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Irish Examiner
31-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Just two straight red cards recorded in entire senior football championship
The Football Review Committee's (FRC) rule changes and the GAA's recent tightening up of its disciplinary measures are considered primary reasons behind a significant decline in sendings-off in this year's championship. Just four players were dismissed in the 2025 competition comprising 99 games – two straight dismissals and two for second yellow card offences. That's compared to 12 red cards in the 2024 championship and one investigation, which led to a retrospective suspension. The two straight dismissals came in the same game between Cork and Kerry in the Munster semi-final in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh in April when Paudie Clifford and Seán Brady were sent to the line by referee Barry Tiernan. The 17 red cards (six double yellows) in this year's Allianz Football League was down from 19 (five double yellows) last year with direct dismissals reduced from 14 to 10. In hurling, it was a different story. Thirteen players were sent off in this year's hurling championship, 10 of them straight red cards including Darragh McCarthy, Chris Crummey, Shane Barrett, Jack O'Connor (Wexford) and Daithí Burke. That was up on 2024 when there were seven reds (five straight). In this year's Allianz Hurling League, there were 27 red cards, 19 of them double yellow cards. Two players had their proposed suspensions overturned on hearing, one of them being Cork defender Cormac O'Brien against Clare. However, that was well down on last year when there were 46 (29 straight) in the league. Under the FRC's changes, referees have been administering a zero tolerance approach to head-high challenges, while getting involved in a melee other than removing a team-mate from a row is a black card offence. Showing dissent to a referee also results in a free-kick being brought forward 50m. In 2023, the Central Competitions Control Committee along with the Central Hearings and Appeals bodies put forward a suite of rule amendments to tighten up the disciplinary process especially around team officials. Among their motions passed were penalties for infractions by management or backroom figures previously on a match-ban basis being altered to a combination of a time-based suspension and match bans. 'The GAA disciplinary system is going well,' said the GAA's national games administration manager Bernard Smith. 'There is a marked difference between the football and the hurling. 'There have been changes made in the disciplinary system that have led to improvements at all levels. We believe we're in a good spot at the moment in terms of how the system is working for everybody.'
RTÉ News
05-07-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Cork crush Dublin as goal rush returns rampant Rebels to All-Ireland final
Cork made it back-to-back All-Ireland finals with a seven-goal, 20-point demolition of Dublin in front of a full house at Croke Park. Alan Connolly bagged a hat-trick while Brian Hayes and Tim O'Mahony both hit the net twice as the Rebels overwhelmed the surprise semi-finalists and took one step closer to ending their 20-year wait for Liam MacCarthy. Cork had one foot in the final by half-time when they led by ten points, 4-13 to 1-12, after a brace apiece by young full-forwards Connolly and Hayes. The Rebels were three goals clear after just a quarter of an hour, Connolly grabbing two in as many minutes after Hayes had started the goal rush just six minutes in. Cian O'Sullivan, who scored 1-03 in the first half, immediately hit back with Dublin's first major and they cut the gap to five after half an hour before Hayes sealed more fine interplay between the rampant Rebel forwards. Tim O'Mahony raised a fifth green flag not long into the second half, and though O'Sullivan hit his second on 48 minutes, O'Mahony flicked another goal in three minutes later to dispel any thoughts of a comeback. Connolly put the red icing on the cake late on to delight the overwhelming majority of the crowd at Croker. The Munster and Allianz Hurling League champions are now just one more win away from a clean sweep. Beaten by a single point in extra-time by Clare in last year's decider, the Rebels will go in favourites to end their record All-Ireland drought against old rivals Kilkenny or Tipperary on 20 July. It's a hat-trick for Alan Connolly and SEVEN goals for Cork... 📺Watch LIVE on RTÉ2 & the RTÉplayer 📻Listen on RTÉ Radio 1 📱 Follow Live Updates on — The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 5, 2025 More to follow...
RTÉ News
05-07-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
All-Ireland SHC semi-final preview: Dublin need another divine display to halt Cork march
If you're dreaming of walking up the Hogan Stand, you better make sure you don't slip on the second-last step. Cork are getting tantalisingly close to ending their record All-Ireland hurling title drought at 20 years. The sport's second-most successful county have been favourites since losing last year's extra-time decider by a point to Clare and winning the Allianz Hurling League, a 16-point round-robin loss to Limerick causing a brief crash in the RBL stock price that rebounded after a historic Munster final penalty-shootout triumph against the same opponents. Now that the dominant team of the age are out of the picture, surely it's Cork's to lose? Maybe not. It's hard to overestimate 14-man Dublin's achievement in knocking out the Treaty in the quarter-finals. Though joint-fifth on the hurling roll of honour, the last of the capital county's six titles came in 1938 and they haven't been in the final since '61. Their most recent appearance in the last four was the heart-breaking loss to today's opponents twelve years ago. Leinster's apparent third-best team were given almost no chance beforehand against opposition only denied a seventh Munster in a row on penalties, and even less after losing centre-back and captain Chris Crummey for a foolish elbow on Gearóid Hegarty after just 15 minutes. Niall Ó Ceallacháin's men were two points down at that point but showed incredible determination to take a three-point lead into half-time and then weather the inevitable Limerick fightback, hitting two goals in a minute to retake a lead they never relinquished. Man of the match Conor Burke (0-05), Sean Currie (0-09, 5fs) and the Hayes brothers were among the stars in attack while former Dubs footballer Conor McHugh, the Paddys (Smyth and Doyle) and goalkeeper Seán Brennan, who made a crucial save from Aaron Gillane on the hour mark, led a resolute defence. Dublin are slightly more respected today but still massive underdogs. Why can't they do it again? They beat one of the best teams of all time, with a man less, their captain, and without two other former skippers, Danny Sutcliffe - the only other survivor from '13 with Crummey - and Eoghan O'Donnell, who must be laughing at his luck in choosing the one year that the footballers make an earlier exit to switch codes. Long-time free-taker Donal Burke, who along with McHugh and several others was on the Na Fianna team Ceallacháin led to the club All-Ireland crown in January, was only fit to come in for the last 10 minutes. The loss of Crummey and the still injured Sutcliffe will again be felt but McHugh excelled at centre-back in the captain's absence. They are also boosted by the return of midfielder Conor Donohue after suspension while aerial threat John Hetherton is again held in reserve, having scored one superb goal and created the other for Cian O'Sullivan two weeks ago. But Dublin need to make sure they are still in the game by the time they call on him. In the group stages, they raised three green flags against both the Leinster finalists, but only after giving up big leads they were unable to fully reel in. Cork present a different challenge to Limerick. They are more direct, with a greater emphasis on getting goals, and will have Shane Barrett and Diarmuid Healy running from the half-forward line for breaking ball off their own Brian Hayes, a big man blessed with pace, as are many of his colleagues. And just ask Tipperary what they are capable of doing to a team that goes down to 14 men. Cork will go man for man rather than the zonal defence employed by John Kiely. That presents its own opportunities of course. Despite the riches in attack – Conor Lehane and Shane Kingston are still among the subs as Declan Dalton returns to replace injured veteran Seamus Harnedy – it is defence where the biggest questions remain. Niall O'Leary returns in the corner and Rob Downey at 6, having both only been fit enough to come off the bench against Limerick, and keeping a first clean sheet apart from in the facile win over Tipp would surely be enough to secure a spot in the final. Dublin appear to have the optimal run-in time of two weeks compared to Cork's four, but then 75% of the 80,000+ at Croker could be in red. Those fans will expect but Pat Ryan and his team showed their ability to perform under pressure by hanging tough in the Gaelic Grounds before Darragh Fitzgibbon nailed that crucial late 65. Both teams have scored an average of at least two goals per game and shown great resilience in losing positions. If the weather plays ball, we could be in for a battle to rival 2013. A first championship victory over Cork in 98 years would make a very good year a great one for Dublin. But they will need to start well and repeat the intensity of the Limerick performance if they are to disrupt the Rebel march towards destiny. Cork: Patrick Collins; Niall O'Leary, Eoin Downey, Sean O'Donoghue; Ciarán Joyce, Rob Downey , Mark Coleman; Tim O'Mahony, Darragh Fitzgibbon; Diarmuid Healy, Shane Barrett, Declan Dalton; Patrick Horgan, Alan Connolly, Brian Hayes. Subs: Brion Saunderson, Damien Cahalane, Ger Millerick, Tommy O'Connell, Ethan Twomey, Luke Meade, Brian Roche, Jack O'Connor, Shane Kingston, Robbie O'Flynn, Conor Lehane. Dublin: Seán Brennan; John Bellew, Paddy Smyth, Conor McHugh; Paddy Doyle, Conor Burke, Andrew Dunphy; Conor Donohoe, Brian Hayes; Rian McBride, Fergal Whitely, Darragh Power; Seán Currie, Ronan Hayes, Cian O'Sullivan. Subs: Eddie Gibbons, Donal Burke, Colin Currie, Paddy Dunleavy, Daire Gray, John Hetherton, AJ Murphy, David Lucey, Paul O'Dea, Diarmaid O'Dulaing, Conal Ó Riain. Watch the All-Ireland Hurling Championship semi-finals with RTÉ Sport. Cork v Dublin on Saturday from 4.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player and Kilkenny v Tipperary on Sunday from 3.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
Irish Daily Mirror
01-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
AI predicts who will win the 2025 All-Ireland Hurling Championship
Four will become just two this weekend as the semi-finals of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship take place at Croke Park. Saturday sees Cork and Dublin do battle before the meeting of Kilkenny and Tipperary on Sunday. Ahead of the two games, we asked ChatGPT who would win this year's Championship. It notes how Cork are strong favourites to beat Dublin, with the Rebels as short as 1/7 with the bookies to emerge victorious. Summing up the first semi-final, ChatGPT sides with Pat Ryan's men. However, it sees things being much closer on Sunday when Kilkenny and Tipperary do battle at GAA Headquarters. ChatGPT states how Tipperary have shown form in both the Allianz Hurling League and Munster Championship, while it adds Kilkenny are "relying on a squad still in transition". It says the second of the semi-finals could end in a draw and finds it difficult to split the sides. However, it sees Cork as the outright winners of this year's All-Ireland. It concludes by saying: "Cork are in the strongest position to win the championship, riding form, backing, and belief. For the trophy, the real question is: Will Cork face Kilkenny or Tipp? Both are formidable, but Cork currently stand as the most likely winners."
RTÉ News
14-06-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Hurling championship preliminary quarter-finals: All you need to know
SATURDAY, 14 JUNE All-Ireland SHC preliminary quarter-finals Laois v Tipperary, Laois Hire O'Moore Park, 1.45pm Kildare v Dublin, Cedral St Conleth's Park, 4pm ONLINE Live scores on and the RTÉ News app. RADIO Live updates on RTÉ Radio's Saturday Sport and Spórt an tSathairn on Raidió na Gaeltachta. TV Laois v Tipperary live on GAA+. Highlights on The Saturday Game, RTÉ2, 9.30pm. We're now at what is often dubbed the 'business stages' of the hurling championship. It's a knockout alright, but we are still more in the category of novelty event with the preliminary quarter-finals. Just six days after winning the Joe McDonagh Cup for the first time, and securing back-to-back promotions, Kildare's reward is to play Dublin, the third-placed finishers in Leinster. They will both play in the province and Division 1B of the Allianz Hurling League next season so in one sense it is a good test for the Lilywhites but it is also unfair to ask them to play a much more tested and rested team so soon after the greatest triumph of their careers, which they hopefully celebrated. The only time a Joe Mc team has won in 10 previous preliminary quarter-finals was when Eddie Brennan's Laois shocked Dublin back in 2019. The average margin of defeat has been 17 points. Four teams coming out of both Leinster and Munster would make the round-robins almost irrelevant but there is no justification for parachuting in the second-tier finalists either. Last year's winners Offaly lost by nine points to Cork and bettering that would be a decent result for Kildare, even if is part of a double-header with the footballers in Newbridge. Kildare manager Brian Dowling has unsurprisingly kept faith in the same starting side that beat Laois so impressively. Dublin will have to pay close attention to Jack Sheridan (1-04) and Gerry Keegan (0-03) who both filled their boots from play. The visitors have made three changes to the team that three weeks ago disappointed against Galway before producing a late charge in defeat, similar to the loss against Kilkenny. Dubs boss Niall Ó Ceallacháin brings in Paddy Dunleavy, Fergal Whitely and Ronan Hayes in place of Conor Donohoe, AJ Murphy and John Hetherton. Anything less than a comprehensive victory would lower the confidence for what already looks a daunting task against Limerick in the quarters proper. Back-to-back wins for Kildare in this championship fixture (last played in 1976) would be an unbelievable sequel to the story of the summer. Kildare: Paddy McKenna; Richy Hogan, Rian Boran, Daniel O'Meara; Simon Leacy, Cian Boran, Paul Dolan; Daire Guerin, Cathal McCabe; James Burke, Gerry Keegan, David Qualter; Darragh Melville, Cathal Dowling, Jack Sheridan. Subs: Mark Doyle, Jack Travers, Harry Carroll, Liam O'Reilly, Conn Kehoe, Muiris Curtin, Oisin Lynam, Killian Harrington, James Dolan, Cormac Byrne, Jack Higgins. Dublin: Sean Brennan; John Bellew, Paddy Smyth, Conor McHugh; Paddy Doyle, Chris Crummey, Paddy Dunleavy; Conor Burke, Brian Hayes; Riain McBride, Fergal Whitely, Darragh Power; Sean Currie, Cian O'Sullivan, Ronan Hayes. Subs: Eddie Gibbons, Andy Dunphy, Seán Gallagher, Daire Gray, John Hetherton, Andrew Jamieson-Murphy, David Lucey, James Madden, Paul O'Dea, Diarmaid Ó Dúlaing, Conal O'Riain. Earlier in the day, Tipperary make the short trip to neighbours Laois. Tipp bounced back from a dismal 2024 to take five points from their four games in Munster this year, only missing out on the provincial final on points difference due to the hammering their 14 men took in Cork. Which might not have been a bad thing for a younger team, watching the royal rumble at the Gaelic Grounds. Anything other than a heavy win against the McDonagh runners-up is unthinkable but this is a slightly tricky balancing act for Liam Cahill. Two years ago, his team broke the all-time championship record scoring by hitting 7-38 past Offaly in a 32-point stroll, only to lose to Galway seven days later. Only eight of that XV start on Saturday. "We ran up a fairly sizeable score two years ago in the same fixture, and then looked to produce it seven days later, and we were just a tad off," Cahill told the Nenagh Guardian. "Week after week is always a struggle to manage and we have to be careful how we manage that over the next seven days to come out with a win, please god, and be in a good place physically and mentally going into a quarter final." "There are little tweaks that can be done to make sure the same thing doesn't happen." It will again be the Tribesmen, having had an extra week off, playing the winners in this year's quarter-finals. But Tipperary haven't played in four before now and also need the run out. Noel McGrath and Jake Morris are held in reserve and might pile on the pain late on. Two-time All-Ireland winner Seamus Kennedy makes his first start of the campaign, having come off the bench in every match in Munster, while Joe Caesar and Alan Tynan also come in as Conor Stakelum drops to the bench and Eoghan Connolly is omitted. Under-20 All-Ireland winning captain Sam O'Farrell is named at right wing-forward instead of wing-back. Laois boss Tommy Fitzgerald makes one change from the starting side that lost to Kildare in Croke Park, Ryan Mullaney coming in at wing-back and several players moving further forward as Jer Quinlan misses out. It was eventual All-Ireland champions Tipperary who ended Laois' superb summer at the quarter-final stage in 2019. Laois were beaten by Wexford by 12 points at this stage last year and a similar result would be an achievement. Laois: Cathal Dunne; Cody Comerford, Lee Cleere, Diarmaid Conway; Ryan Mullaney, Padraig Delaney, Jordan Walshe; Fiachra C Fennell, David Dooley; Aidan Corby, Tomás Keyes, Paddy Purcell; Mark Dowling, Ben Conroy, James Keyes. Subs: Eoin Fleming, Padraic Dunne, Donnacha Hartnett, Tom Cuddy, Eoin Gaughan, John Lennon, Martin Phelan, Aaron Dunphy, James Duggan, PJ Scully, Colin Byrne. Tipperary: Rhys Shelly; Robert Doyle, Bryan O'Mara, Michael Breen; Craig Morgan, Ronan Maher, Joe Caesar; Willie Connors, Seamus Kennedy; Alan Tynan, Andrew Ormond, Sam O'Farrell; Darragh McCarthy, John McGrath, Jason Forde.
