Latest news with #GaelicAthleticAssociation
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
UK government in 'solution-finding mode' on Casement Park
The UK government is in "solution-finding mode" when it comes to resolving funding for the redevelopment of Casement Park, Stormont's finance minister has said. John O'Dowd was speaking after a meeting in London with Treasury officials ahead of next week's Spending Review. The GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) ground has been lying derelict for more than a decade. Negotiations have been ongoing to determine if the government will make a contribution to the west Belfast stadium. A Spending Review, expected on Wednesday 11 June, will see the government lay out its financial plans for day-to-day spending for the next three years. It has largely been viewed as the juncture when it confirms whether or not it will make a financial contribution to help deliver the stalled plans to redevelop the Gaelic games venue. It is estimated that it would cost at least £260m to build a new stadium, but only around £120m is currently available. Stormont's Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has promised £62.5m from the Stormont executive, the GAA say it will pay £15m while the Irish government has pledged around £43m.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
DUP minister to attend his first GAA match
The Communities Minister Gordon Lyons is set to attend his first Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) match this weekend. Mr Lyons, from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), previously attended a GAA games festival for young people in Antrim but this will be his first senior football fixture since taking up office more than a year ago. The minister, who is responsible for sport in Northern Ireland, has been criticised by the GAA President Jarlath Burns for his failure to attend any senior games. He was invited last year by the GAA to attend the All Ireland final which was won by Armagh, but he was not able to go because of diary commitments. During a trip to Washington in March the minister pledged to attend a match before the end of the season. At the time, he said he had been to GAA clubs, attended GAA events and met GAA officials and had reached out to the organisation about attending a match. Previous DUP ministers who have attended GAA matches include former first minister Arlene Foster who watched the Ulster Final in 2018 and the current Stormont speaker Edwin Poots. Minister Lyons' attendance at this weekend's match comes just weeks ahead of a key decision on the redevelopment of the Casement Park GAA stadium in Belfast. The government is due to announce next month if it plans to provide funding for the project following a Treasury spending review. Despite cash commitments from the Stormont Executive, Irish government and GAA, there is still a £150m funding shortfall for the project which is estimated to cost about £270m. Secretary of State Hilary Benn has said if the government decides to provide funding it will not plug the current gap. Minister apologises for comment at women's sport event Lyons 'needs to show he's minister for all sports' - GAA NI sports minister yet to attend GAA game in role
The Guardian
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Sundance Kid' JP McManus has five shots at Grand National history
For a man who is still most familiar to many fans as the most fearless gambler of recent decades, JP McManus does not seem to be leaving a great deal to chance before Saturday's Grand National at Aintree. Three of the top six in the betting for the world's most famous steeplechase – Iroko, Perceval Legallois and last year's winner, I Am Maximus – will carry the owner's famous green and gold colours this weekend, along with a live each-way shot in Meetingofthewaters. The Sundance Kid – as he was nicknamed in Ireland's betting rings in the 1970s – is now in his mid-70s, but he shows no sign of slowing down. Quite the opposite, in fact. He went into last month's Cheltenham festival as the meeting's all-time leading owner with 78 wins over the course of 43 years since Mister Donovan gave him his first festival winner in 1982. Over the course of just four days, he added six more, including a second Gold Cup victory with Inothewayurthinkin. The nature of the competition in National Hunt racing has changed considerably since McManus bought his first horse in 1977. Owners including the Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary, the former banker Rich Ricci and the construction magnate Brian Acheson have brought serious spending power to what was once a less money-driven cousin to the serious business on the Flat. But the ex-bookie and punter from Limerick, who laid his first bet at his local greyhound track, has more than held his own. More than 200 individual horses have carried his colours – adopted in honour of his local Gaelic Athletic Association club – in the current season, and a piece of racing history is within sight at the weekend, too. McManus is already one of just six owners – including O'Leary, Trevor Hemmings and, interestingly, the legendary Victorian owner-gambler James Machell – to have won the Grand National three times. Victory for any of his runners on Saturday would give him the outright record, in the race that most owners want to win above all others. His three winners to date have all been memorable in their way. Don't Push It, in 2010, finally gave Tony McCoy a victory at the 15th attempt, while Minella Times in 2021 was more significant still, as Rachael Blackmore became the first female jockey to ride the winner. I Am Maximus, meanwhile, was the springboard for Willie Mullins, his trainer, to become the first Irish-based winner of the British jump trainers' championship for 70 years. All three had different trainers, and it is sign of how widely McManus has always spread his horses that two more – Gavin Cromwell, who saddles Perceval Legallois, and the British yard of Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero, who train Iroko – will hope to join the list on Saturday. Chantry House, a 100-1 outsider, is his other runner. More than 60 trainers, in fact, have saddled a runner in green and gold this season, including about 20 British stables. While many owners focus their investment on a handful of trainers, McManus's training fees feed the grassroots as well. Frank Berry, an ex-jockey who has been McManus's racing manager for as long as anyone can remember, is in no doubt about which of the team's horses he would ride at Aintree if he had the chance. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion 'It's hard to get away from Maximus, he's the class horse in the race. We've often had numbers there all right, but they didn't figure at the right end [of the market],' Berry said on Wednesday. 'We've a good team going this year and they're all in good form.' Any one of Iroko, I Am Maximus or Perceval Legallois could set off as the favourite on Saturday afternoon, but if one of the trio does indeed emerge from the pack to head the market, it is unlikely to be McManus's money that puts him there. The great gambler's tilts at the ring have largely been consigned to history, along with the handful of much-missed figures in the bookmaking jungle who were more than willing to take him on. The ebb and flow of his six-figure jousting with 'Fearless' Freddie Williams at Cheltenham around the turn of the century became the stuff of festival legend, including the day when McManus relieved his bookie of nearly £1m with a £100k bet on a winning favourite at 6-1 and £2k each-way on a successful 50-1 shot in the Pertemps Final. Perhaps the business of amassing a $2bn fortune through Forex trading and property investments has also removed the need to have a bet on his horses. Racing history, meanwhile, is another way to measure success, though Berry suggests it is the last thing on the owner's mind. 'Not at all,' he says, when asked if a fourth National winner would be a special moment for McManus. 'He enjoys the horses running in the big races and all races, and having a winner anywhere around the country.'
BBC News
28-02-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Taylor-Serrano 3 at Croke Park 'unlikely'
Eddie Hearn admits it is "unlikely" that Croke Park will stage Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano's trilogy fight. Taylor, 38, edged out Puerto Rican star Serrano in a second classic contest in their rematch in Texas two months ago as the Irishwoman successfully defended her undisputed light-welterweight world Hearn has been attempting to set up a Taylor contest at the famous 82,000 capacity Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) stadium in Dublin for several years but has been unable to agree terms with GAA January, Hearn said he was determined to help Taylor achieve her ambition of fighting at Croke, but sounded more downbeat when asked on Friday. "I think it's unlikely that her next fight will be at Croke Park if I'm honest," Hearn told Radio Ulster's Evening Extra programme."Because of the demand in America to see this fight, the next one could be Stateside. But we'll see." Hearn previously said Croke Park and Las Vegas bouts would "tick off the list of boxes for Katie Taylor"."Hopefully we can tick one of those boxes next, but even at this point I think Katie acknowledges that we're probably approaching the final chapter."She's given everything to this sport. She is one of the greatest individuals and greatest athletes, not just that Ireland's ever seen but the world has ever seen. "I'm very determined to make sure we can deliver all her dreams before she steps away from the sport."Hearn was speaking before Saturday night's card at the SSE Arena with Belfast's Lewis Crocker taking on Limerick's Paddy Donovan in the headline bout. "The atmosphere is very special here," Hearn added when asked about Belfast's rich history of boxing. "If you put an average show on you'll sell an average amount of tickets but the people here, they know their boxing and when there's a big event, they'll come, like they will tomorrow night."It is an all-Irish fight and the winner goes on to fight for a world title in the welterweight division, which has huge names like Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, Teofimo Lopez and Jaron Ennis so this is a golden ticket for whoever can win tomorrow."
BBC News
27-02-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Casement Park: 'Easy to blame a unionist minister', says Lyons
Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has hit back at claims that he has helped to create a "hostile atmosphere" for the GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association).Lyons has been criticised by the GAA president Jarlath Burns over his handling of the stalled redevelopment of Casement Park stadium in west minister said it was "very easy to blame a unionist minister" and insisted the hold-up was not his said that £17m had been spent preparing for the full redevelopment of the Casement site. Last week, Burns pointed to a range of issues facing the GAA and added: "We are operating in a very hostile environment, there's no doubt about it, and it's disappointing to say that because of all the work we do reaching out."At a meeting on Thursday of the Communities committee at Stormont, this was put to Lyons by Sinn Féin MLA Nicola responded: "I certainly wouldn't agree with that characterisation at all, that there is any way a hostile environment towards Jarlath or the GAA."I can understand his frustration. I can understand why after 14 years of no action being taken that he is frustrated but there is certainly not a hostile environment that I am presiding over within this department."When he has requested to meet with me, I have met with him. Officials engage regularly, at least once a month on this issue." 'Pushing forward' The minister added: "He may well be under pressure from within his organisation as well, and I understand that."I don't think it is right to say that there is a hostile environment."It can be very easy sometimes to blame politicians, very easy to blame a unionist minister but that simply doesn't match up with the reality of what we've been doing in the department."Brogan responded by saying Lyons should be "pushing forward" the Casement said: "I can totally understand the frustration of both Jarlath and Gaels right across the north at delays to this, and I do think as communities minister, it is your job to carry on that executive flagship project and see this project actually delivered." The Casement Park redevelopment is in limbo due to a lack of GAA estimates it would cost £260m to build a 34,500-capacity new stadium, but only around £120m is currently has said he stands by a long-standing Stormont commitment to spend £62.5m on the project and has asked the Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn how much the London government is willing to he receives an answer, he says he will meet again with the has offered £15m to the project, while the Irish government has pledged around £ to build the stadium in time to host matches at the Euro 2028 soccer tournament were scuppered last year by the funding has been criticised by nationalist politicians for not yet attending a senior GAA match during more than a year in office.
