Latest news with #Dublin-Kildare
Irish Examiner
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Repetition, repetition and more repetition: Why the GAA are ditching the 'Super 16' format
For a man who bemoaned the imminent departure of the 'Super 16' before the Ulster final, Kieran McGeeney didn't sound completely chuffed with it after yet another agonising defeat. 'We've been in the group of death for the past two years, so what's a third one?' he mentioned of Armagh's fate meeting Derry, Dublin and Galway after losing to Donegal last Sunday week. 'It's a tough one.' Once more, Armagh and their manager will front up. This weekend, they face Derry in the round-robin stages for the second year in a row, the third consecutive season they have faced Ulster opposition in this phase of the championship. Over the same period, Kerry have faced just one northern team, Monaghan last year. McGeeney's point about the current format is that it works. 'Leave the bloody thing alone – it was the best format ever,' he said earlier this year. 'Going on about jeopardy, you talk to any manager or any player… the Super 16s? You were worried about every score, never mind every game. Every point was important because right up until the last game you could be sitting top, you lose the last game you could be down to third. It's nonsense.' But leaving aside McGeeney's masochism, there are some extremely good reasons why the GAA have decided to ditch it in favour of an enhanced qualifier system next season: 1. Repeat fixtures, repeat results. As the only repeat fixture avoided in the draw is a provincial final meeting, the format has thrown up a number of quick rematches: the Cork-Kerry clash on Sunday week comes six weeks after the counties's Munster semi-final, while Cavan meet Tyrone next month having previously contested an Ulster quarter-final in April. Those games follow Donegal-Tyrone and Roscommon-Mayo last year and in 2023 Dublin-Kildare and Tyrone-Monaghan. In those four rematches, none of the teams beaten in the provincial clash has exacted revenge, Monaghan coming closest by drawing their All-Ireland game. The last team to avenge a provincial result in the All-Ireland series was Armagh against Donegal three years ago. 2. Repeat pairings. Next month, Armagh will face Galway in the group stages for the third consecutive year, their fifth SFC meeting since 2022. Louth and Monaghan are joined again and also for the second year in a row, Ulster champions Donegal commence their All-Ireland pursuit with a home game against Tyrone. By beating Meath last Sunday week, Louth avoided a third year facing Kerry. 3. Repeatedly unfair. This weekend's eight teams only have a one-week turnaround to their Round 2 fixtures whereas their opponents have enjoyed a two-week break. Of the 16 Round 2 results in 2023 and '24 Round 2 results, the team with the shortest preparation period won seven times and several of them were no surprises. 4. Repeatedly unfair Mark II. As we know, this structure was effectively killed off when Derry and Roscommon last year earned their place in the knock-out stages off the back of one victory in four championship games. Monaghan, who added a draw to their sole victory, weren't much better in their qualification. Although they have better chances to win more than once this time around especially Monaghan, that remains a possibility for Derry and Gabriel Bannigan's men. 5. Repeatedly predictable. The group stages have become a little formulaic these past couple of seasons. In both 2023 and '24, Armagh, Dublin and Kerry earned automatic All-Ireland quarter-final places, while five of the eight preliminary quarter-final spots were populated on both occasions by Cork, Galway, Mayo, Monaghan and Roscommon. Armagh and Dublin obviously can't both go straight through to the last-eight this year but otherwise it could be more of the same.
Irish Examiner
06-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Cork and Waterford to wear shorts in Munster camogie final
Cork and Waterford senior camogie players are expected to wear shorts as a form of protest in Saturday's Munster final in The Ragg. Following on from Dublin and Kilkenny's attempt to highlight the lack of choice regarding skorts by initially wearing shorts in Blanchardstown last Saturday, Cork and Waterford are set to do the same at the Tipperary venue this weekend. Speaking on Newstalk's Lunchtime show on Tuesday, Cork star Hannah Looney indicated they would be following suit. 'I can't speak on behalf of all our players at the moment, because we haven't sat down and had that vote similar to how Kilkenny and Dublin addressed it last week, but I'm sure we will be looking to take similar action at the weekend,' she said. Looney added that they too wanted to make their point considering 70% of inter-county players who responded to a GPA survey find wearing skorts uncomfortable and 83% want the choice of donning either skorts or shorts. 'I think it's important that we do shine a light to it again this weekend while it's a hot topic.' Read More Kieran Shannon: Camogie stance on skorts is insulting its players and hurting the sport Meanwhile, Sunday's Leinster SFC final between Louth and Meath in Croke Park is set to attract a bumper crowd in excess of 50,000. Both counties are reporting significant uptake in tickets ahead of their first provincial decider meeting in 15 years. That infamous 2010 clash drew a crowd of 48,875 to GAA HQ and the rematch is in line to be the largest for a provincial showdown since the Dublin-Kildare Leinster final of 2017, which recorded an attendance of 66,734. No provincial final has come close to that figure since then. In 2019, 47,027 watched Dublin trounce Meath to claim a ninth straight Leinster title. The closest to that figure outside Leinster since then was the Tyrone-Down Ulster showdown that same year, which brought 31,912 to Clones before the capacity of the St Tiernach's Park was scaled down following healthy and safety measures. Saturday evening's Armagh-Donegal Ulster SFC final in the Monaghan town will be a 29,000 sell-out. Tickets for the Clare-Tipperary Munster SHC Round 3 game in Ennis are also in high demand with an anticipated crowd similar to the 20,778 who were in attendance for last month's Cork game. No tickets are currently available on public sale for Sunday week's Limerick-Cork Munster SHC Round 4 game in TUS Gaelic Grounds, which is expected to reach the stadium's 41,000 capacity.
Irish Examiner
06-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Leinster SFC final set to attract over 50,000 to Croke Park
Sunday's Leinster SFC final between Louth and Meath in Croke Park is set to attract a bumper crowd in excess of 50,000. Both counties are reporting significant uptake in tickets ahead of their first provincial decider meeting in 15 years. That infamous 2010 clash drew a crowd of 48,875 to GAA HQ and the rematch is in line to be the largest for a provincial showdown since the Dublin-Kildare Leinster final of 2017, which recorded an attendance of 66,734. No provincial final has come close to that figure since then. In 2019, 47,027 watched Dublin trounce Meath to claim a ninth straight Leinster title. The closest to that figure outside Leinster since then was the Tyrone-Down Ulster showdown that same year, which brought 31,912 to Clones before the capacity of the St Tiernach's Park was scaled down following healthy and safety measures. Saturday evening's Armagh-Donegal Ulster SFC final in the Monaghan town will be a 29,000 sell-out. Tickets for the Clare-Tipperary Munster SHC Round 3 game in Ennis are also in high demand with an anticipated crowd similar to the 20,778 who were in attendance for last month's Cork game. No tickets are currently available on public sale for Sunday week's Limerick-Cork Munster SHC Round 4 game in TUS Gaelic Grounds, which is expected to reach the stadium's 41,000 capacity.
