Colm Keys: Never have so many football contenders had so much hope as All-Ireland business end looms
Every team beaten at least once, no provincial champion taking the direct route to the All-Ireland quarter-finals and seven teams that are figuring strongly in the bookmakers' calculations with just four 'points' dividing them. Unprecedented.
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Irish Examiner
37 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
Daniel O'Mahony: 'We don't intend going out in the preliminary quarter-final'
Important to clarify from the outset that Daniel O'Mahony offered the following thoughts before, and not after, the balls were swooshed, drawn, and paired on Monday morning. Such is the quality of O'Mahony's character, though, and such is his forthrightness, that had we played the interview back to him following Cork's preliminary quarter-final pairing with the Dubs, we doubt there's a single sentence the Cork full-back would have altered. O'Mahony offered his thoughts outside the Cork dressing-room following Saturday's season-saving and season-extending win over Roscommon. His main point was this: Cork ambitions are in no way sated by having reached the last 12 of the championship. Micheál Aodh Martin didn't produce an outstanding 59th minute save to deny Daire Cregg just so Cork could hang on in the championship for another seven days. Seán Brady didn't fling himself at the rebound ahead of Ciarán Lennon just so Cork could say they've made a preliminary quarter-final in each year of the John Cleary era. O'Mahony didn't fling himself at Diarmuid Murtagh's beyond-the-hooter and beyond-the-arc equalising kick just so Cork could better their League ranking. 'There is three years of work gone into this group and we don't intend going out in the preliminary quarter-final,' declared the 25-year-old defender. 'It is all hands on deck for a big game this week and try to win that and keep progressing.' Cork's most recent clash with the Dubs was the 2023 Division 2, Round 3 League fixture at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Trailing by two at the death, O'Mahony of all people almost snuck victory with a goal shot that Tom Lahiff got in the way of. Cork came again. Brian Hurley unleashed a powerful drive for green that 'keeper David O'Hanlon touched onto the post. Prior to that, their most recent championship clash was the 2022 All-Ireland quarter-final where Dublin pulled away in the final quarter to preserve the 2010 semi-final as the last occasion they fell to the Rebels in Sam Maguire fare. Neither of those defeats will register in camp this week. One defeat that will, and continues to live with them 12 months on, is the self-inflicted loss to Louth at this very hurdle last year. 'You can still feel it. That Louth game was the most disappointed I've ever felt after a game,' O'Mahony continued. 'Our ambition is not just to reach the preliminary quarter-finals. It is not what we want for this group. We are going to be looking at that game as a massive target to progress further and hopefully we will put up another good performance.' Read More Small details bounce in relieved Cork's favour Back to Saturday. Back to 27 seconds after the hooter had hooted. O'Mahony pushed out to the arc. He policed the movement of Diarmuid Murtagh and Enda Smith. He knew it would be one of the pair to attempt the orange flag kick that, if successful, would finish Cork. Smith, you see, had nailed three two-pointers in the draw with Meath the fortnight previous, Murtagh had nailed 13 of them across the year. O'Mahony stalked the pair and got the match-winning hand in when Murtagh eventually let fly. 'It was either Enda or Diarmuid that was going to kick it because they are superb long-range kickers. Diarmuid has been doing it all league, so you could see him lining up. Luckily, I was in the right place at the right time, and just about got a finger to it. I was lucky enough, to be honest. Delighted with it and just relieved is the big feeling,' said the Knocknagree clubman. Delighted too for oft-maligned Cork goalkeeper behind him and the earlier referenced contribution of Micheál Aodh Martin. 'Keepers at the moment, it is tough. Going back the last few years, kickout percentages would have been at 70-80% in games. That has obviously changed with the introduction of the 40-metre arc. The save he made in the second half was absolutely unbelievable. And Seán Brady's follow up was equally heroic.' The collective defensive effort meant this Cork team, for the umpteenth time, delivered the necessary result when their backs were fixed squarely against the wall. 'Been a tough enough year so far. The League didn't go the way we planned. We were looking at promotion at the start of the year, but it didn't pan out that way. The Munster Championship didn't go the way we planned. 'It was really back against the wall sfuff here. We lost our first two group games, so it was win or die here. They bet us by 14 points in the League, so that was in the back of the mind coming up. We stood up with our performance and thankfully came out on the right side. 'Obviously, it is a positive that we can come into games like this where your back is against the wall and win them, but at the same time, ideally, you wouldn't be in that position and that is something we are working through at the moment. Stressful enough game there, to be honest.' When is it not for the Cork footballers.
The Irish Sun
an hour ago
- The Irish Sun
Shane Walsh used to dream of chances like late free vs Armagh so when the moment came, he kept hopes alive
SHANE WALSH admits that kicking the winner against Armagh was the stuff of dreams. Sleepy Galway 2 His performance wasn't all good on the day 2 But he delivered when his county needed him most Pádraic Joyce's men were heading out of the Championship after dozing off early and falling nine points behind the All-Ireland champions. But with alarm bells going off in the dressing room at half-time, they decided to rise and shine after the break. Stung by fears that when you snooze, you lose, goals from John Maher and Rob Finnerty awoke the beast. It was not exactly a nightmare for Armagh, who were already through to the next round after two wins. Read More On GAA But after their epic fightback, Galway still needed their star man to deliver victory to guarantee their own progress to the preliminary quarter-final. And when Walsh — who kicked a total of 0-9 — stood over a free after the hooter had sounded, he harked back to his younger self, when being in this position was something he could only dream about. His effort sailed over the bar, vindicating his team-mates' urgings to back himself when it matters most. Walsh said: 'The last kick of the game, as I said to myself, 'You dream of those opportunities, so just commit to it'. Whatever happens, back your ability, and thankfully it curled in. Most read in GAA Football 'I probably hadn't that in the last couple of weeks, but in fairness to the group, we had good conversations last Tuesday week and they were just talking to me about backing myself more. 'You mightn't score every shot but we're backing you to take our shots as well. That stood to me as well in the first half because there were things that didn't go well and shots that did go well. 'Just in time for Father's Day' - Dublin GAA legends welcome the birth of precious baby daughter 'You have to keep hammering away at it. You can review the game afterwards, let's just focus on the next ball, keep on seeing where you can get the next chance. 'It's down to the lads running balls into good positions for me and letting me do my thing as well. "There's lads there that do different jobs for the team. There's lads that go up and down that field all day, that I don't be doing. 'I'm there to help out in getting scores for the team. So, when the lads give you that backing, and Pádraic gives you that backing, it's huge.' Galway's campaign looked over when Armagh surged nine ahead and the Tribe squandered two first-half penalties. Ethan Rafferty saved Matthew Tierney's effort before Rob Finnerty blazed over to leave their summer hanging by a thread. But boss Joyce read the riot act at half-time, and the players delivered with a storming second-half performance to steal third place in the group of death. JOYCE'S STATUS Joyce was a Galway icon as a player and starred when they won the 1998 and 2001 All-Ireland titles. The Tribe have reached two finals under his watch, but fell short against Kerry in 2022 before Armagh pipped them last year. And Walsh hailed his manager for keeping the dream alive. The forward said: 'I think it starts with the man that's heading everything. He is a winner through and through. "It really shone out in the last two weeks, just how much a winner he is and how much pride he has in himself and in Galway. 'It kind of shone through on to the players and we were able to feed off that then. You couldn't but feed off it. 'When he comes in to really lift the place and tells you how good you are, tells you how good things are, that really gets you going. 'We believe in Pádraic, he believes in us. When you get that bond together, it means you'll go until the last second.' START SOMETHING Galway were backed into a corner ahead of Saturday's win after losses to Dublin and a battling draw against Derry left them dangling by a thread. Walsh now hopes the win can spark another run to the biggest day of all, as they bid to end a 24-year wait for Sam. He said: 'Probably in the last couple of weeks we were in our shell a bit with the Dublin and Derry games. After that we said, 'Our Championship is on the line'. 'Everyone, to a man, was encouraging each other to give this a right go, and it stands to you. 'When those lads are saying it to you, and even though you might say it's something simple, but those words of encouragement, they go a long way in a group.'
The Irish Sun
an hour 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.'
