Kilkenny v Dublin recap of cracking Leinster Hurling Championship clash
Kilkenny have all but booked their place in the Leinster Hurling final having edged past Dublin in a game that was the epitome of the old cliché 'a game of two halves.'
The Cats bossed proceedings in the first-half and dominated at Nowlan Park as they looked to keep their longstanding unbeaten Championship record alive.
They looked well on their way to doing so when they raced into a 14-point lead by the end of the half. Goals from Adrien Mullen. Billy Ryan, Martin Keoghan and TJ Reid - as well as some frees from Reid - seemingly had the game wrapped up by the break.
Dublin had other ideas and after a wretched first-half, they showed their true quality in the second. They slowly but surely fought their way back into the game, having fallen 16 points behind at one stage, before Sean Currie started the comeback with a fine goal.
A string of points had the deficit cut to 11, but a quickfire double from Currie and then the excellent Cian O'Sullivan reduced the gap to just five points.
With the game well and truly in the melting pot, points from Chris Crummey and Conor Donohoe made it a one-score game. The sides traded points in the final 10 minutes, but the comeback looked to be almost completed when AJ Murphy fired over two points in the space of a minute having been introduced as a substitute.
But just when it looked like it was on the cards, Billy Ryan fired home to stretch the lead to five and secure what turned out to be an unbelievably hard-fought win for Kilkenny.
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Irish Times
7 hours ago
- Irish Times
Ken Early: Heimir Hallgrímsson's plan very nearly pays off in Ireland's solid performance against Senegal
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A few minutes later he was scrambling another ball clear after O'Shea had inadvertently deflected a cross on to the Irish post. The Irish goalkeeper's luck couldn't hold forever. Everton's Iliman Ndiaye is a useful dribbler but Andrew Moran – who had just come on as substitute – will be disappointed with how easy Ndiaye made beating him look. Ireland goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher watches the ball go just wide at the Aviva Stadium on Friday. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho The Senegalese attacker dribbled in from the right before hitting a low cross that took a deflection away from goal along the way, wrong-footing the Irish defence and allowing Cherif Ndiaye to get off a low shot from eight yards. Kelleher stuck out his left foot to save the first effort but was powerless to stop Ismaila Sarr finishing off the rebound. After four wins and four defeats, this was the first draw of Hallgrímsson's tenure. The day before the match he had talked about how the identity and the principles of the team were becoming clearer all the time. The performance here bore that out to a certain extent, though this occasion lacked the intensity of a serious qualifying match. It goes without saying that neither Senegal nor Ireland looked anywhere near the level of Ireland's qualifying opponents, Portugal, as they came back to beat Germany in Munich in the Nations League semi-final during the week. Come the World Cup qualifiers in the autumn, less will depend on what has happened in these two summer friendlies, and more on whether between now and then Evan Ferguson can find himself a club, get some minutes on the field, and play himself back into the kind of form he was showing two years ago.
Irish Examiner
8 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
McAteer strikes as Hallgrimsson belatedly introduced to Ireland's 1-1 trademark
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Ireland won the corner count by five to two in the first half and from the second – conceded by Antoine Mendy – they forged into the lead. Jason Knight and Matt Doherty were still arguing from colliding trying at the back post from Will Smallbone's corner when Ryan Manning scooped the ball back into the centre. When towering Nathan Collins flicked the delivery onto McAteer, his header was arcing towards the top corner until Yevhann Diouf pawed the effort away. First to react to the loose ball, however, was the Leicester City winger who showed brilliant control before swivelling to sweep a shot under the scrambling 'keeper. A goal to the good, Ireland maintained their stride by retaining possession rather than aimlessly clear to opponents capable of inflicting punishment. Doherty's sublime feign to release Manning down the left had the crowd of 32,478 baying for more goals but the Southampton man's cutback was blocked for a corner. McAteer proved he could mix up his game too, scampering back to the other side to tackle Habib Diarra just as he looked to pick out a killer pass. As the interval loomed, Diarra did succeed in giving Doherty the slip inside the box, only to slip himself, much to the amusement of the crowd. Senegal trudged to the dressing-room frustrated by their sole chance coming inside the opening two minutes through an Irish player. Dara O'Shea unwittingly deflected a corner marginally wide of his own post. The same Irish player gifted Abdallah Sima a sight on goal within 10 seconds of the restart and he was relieved to watch his effort skew well wide. Inevitably, the side of superior prowess would respond in the second half but only after they survived a clearcut chance for Ireland to extend their lead. A trademark interception by Knight two minutes into the second half allowed Smallbone to advance on goal. Rather than lay off for the unmarked Manning, he stung the palms of the goalkeeper with a left-footed effort. Manning did get a stab to the rebound, yet a touch took it around the near post. Adam Idah has chased a lone furrow up top but an injury sustained by Taylor when making a tackle eventually led him to be replaced by Evan Ferguson. Neither got much traction in the attacking third as the flamboyance of the guests increased with every substitute they unlocked. With a better centre from Manning, Idah might have pounced while there was a penalty claim on the hour when a cross from McAteer struck the arm of Ismail Jakobs. Otherwise, the Senegalese were the ones carrying the cutting edge. Sarr was only on as a sub when he followed in a deflected shot to spin his effort onto the post. That was with 22 minutes remaining and a signal of what was coming. Kelleher's resistance was finally breached with seven minutes left. Despite stooping low to repel Cherif Ndiaye's shot with his legs, fellow sub Sarr was on hand to tuck the ball inside the post. Cheikh Sabaly then sent his diving header off-target and Lamine Camara's stoppage-time free-kick was blocked by the wall. Calmness came after the chaos and satisfaction will linger while the countdown to Hungary on September 6 continues. IRELAND: C Kelleher; M Doherty (J O'Brien 67), N Collins, D O'Shea, R Brady (L Scales 85); J Knight, W Smallbone (A Moran 81); K McAteer (F Ebosele 81), J Taylor (E Ferguson 58), R Manning (K Phillips 67); A Idah. SENEGAL: Y Diouf; A Mendy, L Camara Mamadou (C Sabaly 77), A Seck, I Jakobs (E Diouf 85); H Diarra, I Ndiaye, K Diattta (L Camara 63); A Sima (I Sarr 63), A Diallo, B Dia (C Ndiaye 77). Referee: A Ladeback (SWE) Attendance: 32,478
RTÉ News
11 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Provincial hurling finals - All You Need to Know
SATURDAY Munster SHC final Limerick v Cork, TUS Gaelic Grounds, 6pm SUNDAY Joe McDonagh Cup final Kildare v Laois, Croke Park, 1.45pm Leinster SHC final Kilkenny v Galway, Croke Park, 4pm ONLINE Live blog on and the RTÉ News app. TV Live coverage of the Munster hurling final on Saturday on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 5.15pm. Live coverage of the Joe McDonagh final and the Leinster hurling final on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player on Sunday, starting at 1.30pm. Highlights on The Saturday Game (9.40pm) and The Sunday Game (9.30pm) on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. RADIO Live commentaries and updates on Saturday Sport and Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1 and Spórt an tSathairn and Spórt an Lae, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta. WEATHER Saturday: In Munster, the showers earlier in the day will largely die out later in the afternoon to leave a fine evening. Highest temperatures of 12 to 15 degrees, with moderate northwesterly winds. Sunday: Sunday will bring a mix of sunshine and showers. Highest temperatures of 13 to 17 degrees in moderate westerly winds. Overview - an era of domination Limerick have already broken new ground in the Munster hurling championship with the first-ever six-in-a-row last year. Now, it's just a question of what record they're going to set for future dynasties. It's a particularly stunning feat given that Limerick, traditionally, are outside the 'big two' in Munster. Or, at best, they were the half in the 'big two-and-a-half', akin to Roscommon in the Connacht football championship. Who knows, the long-term legacy of the Kiely-Kinnerk era may be that future generations will refer to a 'big four' rather than a 'big three'? They've beaten every other Munster county in a provincial final in the current run, aside from Cork. They're coming off three successive Munster final wins over Clare, the last of which was the most clear-cut. Tipperary were dispatched in 2019 and 2021, the latter after that remarkable second half turnaround. In 2020, they saw off Waterford before beating them again in the All-Ireland final. Cork are both the last Munster team to win the province before the Limerick supremacy arrived - and they're also the last side to beat Limerick in a Munster final, winning the last championship game played at the old Páirc Uí Chaoimh back in 2014 during Jimmy Barry Murphy's second stint in charge. Kilkenny's present domination of the Leinster hurling championship has attracted far less notice. Indeed, their achievement of the provincial five-in-a-row last year crept up on people. Partly, this is because Kilkenny dominance of Leinster has typically been the historical norm and partly because the province is much less glamorous. Even more so, it's down to their failure to back it up with a Liam MacCarthy, which, as Richie Hogan noted this week, is the only currency worth considering in Kilkenny. The run started in 2020, when they ended a four-year stretch without a Leinster title in an empty Croke Park, after pick-pocketing a generally superior Galway side down the home straight. The westerners looked comfortably the better team for an hour, maintaining a four-to-five point lead for most of the second half. Then Hogan, introduced as a late substitute, rustled up a truly ingenious goal, with Reid whipping in a second within a matter of seconds to turn the game on its head. They've beaten Galway in two more Leinster finals since then. Cody's last provincial victory in 2022 came after an unimaginably dull, free-ridden game. 2023 was another dramatic smash-and-grab. Henry Shefflin's Galway side appeared to have done enough with a stirring final quarter to lead by two in injury-time - until Padraic Mannion's panicked clearance with his boot found Cillian Buckley's paw and we know the rest. Even by the poor standards of your average Kilkenny-Dublin Leinster final, last year's provincial decider was a non-event. Cork aim to recover from "set-up" The blithe and gleeful confidence that settled over Cork in the wake of the league final is a distant memory. The 16-point mauling in the Gaelic Grounds was a shock to the system and a sobering reminder that the great Limerick side of the 2020s aren't close to being done. The Rebels were even threatened with elimination on the final day and produced a somewhat jittery performance at home to Waterford, in which their far greater attacking quality would eventually tell in the end. The Cork management have been angrily rounding on the hype-mongers since the loss in Limerick. Pat Ryan accused those who were writing off Limerick of being "off their game" and "setting us up for a fall." Selector Wayne Sherlock branded the media hype as "cringey outside noise" and had a pop at the Paddy Power stunt of paying out on Cork winning the All-Ireland after the league final. "I think we were being set-up, to be honest," Sherlock told reporters this week. "It's kind of insulting. I think people want us to fail." Ryan even took aim at the concept of 'Corkness', branding it "the most stupid word I ever heard." We can fairly take it that they've concluded the pre-championship hype was not helpful and that a more workmanlike Cork team - and a more humble Cork crowd - will arrive in Shannonside this Saturday. Galway old stagers still plugging away Of Galway's 11 competitive matches in 2025, they've won seven and lost the other four by 12 points. It was assumed this was a transitional period. The returning All-Ireland winning manager Micheál Donoghue was given a four-year term, which was taken to imply this was partly a re-build job. The manager acknowledged they were "looking to the future" after 2017 veterans Joseph Cooney, Gearóid McInerney and Adrian Touhy departed before the season began. But there's a surprising degree of continuity around Galway, all the same. David Burke is still relied upon to bring a stability and game-management expertise to midfield. The Mannions remain prominent at both ends of the field. Daithí Burke and Fintan Burke form the bedrock of the defence. Conor Whelan, notwithstanding his patchy form early in the season, provides much of the gold-dust in attack. In some respects, the 'transition' hasn't even started yet. There has been some change. John Fleming has been a workhorse at wing-forward, while Gavin Lee has nailed down the problematic position of centre-back - though doubts about his defensive suitability were raised after the second half against Wexford. Loughrea's Anthony Burns has shown impressive flashes in the inside forward line, though Kevin Cooney is preferred to start this weekend. Team News There is still some uncertainty about who will be manning the goal for Galway. Their official submitted team is at odds with their 'X' account, with the supposedly suspended Darach Fahy named on the former, while Eanna Murphy is down to start on the latter. Fahy was suspended by the CHC for slapping out at AJ Murphy, though the Tribesmen are still intent on appealing. Otherwise, as noted above, Kevin Cooney - so impressive in the last Leinster decider against Kilkenny in 2023 - replaces Anthony Burns. Derek Lyng is still without the injured Eoin Cody, though Adrian Mullen returns to his centre-forward berth after his runout at centre-back for the Wexford dead rubber. Cork, meanwhile, have handed Diarmuid Healy his first start in place of Brian Roche, while Shane Barrett captains the team in the absence of the injured Rob Downey. For Limerick, Aidan O'Connor makes a first championship start, replacing Shane O'Brien at full-forward. Kildare seek to break new ground in Joe Mc The Kildare hurlers go in search of a landmark victory this weekend, which would take them into the Leinster SHC for the first time since 2004. They've flirted with the big-time in decades past. In 1976, Kildare beat Dublin and took the eventual champions Wexford to the brink in the semi-final. They won the old All-Ireland 'B' championship on four occasions, including in 1989 and 2004. Their rise in modern times has been charted here, with the strength of Naas being a core reason. A Croke Park appearance looked unlikely after an opening day loss to Kerry - who were subsequently relegated - but they've won four from four since, including a shock 11-point win over Laois in the penultimate round. The north of the county is now the hurling stronghold - a turnaround from previous eras - with Maynooth's David Qualter and Naas' Jack Sheridan to the fore on the scoring front. Last year's losing finalists Laois enter as slight favourites despite the loss in Portlaoise. They squeezed into the final after James Duggan's last-gasp goal snatched a draw in Carlow. Tommy Fitzgerald's side is without Cha Dwyer, who took umbrage at being substituted against Carlow, while goalkeeper Enda Rowland has opted out. Mossie Keyes, who hit 0-14 in Netwatch Cullen Park, has been to the fore in attack in this campaign.
