Latest news with #Cuala
RTÉ News
5 days ago
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne's aerial dominance key to Dublin's cause
Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne has claimed primary possession under half of the kickouts he has contested so far in the 2025 championship. For the first time in a decade Dublin are without the retired Brian Fenton in the number eight jersey, giving the towering Cuala man the chance to step up as the county's new midfield general. Ahead of this afternoon's clash with reigning All-Ireland champions Armagh, Ó Cofaigh Byrne has cleanly caught 30 per cent of the kickouts he has contested. From 26 kickouts in three championship matches he has caught eight and won another five following a juggle, or by knocking the ball down to himself. On top of that he's also claimed half of the six throw balls he has been in for at the start of each half across Dublin's win over Wicklow, shock defeat to Meath and most recently in the victory in Galway. So all in all, so far in his first season as a Dublin regular starter (he made only two short substitute appearances last summer) the former UCD student has won primary possession under exactly 50% of his total aerial contests. Not once has his opposing player beaten him and claimed possession, with the other 50 per cent of the duels breaking away. A Dublin team-mate has won the subsequent breaking ball on five occasions with the opposition team coming away with possession the remaining eight times. Therein lies the 25 year-old's greatest strength, to little surprise the 6ft 6in midfielder is a powerhouse under a high ball, and while it's unfair for any player to be compared to the incredible all rounder that was Fenton, both players arrived into the Dublin team at the optimal time. Before this year's rule changes, efficiency, control, and decision making had become the key requirements for a footballer over the past 10 years. Teams prioritised maintaining possession and creating high percentage opportunities with minimal risk. Fenton had 29 possessions from midfield in his last All-Ireland final in 2023 and he was never turned over. A machine to cover ground and get on the ball, he was consistently comfortable and composed, more often than not picking the right pass or option. Following the rule changes around kickouts (needing to go beyond the two-point arc) introduced this season, the percentage of contested restarts in the provincial championships rose from 26 per cent in 2024 to 63%. While in Leinster that figure was up to 70% this year. Before Fenton there was Michael Darragh MacAuley and prior to him Ciaran Whelan, while throughout the six-in-a-row winning seasons Dublin never lost sight of the importance of Denis Bastick and the presence and physicality he brought to their midfield. So while Dublin have always appreciated the need for primary ball winners and leaders in the middle third, Ó Cofaigh Byrne is thriving even more so given the current environment he's playing in with kickouts galore often deciding games. Nevertheless - Dublin have kicked out 60 long or contestable kickouts in their three championship games to date. Meaning there is still scope to further trust and involve their most dominant ball winner. In his final competitive game playing the old rules, Cuala's club All-Ireland final victory over Errigal Ciarán last January, his goalkeeper only kicked two long kickouts to him. He caught both. Of 41 kickouts in the game, he only had three contests, with Cuala retaining possession each time. He also scored 1-1 in that final, as well as assisting another goal, winning a throw-in and making three crucial interceptions. One to cut out a scoring chance, and another to turn over Darragh Canavan. All within just eight possessions and 12 involvements. For Dublin so far this championship his overall possessions - especially in comparison to Fenton over the past 10 years - and involvement in the general play is quite low. Rather than linking or starting moves, he often gets ahead of the play and looks to enter attacks in and around the D area. He's assisted 0-03 but yet to have a shot this summer. As he grows into his role and seeks more responsibility Dessie Farrell will expect him to kick on in those aspects. In three matches he's had just 25 possessions. Ultimately however the importance of his aerial dominance can't be understated. Meath, particularly in the first half playing with the wind, decimated the Dublin kickout. Which along with their ability to shoot two-pointers, was the winning of the game. Against Galway Dublin's long kickout game was far more complete. Up against a much stronger opposition than the Royals they caught five clean possessions - Ó Cofaigh Byrne with three - to the Tribesmen's zero. Armagh will present a strong physical challenge around the middle sector - with big Ben Crealy likely to provide an interesting match-up. As much as Brian Fenton was a generational talent, he grew into the position game-on-game in his early years. If Ó Cofaigh Byrne can build on his start to the season and deliver against the current champions, it'll be a big step to making the number eight jersey his own.
Irish Times
29-04-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Head of hurling William Maher: ‘A colleague said he never got an opportunity to hold a hurl. That's just crazy'
The GAA 's new head of hurling, William Maher, wants to grow the game outside its traditional heartlands and believes the establishment of hurling in 45 clubs over the last year demonstrates the potential for the small-ball code. Maher, who captained Tipperary to All-Ireland minor success in 1996 and subsequently managed the Premier County to All-Ireland glory at that grade in 2012, started his new role earlier this month. And he feels growing hurling above a much-referenced theoretical Dublin-to-Galway line on the map of Ireland is achievable. 'That's the north star, that's what we are working towards,' he said. 'If that's even in participation numbers that would be a major impact. Are we going to get [those] counties to win the Liam MacCarthy Cup in the next 10 or 20 years? Probably not. But how can we get more players playing the game? Then we can start thinking about things like that. READ MORE 'That would be the dream. I think hurling hasn't really moved outside its traditional boundaries in 100 years so I think it's important to try to broaden that out but without trying to impose it on GAA clubs up the country. It's to give kids the opportunity to play our national game. 'There was a colleague at work from Kildare and he said to me six months ago that he never got an opportunity to hold a hurl. That's just crazy. [ If hurling is so good, why is it so small? Opens in new window ] 'If someone had said to you 20 years ago that Cuala or Na Fianna would win club All-Irelands, you'd say, 'you're mad'. So this can be done. If you can build hurling in Dalkey, you can build it anywhere.' The Hurling Development Committee, established last April, has had 45 successful applicants to avail of its starter pack toolkit to help existing or new clubs establish hurling. Of those, 18 have been in Leinster, 17 in Ulster, five in Connacht and five in Munster – including three in Kerry. Maher is originally from Ballingarry in Tipperary and lives in Bennettsbridge in Kilkenny. He managed Cuala to Dublin senior hurling titles in 2019 and 2020. More recently he was in charge of the Laois senior hurlers between 2023-24. There have been similar roles created by the GAA in the past, though with varying job titles – Paudie Butler was the national hurling co-ordinator between 2006-11 while Martin Fogarty was the national hurling development manager from 2016-21. Maher feels Gaelic football and hurling can coexist. 'We're all GAA people and we all have our challenges in the fixture calendar as regards where hurling or football is played, depending where you are. 'But I think it's very much about talking with county boards, understanding the issues that are there with fixtures and working with the different committees.' And he believes a strong Dublin senior hurling side is important. 'Dublin [challenging for major honours] would be brilliant and could revolutionise our sport. We've seen what their club teams have done now, so throw down the gauntlet, it's up to the senior team now.' Silverbridge, home club of GAA president Jarlath Burns , is one of the units to have set up a hurling section for the first time. 'We are not going to see more teams and counties participating in the Liam MacCarthy Cup, where we want them to be, unless we have more clubs in the counties,' stated the Armagh native. And Burns agrees with sentiments of Camogie Association president Brian Molloy that more should be done to incorporate Gaelic games in the school curriculum. '[Brian] is an extremely visionary person with some exceptional ideas, one of which is that because our national games are indigenous to us and part of our culture, they should be in every single curriculum in every national school in Ireland. 'That's not an unreasonable thing, that's something that we are going to work with camogie to try to achieve. I think that would be massive.'
