Tyrone hammer Louth to defend U20 All-Ireland title
Tyrone retained the All-Ireland under-20 title with a 5-16 to 0-17 win over Louth at the Athletic Grounds.
The victory marks a third title in four years for the Red Hands at the grade.
Tyrone's ability to find the back of the net proved the difference against a Louth side appearing in their first ever final at the level.
Noah Grimes (2-6) and Eoin McElholm (2-4) along with a late goal from substitute Shea McDermott marked a blistering attacking display.
Paul Devlin's side led 2-7 to 0-8 at half-time, Grimes hitting his first goal on 12 minutes after a fine pass from Matthew Quinn.
Louth responded to lead by one with five to the break, Sean Callaghan's two pointer the pick of their efforts.
McElholm latched onto a poor kick-out to feed a composed Grimes, who scored a second goal as the Red Hands landed 1-3 just before the whistle.
Tyrone could have ended the game as a contest early in the second half but Conor O'Neill had his effort for a goal remarkably saved by Tiarnan Markey.
Louth responded with a two pointer from Tadgh McDonnell and scores from Lennon and McDonnell to cut the deficit to three.
Despite the fright, McElholm who featured for the senior side in Saturday's win over Donegal showed his class with two goals in five minutes before substitute McDermott added gloss with a classy fifth goal on the whistle.
Tyrone: C McGarvey; F Nelis, B Hughes, C Devlin; C Daly, J Clarke (0-1), C Donnelly (0-1); C Devlin, C O'Neill (0-1); C Sheehy, E McElholm (2-4), M Quinn; N Grimes (2-6), R McCullagh (0-2 1f), L Og Mossey.
Subs: Eoin Donaghy for Sheehy (52), Cormac Mallon for L Og Mossey (55), Shea McDermott (1-1) for C Devlin (58), Liam Lawn for McCullagh (60), Sean Broderick for Nelis (60).
Louth: T Markey; M Reid, K Martin, P Tinnelly; T McDonnell (0-3 1 2pt), C McGinty; S Callaghan (0-3 1 2pt), J Maguire (0-2 1 2pt); S Lennon (0-1), C Mac Criosta, P Grimes-Murphy; A Gillespie (0-1 1f), T McDonnell (0-2 1f), D Dorian (0-1).
Subs: Ben McKeown for Reid (43), James McGlew for McGinty (50), Dylan Shevlin (0-1) for D Dorian (50).
Referee: N Mooney (Cavan)
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New York Times
27 minutes ago
- New York Times
Padres have interest in Red Sox's Jarren Duran, but June could amplify multiple needs
SAN DIEGO — The month of June should not determine the ultimate trajectory of the San Diego Padres. There will be 78 games left when it is over — a relative eternity for one of April's hottest teams to recapture and sustain the brand of baseball it played early this season and throughout last summer. Yet there also is no guarantee that the Padres will fully awaken from their recent offensive malaise, that injured starting pitchers Michael King and Yu Darvish will return anytime soon or that, weeks from now, San Diego could justify acquiring significant reinforcements. Advertisement As the Padres face a daunting upcoming schedule and glaring holes at the bottom of their lineup, their list of trade targets again includes Boston Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran, league sources told The Athletic. The Padres expressed interest in Duran ahead of the 2024 season, before veteran left fielder Jurickson Profar and then-rookie center fielder Jackson Merrill joined Duran as first-time All-Stars. Now, an underwhelming Red Sox team might consider Duran expendable; outfielder Roman Anthony remains tantalizingly close to Boston, and a restless fan base has been clamoring for the arrival of the sport's consensus No. 1 prospect. Meanwhile, the Padres' need for a left fielder was amplified Sunday when their primary designated hitter, Gavin Sheets, exited an eventual 6-4 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates after crashing face-first into the left-field wall. Manager Mike Shildt later said Sheets was being evaluated for a head contusion, a sore hip and a jammed wrist and thumb, as well as the possibility of a concussion. Even if Sheets does not miss much time, Sunday's collision heightened the urgency for the Padres to find a viable alternative in left field. Sheets, a minor-league signee who has emerged as one of the team's most reliable hitters, has made only 15 career starts in left, and the fit already was awkward before it turned injurious. Jason Heyward, who started at that position on Opening Day, has a .492 on-base plus slugging percentage. The veteran is widely respected inside the San Diego clubhouse, but his current stint on the injured list might only be delaying an inevitable parting of ways. The Padres rank second-to-last in the majors with a .530 OPS from their left fielders, and their catchers also reside near the bottom with a .592 OPS. Whether the Padres possess enough prospect capital to acquire Duran — and leave enough resources for other needs — is another question. Duran, who can play multiple outfield positions, finished last season seventh in the majors in FanGraphs' version of wins above replacement. He has not been as productive in 2025, but the 28-year-old is making only $3.75 million and remains under affordable club control through 2026. The Padres still boast a pair of top-50 prospects in shortstop Leo De Vries and catcher Ethan Salas, but the organization's farm system has been thinned out over the past few years by a slew of win-now trades. Advertisement For now, president of baseball operations A.J. Preller might want to hold off on an all-out pursuit of left-field help. The Padres' need for starting pitching might be equally acute. King, their No. 1 starter, awoke May 24 with discomfort in his throwing shoulder. A battery of tests and visits with specialists has since produced a diagnosis of a pinched nerve. King has begun playing light catch and reported incremental improvement in his shoulder — the pitcher expressed optimism Sunday that he could return in weeks rather than months — but team officials have cautioned that the nerve in question will dictate the right-hander's timetable. ''Incremental' would probably be in caps,' Shildt said. As for Darvish, the Padres' most experienced starter has yet to make his season debut, and the 38-year-old hasn't thrown a full bullpen session since he felt forearm tightness recovering from a May 14 rehab start. Darvish plans to throw a full bullpen this week in San Francisco. Still, no matter how he recovers, the Padres will continue exercising caution with Darvish, who underwent Tommy John surgery in 2015 and has encountered more elbow trouble in recent seasons. For San Diego, the injuries to a valuable slugger and a pair of key pitchers figure to increase their immediate level of difficulty. The Padres embarked Friday on a stretch of 26 games in 27 days, with 14 of those games coming away from Petco Park. Beginning with Monday's series opener at Oracle Park, they will play 14 of their next 17 games against National League West opponents. Seven of those games will come against the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers. After matching a franchise record with a 14-3 start, the Padres have gone 19-21. Their once-relentless offense was the biggest culprit for their May mediocrity. Over the 18 games following a 21-run eruption against the historically awful Colorado Rockies, the Padres ranked last in the majors in OPS and third-to-last in runs per game. In the same span, Sheets supplied six of his 11 home runs and 12 of his team-leading 34 RBIs. Advertisement Sunday, despite another last-place opponent and Sheets' injury, brought a welcome display of offense. After trailing early, the Padres scored four runs while batting around in the seventh. While leadoff man Fernando Tatis Jr. remained mired in the worst slump of his career, he showed notable patience during a four-pitch walk that sustained the rally. Two other key hitters, Jackson Merrill and Luis Arraez, each finished the game with a pair of hits. Franchise third baseman Manny Machado provided his 349th career home run and came close to recording his 350th. This is your man? Yes. Look at the screen. That's mine. — San Diego Padres (@Padres) June 1, 2025 'Just the way we won, I think, was just huge,' Machado said. 'It's been a rough couple weeks, rough couple of months. But this group grinded it out, and we keep continuing to grind. So, continue doing that and play baseball the way we're capable of playing.' As the schedule shifts to a string of tougher matchups, however, depth figures to be essential. Even before Sheets' injury, the Padres faced significant questions about their rotation and offense. In one indication of a thin bench, San Diego entered Sunday with a .409 OPS in pinch hit plate appearances. So, with a June challenge upon them, the Padres certainly could use a left fielder with Duran's ability. Yet, depending on how King and Darvish recover, they also could use more starting pitching. This month might not make or break their playoff hopes, but it could go a long way toward determining their trajectory. The season remains relatively young. And there are only 52 games left before the trade deadline. — The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal contributed to this story. (Top photo of Jarren Duran: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)
New York Times
27 minutes ago
- New York Times
MLB All-Quarter Century Team voting: Who got it right — the fans or me?
The people have spoken. Great to hear from you. Now I get to speak. A week and a half ago, I threw out the first pitch in our MLB All-Quarter Century Team project. I did that by presenting my (cough, cough) inarguable selections for who belongs on this team — our collection of the best players at every position since the 2000 season. Advertisement About 9 billion reader comments later, I was starting to get the impression that you didn't feel like my picks ended this debate. So I've been holding my breath as I awaited the results of the most important election of the 21st century — the All-Quarter Century Team fan voting. Well, the voting booths are shuttered. Your votes are in, more than 12,000 of them. (Thank you!) And today we get to discuss the question that's on everyone's mind: Who's right — me or The People? Ha. I don't know if we settled that raging debate, actually. But I've pored over your votes. And boy, do I have questions — most notably … What's up with all the love for A-Rod? So let's discuss the voting — and by that I mean, let's discuss the part of that voting in which your thinking and my thinking were (shockingly) not the same. TOP 3 IN READERS' VOTE: Beltré (29.95 percent), Alex Rodriguez (29.78), Chipper Jones (17.9) Exit polls aren't a real thing in votes like this. But I'll admit I was well aware that right up until the final day, it looked as if A-Rod was going to beat out my top two picks, Beltré and Chipper. So … that was interesting. I took a deep breath and read through hundreds of your thoughtful reader comments on my original column. It was a heartwarming experience. But I think it's safe to say that the general theme was: Stark, you spineless loser, anybody who would put 'a cheater' on this team has no credibility. So take a hike. And then thousands of you still voted for Alex Freaking Rodriguez! 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But the truth is, I made my case for why it's cool to pick Yadi even though it's hard to find any set of numbers or metrics that supports that … and then nearly 73 percent of you said: Nope! Not buying that. OK, listen up: I think Buster Posey is an easy Hall of Famer and probably the greatest catcher of his generation. But he played 11 seasons in the big leagues — and Molina played 19! So there are no wrong answers here. I just needed to make a point, that we still don't have any metric that truly measures everything that catchers do. And you know who the No. 1 poster boy is for all that? Right you are. Yadi! Advertisement TOP 3 IN READERS' VOTE: Ichiro (39.3 percent), Judge (37.4), Mookie Betts (11.4) I knew this would go well. Really enjoyed this comment from loyal reader Mark S.: 'Arson Judge over Ichiro in right field should get your Hall of Fame vote revoked' Thanks, Mark. Should I forward that to my friends in Cooperstown or just resign? Let's review: Back in January, I wrote these words about Ichiro: 'Are we really going to find some excuse not to make this man the first unanimous position player in the history of Hall of Fame voting? Yikes. It's embarrassing.' So yes, I noticed that Ichiro was good at baseball. But why can't more than one thing be true? Why can't I acknowledge Ichiro's greatness and still make a point that Aaron Judge is Babe Ruth, that he's the best right-handed hitter of the last 100 years and that he should be the right fielder on this team? And the answer is: I can. And I did. I didn't expect this vote to be even this close. And I'm not renouncing my Hall of Fame vote. But thanks for the kind words! TOP 3 IN READERS' VOTE: Ohtani (45.6 percent), Ortiz (37.6), Jim Thome (6.2) I made it clear in my first column that it pained me to leave Ohtani off my team — and that if it were up to me, we should really just invent a position for him. I believe 'DH/ace/superhero/international man of mystery' was the working title. A lot of goodwill that bought me. Timothy N. called that logic 'pure baloney.' Then there were the sympathetic words of 'Anonymous U.,' who told me: 'You are nuts.' Now, I've said and written a gazillion times that Ohtani is the most talented human ever to play baseball. If you think there was any shot he wouldn't be on the final, complete roster of this team when we release it, I have a private, totally empty freeway in Los Angeles that I'd like to sell you. Advertisement I was always going to find some way to get Shohei onto this team. But he's still a spectacular work in progress — and 'only' eight years into his career. Whereas Ortiz already has a plaque in Cooperstown, after a 14-year career spent redefining the arc of the Red Sox, one of the most storied franchises in the sport. Also, since it came up in the comments, let's mention this: The commissioner himself, Rob Manfred, instructed us, as Hall of Fame voters, to disregard the infamous Sports Illustrated reports that said Ortiz had shown up on the positive list in MLB's 2003 survey testing. So you can shower all the love you have inside you on Shohei. And you can rant about Ortiz all day long. But I made my pick, and I'm not 'covering up' anything. I'm just a guy who wrote a column, to entertain the masses. How'd that work out? TOP 3 IN READERS' VOTE (FOR FIFTH SPOT): Martinez (47.64 percent), Halladay (46.68), Zack Greinke 22.3) Pedro! Can you ever go wrong picking Pedro Martinez for any team? Of course not. Peak Pedro was as awesome as awesome gets. Um, however … Peak Pedro was not 2000s Pedro. Peak Pedro was 1997-2003. So what do we, as All-Quarter Century Team voters, do about that, huh? Timing wasn't quite everything on this team. But it was helpful if you were one of those lucky dudes whose entire period of dominance came in years that started with a '2.' So what were we supposed to do with the unlucky legends who split their best seasons over the 1900s and 2000s? That was hard — for me, anyway. It became pretty clear that most of the readers who accused me of 'blasphemy' and 'insanity' for not picking Pedro spent zero time worrying about inconvenient facts like that. But you know who did worry about it? I did. Advertisement So is there really a case for including Pedro on this team over Halladay? I'm not seeing it. Counting the postseason, Halladay made 150 more starts than Martinez in the 2000s, threw a postseason no-hitter, spun a regular-season perfect game, won two Cy Young Awards, had three more top-three finishes and was the ultimate ace for a decade. But I only got one vote for this team. And 12,000 readers had other ideas. So who am I to tell them they were wrong to vote with their hearts, as opposed to that minor technicality that we were voting on performance in this century? Whatever. That's why we vote! I'd like to thank baseball fans everywhere for their resounding support of literally all of my other picks — at first base, second base, shortstop, left field, center field and closer. I knew you'd see the light, even if you weren't always sure that I saw it. I still absorbed a bunch of body slams over not picking Miguel Cabrera — at first, at third, at DH, you didn't even care where! … and showering too many accolades on Derek Jeter — not even the best shortstop on his own team! … and covering for Jose Altuve — no Astros allowed, and hey, as a Philly guy, how could I not vote for Chase Utley! But you know what? Even after all the flak I took, I loved this whole project. I wasn't shocked to learn that thousands of you don't think like I think. That's the point! You know what I'd like to say to all of you who disagree with me? You're supposed to! And you're welcome. (Top image: Ichiro Suzuki: Otto Greule Jr. / Getty Images; Aaron Judge: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
Indianapolis Star
an hour ago
- Indianapolis Star
Doyel: Yes, the Pacers have superstars. And they have two more who don't actually play
These Indiana Pacers — sorry, these 2025 NBA Finalist Indiana Pacers — are said to have two stars, superstars, franchise players, whatever you want to call Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam. And that's true, if we're looking only at the roster. Haliburton has been an NBA All-Star twice, and earned third-team All-NBA recognition this season for the second consecutive year. Siakam has been an NBA All-Star three times, twice has earned All-NBA recognition, and was named MVP of the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals. They are stars, franchise players, max contract guys. Whatever you want to call them. But the Pacers, these specific Pacers — this team headed to the NBA Finals, which begin Thursday at Oklahoma City — have two more stars, superstars, whatever you want to call them. Don't scan the roster for the names because they aren't there, and I say that with all due respect to Myles Turner, Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith. And to elite bench players Bennedict Mathurin and T.J. McConnell. These two guys were here before almost everyone on this roster. They were here before Haliburton and Siakam, in particular. And before Nembhard and Nesmith, and Mathurin and McConnell. The stars, the original stars, of the 2024-25 Indiana Pacers are the executive who put this team together, Kevin Pritchard, and the coach who will put that team on the court Thursday night against the Thunder, Rick Carlisle. How about we give them their flowers now, huh? Doyel from Game 6: Pacers on a 'magical ride.' Four more wins means first NBA title. Insider: Pacers' unconventional path back to NBA Finals 'a new blueprint for the league' This is the team of Pritchard's dreams, the team he has been trying to craft since he took over for Larry Bird as Pacers president in 2017. Pritchard is not your typical NBA executive, in part because he's not overseeing your typical NBA franchise. He doesn't have an unlimited budget, and even if he did, it wouldn't matter. History has shown that the very best of the very best – past, present and future MVP candidates – don't come here as free agents. And because players of that ability can dictate where they want to play, those guys don't arrive here in trades, either. Some franchises can money-whip a roster into shape, just put as many stars on the court as possible and see what happens next. That's been the story in Philadelphia and Los Angeles — Lakers and Clippers — and even in recent years, Golden State with the please-take-me additions of Kevin Durant and Jimmy Butler. Miami also has done it that way, with success. Brooklyn and Phoenix have tried it, without. Pritchard has always seen his ideal starting five not as one or two superstars — and whoever else can fit around the salary cap — but as five fingers forming a fist. Look at some of the Indiana teams of recent years that fell short of this season's success, or any success really, but would've had power-packed starting fives had injuries not ruined things. That's one hallmark of a Pritchard team, as we're seeing this season with Haliburton-Siakam-Turner-Nembhard-and-Nesmith. But there's another hallmark, and I'll call it the Kumbaya factor. Pritchard is an idealist, a romantic at heart, and sometimes it has cost him. He sees the best in people, in players, and was burned when Paul George turned out to be less of a building block than a mercenary. The unraveling of Victor Oladipo was less about Pritchard's idealism, and more about the brutal injury Oladipo suffered in 2019, months before he expected to receive a max contract extension. Whereas Paul George was changed by his rise to stardom and his visions of self-important grandeur, Oladipo was changed — understandably so — by that career-altering injury. But this team? These Pacers? They've been built in Pritchard's double-vision of depth and decency — and we are seeing the result. Earlier in the Eastern Conference Finals, before Game 1, the New York media was asking Carlisle about this team's secret sauce. Here was one of Carlisle's most telling comments: 'A group of guys that have high character,' he called his roster. What does that mean? It means Bennedict Mathurin, who came into the league as the No. 6 overall pick in 2022 and immediately compared himself to LeBron James and then averaged an eye-popping 16.7 ppg as a rookie, has gone to the bench for the good of the team. Nesmith needs to start, for defense and the way he runs alongside Haliburton and moves the ball, so Mathurin accepted a role as a primary scoring force on the second unit. But along the way Mathurin has noticeably — I mean, obviously — become more of a defensive presence, in particular working so hard on his occasional assignments on stars Donovan Mitchell of Cleveland and Jalen Brunson of the Knicks. What does high character mean? It means Andrew Nembhard, who showed during the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals against Boston just how productive he can be if given the chance — 21 ppg, with Haliburton injured — willingly going back to his supporting role when Haliburton returned. Nembhard averaged 10 ppg this season. What does high character mean? It means center Myles Turner sharing minutes with Domantas Sabonis for years, never making a peep, never asking out. And when it was time to decide which center to keep, Pritchard let Sabonis go to Sacramento at the 2022 trade deadline — knowing the Pacers needed a point guard more than a ball-dominant post player, and knowing Turner would excel in a supporting role to the point guard Pritchard acquired from the Kings: Tyrese Haliburton. What does high character mean? It means, and it starts, with Haliburton playing a joyful style that insists everyone on the floor eats — often before he does, to his detriment. Haliburton, who averaged 6.3 assists per game in his 1½ season with Sacramento, has averaged 10.1 apg in 3½ seasons with the Pacers. Haliburton, a really nice Robin to De'Aaron Fox's Batman in Sacramento, has come to the Pacers and proved to be the better of the two: the All-NBA player, the U.S. Olympian, the author of postseason heroics. 'Sometimes,' Haliburton was saying Saturday night after the Pacers eliminated the Knicks in Game 6, 'I think (Pritchard and Co.) saw more in me than I saw in myself.' Pritchard does that. If I'm another NBA team's executive and Kevin Pritchard is on line one to propose a trade, I'm grabbing a pen and some paper, because I'm about to learn which player on my team is better than any of us had realized. Pritchard has done that, for previous Indiana teams and this one, with stars (Oladipo, Sabonis, Haliburton) and starters (Nesmith) and role players (Obi Toppin, Jalen Smith, Oshae Brissett). And the one time he didn't do it, when he saw something in Denver's Bruce Brown that didn't quite translate — Brown came here as a free agent in 2023, and proved to be the same player even with a bigger opportunity — Pritchard realized it right away. Brown played just 33 games with the Pacers before Pritchard packaged him in the deal that brought to this team… Pascal Siakam. Take a bow, Kevin Pritchard. These flowers are for you. But we have one more bouquet to give. Rick Carlisle, like Kevin Pritchard, received zero respect this season. That's a literal statement, in this way: Thirteen front-office leaders received votes — all 30 franchises had a vote — for 2025 NBA Executive of the Year. Kevin Pritchard? He received zero. Six coaches received votes — from 100 media members — for 2025 NBA Coach of the Year. Rick Carlisle? He received zero. That's a statement about the timing of those votes in particular, because while we (probably) didn't need the Thunder's NBA Finals run to realize Shai Gilgeous-Alexander deserved MVP, the Pacers' run to these same NBA Finals has been instructive, to say the least. First, about the roster Pritchard put together (with help from Chad Buchanan, Ryan Carr and Kelly Krauskopf). But also about the coaching job of Carlisle. Put it this way: Carlisle is changing the game. Not just the Pacers are changing it — but Carlisle. He's the one employing depth and pace as weapons, and around the league, folks are noticing. After being eliminated in the second round by the Thunder, Nuggets MVP candidate Nikola Jokic noted the growing trend of deeper teams, and shouted out the Pacers before shouting out Oklahoma City, the team that eliminated the Nuggets. Put it another way: The best adjustment made during the Eastern Conference Finals by famously stubborn Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, the one that allowed the Knicks to win Game 3 and force this series to a sixth game? He copied Carlisle. After sticking with his seven-man rotation — 7½ players, tops — Thibs went nine-deep or even 10-deep the rest of the way. The media kept asking him about the Pacers' pace and depth, and while Thibodeau avoided the question entirely before Game 5 — 'It's been a hard-fought series,' he said, 'a couple possessions (apart)' — he tried to counter Carlisle's bench by discovering a bench of his own. That depth allows Carlisle to demand a fast pace from his players, and that pace has allowed the Pacers not only to wear out other teams over the course of 48 minutes — how many historic comebacks have the Pacers had this offseason? — but to maximize the greatness of Haliburton. Another acknowledgement from Thibs, this one spoken, came when he was asked about the Pacers' offensive pace. Specifically, he was asked: During a typical possession do the Pacers tend to get to their second and third actions quicker than most teams? Not really, Thibs said, in the most flattering way possible. 'More often than not it's the primary action,' he said before Game 5. 'It's the kick ahead. There's no second or third actions. You've got to make sure you're getting back and taking care of the primary action.' Indeed, Haliburton probably gets more 40-foot assists than anyone but Jokic, and Andrew Nembhard devastated the Knicks with several such passes in Game 6. Carlisle describes 2025 Indiana Pacers basketball in a way that underscores the special nature of this team, from roster to coaching staff to front office. 'As we've put this group together around Tyrese,' Carlisle said before Game 1, 'we've had to make adjustments to develop a style that was effective for us — and it's a difficult style. It's physically demanding, takes a tremendous amount of wherewithal as an athlete, and then you have to be super unselfish and be willing to do a lot of hard things.' The Pacers have that kind of Kumbaya roster, that depth of talent, those two star players — Haliburton, Siakam — and then those other two central figures. Stars, superstars, whatever you want to call Rick Carlisle and Kevin Pritchard. Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Threads, or on BlueSky and Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar, or at Subscribe to the free weekly Doyel on Demand newsletter.
