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Irish Independent
4 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Meath mix the good, the bad and the battling in draw with Roscommon
GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Round Two Manager Robbie Brennan thought Meath mixed the good with the bad on their way to clinching a knock-out spot from Group 2 in the All-Ireland SFC at Roscommon last Saturday. There were aspects of Meath's play that pleased the boss but he also conceded that there were areas that his charges needed to work on.
The Irish Sun
23-05-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
GAA star ‘won't judge Taoiseach dad's performance if he doesn't scrutinize me' as relationship ‘wouldn't work otherwise'
INSTEAD of emulating his father by pursuing a career in politics, helping Cork to secure a seat on Gaelic football's front bench is at the top of Micheál Aodh Martin's manifesto for now. With his son serving as his county's first-choice goalkeeper, the Taoiseach is often a keen observer from the stands when the Rebels are in action. 2 Mícheál Martin at SuperValu's launch of the GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh Credit: INPHO/Dan Sheridan 2 Cork goalkeeper Micheal Aodh Martin with his father An Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD Credit: Matt Browne/Sportsfile Yet owing to a gentleman's agreement that exists between the pair, appraisals are rarely offered. Micheál Aodh explained: 'We probably have a mutual thing there. I won't scrutinise his performance if he doesn't scrutinise mine! We've probably both learned over the years that it doesn't work otherwise.' A two-time Munster Championship winner with Nemo Rangers , Martin is well accustomed to having his father in attendance whether he is representing club or county. However, rather than a propensity for being an overbearing parent, the Cork goalkeeper understands it is a passion for the games that draws him in. Read More on GAA He said: 'He'd go to all the Even the leader of the country might be finding it tricky these days to source a ticket to watch the Cork hurlers. No such difficulties exist when it comes to getting through the turnstiles for games involving Rebels in the big-ball code. For the third home game in a row, Cork are expected to play in front of more than 40,000 spectators when they take on Waterford in the Munster SHC at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday. Most read in GAA Football For the footballers' most recent outing — the Munster SFC semi-final against Kerry — there was an attendance of 14,358 at the same venue. The hurlers, who won the National League last month and reached the 2024 All-Ireland final, have always been the box-office attraction on Leeside. Limerick GAA fans troll RTE pundit Donal Og Cusack after win over Cork Martin said: 'Our aim and our hope is to be playing in big Championship games that Cork people want to go to and that we draw those crowds. 'But I've been involved with the Cork team since 2015 on and off and this is the way I've always known it. 'It is what it is. We have a small, loyal group of supporters that we care about a lot. There's a small group that will come up to Fermanagh and places and we really value them as well. So I'm not envious. 'It would be great — don't get me wrong — and I hope to get the chance to play in games where we do draw that support. 'But I don't look at it with envy or anything like that.' HURLING STRONGHOLD Particularly to the west of the city , there are sizeable hotbeds of football in Ireland's largest county. Still, for the majority of its That was starkly evidenced when the teams shared the bill for a pair of National League games in March. The hurlers beat But the majority headed for the exits before the footballers took to the field for their loss to Football was responsible for Cork's most recent taste of All-Ireland success at senior level. Sam Maguire headed south 15 years ago, whereas the Liam MacCarthy Cup has been absent since 2005. And Martin, 30, knows that more significant Championship wins would persuade floating voters to row in behind the county's current crop of footballers. But he added: 'There's a geographic divide in Cork as well in terms of the population. 'Sometimes people overestimate maybe what's available in terms of the fanbase. 'I have no doubt we would get great support if we managed to make it far in an All-Ireland series. 'But the reality is, and some of the lads from 2010 would tell you as well, even in their heyday, league games wouldn't have always been packed out even when they won multiple leagues and were in All-Ireland finals. 'To an extent, you just get on with it. 'You focus on yourself really. It doesn't get too much air time for us.' SETTING THE STAGE Another journey through the All-Ireland group stages begins for Cork in Navan tomorrow against Leinster runners-up Meath. While few will lament the passing of the much-maligned format when it is axed at the end of the season, it has been the stage for the Rebels' most significant results of the past decade. After stunning Mayo in 2023, they went on to eliminate Roscommon in the preliminary quarter-finals. And last summer's thriller against Donegal handed Jim McGuinness the first defeat of his second coming as manager of the Ulster champions. The task for John Cleary's side at Páirc Tailteann this weekend is to deliver a level of performance that proves their extra-time epic against Kerry five weeks ago was no fluke. Cork were on course to take a big step closer to a first Munster title in 13 years until Joe O'Connor's thunderbolt of a goal sealed a 3-21 to 1-25 triumph for the Kingdom. It was the third year in a row that only a kick of a ball has separated the neighbours in Championship football. And they will collide again in a Group 2 fixture tomorrow week. But Martin rejects the suggestion that the recent provincial semi-final was as good a chance as this Cork team will ever have of conquering the old enemy again. He insisted: 'That's not the way I'd look at it, no. We beat them in 2020 and subsequently didn't win a Munster Championship. The goal was to win a Munster Championship and Cork haven't won it for a long time. No member of our squad has a Munster medal so that was our goal going into it. 'We fell short and then you just move on and you have to get ready for the All-Ireland series. I don't see it as our chance being gone or anything like that. 'We've been close to them now for probably three years in a row. For us, it's about winning. We have no interest in getting close. We just have to move on now and hopefully have a good All-Ireland series.' For Martin, who works in corporate finance with PwC, succeeding with Cork is a red-line issue. For the time being at least, no great consideration is being given to joining his father as a running mate in the political arena. On the prospect of entering the family business in the future , he said: 'Look, we're all interested in it. Whether I'd have an interest in taking on a role, because I can see what it entails, I haven't thought that far ahead. 'I just have an interest in him and the issues locally. But I'm definitely happy for now in the day job. 'I have an ambition with Cork. I really want Cork football to keep improving. That's my driver at the moment. I'd love to get back into big games.' l MICHEÁL AODH MARTIN was speaking as SuperValu announced a five-year extension of its sponsorship of the All-Ireland SFC.
Irish Examiner
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
No football and hurling hierarchy in Clare, says Ikem Ugwueru
Ikem Ugwueru says the Clare footballers never feel like they are being overshadowed by their hurling counterparts, despite the Banner winning last year's All-Ireland hurling title. Ugwueru, who started the Munster final against Kerry at centre-back, sees the appointment of manager Peter Keane as a sign of their rising status. "We know most of the hurlers too," said Ugwueru. "They're some of our good mates. There'd never be a hierarchy, if you can say it like that. I don't feel like we ever think about the hurlers overshining us. They're in their own battle. We're in our own battle." Clare lost the Munster decider against the Kingdom by 11 points. Ugwueru thought their defence didn't adapt quickly enough to close the space which allowed Kerry score four first half goals. The team felt like they let down Keane against his native county. "But he keeps instilling belief into us," said Ugwueru. "Even after (the Munster final), he's still telling us that it's still down to us that we can achieve anything that we want to achieve. That's the kind of man he is. He will never let a result like that define the year or define him." The Éire Óg Ennis man made his Clare championship debut in 2023. Two years on, partly due to the high turnover of players in the Clare panel, he's one of its more senior members. Pictured are L-R Ikem Ugwueru (Clare), Jemar Hall (Armagh), Mícheál Martin (Cork), David Clifford (Kerry), Cillian McDaid (Galway) and Niall Scully (Dublin) at SuperValu's launch of the GAA All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan "Football has been going where I've been enjoying it," he said. "It's a challenge every year. You might have a different manager, different group of players. We don't know after this year if the same bunch will be there again. And that's another challenge that I'm looking forward to experiencing. "And also leadership roles as well. This year, after losing the 11 players that we did last year, I'm somewhat of a senior player now that I never would have thought I'd be. It's just embracing that as well. "And also showing the youth that you can come through with your best efforts and you never know where you could go. And that's also why I'm part of the SuperValu campaign as well, just to show lads that are not from Irish backgrounds or that have never played the sport before that you should just give your best effort and you never know where you could go." Ugwueru, the first black man to play football for Clare, has been part of SuperValu's campaign to promote diversity and inclusion in the GAA for the last few years. "I was selling an old pair of boots that I had on Depop and one fella actually texted me; he wasn't even trying to buy the boots," he explained. "He was just texting me to ask for tips about football. Because he didn't know how to contact me but he saw my page on the website and he texted me saying that, 'oh, I saw your ad for SuperValu. You've really inspired me. Do you have any tips for gym, fitness and obviously how to be a good defender?' That meant a lot to me." Reaching the Munster final qualified Clare for the Sam Maguire group stages where they will play Louth, Monaghan and Down. In their two previous attempts, they finished bottom of the group and failed to progress. "We're going to try and change that this year," said Ugwueru. That challenge begins this weekend against Down at Cusack Park, where they won all of their Division 3 games this year. "We take massive pride in playing at home," he said. "Getting those home games, you can't take them for granted. You don't get many of them. "We've won all of our games at home (in the league) and we're planning to continue that. The support that we get from Clare supporters is massive and they do a lot for us behind the scenes. Us playing at home, we do it for them really. "They'll see us on the street, they'll come up and tell us good luck and that we should keep going and that we're doing them proud. Things like that, it stands with us."
