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Irish Times
21-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Not tipping Tipp to overcome Cork a risky business for pundits
We journos, you'll be amazed to discover, don't always get it right – even the Schemozzle has been wrong on occasion. We trawled the print coverage and airwaves but while some were on the fence, we could not unearth one neutral pundit or writer calling Tipperary to win. As Michael Duignan stated post-match: 'Everybody went for Cork , on form, you had to go for them.' Even Babs Keating thought the Rebels would do it ('I have to say I favour Cork mainly because of the bench they have,' he wrote in the Irish Sun). A case in point: in the 100-page match programme, five scribes were asked for their predictions and all plumped for Cork. READ MORE Martin Breheny made what seemed a salient point that across the League final and Munster games, Cork defeated Tipperary by 7-51 to 0-47. Michael Verney, again not unreasonably, argued, 'styles make fights and Cork do not match up well at all for Liam Cahill's men'. Enda McEvoy agreed: 'I fancied Cork at the beginning of the year and nothing they've done in the meantime has served to sway me.' Dermot Crowe did cite the fact that Liam Cahill 'has a history of overturning earlier season defeats against Cork and ending up celebrating', but still fancied Cork, while Christy O'Connor, an All-Ireland winner himself at club level, theorised that the game would be closer than the previous meeting but Cork would win it. Michael John Murphy decided to go early with a Cork victory tattoo. Photograph: Skint Tattoo Studio Facebook Cork wears art on his sleeve Spare a thought for Cork fan Michael John Murphy, who was so confident in the Rebels' chances that he wore it on his sleeve. Murphy – a Waterford native resident in Mayfield, Co Cork and whose father came from Youghal – got the words 'Cork All-Ireland Senior Hurling Champions 2025' tattooed on his forearm. 'I won't need to change it,' he told the Irish Examiner. A 37-year-old member of the Irish Defence Forces, the dad-of-two had several tattoos previously, including one of a hurler, but was determined to mark Cork's impending success this season. 'We're 20 years without an All-Ireland title, so I was always going to get something to commemorate the win this year,' he said. The ink was provided free of charge by Skint Tattoo Studio, with tattoo artist Darragh Murphy stating: 'I can see Cork winning, but we can never be too cocky.' 'There won't be any hiding the tattoo if the unthinkable happens, I won't be changing it. I'd have no interest in changing it, to be honest. And I'll have a funny story to tell about it.' It may not feel so funny this morning … Tipperary's goalkeeper Rhys Shelly celebrates silverware at the end of the All-Ireland against Cork. Photograph: Inpho Shelly shows he's no Romantic The game was already up when Brian Hayes was taken down in injury time. Little did Conor Lehane realise, though (we're presuming) that his subsequent penalty had a little bit of history riding on it. As the Twitter account @GaelicGamesStats (GGS) noted before the final, coming into the big day, there had been more goals in the 2025 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship (122) than in any renewal since 1946. That final produced 10 goals, which brought the combined total for the 1946 championship to 126. That tally was matched on Sunday and had Lehane's penalty found the net, it would have been surpassed, but Rhys Shelly stopped it. Among the other belters GGS came up with yesterday were Noel McGrath having scored in All-Ireland finals 16 years apart and the fact that only three sides in the previous 60 years had scored 0-2 or less in the second half of an All-Ireland final. Consolation prize for dual star Cahill Traditionally, the All-Ireland Senior Softball Doubles handball championship is held on the eve of the hurling final, with many famous nights at Croke Park back in the day when the late Michael Ducksy Walsh of Kilkenny was in his pomp and the handball final was seen as a lucky omen of sorts for the Cats hurling supporters. The decider was back on that date this year and Saturday marked Meath pair Gary McConnell and Brian Carroll winning their third title in succession with a straight-games win over Westmeath's Robbie McCarthy and Colm Jordan at the new National Handball Centre at Croker. There was a handball link, too. Beaten in the early rounds of the championship was Jerome Cahill, who was part of the Tipperary panel in 2019, when he won young hurler of the year. Quote Hurling is a game for the gods and gods play it. The official GAA social media accounts quoted from Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh in their promotional posts in advance of the final. Number: 3 Times the Open Championship was staged in Portrush (1951, 2019 and 2025). In all three years, Tipperary won the All-Ireland by double-figure margins.
Irish Independent
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
NUJ's Seamus Dooley to focus on ‘giving older people a voice' while representing Offaly in new ambassador role
While he is now based in Dublin, Seamus will represent his hometown in Co. Offaly, taking over the role from former Offaly hurler and two-time All-Ireland winner Michael Duignan. He joins Ireland's network of high-profile ambassadors from the worlds of entertainment, business, sport and public service — including Francis Brennan, Gavin Duffy, Sandy Kelly, Geraldine Plunkett and Celia Holman Lee. Seamus is from Ferbane, Co. Offaly and began his career at the Tullamore Tribune where he always had an interest in writing and learning more about accessible living. At the beginning of his journalism career in 1981, one of the first pieces Seamus worked on was about inaccessibility in Tullamore town for those with disabilities and for older people. 'One of the jobs my editor gave to me at the time was to spend the day in a wheelchair and see how difficult it is getting around the town. 'One of the priorities of the Offaly County Council long-term plan now is creating age friendly towns and making towns more accessible. So it's almost like the wheel is turning full circle,' Seamus said. During his remit, he will be ensuring that all voices are valued and Seamus said he would also like to explore the stereotyping of older people nationwide. He added that rural isolation is a 'big issue' in the midlands and that there are 'untapped resources that people need to know about', such as social meet ups that could help combat these issues. The new ambassador will spread awareness about what particular schemes and support is available in localities, such as the Age Friendly Ambassador scheme. The theme of this year's Age Friendly Ireland Ambassadors' Day was 'Wellbeing in Later Life — Physical, Mental and Emotional Health'. The event shone a light on the lived realities of ageing in Ireland, where the over-65 population is expected to double by 2050.
RTÉ News
25-04-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Michael Duignan: Offaly will be braced for Galway 'backlash'
Offaly chairman Michael Duignan expects a "backlash" from Galway in Tullamore on Saturday evening but is confident the hosts will be ready for the challenge. Offaly's first Leinster SHC game in seven years almost yielded a victory in Parnell Park last weekend, the visitors leading for most of the game until a late burst from the Dubs, sparked by Ronan Hayes' goal, saw Niall Ó Ceallachain's side over the line. While it ended in defeat, it offered further compelling evidence that Offaly could be bound for a prolonged return to the top table after their long years in the wilderness, the county falling into the third tier at their nadir at the end of the last decade. Duignan, a two-time All-Ireland champion in the 1990s, has been county board chairman throughout this rise, and acknowledges last week's performance as a further staging post in their evolution even if he is remaining cautious about the upcoming campaign. "It's been a journey, there's still a long way to go," Duignan said on the RTÉ GAA podcast. "The physical power of Dublin was there to be seen. We're just not there. "We competed really, really well. But Dublin had their process and kept running the ball. They had a few bad wides, we stuck in it big-time. "But 1-04 to 0-01 in the last six or seven minutes, you can't argue with that. "Lads being injured, we can't afford that. That'd be the big worry over the next three or four weeks, that if we lose one or two more lads, and then one or two more, that we don't have the strength in depth - yet. We will have it in the next two to three years." The Parnell Park showing, combined with Galway's insipid display away to Kilkenny earlier that day, has persuaded some that a landmark victory could be in the offing for the home side on Saturday. Micheál Donoghue's side, after a reasonable start in Nowlan Park, slumped to a 12-point defeat, remarkably their fourth loss by that exact margin in seven competitive games in 2025. Duignan, however, is more wary and circumspect. "Galway were terrible (against Kilkenny), there's no point saying they weren't. I shouldn't be saying that when we're playing them. "They'll be so disappointed. There's an awful lot of good players in that team. They just weren't up for it for whatever reason. "I would expect a backlash. People are seeing it as an opportunity for Offaly. Well, if Galway come with the same attitude, yeah. But I would say they'll be saying to themselves, 'that's not acceptable.' And Micheál said that himself after the game. "But I think Offaly will be ready for the challenge. They won't be bending over. I think it'll be a right good game. But whether we have that strength in depth coming down the stretch remains to be seen." The fact that there is a degree of uncertainty around the game this weekend marks a change in itself. The Galway-Offaly rivalry was at its zenith in the 1980s, when the pair emerged as the nouveau riche challenging the traditional powers. The head-to-head was tit-for-tat throughout the period, Galway winning All-Ireland semi-finals in 1980, 1988 and 1990 but Offaly famously winning the two deciders in 1981 and 1985. Duignan was on the last Offaly team to beat Galway in championship in 1994 but the pair wouldn't meet again until 2010, in the westerners' second season in the Leinster championship. It took Galway a replay to squeeze past a highly competitve Offaly side that year but any rivalry has been tame since then. Since 2012 onwards, facile Galway victories have been the order of the day in this fixture. "It's '94 since Offaly beat Galway in the championship. We haven't played them a huge amount (since then). But there was a run (of games) in the 2010s and Galway would have won all those games. Offaly's slide was probably on at that stage. "We have a strong Galway influence in our management team, that'll be a factor. Johnny Kelly would have been successful with Portumna. Colm Callanan, former Galway goalie, is with us as well. "You'd be expecting a decent crowd to come in. It's taken a little while for the Offaly public to catch on. They've been big supporters of the underage. But getting to come to the senior matches is proving a bit more of a challenge. "That's not a negative, it's just a fact. It takes time. Sometimes, you have to earn your respect and your support as well. But I think that's coming now and hopefully it'll be a close game." Watch a Munster Hurling Championship double-header, Waterford v Clare and Cork v Tipperary, on Sunday from 1.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on and the RTÉ News app and listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1 Watch The Sunday Game from 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on all matches on and the RTÉ News app. Listen to updates from around the country on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
