Latest news with #OakLeafers
BBC News
4 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Derry GAA legend Mulholland passes away aged 96
Derry GAA legend Colm Mulholland, a member of the county side that reached the All-Ireland final in 1958, has died at the age of won an Ulster title with the Oak Leafers in the same represented Derry at senior level for 13 years, taking in the 1950s and early 1960s.A statement released by Derry GAA described him as "a Rolls-Royce centre-half-back and a proud Lavey man"."Colm was recognised throughout Ireland as one of the leading footballers of his generation," the statement said."His passing is a reminder of the great legacy that has been passed on to our current players - one we are deeply proud of."Our thoughts and prayers are with Colm's family circle and the Gaels of Erin's Own, Lavey, where he served as honorary club president."
Irish Daily Mirror
5 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Derry GAA confirm Ciaran Meenagh as new senior football manager
Ciaran Meenagh has been officially announced as the new senior football manager for Derry, making him the third consecutive Tyrone man to take up the position. The Oak Leafers have acted promptly in appointing a new manager following an extended search for Mickey Harte's successor last year. Paddy Tally was eventually appointed last November, but the Galbally native resigned last month after a disappointing 2025 season where Derry didn't secure a single victory. Meenagh had a five-season stint with Derry from 2019 until 2023, during which he took on the role of interim manager when Rory Gallagher stepped down before the Ulster final. The Loughmacrory clubman spent his last two seasons with Down as part of Conor Laverty's management team. The Mournemen clinched the Tailteann Cup last season and made it to the preliminary quarter-final in the Sam Maguire Cup, reports Belfast Live. Derry confirmed on Thursday night that former captain Chrissy McKaigue will be joining Meenagh's management team. The statement read: "Following Thursday night's meeting of Coiste Chontae Dhoire, Derry GAA is pleased to announce the appointment of Ciaran Meenagh as senior football manager. "Ciaran Meenagh first joined the Derry senior football management team in late 2018 and served for five seasons as a coach and later as manager – a period that included promotion from Division Four to Division One and back-to-back Ulster Senior Football titles. "He will lead a management team that includes former Derry captain and All-Star footballer Chrissy McKaigue. "Delegates also ratified the re-appointment of Under 20 football, Minor football, Senior hurling, Under 20 hurling and Minor hurling management teams. We wish all management teams and their playing panel every success for the 2026 season." Whilst Meenagh's remaining backroom staff are yet to be announced, names including Marty Boyle, Barry Dillon and Paul McFlynn have emerged in recent days, with rumours also suggesting former Derry forward Benny Heron could join the coaching setup.
The Irish Sun
27-06-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
Aisling Maher warns Derry ‘will punish us' if Dublin ‘don't have our heads right' as they look to avoid All-Ireland drop
AISLING MAHER and her Dublin team-mates know they must keep a tight leash on Derry tomorrow after their male counterparts proved that every underdog has its day. Last weekend's defeat to Championship quarter-finals. Advertisement But the campaign is not yet over for the Sky Blues, who know that losing the basement battle against the Oak Leafers would condemn them to a relegation play-off against Maher admitted: 'Look, it's hard. Nobody ever wants to be playing Championship matches knowing that you can't progress and get to where you want to be. 'Ultimately that's the knockout stages and going on from there, so I guess it's a difficult one to keep the focus and to keep the mood right in the camp. 'But the reality is obviously we have a huge game ahead of us on Saturday and Advertisement Read More on Camogie 'They're in the same position we are — they need a win to keep themselves in a good position and to avoid going towards the bottom of the table and relegation and all the rest. 'We've no doubt that they're going to bring a stiff challenge. 'If we don't have our heads right and if we're not in the right space going into it, they'll punish us for it. 'You've no option to kind of sit down and lick your wounds. Advertisement Most read in GAA Hurling 'You have to stop feeling sorry for yourself and reset pretty quickly to just try and start righting some of the wrongs from last weekend.' While the hosts are strongly fancied to overcome Derry at Parnell Park, the seismic upset pulled off by the GAA legend TJ Reid's wife Niamh and daughter wear shorts in support of camogie stars Speaking as 'Anything can happen on any given day when you have 15 against 15. Advertisement 'Derry have a lot of good players as well. And I guess the Dublin hurlers getting that big win as underdogs does have us acutely aware of how quickly an upset can happen or how quickly any Championship team can be beaten if anybody's not fully prepared going into it on the day.' Having reached the 2024 All-Ireland semi-finals, Maher had high hopes for Dublin this season. However, their absence from the business end of the Championship demonstrates just how competitive things are at the top. The 2017 All-Star said: 'I think it's a great thing for camogie, even though it's not a great thing for Dublin camogie this year. Advertisement 'It probably shows just how little there is between a lot of those top and mid-table teams. There's not huge gaps between anyone. 'Obviously Waterford will play 'I think either of those two teams could also have not made quarter-finals in our group. 'It's really positive that there's so little between teams. Advertisement 'Obviously for ourselves in Dublin last year, getting to the semi-final was a huge step in the right direction. 'To build on that, we would have wanted to make sure that we got that far again, if not further. 'Unfortunately it hasn't happened that way but the path forward is rarely smooth. You'll have ups and downs along the way. 'What's probably more important for us is how we respond to this in the short term, hopefully getting a win at the weekend, and in the longer term trying to get ourselves back into the knockout stages next year.' Advertisement 1 Pictured pitch side in Croke Park at todays launch of Toyota Ireland as the new Official Car Partner to The Camogie Association is Dublin Camogie captain and Toyota ambassador Aisling Maher with the Toyota C-HR Hybrid Credit: Seb Daly/Sportsfile
BBC News
14-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Derry would ignite season with Dubs win
Former Derry captain Chrissy McKaigue believes his county will go into Saturday's crunch Group Four game against Dublin with "full belief" despite their winless 2025. Derry, Dublin and Galway (who take on Armagh with the All-Ireland champions having already booked their quarter-final spot) all enter this weekend with a chance of progressing to the last 12 of the All-Ireland series. The Oak Leafers have struggled throughout the 2025 season and have only been able to muster two draws from their 11 league and championship games to date."It's time to win again, there's no question, and it'll be some time to win in terms of igniting their season," McKaigue told BBC Sport NI. "But it's a group that's used to winning, it's a group that's used to winning with their clubs and they've won their fair share with Derry too"So I don't think they'll be overly fazed by the streak they've gone through, although it's clearly not desirable. They'll go in this weekend having full belief they're capable of beating Dublin."McKaigue, who was part of the Derry side that beat the Dubs in last year's Division One final at Croke Park, believes good memories from the fixture can be of benefit to Paddy Tally's side. He added: "I think when you go in with that belief that you're able to beat this Dublin side, it goes and stands a long way because there are many teams who go out against Dublin and they feel that they're beaten before they go out and that's not the case with this Derry group."The game will take place at Pairc Esler in Newry and the former Ulster winning captain believes the venue will suit Derry better as Dublin move away from the comforts of Croke Park and into an Ulster provincial arena. "That helps Derry, it has to you would think, but Dublin have shown and you would see that they don't like being categorised as a team that can't play outside Croke Park."Derry need a performance this weekend and more than that they need to find a way to win ugly if required because the only currency that really matters in championship football is victory and Dublin will be aware of that, Derry will be aware of that."You don't get through to the next round after a good performance and not having won the game. Winning is all that really matters in Championship football and that's why it's set up for such a good game because the stakes are so high and it's a proper knockout game."
Irish Times
12-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Chrissy McKaigue says reports of Derry's demise have been greatly exaggerated
Chrissy McKaigue considers the portrayal of Derry's winless season, and feels it is too rudimentary to judge everything solely on the results. Because Derry are back in Newry this Saturday, and they might just be back in business too. The last time the Oak Leafers won a competitive match in regulation time was their All-Ireland SFC round three group game against Westmeath at Páirc Esler in Newry on June 15th, 2024. They subsequently beat Mayo after a penalty shootout in a preliminary quarter-final before losing to Kerry in the last eight. McKaigue played in all three of those games – scoring the crucial equalising point at the end of normal time in Castlebar – but in November the 2022 All-Star defender announced his intercounty retirement. 'I've settled in relatively well and that's probably a good thing, because when your gut tells you that it's time to move on and several months down the line it still feels that way, that's a fairly good indication that the time was right,' he says. READ MORE 'From around May onwards, every time I was coming out of the Owenbeg changing rooms I was going, 'This is one less visit that I'm going to have in the years to come'. Time moves on quickly and you realise that everyone's replaceable.' Haste wasn't Derry GAA's strong point last autumn, and they were the last county to appoint a senior football manager for 2025, with Paddy Tally confirmed as boss in mid-November. It has been a difficult maiden season for Tally, but their recent draw with Galway in the second round of group games felt like a statement performance. The aim now is to add a statement win against Dublin in Newry on Saturday. McKaigue does not agree with the view that Derry's footballers have been spiralling since the end of last year's league campaign. ' It depends on your definition of dropping off the edge of a cliff,' he replies when asked about Derry's 12-month slump. ' We won the Division One National League title, which is no mean feat. Now, is it that Derry failed in terms of meeting their expectations in the championship? Absolutely, but there has been a narrative created last year that Derry's senior footballers had the worst season ever. 'They won the McKenna Cup, I'm not claiming it to be anything overly special – but they still won it. They won Division One of the National League, they didn't have a good championship campaign, but it's all relative because they were beaten by Donegal, Armagh, Galway and eventually Kerry – three out of the four teams that reached the All-Ireland semi-finals. Derry still reached the quarter-finals. 'I can remember many poorer years for Derry in the championship than last year, but it was sort of built up into this catastrophe of a year. It was more that we didn't meet expectations. 'It's amazing that narrative was sort of depicted in so many areas, and I felt Mickey Harte last year got a lot of scrutiny that was a wee bit over the top at times. 'I still feel that Derry are a contender for Sam Maguire, maybe not this year in the same capacity as last year, but do I feel that Derry squad will have the potential to be a contender for Sam Maguire in the next number of years? I do. 'I know that's the ambition for Derry as a county. I'd like to think that wouldn't be based upon delusion, that would be based upon fact and logic. In the last three years, back-to-back semi-finals and last year quarter-finals, so you'd like to think there's a wee bit of substance in that claim. 'This year hasn't gone very well, but there have been legitimate reasons for that.' And as for Derry's winless streak, McKaigue believes there are various ways to juggle those stats. 'Winning on penalties counts as a victory, we went down to Mayo and beat them,' he says. 'Just to make sure you're writing that now, because I don't buy into that narrative. Winning on penalties still works. 'By the time Derry play Dublin next weekend, they'll have played 11 competitive games this year, and each of the 11 games will have been played against Division One standard teams. So it's all relative too, the standard of opposition they have played against this year has been of a really high standard. 'You have to give Paddy Tally a bit of slack too, in regards that we're missing Conor McCluskey and Gareth McKinless. From a Derry perspective, they are two generational players.' Still, unless they get something from their clash with Dublin on Saturday, Derry's 2025 season will be over. 'You would imagine Dublin's efficiency will be better than (it was against Armagh),' says McKaigue. 'But you're going to Newry, you're going to a tighter pitch, you're going to a proper championship game where it literally is winner takes all. 'Are Derry capable of beating Dublin? Absolutely, but Dublin are also capable of beating Derry. People aren't quite sure where Derry and Dublin both are in the pecking order, so you would like to think after the next game there will be a bit more transparency shed on that one. 'I just think Dublin will have a big say in this year's All-Ireland, potentially. I hope they don't, because that will mean that Derry will have turned them over. 'They're a different side without Con O'Callaghan, too. He is their David Clifford. He is their leader. He does so much for them and gives them that composure and that settled feeling .' Chrissy McKaigue was speaking at the launch of the 2025 Electric Ireland GAA All-Ireland minor championships
