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Irish Examiner
5 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Callum Daly revels in putting defence first as Tyrone look to retain U20 All-Ireland crown against Louth
Callum Daly's intuitive understanding and immaculate implementation of the sweeper role is one of many obstacles that Louth will have to contend with if they're to dethrone All-Ireland U20 champions Tyrone in Wednesday's decider. The Omagh man's reading of the game has been a key factor in the Red Hands' progression to another decider and a shot at taking a third title in four years. It was a defensive shut-out that sealed the semi-final victory over Kerry, the collective effort held together by the coolest, calmest man on the pitch. 'I've been playing this role for a few years now, and I suppose I've had a wee bit of success there, which is good. It's just really about protecting the house,' said Daly. 'We always say if we don't concede goals, then we'll win the match, so that's just the main aim. 'You're obviously playing against top players all across the country, and that really improves me as a player.' A defensive unit worked in perfect tandem at Portlaoise, where the holders closed down the Kingdom attack to carve out a 2-14 to 0-14 win. 'We did work on that, we've seen that from the start, from the analysis. And we had it sussed out, and to be fair to Ben Hughes, he did a real good job on Tomas Kennedey, who's obviously a very dangerous player. 'They play a very nice brand of football, but we just knew if we could match their workrate, then our quality would come through, because our forwards and our defenders have just been unbelievable all year. 'And we just knew if we could get that right, then we'd win the match.' Daly has displayed maturity beyond his years in perfecting the role he first took on a couple of years ago as captain of the Omagh CBS MacRory and Hogan Cup winning team. His instinctive approach to the game may be a natural gift, but outside influences have played a part in his development, and it's no coincidence that this rising star's traits bear striking similarities to those of senior defender Rory Brennan. 'Rory would probably be one that I would look up to. I think his reading of the game is exceptional. 'So I just try and mimic stuff that he does, you know, and learn off him.' U20 manager Paul Devlin and his coaching team have mentored many young Tyrone footballers over the past seven years, shaping their future in the game and providing a pathway to a senior career, a route that Daly and a clutch of his team-mats look set to follow. 'It's just testament to the coaching that I have had and the players that I play with, all unbelievable. We work hard at it, and it's just nice that it pays off.' Daly already owns one All-Ireland U20 medal, and he wants to go back-to-back with victory over Louth at the Box-It Athletic Grounds on Wednesday. 'You don't want to come all this way and come second place, you know. So we've got a big few days ahead to prepare for this final.'
The 42
11-05-2025
- Sport
- The 42
What's the secret sauce powering Tyrone's underage football success?
THIS AFTERNOON, THE Tyrone U20 footballers seek to defend their Ulster and All-Ireland titles when they face a Kerry side managed by Tomás Ó Sé. In this century, taking into account the U21 grade as it was, only one side have successfully managed to go back to back with All-Irelands, and that was the Tyrone side of all talents in 2000-01, managed by Mickey Harte, and a group that contained the likes of Brian McGuigan, Cormac McAnallen, Owen Mulligan, Enda McGinley, Ciaran Gourley and so on. A quick look at the recent roll of honour reveals that Tyrone are building another serious winning culture. Since 2019, they have now won five Ulster U20s, the last one achieved against Donegal in Owenbeg a couple of weeks back. They have claimed two out of the last three All-Ireland titles at that grade. They struck for a senior All-Ireland in 2021. Omagh CBS were back to back Hogan Cup champions in 2023-24, while Tyrone have also grabbed two recent Ulster minor titles. How is it done? Fanaticism, basically. Tyrone is the only county in Ireland that has a full-blown media operation exclusively covering their games, county and club, in TeamTalkMag. They endeavour to cover as much as they possibly can and every year hold a black tie event where they hand out their club All-Stars for all levels and all codes. Kevin Kelly is their main journalist and last year he covered 143 games, around 90% of them club, schools and county games involving Tyrone teams. He puts the success down to the level of coaching in clubs and schools, the quality of facilities, competition structures and the loyalty displayed by those that have achieved at county level, still retaining involvement in their clubs. 'You see lads who are involved in county set-ups, nearly every club you have gone to, you see club stalwarts or lads who played county who are coming back full circle and putting something into the clubs,' he says. 'I was up at our grounds (Galbally Pearses) last night. We have four fields and they were all full last night of children. Just one senior team training, the rest of them were minors, U15s getting ready for the Feile finals, U14s, U12s and it's just a sight to behold.' Galbally is a perfect example of a Tyrone club. Aside from Liam Rafferty in recent years, they do not receive much county recognition. But although they are a very remote community, their facilities are incredible. And they also have the benefit of having a figure such as Paddy Tally weighing in whenever his commitments allow. Last year they won a Grade 1 double of league and championship. They were only the sixth and seventh titles they have ever won at Grade 1 underage in their history and understandably meant a great deal. And yet, they don't drop down to Grade 2, where titles might be more forthcoming. 'You have to test yourself and from what I have seen around the majority of clubs, they have the right people in the right place,' says Kelly. Advertisement 'The groundwork is being done at club level. There's no doubt about that. But then when you go to schools, it takes on another level altogether. 'Especially in the east of the county, there are schools in Dungannon, Cookstown, Donaghmore that are all within an eight or nine-mile radius of each other and vying for students. There is a healthy competition there. 'Years ago, there would have been Omagh CBS in the west and Dungannon Academy in the east and that's all there was in college football. 'But the emergence of St Ciaran's Ballygawley and Dean Maguire in Carrickmore, Donaghmore College becoming a mixed school rather than just a girl's school, it means the rivalry there is unreal.' Captain Joey Clarke with the U20 Ulster cup. Lorcan Doherty / INPHO Lorcan Doherty / INPHO / INPHO Take the current Tyrone U20 team, and the side that started the Ulster final against Donegal, and let us examine their exposure to school's football. ***** Conor McAnenly: Won MacRory and Hogan cups with Omagh CBS. Fiachra Nelis: Captain of the Dungannon Academy team beaten in the MacRory final. Ben Hughes: Won an All-Ireland B title with St Joseph's Donaghmore. Conor Devlin: Played in a MacRory cup final with Dungannon Academy. Callum Daly: Won back-to-back Hogan Cups with Omagh CBS. Joey Clarke: Won an All-Ireland B with St Joseph's Donaghmore. Caolan Donnelly: Won a Hogan Cup with Omagh CBS. Conal Devlin: Played in a MacRory Cup semi-final with Holy Trinity. Conor O'Neill: Won an All-Ireland B with St Joseph's Donaghmore. Conal Sheehy: Played in a MacRory Cup final with Dungannon Academy. Eoin McElholm: Won a Hogan Cup with Omagh CBS. Matthew Quinn: Played in a MacRory Cup final with Dungannon Academy. Noah Grimes: Won an All-Ireland B with St Joseph's Donaghmore. Ruairí McCullagh: Won back-to-back Hogan Cups with Omagh CBS. Liam Mossey: Won back-to-back Hogan Cups with Omagh CBS. ***** Take all that into context and the conveyor belt looks incredible. And it's worth noting that in their two MacRory Cup final wins, Omagh CBS beat Tyrone opposition in Holy Trinity Cookstown, and St Patrick's Academy. Now, look at the people involved. Holy Trinity Cookstown have come from playing in the Vocational Schools' competitions and have benefitted from the restructuring of the Ulster Colleges. They have Peter Canavan and 2021 Footballer of the Year Kieran McGeary coaching teams. Former Antrim footballers Kevin O'Boyle and John McKeever, local coach Aidan O'Hagan of Galbally and former Armagh footballer Stefan Forker, and brother of current county captain Aidan. At St Patrick's Academy, Dungannon, Kevin Collins has achieved plenty with various Derry teams. Tyrone All-Ireland winner Ciaran Gourley is the MacRory team manager and is assisted by James Slater. Former All-Ireland winner Collie Holmes, who was a coach of the Tyrone senior team when they won Sam Maguire in 2021, is the principal of the school and also puts on his boots to help with teams. Omagh CBS have Fermanagh manager Kieran Donnelly, and Diarmuid McNulty, who also doubles up as a coach with the county U20 team, along with Ciaran 'Dinky' McBride, former Armagh footballer Finian Moriarty and Pat McNabb of Trillick. Omagh CBS celebrate. Presseye / Matt Mackey/INPHO Presseye / Matt Mackey/INPHO / Matt Mackey/INPHO Even though Omagh came up short in the MacRory Cup in 2025, they still won the Dalton, the Oisin McGrath and Rannafast Cups. The other side of it is that Tyrone club facilities are the envy of the rest of Ireland. Clubs are locked in a perpetual cycle of self-improvement with facilities including stands, dressing rooms, gym and additional pitches constantly being upgraded. It is not unheard of for clubs to raise around £500,000 in infrastructure fundraising drives. And once one phase is complete, there is normally a break for a few years before the cycle repeats itself. 'I drive to different county venues around the country and always notice the club grounds on my way through the various counties. And we in Tyrone take a lot of things for granted,' says Kelly. 'I remember pitches when I was playing and you had to chase sheep or cattle off. It's come a long way. And every club, right down to junior clubs, they would put to shame senior clubs in other counties. 'There's a pride there and it goes back to the competitive nature of club football in Tyrone. League football means a lot in Tyrone. I think that's a big thing that has to be highlighted. In other counties you could be knocking your pan in for fourteen, fifteen games and there's no promotion or relegation at the end of it.' To illustrate the point, a godson of Kelly's was managing a junior club last year. They lost just two games all year; one in the league and then the championship final, so ended up with no silverware, but still achieved promotion to intermediate through a sequence of three games in the play-offs. That's before you get to the passion of the only straight knockout championship left in football (barring, of course, Kilkenny) where thousands of spectators can fit in as many as three games in a day. The Tyrone club championship is ferociously fought. Leah Scholes / INPHO Leah Scholes / INPHO / INPHO All of this according to Mickey Donnelly, who managed Tyrone minors to the 2013 All-Ireland final, might be the underlying reason why the Tyrone senior support is not as strong as it used to be. 'You take your average Tyrone man now,' he explains. 'He might have a child at Go-Games in the morning. Then there could be a minor match at 2pm. After that, the notion of going to Clones for a 6pm throw-in is just too much. 'Added to that, with all these facilities, there could be a club clean-up of the grounds on a Sunday morning, a club Mass, early morning training session, it just becomes your life.' In January of this year, the Tyrone county board were well aware of this trend. Before the first home league game, Club Tyrone produced a fanzine for primary school children on Gaelic Games, with addresses from managers and a request that as many children, along with their parents, would get along to watch Tyrone play this year. It hasn't cut through, with the paltry 6,700 attendance at the Tyrone-Cavan Ulster championship game being a particular low point. But when trees aren't growing taller above ground, they are going deeper with their roots.
RTÉ News
08-05-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
McCusker: Winning the Tailteann Cup would be massive for Fermanagh
For the third successive season, Fermanagh enter the Tailteann Cup as first seeds, but this time around the Erne County are looking to firmly challenge for silverware. Few will be as motivated as long-serving Declan McCusker. The 34-year-old made his championship debut back in 2011 and continues to drive the team from the half-backline. He was part of a Fermanagh side that reached an All-Ireland quarter-final in 2015 and an Ulster decider three years later, but things have been sparse since. A promotion to Division 2 was a significant achievement, but championship days in the sun have been few and far between. A sobering defeat to Down in Ulster means their wait for a provincial win will stretch to eight years, and now the focus in the Tailteann Cup, starting with Sunday's home game against Carlow, with games against Longford (away) and Wexford (neutral) to follow. Despite being among the first seeds, McCusker knows from recent history it hasn't counted for much, with preliminary quarter-final (2023) and quarter-final (2024) defeats to their name. "We've always been a number one seed and sort of come in thinking we are good enough to win it and we've underperformed," he told RTÉ Sport. "Look at some of the other teams, Laois and Antrim have performed really well in the Tailteann Cup and we haven't so that's something we need to try and get right this year." Seven points up – one courtesy of McCusker himself – with eight minutes remaining against Down, the Erne men looked set to break their Ulster hoodoo but were simply unable to halt the shift in momentum at Brewster Park. That loss was a particular blow – "I've had a few bad days but aye, it was brutal" – but he dismisses the notion that there may be a lack of motivation for the secondary football competition. "I don't see the Tailteann as a slog," he says. "A Fermanagh win the Tailteann Cup would be a massive, massive achievement. "We're a very small county and don't have big numbers, so to win any competition in the would be huge. "For 90% of the counties that are in the competition, this is probably the level that they're at and the challenge for a Sam Maguire is a long way away for all the teams, maybe bar one or two. "There's definitely teams in this competition who are good enough to be in the Sam Maguire competition, but to actually challenge to win it, yeah, it's a process maybe for a couple of teams, Kildare and Offaly maybe down the line." "To go into a championship and have a competition that you can actually win, I think it's very important." Key to their prospects is the fitness of key forward Ultan Kelm. He missed the entire league campaign with a hip problem and is continuing his road to recovery. The form of Conor Love has been welcome. The all-action forward notched five points against Down in taking the player of the match award and McCusker says it is something that people within the county have been waiting to happen. "He won a Hogan Cup (2019) and from then he would have been earmarked as the next big forward in Fermanagh and took a year or two out himself," he says. "I think he was in for a year and then he took maybe a year or two out and then came back in last year and he was doing really well. "You're kind of just waiting for him to have that kind of game, waiting for him to explode on the inter-county scene and he was brilliant against Down."
Irish Examiner
06-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
McCullagh, McElholm and Co. out to haunt Kingdom once more
Ruairi McCullagh tormented the Kerry defence in last year's All-Ireland U20 final, kicking five points in Tyrone's demolition of the Kingdom. And he's back, along with strike partner Eoin McElholm, who fired over six scores in the 2024 decider, to take on the Munster champions again in Sunday's semi-final. McCullagh believes the steadying hand and wise counsel of Tyrone's experienced manager Paul Devlin has forged mental strength within his players as they prepare for this weekend's rematch. Now in his eighth season in the role, Devlin has led the Red Hands to five Ulster titles and two All-Irelands, guiding many players along a career path that has seen them become household names. 'He's an incredible man, the best you'll ever come across in terms of a person, and his record speaks for itself,' said McCullagh. 'I'm really delighted to have Paul and the rest of the boys. We have full faith in the whole management as a whole. 'The management has that installed in us. We all have that inner belief, I think it's a Tyrone thing.' The manager is assisted by a group of accomplished coaches, including Diarmaid McNulty, who has played a major role in McCullagh's development as a top-class attacker, helping him win back-to-back MacRory and Hogan Cup medals with Omagh CBS. 'He's a great man to have as well, and success seems to follow him, so we're happy to have that.' Eleven of the players who helped Tyrone to victory over the Kingdom in last year's final will be in action again this weekend, with another couple of the 2024 squad also involved, a measure of the strength of the Red Hand challenge for a third All-Ireland title in four years. And McCullagh has renewed his strike partnership with Loughmacrory clubmate Eoin McElholm. The pair shared a 12-point haul in the spectacular victory over Kerry last season, and are racking up the scores again. 'It's great to have Eoin in there, with the seniors needing him as well, he's a key man for us.' Another Loughmacrory man, Eoin Donaghy, is struggling with injury and remains doubtful for this weekend's showdown. 'He's been so unlucky with injuries this year. He was down to start the semi-final against Derry. We've really done it for him to get him back for the All-Ireland semi-final, hopefully. 'We're going to need him. We're going to need everyone for the big push against Kerry.' Kerry also have a number of survivors from last year's team, all of them relishing the opportunity to atone for last year's defeat, and they've shown their mettle in cruising to another Munster title, routing Cork in the Pairc Ui Chaoimh decider. 'We know they're a very good outfit, so we just have to prepare well, regroup and get ready for them.' McCullagh's sparkling display in the Ulster final, which included a 0-9 tally, helped the holders get past Donegal in an extra-time thriller at Owenbeg. 'We don't really care about who scores, it's all about the team winning the game. So that's the only thing I care about,' he said. The Red Hands went into the provincial decider on the rebound from an eight-point hammering at the hands of Donegal in the group stage, and this time they were ready. 'They thrashed us the first day, we couldn't get near them, but in the final we were far better prepared than them. 'And I felt like we deserved to win the game in the end.' Tyrone had to be prepared to compromise on their attacking philosophy in order to survive in a dogged Ulster decider that frustrated the champions for the best part of an hour, before bursting into life in extra-time. 'It depends on your opposition. You can't just expect to go out and play your own style and win every week, because people are going to have tactics against you, so you have to adapt. 'We had a really good start to the injury time. We just pushed on from there and retained that lead.'
Irish Examiner
29-04-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Familiar with the big occasion, Tansley targets more success
For Kerry U20 captain Michael Tansley, this was a sweet Munster success. The Kingdom ran out 2-15 to 1-10 winners over Cork to complete four in a row for the first time since their manager Tomás Ó Sé was playing the grade in the late nineties. His goalkeeper has now matched that personal achievement of three consecutive Munster medals since graduating from minor. Next up is the matter of equalling Ó Sé's All-Ireland title from 1998. Indeed, the Tim Clarke Cup has only travelled back to Kerry once since then, in 2008. 'It's your first one, good. If it's your second one, even better. And if it's your third one, how bad?' said Tansley after lifting the provincial silverware. 'But look, we will go up to whoever it is, Donegal or Tyrone are going to be a tough opposition, so we're going to have to do our homework on them, and we'll take it from there.' Tansley has plenty of experience with big occasions. He was on the first Mercy Mounthawk team to win the Corn Uí Mhuirí and contested the subsequent Hogan Cup final at Croke Park. And he was minding the net for Austin Stacks' run to Kerry and Munster Intermediate titles last winter. He performed his captain's duties with aplomb, sending the lid of the Noel Walsh Cup flying over his head in the trophy lift before delivering his speech entirely as Gaeilge. 'It's a great feeling, a great honour. We've lots of leaders so it's not too much of a pressure on me but I'm happy to try and lead the group forward,' said Tansley. One of those leaders has been absent in high-scoring attacker Cormac Dillon, due to a hamstring injury. 'We're not sure where he's standing but we'd love to have him back,' Tansley added. 'He's a serious footballer so hopefully we can have him for the next game. 'Even if he can only give us 10 or 15 minutes, it would be brilliant. But we'll see where he lies now in a couple of weeks.' From Tansley's point of view, Kerry showed up strong on kick-outs and in containing Cork's returning star forwards, until a late rally trimmed the final margin from 15 to eight. 'We knew the likes of Sheedy, Myers, and Hayes are serious players so we knew we had to pin in on them, especially, and that we couldn't let go of anyone else. 'They gave us a good doing in midfield the last time we played them so it was good to get on a lot of breaks, win a lot of kick-outs, and credit to all the half-forward line and half-back line for getting in around the big boys in the middle.'
