament operation' — back in those days that was it, your career was over — and that's what finished him off.' 'But [Pat said] 'he was a great hurler.' It was 47 he won the All-Ireland with the minor team and your man who played with the minor team and went on to captain the senior team in 49.' Pat's father Christy passed away in 2023 at the age of 92, with his daughter Faye, who's also a comedian, paying tribute to her granddad on social media. Sharing a photo of her as a child alongside her granddad, she simply wrote 'You can rest in peace now Grandad, we will always love you.'


The Irish Sun
a day ago
- The Irish Sun
Pat Ryan challenges Cork GAA heroes to channel Gods of yesterday to answer fans' prayers of All-Ireland hurling title
SEVENTY minutes away from ending a 20-year wait, Pat Ryan is verging on becoming a figure of worship in Cork. But at his side's press night ahead of Advertisement 3 Cork face Tipperary in the All-Ireland hurling final Credit: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile 3 Pat Ryan challenged Cork to challenge previous heroes Credit: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile 3 Manager Jimmy Barry Murphy of the Cork hurling jubilee 1999 All Ireland winning team Credit: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile He asked: 'What happened to him? What happened to Jesus Christ again?' When the response cited the resurrection of the Son of God, the Ryan's reign was on the brink of being condemned to its demise when Championship campaign in 2024. But the nails and the cross were soon discarded. Advertisement Read More on GAA The prayers of Rebels supporters were answered in the form of a stirring display against Ten weeks later, Cork found themselves in possession of a seven-point lead during the All-Ireland final. An epic contest ultimately yielded an extra-time victory for Clare by the narrowest of margins, though the first available shot at redemption has been seized. With their fans desperate to see the Liam MacCarthy Cup on Leeside for the first time since 2005, Ryan's men are backed by a fervent following that has been enchanted by a brand of Advertisement Most read in GAA Hurling Unprecedented numbers travelled to Despite being in enemy territory, the red horde 'Easiest interview I've ever had' jokes RTE GAA host after pundits go back and forth before Meath vs Donegal Amid the county's longest-ever All-Ireland drought, Corkonians have been fuelled by raw hope. But hype is the buzzword that has attached itself to the movement thanks to stunts such as a bookmaker's decision to crown their team champions before a ball was even pucked. Back at ground zero, a Advertisement But Ryan admitted at the time that he was irked by some of the 'stupid stuff' that was said and written about his side. Speaking ahead of tomorrow's clash with Tipp, he remarked: 'What is hype? I don't even know what the word means or what it is. 'But you want excitement, you want fellas going to the matches, you want fellas talking about it. That's all brilliant. What annoyed me was that it was just over the top. Advertisement 'Fellas writing off Limerick and stuff like that was driving me mad. How was that going to benefit us as a team or benefit anyone as a team? 'We kind of have a situation where we're playing very traditional Cork hurling. 'I think there was a huge appetite all the time for Cork to go back playing really typical, traditional Cork hurling. 'That was something we wanted to do and get the fans behind us, because we knew if we got that kind of fan base behind us, we had the numbers. Advertisement 'How many clubs are we? Is it 258 clubs or something we have? So you're getting the numbers behind you. 'It's not idiotic to think that's why Dublin won all their All-Irelands, because they had thousands at the matches and when it came down to it, it made a huge difference. Even in the Dublin-Limerick game, when it came down the stretch and all the Dublin football fans came in, it gave them a boost. That's how we looked at it. 'That 16th man was going to be realistic for us and it was going to be a huge thing. 'It makes a huge difference to the players that people want to support them and they're looking at good things. Advertisement 'There's a lot of negativity on GETTING CARRIED AWAY Earlier this week, Ryan admitted to being guilty of 'probably managing instead of leading' at times during his tenure. As Cork look to go one better than last year, he shone the spotlight on himself in search of areas for improvement The Sarsfields man said: 'You look at yourself first and see what you're doing. I think me being more focused on the playing side of it, all the stuff that was happening on the pitch, really focusing on that. Advertisement 'Sometimes you can get carried away with the logistics side of it and I have a brilliant fella who looks after all our logistics, Dave Nolan. 'But you get carried away with making sure that the food is right, the gear is right, the travel is right and how our pitches are right and all that side of it. 'I think me being more focused and how we can deliver that better, and my interactions with players . . . I got plenty of feedback off the players. We met the players one to one and I got plenty of feedback off the players. Sometimes you try to be as honest as you can with players and then sometimes you're probably trying not to hurt feelings. 'I think a lot of the players would have come to me and said, 'Maybe you just need to be a bit more honest sometimes with us and just tell us what we need to do exactly'. Advertisement 'Sometimes you might be, for want of a better word, pussy-footing around the situation, but it was being a bit more direct and I think that's something that I've done this year. 'It's something I probably need to get better at all the time. It's a work in progress.' 'The Teddy McCarthys, the Tomás Muls, the Jim Cashmans, the Jimmy Barry-Murphys, the Seánie O'Learys — they were gods." A Cork team has not taken residence at the summit in two decades, so the objective for the current crop is to create a legacy of their own. However, the manager feels they must do so while upholding the rich hurling heritage of a county whose roll of honour includes 30 All-Ireland senior titles. Advertisement Ryan, who turns 49 next week, said: 'I think that's the standard. 'That's what we have to live up to, what the Cork jersey represents to the people of Cork. 'Fellas might say it's cocky or arrogant — we haven't won an All-Ireland in 20 years — but I can only talk about my generation. 'I grew up in that situation and the Cork jersey has to mean something to everyone every time you put it on. That goes back to the public following us. Advertisement 'When the public see that you're representing the jersey right and you're doing it in the right way and you're giving everything for the jersey, no matter win, lose or draw, they'll still back you. 'As I keep saying to the lads, they'll criticise me. They'll say, 'Pat Ryan should've made this decision or Pat Ryan should've done that'. 'But the lads gave everything and that's what you're looking to do all the time. To be honest, that's the way I grew up. 'The players I grew up idolising in the 80s, there kind of was no soccer, there was no Advertisement 'The Teddy McCarthys, the Tomás Muls, the Jim Cashmans, the Jimmy Barry-Murphys, the Seánie O'Learys — they were gods. 'It's like the