17-05-2025
London will meet Derry in Christy Ring Cup final, Mayo face Roscommon in Nickey Rackard Cup final
The landscape is clear in the Christy Ring, Nickey Rackard and Lory Meaghar Cups after this afternoon's action all across the country, with Derry, London, Mayo, Roscommon, and Cavan all set to compete in the big treble header in a fortnight.
The final spot on the big day in Croke Park will go to either New York or Monaghan, who meet in the Lory Meaghar semi-final next Saturday in Mullingar.
Going into today, London were in the driving seat in the Christy Ring Cup but Derry are the side who will start as the clear favourites in the final after they put Wicklow to the sword in a one-sided game at Celtic Park.
Wicklow went into this game knowing that an away win would have pushed them into the top two, but poor first half shooting with the aid of the breeze and 1-5 from Cormac O'Doherty left it 1-13 to 0-8 at the interval. Once Ronan McMahon picked up a red card to leave them with just 14 men on the field, Derry over-ran their opponents to win by 2-30 to 1-13, with O'Doherty scoring 1-13 while Aimon Duffin scored the second goal.
London also had a final spot in their control as long as they took care of business against already relegated Tyrone and they did that with ease at their home field in McGovern Park, with Conor O'Carroll (2-3) and Seán Glynn (1-4) leading the way in a 4-20 to 1-13 win.
The contest in Trim was a dead rubber, with Donegal picking up an 0-28 to 3-14 win over Meath.
In the Nickey Rackard Cup, Fermanagh got their first point of the season with a 1-22 to 3-16 draw against Mayo, who knew they were into a final regardless of their result in Enniskillen. Eoin Delaney scored two goals for the visitors, Corey Scahill goaled to level the game in the closing minutes.
Seán Corrigan's point looked like it might sneak a win for Fermanagh but Liam Lavin preserve Mayo's unbeaten record with an equaliser.
They'll meet Roscommon in that decider after goals from Brendan Mulry and Seán Canning (two, completing his hat-trick) saw the Rossies come from behind to beat Louth, 4-17 to 0-20.
Had Louth held on, it was Armagh who would have reached the final alongside Mayo, thanks to their 0-23 to 3-13 win over Sligo.
This was a roller-coaster of a contest with Shea Harvey (0-9) and Tomás Galvin (0-5) scoring freely for Armagh, but Sligo kept nabbing goals to stay in contention. Andrew Kilcullen's penalty made it 1-2 to 0-6 after 13 minutes, Darragh Flynn nudged them in front (2-7 to 0-12) just before half-time and just when it looked like Armagh were pulling away, Kilcullen's second green flag on the hour mark set up a tense finish.
In the Lory Meaghar Cup, finalists Cavan rested players in their 2-15 to 1-10 loss to Leitrim, Lancashire edged out Warwickshire by 0-26 to 4-13, and the big game of the day was in Inniskeen, where Monaghan needed a draw to stay ahead of Longford and secure a semi-final clash with New York next Saturday.
That's exactly what they got when Niall Arthur hit four injury time points to make it 2-20 each, leaving Longford eliminated by the narrowest of margins.
