Latest news with #JamesConlon
Irish Times
31-05-2025
- General
- Irish Times
Second-half Roscommon revival salvages a draw against Meath
All-Ireland SFC: Roscommon 2-15 Meath 0-21 Enda Smith spearheaded Roscommon's revival as Davy Burke's men overturned a five-point interval deficit to keep their chances of progression from Group 2 alive. A pulsating game between two evenly-matched teams saw both sides spurn chances to win it after Ruairí Kinsella brought the sides level with six minutes remaining. All of Roscommon's five second-half scores with the wind at their backs came from two-pointers, with Smith kicking three of them, while top scorer Diarmuid Murtagh added another brace. James Conlon was superb for the visitors in the opening half with 0-6, including a two-pointer, but Smith was his side's hero after the break. READ MORE Ruairí Kinsella raised his side's first orange flag with the outside of his right boot in the fifth minute before Eoghan Frayne opened up a three-point gap after the visitors capitalised on a Roscommon turnover But Roscommon wiped out that deficit when Senan Lambe set up Diarmuid Murtagh for a well-taken goal after seven minutes. Dylan Ruane nudged his side in front after Roscommon worked the ball upfield from goalkeeper Conor Carroll but the excellent James Conlon – who scored 0-5 from play during a productive opening 35 minutes – got off the mark to bring the sides level. Meath's Jordan Morris and Roscommon's Senan Lambe. Photograph: Evan Logan/Inpho In the 15th minute, Roscommon struck for a second goal when Shane Cunnane found Ben O'Carroll raiding in behind the Meath rearguard, and the St Brigid's forward produced an assured finish past Billy Hogan. Meath began to win the midfield battle, and Roscommon's cause wasn't helped by the loss of Niall Higgins to injury. Conlon added a couple of rapid-fire points before Daire Cregg replied for the Rossies after Lambe grabbed primary possession in the middle of the park. But Meath began to flex their muscles, mostly off Roscommon turnovers and their dominance around the middle. Conlon and Conor Duke sent over a couple of two-pointers in jig time, while Jordan Morris also found the range to open up a 0-12 to 2-3 gap. Menton arced over the Royals' fourth two-pointer of the half, and Conlon soon added to his tally to stretch his side's buffer to six points. Cregg grabbed a much-needed score for Roscommon before Morris and Ciaráin Murtagh – a free on the hooter – left it 0-16 to 2-5 in favour of Meath at the change of ends. Meath's Bryan Menton and Roscommon's Pearse Frost. Photograph: Evan Logan/Inpho The second half was laden with drama as Smith put a missed 41st-minute penalty behind him to lead his side's charge. Billy Hogan's 46th-minute two-point free from 45 metres, following earlier points from Seán Coffey and Frayne, left Meath 0-20 to 2-9 ahead, but Robbie Brennan's side would only trouble the scoreboard once more. Diarmuid Murtagh kicked a couple of two-pointers, while Smith added another to leave the Rossies ahead by the bare minimum with nine minutes remaining. Kinsella restored parity, and it took a last-ditch block from Seán Rafferty to deny Ben O'Carroll after Mathew Costello had hit the post at the other end. ROSCOMMON: C Carroll, N Higgins, C Neary, D Murray; R Daly, B Stack, S Lambe (0-0-1); E Nolan, S Cunnane; D Ruane (0-0-1), C Murtagh (0-0-1, 1f), E Smith (0-3-0); D Murtagh (1-2-0), D Cregg (0-0-2), B O'Carroll (1-0-0). Subs: P Frost for Higgins (14), D Smith for C Murtagh (49), C McKeon for Ruane (49), K Doyle for Nolan (57), R Fallon for Lambe (64). MEATH: B Hogan (0-1-0, 1tpf); S Lavin, S Rafferty, B O'Halloran; D Keogan, S Coffey (0-0-1), C Caulfield; A O'Neill, B Menton (0-1-0); C Duke (0-1-0), R Kinsella (0-1-1), M Costello (0-0-1, 1f); J Morris (0-0-2), J Conlon (0-1-4), E Frayne (0-0-2). Subs: C Hickey for Duke (55), K Curtis for Frayne (59), C Gray for Menton (64), J McEntee for Lavin (65), E Harkin for O'Neill (67). Referee: P Faloon (Down).
Associated Press
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Domingo Hindoyan to become music director of LA Opera for 2026-27 season
NEW YORK (AP) — Domingo Hindoyan will succeed James Conlon as music director of the LA Opera and start a five-year contract on July 1, 2026. The appointment of the 45-year-old Venezuelan-Armenian, the husband of soprano Sonya Yoncheva, was announced Friday night. Conlon has been music director since 2006-07 and said in March 2024 that he will retire after after the 2025-26 season. 'LA is a city that is known by innovation, taking risks in productions and musically,' Hindoyan said in New York, where his wife is currently singing at the Metropolitan Opera. 'The idea is to do new pieces, commissions and modern pieces, something to really have a balance between what is classic and go further as much as we can.' Hindoyan will conduct two productions in 2026-27 and three in each of the following four seasons, LA Opera President Christopher Koelsch said. Koelsch hopes Hindoyan can lead works with Yoncheva, who has not sung a staged production at the LA Opera. Like other companies, the LA Opera has struggled with increased costs following the pandemic and scrapped a planned pair of world premieres over finances. Tenor and conductor Plácido Domingo was a key figure in fundraising for the company as general director from 2003-19. 'Part of my job as a music director and the job of any musician is to really take care of the art form as much as we can,' Hindoyan said, 'not only on stage, not only studying at home (but also) the connection with the community and the connection to the donors.' Hindoyan was born in Caracas, played violin and is a product of El Sistema, the Venezuelan music education system that was instrumental in the careers of Gustavo Dudamel and Rafael Payare. He was an assistant to Daniel Barenboim at Berlin's Staatsoper unter den Linden. 'Given Barenboim's extremely exacting standards, I was impressed that he had that job and held onto that job,' Koelsch said. 'And then I saw a performance of 'Tosca' and was kind of immediately struck by the elegance of the baton technique and just the sort of the absolute clarity of what he was conveying.' Hindoyan has been chief conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic since the 2021-22 season. He first conducted the LA Opera last November in Gounod's 'Roméo et Juliette.' 'There's a kind of a natural warmth and charisma to him. In my experience, he almost always coaxes the best out of people,' Koelsch said. 'The 'Roméo' run for me was kind of a test run of how those qualities resonated inside our building, how it worked with the orchestra and the chorus and the administration and the audiences.'
Irish Examiner
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
'They wanted him to play': James Conlon misses grandfather's funeral to help Meath beat Cork
Robbie Brennan praised James Conlon as he missed his grandfather's funeral to line out for Meath in this opening All-Ireland SFC, Group 2 victory over Cork. With the wishes of his family, Conlon lined out and scored two points as The Royals bounced back from their Leinster SFC final loss to Louth 13 days's earlier. Brennan gushed: 'For James Conlon, obviously to miss his grandfather's funeral today to play the match, I don't know how he did it, but I was so proud of him, and I know his family are a big footballing family and they really wanted him to play, and they should all be very, very proud of him today. 'You wouldn't have known, his preparation was phenomenal. Obviously, we knew earlier during the week, but there was never a doubt that he wasn't going to play, and that's what you get I suppose when you have a football family. To actually go out and perform like he did, he got a brilliant score at one stage there in the second half, so absolutely delighted for him.' Read More John Cleary rues Cork losing midfield battle to Meath The hangover from the Leinster final was certainly evident in the first 27 minutes as Meath scored twice from 12 scoring opportunities. That disappointment took several days to get over, Brennan conceded. 'I think you're never sure coming off a defeat, the occasion and Croke Park and all that kind of stuff. It was, apart from the result, it was brilliant and a great experience, but you're never sure. "If you'd been honest, training mightn't have been as good as we would have liked. There was a little bit of sloppiness and stuff like that, so the first half probably wasn't a surprise maybe, because there was definitely some signs of that in training. "However, we were creating the chances, which was still also encouraging, and then the end of the first half, that bit of magic from Jordie (Morris's goal) I think just gave us that bit of confidence again to go at it again and reset.' Only three up at half-time despite enjoying the strong wind, Brennan was concerned. 'Not too dissimilar to Dublin, only that we didn't take our chances obviously, but we still had the same gameplan coming out of the second half. 'Second half then, with the wind in your face, I think it faded a little bit with that rain, but it was a real dirty battle, a lot of loose ball, a lot of scrappy ball.'
RTÉ News
11-05-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
James Conlon a key man for Meath if Croker calm descends
The new Gaelic football rules introduced this year are clearly complimenting Meath's young squad, with the standout element in their attack en route to the final being their ability to convert and confidence to let loose from outside the traditional scoring zone. To go with that, Meath have won exactly half of their opposition's total kickouts so far in this Leinster campaign, generally by forcing a long option and committing numbers to fiercely contest the breaks. Against Dublin, Meath won 15 of Cluxton's 27 restarts. However in the likely scenario where the wind will not have a similar bearing on their chance to win a first provincial title since 2010 - they will also be looking to the inside brilliance of James Conlon to deliver the crucial scores via regular one pointers. Particularly if Louth look to push out on their two-point shooters or commit more numbers to the breaks on kickouts, leaving additional space inside for Conlon to potentially exploit. Despite starting just one of Meath's three championship matches along with one substitute appearance which came in the 61st minute - Conlon comes into the Leinster final as Meath's top scorer from play with 1-07. He's also scored more from play than any Louth player on their way to a third consecutive final. Since making his debut in 2019 as a 21-year-old - the St Colmcilles attacker delivered on the promise of his five points from play as the Meath minors beat Dublin in 2016 when scoring 0-05 from play against Laois in his first senior championship start - Conlon has only started 13 more games league and championship in seven seasons.
Irish Daily Mirror
27-04-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Colm Boyle column: Magic Meath day but Dublin lacked hunger, belief and class
Wow. I wrote here two weeks ago that the life seemed to be back in the Leinster Championship. My God, it's absolutely electric now. What an incredible day for Meath football. They have received hammering after hammering by Dublin over the last 14 years but yesterday they decided enough was enough. Their supporters didn't believe it was possible, based on the attendance, but crucially the Meath players believed this was possible and delivered a performance that will be remembered for years to come. This wasn't a fluke. Meath were the better team from start to finish. With a strong breeze behind them they set their stall out early. They crucified the Dublin kick-out with Brian Menton dominant and Meath players ravenous on the breaks. Dublin were all at sea but their full-back line in particular were been taken to the cleaners by the brilliant James Conlon and Eoghan Frayne. Conor Tyrrell was replaced before half-time but, to be fair to him, he had absolutely no protection. Even the return to the starting line- up of John Small led to no structure in the Dublin defence. Conlon is a real livewire. He looks like a nightmare to mark and even though he had a quieter second half, he came up with a crucial play with a brilliant ball across to Aaron Lynch for a late score that proved vital. Despite being 12 points up at half time, it was always going to come down to the wire against the breeze. Meath had to dig deep and the seven points they got were absolutely crucial. When Cormac Costello goaled to bring it back to a six-point game with 13 minutes left, it looked like the Dubs would reel Meath in. Crucially, Shane Walsh rose brilliantly to win Billy Hogan's next kickout to relive some pressure and stem the tide. Meath were brilliant on their own kick-out in the second half which meant Dublin never really got a chance to keep them pinned in. Their defence was superb and huge turnovers by the likes of Sean Rafferty and Donal Keogan kept the energy in the Royal effort. The Dubs are a pale shadow of their former selves. The amount of cheap turnovers and basic mistakes were so uncharacteristic of Dublin teams in years gone by. They didn't look like they had the hunger, the belief or the class to win this game. There looks to be too many holes in this Dublin team for them to be considered All-Ireland contenders. The response to this defeat in the All-Ireland series will be fascinating all the same. But the story is all about Meath. It's a magic day for them and Robbie Brennan's next big job is getting his team back down to earth for a Leinster final against Meath in two weeks' time. What a cracking game between Armagh and Tyrone on Saturday with a dramatic ending. With Tyrone trailing by two points coming into the last 10 minutes, referee David Gough made a harsh call on steps against Armagh's Ross McQuillan. This was punished down the other end by Peter Harte who hit a brilliant two pointer to level the game. Kieran McGeeney then lost his cool on the sideline and his team were punished by a Darren McCurry two point free as a result. In the space of two minutes Armagh had gone from two points up to two points down. McGeeney's frustration was a build-up of what I thought was a number of soft frees that went Tyrone's way in the second half. It gave them a platform to get back into a game they looked out of midway through the second half. In fairness to Gough, I felt he got the two big calls right coming down the stretch. The first one was when Michael McKernan took on Stefan Campbell down the end line, in an attempt to win a free. McKernan lifted his arm up and tried to pull Campbell down on top of him. A free to Tyrone at that stage would a have put them three up with four to play but Gough correctly gave the free to Armagh which led to Jarly Og Burns cutting the gap to one down at the other end. It was a brilliant play by Campbell who kicked the leveller a few minutes later. He is the modern day GAA's version of Ole Gunnar Solskaer. No player affects games more than him when coming off the bench. He doesn't look like the type of fella that sulks and moans about not starting. He is the ultimate team player and the respect for him in that Armagh dressing room must be huge. The biggest call of all was the Peter Harte tackle on Conor Turbitt after the hooter had gone. It was a stonewall free. I can't believe some people think it's not a foul. Harte made absolute no attempt to tackle Turbitt, colliding into him with his two knees. Armagh's composure in the last three to four minutes proves they are a team brimming with confidence after lifting Sam last year. Louth needed to show all the grit they have built up over the last few years to see off Kildare in Tullamore yesterday. For long stages, I though Kildare were the better team. They were brilliant in the first 15 minutes especially, and Louth looked usually flat. The game nearly ebbed and flowed on the battle of Tommy Durnin and Kevin Feeley in the middle of the pitch, which was a throwback. Feeley started the game on the front foot and Kildare raced into a six-point lead. When Durnin turned the screw midway through the first half, Louth got a grip on the game and Sam Mulroy and Craig Lennon hit six points between them to get them level. When the game was in the melting pot and Louth leading by one, Durnin rose over Feeley and caught a massive kick-out. He ended up finishing the move with a monster of a two-pointer to put Louth in their third Leinster final in a row. Kildare will be gutted but there was steel in that performance which give them something to build on in the Tailteann Cup.
