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RTÉ News
2 days ago
- Sport
- RTÉ News
'No qualms' for Jim McGuinness after Donegal fall short in All-Ireland final
Jim McGuinness admitted he had no complaints in the wake of his Donegal side's All-Ireland SFC final defeat to Kerry. The Ulster men fell short by a 1-26 to 0-19 margin at Croke Park as the Kingdom ran out relatively comfortable winners and denied Donegal the chance to get their hands on Sam Maguire for just the third time in their history. Speaking to RTÉ Sport, McGuinness who was player and manager respectively for Donegal's two previous All-Ireland triumphs, admitted that Kerry were the better team on the day. "Hard one to take. Felt very good going into the game and it didn't turn out that way. Hats off to Kerry, very good performance," he said. "We struggled with wee bits and pieces in the game and paid heavy prices. I suppose, a bigger analysis will probably be first half, I thought both teams were tracking scores well in the first half but Kerry seemed to go after the twos and kicked a lot of them. "David Clifford, I suppose some of them were absolutely exceptional so we have no qualms. We've no qualms at all. "Disappointed for the boys, disappointed for our supporters. They were there with us. They were waiting for things to happen and it didn't happen. Listen, some days, you just have to take it on the chin. "It's just the bottom line. You have to take your medicine and that's what we're going to have to do today." 'No qualms' - Donegal boss Jim McGuinness admits Kerry were rightful winners of today's All-Ireland Football Championship final as his team came up short. #sundaygame — The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 27, 2025 Donegal did manage to get back to within four points of Kerry in the second half but ultimately that was as close as the gap would get between then and the hooter. "One of the times we got it back to four, we had three wides in a row at that stage," McGuinness said. "So even one point there might have made the difference in terms of momentum shift and would have kept you in the game, particularly with the new rules. "There's always that opportunity then. But once them things are sort of drifting on the wrong side of it, then Kerry are always going to respond anyway at certain times. "And then it got away again at the end. As I said earlier, hats off to Kerry. They've come in, they've done the business and we'll have to go home and think about it."
Irish Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
David Clifford's son Oigi steals the show in All-Ireland celebrations
David Clifford's son Oigi stole the show in the post-game celebrations as Kerry won the 2025 All-Ireland Football Championship. Oigi joined his Dad during Gavin White's speech and was also present for David's post-game interview with RTE. The youngster stole the show as he playfully interacted with the panel and as star midfielder Joe O'Connor was speaking to Joanne Cantwell, the RTE present joked: "Joe, there's a fella here trying to steal your limelight!" A proud Oigi held his Dad's hand during the interview before going off to join the celebrations in front of Hill 16. Kerry's David Clifford celebrates with his son Ogie Clifford would go on to score 0-09 during the final as he cements himself as one of the game's true greats. "We won the All-Ireland here in 2022 with a lot of the same team, and maybe you fall into the trap of thinking it's going to happen every year," the sharp-shooting forward told RTE. "Personally, dealing with the disappointment of 2023 and obviously least year losing out to Armagh as well we put a massive emphasis of getting back this year without every actually mentioning the All-Ireland. "One performance at a time is what we said and we tried to stick to it. We had to reevaluate after the Meath game but we're massively proud how we came back after the Meath game." Clifford was asking about the team feeling disrepsected and said that Kerry couldn't avoid the noise. "Absolutely, I don't think anyone goes out to read articles or anything like that but they'll get to you. Obviously, no one likes it but it's no good feeling sorry for yourself. You have to go out and prove that they are wrong. As good as our last two performances were, if we didn't get over the line, it would have been all for nothing."
RTÉ News
3 days ago
- Sport
- RTÉ News
House on fire for Kerry goalkeeper Shane Ryan as titanic battle with Donegal beckons
The nation will be gripped by a "titanic battle" in Sunday's All-Ireland Football Championship final, but Shane Ryan is not about to complain about the problems coming his way. In previous times a clash of the counties could be seen as a war of attrition with Kerry sacrificing some of their ideals to try to break down a defensive Donegal outfit. The new rules in the sport makes any repeat scenario unlikely, which Ryan acknowledges is good for the viewing audience, even if it makes his own 70 minutes much more difficult. Finals by their nature can be cagey, so there is something of unknown in Sunday's showpiece. It may produce fireworks or take time to warm up. All he can reference so far is how he has found championship matches so far this year? "It's kind of like your house on fire," he told RTÉ GAA analyst Tomás Ó Sé in an interview as part of Sunday's live television coverage. "[Your job is to] put out fires everywhere. Then it's 'right, we're attacking now'. "It's hard to sometimes actually read the flow of the game. "At times the game can just turn into madness, you have to toughen in those times. "It's definitely made it tougher because you know there were times last year and the last couple of years where teams dropped off. So you might get 30% of your kickouts uncontested and you kick it to the corner-back and away we go. "There's less controlled plays than there was in previous years, so therefore you actually don't have a chance to get your breath, even as a defensive unit." With the Kingdom usually cruising their way through the Munster Championship, Ryan is rarely tested until the latter stages of the Championship. That has not been the case this campaign with a tricky test in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh passed with the concession of 1-25. The Rathmore man has yet to concede two goals in a match with his proficiencies when facing a forward in a duel a major asset to Jack O'Connor's side. His impressive performances have been honed over the years in the knowledge he would be needed at times, likely in the latter stages of the season. The goalkeeper admitted he is still more active over the course of the year now, thanks to the FRC implementations. So has training moved to more attention on saving rather than kicking? "[Shot stopping] is definitely something we're focusing on. But would I say it's something we're focusing more than other years? No. "I suppose I'm probably getting more opportunities this year to kind of show off my shot-stopping. "It's 11 v 11, there's more one-on-one battles. Teams are getting opened up and the nature of the game this year is that it's just absolutely chaotic at times. You know there will be a man bearing down on top of you. "From a goalkeeper perspective it's a bit annoying that you're relinquishing control, but if I put my GAA hat on from a supporter's perspective, the entertainment value has gone through the roof because of it. As I said already the games are just, they're chaotic by nature now, but it's proven to give entertainment." The round-robin defeat to Meath was an eye-opener for Kerry. Many had expected them to cruise through their group and the loss in Tullamore led to something of a reflection. Ryan denies it led to totally changed their approach. "I thought we played a lot of good football leading up to Meath, even in the league as well, and we've played a lot of good football since. "There was definitely areas in the Meath game we were very disappointed with. I think it was more a case of trying to get back to basics a small bit. We are a united group and there's a lot of us on the road now for seven or eight years. "We've had a good few tests down through the years, plenty of success, plenty of disappointments, and all that stuff comes together, and it gels you together as a team. You don't want to let the man beside you down and that's something that we're going to try to harness again this weekend." After progressing against Cavan and Tyrone, one more Ulster county stands in the way of a 39th All-Ireland. The Tir Conaill men are looking to repeat Jim McGuinness's memorable success of 2012 and the Kerry goalkeeper feels it's going to be the hardest challenge of all. "Certainly. I think Donegal have so many threats from all over the field, and they're obviously hugely usually athletic. They were probably one of the favourites from the outset of the league this year. "We played them below in Killarney and they obviously beat us in our own backyard there in the first game. "We are just trying to back ourselves while knowing that Donegal have a lot of threats and you were just trying to get the balance there between playing your game and stopping them playing their game. "I think it's going to make for a titanic battle, and it's something that I'm looking forward to and the whole country is looking forward to as well."
RTÉ News
4 days ago
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Kerry's 'little hero' Brian Ó Beaglaoich can provide a star turn against Donegal
In a Kerry team richly endowed with attacking talent, Mike Quirke has tipped left wing-back Brian Ó Beaglaoich to finally get the national recognition that many in the Kingdom feel he deserves in the All-Ireland SFC final against Donegal. Former Kerry player Quirke was appearing on the final episode of the season of The Championship on RTÉ Radio 1 to look forward to the Croke Park decider, when he identified the Cumann Caide na Gaeltachta clubman as the player capable of upstaging the star names on Sunday. Ó Beaglaoich – whose name literally translates as 'little hero' in Irish – is set to shadow Shane O'Donnell in the senior football decider, and former Kerry player Quirke said: "I think Brian Ó Beaglaoich is criminally underrated nationally, I don't think people appreciate how good this guy is. "I actually think that he is Kerry's best half-back. "I think he has elevated himself to a level where he has a beautiful streak of bitterness in him, where he can be physical and aggressive and nasty. "He has so much football, he can attack a gap like he's coated with butter, and I think this year that he has started to finish and get scores and win frees. "I think a guy like him that has been playing really good football, this is a stage where sometimes it isn't your David Cliffords that take the headlines. "He's a guy I'd love to see have a big impact." Watch the All-Ireland Football Championship final, Donegal v Kerry, on Sunday from 2.15pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on and the RTÉ News app. Listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1. Watch highlights on The Sunday Game from 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
RTÉ News
5 days ago
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Unchanged Kerry team for All-Ireland final with Donegal
Kerry have named an unchanged side for Sunday's All-Ireland Football Championship final with Donegal on Sunday afternoon at Croke Park. In a boost to the Kingdom, Diarmuid O'Connor has been deemed fit enough to be included in a 28-player panel. The squad will be cut to 26 for matchday. O'Connor hasn't featured since the quarter-final stage so it remain to be seen if he features this weekend. Tom O'Sullivan misses out due to injury. Kerry team: Shane Ryan; Paul Murphy, Jason Foley, Dylan Casey; Brian O Beaglaoich, Mike Breen, Gavin White, Sean O'Brien, Mark O'Shea; Joe O'Connor, Sean O'Shea , Graham O'Sullivan; David Clifford, Paudie Clifford, Dylan Geaney. *Additional players: Shane Murphy, Killian Spillane, Evan Looney, Tom Leo O'Sullivan, Tadhg Morley, Paul Geaney, Micheál Burns, Tony Brosnan, Armin Heinrich, Tomás Kennedy, Diarmuid O'Connor, Conor Geaney, Dara Moynihan. *Two players will not feature for the final squad
