Latest news with #JimMcGuinness
Irish Independent
a day ago
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Colm Keys: Much unites Kerry and Donegal but this final is still a distinct clash of styles
In his autobiography Jim McGuinness made the strangest admission about the 2014 All-Ireland football final which Donegal lost to Kerry.
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
New rules mean new preparations for Donegal and what else we learned from the GAA weekend
Jim McGuinness's media duties were finishing up on Sunday, with Robbie Brennan ready outside the press room under the Hogan Stand, when he stopped for one last question. Since everything is measured these days, could he put a number at all on the increased demands on players in the new games? Now. This is a bee the Donegal manager has kept safely housed in his bonnet since the start of the league, regularly letting it out for air without ever letting go of it. He has been adamant throughout that the game the FRC had come up with was designed for 'playing under fatigue, all the time.' So he wasn't going to let this pitch sail by. 'The game has increased, I'd say, by about 80 per cent to 100 per cent on last year alone in terms of the physical attributes that are required in the game,' McGuinness said after their hammering of Meath. 'They're doing more distance in games, but their explosive distances have almost doubled. 'So the challenge is absolutely massive. It is a different game now and it's a different era as well. And we've had to – and I have had to – make adjustments to that in terms of how we train and the length of time we train. Paddy (McBrearty) may or may not agree, but we would definitely not go after training sessions to the level that we would have been 10 years ago.' READ MORE Donegal's Patrick McBrearty in action against Meath on Sunday. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho McBrearty, his captain, was sitting beside him at this point and made a brave attempt to nod along in agreement as McGuinness continued. 'Because they're so finely tuned now,' the Donegal manager said. 'I think most of the work now – or a lot of work now – happens in the gym. You can see from the numbers the whole way around the country, there's a lot of serious injuries out there at the moment. 'People are so explosive and strong and powerful, they're putting so much torque through their body that if you put them into a state of fatigue on a consistent basis, something has to give. The strength and the power is there, but the fatigue is also there. 'So I think we've done a good job with managing that and trying to keep them, without going over the top in our training, keep them in a good place, keep them fresh and keep building that way. That might surprise some people, but we're definitely not the team that's been talked about in terms of massively long sessions and 'whipping guys'. That's not the case.' – Malachy Clerkin To boldly go Donegal equalled the longest season in the football championship by playing a 10th match on Sunday. The All-Ireland final will consequently set a new mark of 11 fixtures. This demanding schedule began on April 6th with an Ulster preliminary round against Derry and proceeded through the province through the challenges of Monaghan, Down and, in the final, Armagh on May 11th. Four matches (plus extra time in the final) in five weeks. They were back in action in just under a fortnight – 13 days – to play Tyrone in what has been their only defeat so far. It also commenced a schedule of five matches in 35 days – that defeat in Ballybofey costing Donegal leadership of the All-Ireland Group 1 which necessitated a preliminary quarter-final. There was controversy when Jim McGuinness's side were scheduled to play Monaghan six days later. Oisín Gallen celebrates scoring a goal for Donegal against Meath. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho Sunday's semi-final had allowed for 15 days' rest and the team looked full of energy for the task. They will now have a further fortnight's break before that record 11th match. Historian Pádraig Ferguson points out that evidence from previous 10-match championships hasn't been uniformly great for the teams involved. On four occasions, the 10th outing, always an All-Ireland final, ended in defeat – in 1991 when Meath, after the famous four-match saga with Dublin earlier in the summer, lost to Down; in 2017 when Mayo were beaten by Dublin, who also defeated Tyrone a year later, and then last year when Galway lost to Armagh. Tyrone in 2005 provide a counterbalance after they required replays in the Ulster semi-final against Cavan, the final with Armagh and the All-Ireland quarter-final against Dublin before winning their 10th outing, against Kerry. The All-Ireland final will be Kerry's ninth fixture, concluding a very Ulster-centric run of knockout wins over Cavan, Armagh and Tyrone. – Seán Moran Effervescent ever-presents In their 10 championship games to date, seven Donegal players have started every match – Finbarr Roarty, Brendan McCole, Ryan McHugh, Ciarán Moore, Ciarán Thompson, Shane O'Donnell and Michael Murphy. A further five have featured in all 10 games while they did not start every match – Peadar Mogan, Daire Ó Baoill, Conor O'Donnell, Patrick McBrearty and Oisín Gallen. But only one player has scored in all 10 of Donegal's championship games so far – that newcomer Michael Murphy. Donegal's Michael Murphy challenges for a high ball with Meath's Adam O'Neill. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho In contrast, only four Kerry players have started all eight of the Kingdom's championship games – Jason Foley, Gavin White, Joe O'Connor and David Clifford. Three more players have featured in every match – Dylan Casey, Killian Spillane and Dylan Geaney. Only one Kerry player has scored in all of their championship games – David Clifford. After all this time, Murphy and Clifford leading the way. The cream always rises. – Gordon Manning Worth the wait At the beginning of the season nobody in Kerry saw Joe O'Connor as the answer at centrefield. In his best game of the league against Armagh he was stationed at number 10, which is where Kerry would have seen his season panning out. By the time Kerry played Cork in the Munster semi-final, though, they had run out of options. Diarmuid O'Connor was injured and Jack Barry, his partner in recent seasons, had emigrated. Kerry people also didn't need reminding that Cillian Burke and Mark O'Connor had been spirited off to the AFL. Against Cork, Barry Dan O'Sullivan made his first championship start at 29 years of age, nearly 10 years after he made his first appearance in the league. But just a few weeks later he was knocked out by a knee injury. By process of elimination Joe O'Connor was suddenly the senior man. Joe O'Connor during Sunday's semi-final against Meath. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho He was immense against Cork, just as he was against Tyrone on Saturday. In Páirc Uí Chaoimh he scored the winning goal in extra-time and was involved in the other two Kerry goals. On Saturday his powerful running yielded two close range points that could just as easily have ended up in the net. Kerry's need for an fear laidir at centrefield had been met by outstanding players in an extraordinary sequence. Between the late 1950s and the early years of this decade, Mick O'Connell, Jack O'Shea, Darragh Ó Sé and David Moran played nearly 250 championship matches between them and none of them played for less than 13 seasons. Since Moran's retirement at the end of 2022 that void has not been filled to anyone's complete satisfaction. Maybe it will be now. – Denis Walsh On the road again Away from Croke Park, there was an All-Ireland title on the line on Sunday and an All-Ireland winner came out on top. Ethan Rafferty, the Armagh goalkeeper, has for years been a fixture on the road bowls scene and in Castletownkenneigh, Co Cork, he finally became senior All-Ireland singles champion. Who says there are no dual players in Armagh? Rafferty, who won the intermediate All-Ireland last year the day after Armagh beat Kerry to qualify for the football final, had no other duties to detain him this time around and proceeded to knock off the senior title by beating Cork's Arthur McDonagh. Armagh's Ethan Rafferty added another All-Ireland title to his collection on Sunday. Photograph: Leah Scholes/Inpho There was a big Gaelic games face-off in the women's intermediate final too, where Armagh camogie captain Gemma McCann edged out the former Cork football great Juliet Murphy. Road bowls is such a thrilling sport with such a long and storied history, it seems a bit of a shame that its hinterland is mostly to be found in small pockets of Cork and Armagh. Rafferty won't mind though. Serial All-Ireland champions tend not to worry about much. – Malachy Clerkin
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Green and gold summer as Kerry and Donegal set up football decider
We have ourselves a green and golden All-Ireland football final, Kerry and Donegal booking their slots in Sunday week's decider after seeing off Tyrone and Meath at the weekend. Two 'underwhelming' semi-finals they were too, as Seán Moran puts it in his report on Donegal's 20-point triumph , Kerry made to work harder by Tyrone, but, writes Gordon Manning, steered home by David Clifford who was in 'gluttonous form' . A year ago, Michael Murphy was working as a TV pundit, having hung up his boots. Then he decided to come back 'to help in every way possible that I could.' His part in reviving Donegal has, says Malachy Clerkin, been 'immense'. As, of course, has that of Jim McGuinness, Gordon hearing from the manager and Paddy McBrearty after the game. And Seán got the thoughts of a highly delighted Kerry manager Jack O'Connor , who's now through to his seventh – seventh! – final. Just as chuffed were the footballers of Kildare , Paul Keane reporting on their victory over Limerick in the Tailteann Cup final. The focus now shifts back to hurling ahead of next Sunday's final, Denis Walsh looking at the history of the Cork v Tipperary rivalry . 'On the stairway to eternity, Cork and Tipp matches were forever jostling for favour.' READ MORE Gerry Thornley brings us the latest from the Lions tour, Hugo Keenan finally making his debut in the 48-0 win over an AUNZ Invitational XV . ' Getting off the jacks was an issue ,' he revealed when asked about the bug that laid him low. He was flushed with success, though, Johnny Watterson rewarding him handsomely in his player ratings , although no one scored higher than Mack Hansen, 'star quality shining' from the fella . Andy Farrell is now left to ponder his selection for the first Test , Gerry reckoning that at least five starting positions remain up for debate. Australia, you'd imagine, will prove to be trickier opponents for the Lions than Portugal proved to be for Ireland. John O'Sullivan was at the Estádio Nacional do Jamor to witness that 'grizzly' 106-7 non-contest – perhaps fortunately for Portugal, he discovered that there was scant interest from the Lisbon locals in the game. In golf, Philip Reid reports on Rory McIlroy's tied-for-second finish at the Scottish Open , his thoughts now turned to this week's Open at Royal Portrush. That's where Shane Lowry's focus is too as he attempts to replicate his 2019 success in the tournament. Leona Maguire, meanwhile, will have a 'pep in her step' ahead of next month's Women's Open after she tied for seventh at the Evian Championship on Sunday. There were first-time winners in both the men's and women's singles at Wimbledon at the weekend, Jannik Sinner coming from a set down to beat Carlos Alcaraz, Iga Świątek crushing Amanda Anisimova 6-0 6-0. And in New York, Keith Duggan saw Katie Taylor 'close the books on her riveting series of fights against Amanda Serrano', the Bray woman triumphing against the Puerto Rican once again at Madison Square Garden. TV Watch: It's the final day of the third test between England and India at Lord's – England need six wickets and India need 135 runs to go 2-1 up in the series (Sky Sports Cricket from 10.15am). It's stage 10 of the Tour de France (TG4, TNT Sports 1 and ITV4, from noon) and at 5pm you can see Ireland take on Scotland at the World Rugby Under-20 Championship (RugbyPass TV).
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Roarty 'playing like a seasoned veteran'
Roarty has impressed in his first year in the Donegal senior panel [Getty Images] Former Monaghan forward Conor McManus said that 19-year-old Donegal defender Finbarr Roarty is "playing like a seasoned veteran". The teenager is enjoying an impressive first year with Jim McGuinness' senior panel, helping them to the Ulster title and again excelling in their All-Ireland semi-final thrashing of Meath. Advertisement He has firmly established himself as a starter and McManus praised the corner-back's ability to slot in seamlessly since his debut in April. "They tried to get him into the panel last year, but he was too young, and he's come in and is playing like a man who has been there for eight or nine years," McManus told the GAA Social podcast. "He's playing like a seasoned veteran, his physical shape, his energy and ability on the ball, he's excellent. He is a massive addition who has hit the ground running. "That is the strength of Donegal their team and their panel. They had 12 different scorers against Meath and you have so many things to try lock down to stop them." Advertisement Donegal will face Kerry in the All-Ireland final after the Kingdom dispatched Tyrone in Saturday's other semi-final. Armagh All-Ireland winner Oisin McConville believes the Red Hands need to develop squad depth to challenge for honours after suffering a 1-20 to 0-17 last four defeat. "They have to find one or two players but there is a pool of talent there. The profile of the player they're bringing in is important too," McConville said. "They have deadly forwards in Ruairi and Daragh Canavan, Darren McCurry and Eoin McElholm, but if you play the four of those are any of them really cut out for the middle eight? They're very same same and the direct ball is less of an option. "You can't play them all at the same time, so you need to find some more power. You compare Tyrone's team to what Donegal have, they have hard running and legs."
BBC News
2 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Roarty 'playing like a seasoned veteran'
Former Monaghan forward Conor McManus said that 19-year-old Donegal defender Finbarr Roarty is "playing like a seasoned veteran".The teenager is enjoying an impressive first year with Jim McGuinness' senior panel, helping them to the Ulster title and again excelling in their All-Ireland semi-final thrashing of has firmly established himself as a starter and McManus praised the corner-back's ability to slot in seamlessly since his debut in April."They tried to get him into the panel last year, but he was too young, and he's come in and is playing like a man who has been there for eight or nine years," McManus told the GAA Social podcast."He's playing like a seasoned veteran, his physical shape, his energy and ability on the ball, he's excellent. He is a massive addition who has hit the ground running. "That is the strength of Donegal their team and their panel. They had 12 different scorers against Meath and you have so many things to try lock down to stop them."Donegal will face Kerry in the All-Ireland final after the Kingdom dispatched Tyrone in Saturday's other All-Ireland winner Oisin McConville believes the Red Hands need to develop squad depth to challenge for honours after suffering a 1-20 to 0-17 last four defeat."They have to find one or two players but there is a pool of talent there. The profile of the player they're bringing in is important too," McConville said. "They have deadly forwards in Ruairi and Daragh Canavan, Darren McCurry and Eoin McElholm, but if you play the four of those are any of them really cut out for the middle eight? They're very same same and the direct ball is less of an option."You can't play them all at the same time, so you need to find some more power. You compare Tyrone's team to what Donegal have, they have hard running and legs."
