Latest news with #OrchardCounty
Irish Daily Mirror
16-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Kieran Donaghy reportedly steps away as selector and coach for Armagh
There is growing speculation that Kieran Donaghy is set to step away from his role as selector and forwards coach with Armagh. It would bring an end to a five-year chapter that has seen the former Kerry All-Ireland winner become a central figure in the Orchard County's rise. There has been rumours the Tralee native has told manager Kieran McGeeney of his decision to move on, after years of making the demanding 500-mile round-trip commute from the south-west. READ MORE: Who will be on RTE commentary duty for Sunday's Cork-Tipperary All-Ireland hurling final? READ MORE: GAA Palestine cancels Ireland trip after visa rejection There has been no official word yet from Armagh GAA or Donaghy himself. The Orchard County exited the All-Ireland after defeat to Kerry at the end of last month, bringing to an end their reign as Sam Maguire champions. Despite being approached for coaching positions closer to home last offseason, Donaghy had committed to another year in Armagh. This season, Armagh reached a third successive Ulster final, narrowly losing out to Donegal in extra-time and topped their Sam Maguire group, with a memorable victory over Dublin at Croke Park. Now, attention turns to what's next for Donaghy, will he return to the sidelines elsewhere, or take a step back from coaching entirely? Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email .
Irish Examiner
16-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Different ball game but road bowling a family affair for Armagh netminder Ethan Rafferty
Ethan Rafferty achieved a unique addition to his All-Ireland football medal won last year when claiming the All-Ireland senior road bowling crown over the weekend. The latter success, though, is no way unique to his family. Sunday's win merely lifts him onto the bottom step of a family ladder steeped in road bowling silverware. After victory on the west Cork roads around Castletownkenneigh, there's little doubt that road bowling must carry a significant degree of importance to him if he is making the time to operate to such a high level in tandem with his existence within the consuming inter-county sphere. 'It's real family-oriented for myself,' he says, before dropping in the mightily impressive stat that his win keeps the senior men's title in the family for a fourth successive year. 'My grandfather, Aidan Toal, was big into it and that filtered down. His son, Michael Toal, has ten All-Ireland titles, and then there's all the cousins and we would've played together growing up. 'I won it this year, my younger brother Colm won the Senior All-Ireland last year, and then the two years before that was a first cousin of ours, Thomas Mackle, so it's obviously close to your heart because it's your family. My auntie Dervla [Toal], she's a reigning All-Ireland Ladies champion too, so I would be rightfully down the pecking order with regards to All-Irelands in the family. THROUGH THE MILLING CROWDS: Armagh's Ethan Rafferty - better known as the county's No 1 - contesting (and winning) the All-Ireland Senior Road Bowling Championships at Castletownkenneigh in Co Cork. This decisive moment, brilliantly captured by Greta Cormican, is his throw from 'The Black Gate' to 'Fehilly's Lane' and was critical in ensuring Rafferty went out to Forshin's Cross in one more. That and his following throw made it virtually impossible for final opponent Arthur McDonagh to mount a successful comeback. Pic: Greta Cormican 'All my uncles, aunties, mum and dad, and all came down to the score on Sunday, it means a lot, so you try and find time for it the best you can, you get out for 10 or 15 minutes practice, and that's how you keep tipping at it.' The journey down from Armagh was made on Saturday with only one stop, that to take in Tyrone and the Orchard County's quarter-final conquerors Kerry. The two-mile course was walked that evening to have its curvature sampled and studied, Ethan and his dad enjoying the road to themselves in sharp contrast to the throngs that packed the following day. 'It was a civil enough score Sunday, but the crowds can be heated because you'd have fellas there wagering a lot on it, so they're obviously looking to get the win. 'With the large crowd, it can be hard to navigate the road and ask them to get out of the way, but before each shot they are good, if you want to look up the left-hand side of the road, they'll clear that side. 'I have an uncle, a cousin, and a friend in my camp so to speak, so I would leave it up to them, they can read the road a bit better than I would. You're sort of going off what they are telling you.' Two weeks after Kerry dismantled his kickout and dethroned Armagh in the process, Sunday was a timely triumph. 'With the football going on, I wasn't sure if I was going to get playing the bullets at all this year. Obviously the season ended prematurely for us, and so this was something I could put my head into and focus on after the football. 'I didn't expect to be competing for the senior All-Ireland title this year, after only winning the intermediate last year, but I gave it my best and thankfully it worked out.'
Irish Daily Mirror
29-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Kieran McGeeney: Kerry spell "turned the tide"
Armagh boss Kieran McGeeney bemoaned a flat 15-minute period where Kerry got on top of his side in the All-Ireland quarter-final. The Orchard County were blitzed by the Kingdom in a second half spell where they conceded fourteen points without reply. On that spell, McGeeney said: "It was probably a disappointing 15 minutes. That's what turned the tide. I think they hit 13 points on the trot, maybe 15. "Yeah it was disappointing. They played well. Even at the end they kept on going, Shane had to pull off three saves off the line. They never stopped fighting. You have to give them credit. "It was just the 15 minute period where Kerry were devastating and we couldn't get our hands on the ball." "We probably made life difficult for ourselves on top of that, but listen that's sport, you have to take your hat off when somebody is scoring like that. It was just one of those days, you make mistakes and you get punished for them." When asked if Kerry were out for revenge after last year's semi-final, McGeeney said: "Listen, everybody will make something. For the first 45 minutes we were very well on top. The only time to be on top really is at the end. It's just one of those days." The Armagh boss felt the new rules added jeopardy to the kickouts but lauded them for making the game exciting. "Listen, that's what we want. We just want to be able to kick the ball out and make it 50/50. "People find that more exciting, that's the game and Kerry were better at it today than us." He singled out Sean O'Shea for his contribution against his side. "Ah, we have probably had spells like that, maybe not punished enough. We had I think 11 out of our 13 kickouts we lost. If you are going to do that in this game, because you have then to commit and you are leaving holes behind us. "Listen, it was just one of those days, Seanie [O'Shea], no matter what he hit, was putting them over and everybody else was joining in. "As I say it's a 15 minutes you'd like to forget. It happens in sport. We've done it ourselves to other teams. You just have to take it on the chin and move on." When asked about Jack O'Connor's comments on Kerry being written off pre-match, McGeeney said "It was the Kerry boys that were talking them down so we wouldn't pass much remarks to that. That's what Kerry do. My in-laws are form there, I would hear direct, everybody's saying they weren't the team, National League champions, Munster champions, highest scoring forwards, highest scoring team going into it, like, I know Eamonn and the boys will write that stuff but nobody really believes it." He said Kerry did nothing specific to nullify Ethan Rafferty's kickout. "Not really. I suppose we kept kicking it to the wings. Three or four things, it's just sometimes like it happens in sport. I'd love to give you….if I could pinpoint the reason for you we could have stopped it. "We were too tight onto the sidelines, getting sideline balls and they were quicker on the breaks than us probably at that stage. Again, it was their ability to punish. Seanie just had one of those days, he couldn't miss. "So, that's what happens. You have a forward of that calibre. Like, again, as I say, three or four goals chances on our side missing them. You might have been able to keep it closer. It's frustrating. "We've been all around sport a long time and outside of the Dubs and Kerry we lose a lot more than we win." He said that outside of Dublin and Kerry, teams have to make use of their time at the top table. "Listen, they have won an All-Ireland. They are only one of two teams in 140 odd years that have won it. They can hold their heads up high surely. "They have been one of the most consistent teams over the last three or four years. You seen today, Galway and ourselves, you get a few years to push at the top and you have to make the best of it for most counties outside of those two. "It's one of those things. Between Dublin and Kerry they have 80% participation in All-Ireland finals and won 50% of them. "You are up against a huge thing, but they have held their own. It's going to be disappointing for them today but they've got an All-Ireland medal in their back pocket and I'm sure those younger fellas there, most of that squad, will want to push on and try and get another one." When asked on his Armagh agreement and his future, he quipped; "I didn't know you had agreements with GAA (laughs). Ah, it's hard to know. I sit down every year. My thing is always about players. It's all about the players. First and foremost and what they want and how much they want to push on. "My appetite for football has always been the same. I love it. I enjoy it, despite the abuse. It's just one of those things. I don't know. Maybe it's an addiction. I haven't even thought about that." When asked if it was an abuse-free season after winning the All-Ireland title last term, he said: "Not really like. Whether it's the GAA themselves or the supporters, the GAA manager is the person that gets blamed for everything. "I always find it amusing sitting from the outside looking it at people doing their jobs and how they are graded and nobody ever looks in the mirror too much. "I know as a manager I've made a s***load of mistakes. Things like that there, but it's amazing how everybody else tends to have a mirror that only tends to go out the way rather than looking back at themselves. Is that cryptic enough for you?"
The 42
29-06-2025
- Sport
- The 42
Kerry have been cut tight to the bone, relying on a great player to get past Armagh
IN THE WEE hours of the morning after their 2022 All-Ireland final win, one Kerry friend of this column was more looking through rather than drinking out of a half empty glass. Amid giddy talk of one fallen blue dynasty begetting a new green and gold one, he offered up a more sober perspective of what the future would hold for the newly crowned All-Ireland champions with a measure that would be easily if uncomfortably understood by every Kerry person. 'I will tell you now, if David Clifford ends up with the same All-Ireland medal haul as Maurice Fitzgerald, he will do well,' he suggested, albeit to some derision. With every passing year, what was once seen as a modest molehill to clamber takes on the look of an ever steeper hill to scale. Maurice Fitzgerald ended with two, which is still twice as many as Clifford, but the disparity feels even greater than that. The Caherciveen maestro won his medals at the end of a career that once only offered – or, perhaps, more likely threatened – a legacy as the best player from the county not to win a Celtic Cross, inflating their worth in the process. Clifford, somehow an even more illuminating talent, won his one early enough in his career to invite the prospect of having several others for show, which if it does not come to pass will only have a deflationary impact on those who measure worth by numbers. And the real fear in Kerry today as they head to Croke Park to take on the All-Ireland champions Armagh is that the only counting they will have to do is to simply count out another year. Advertisement That stark? Pretty much so. Others who make their living out of counting think so too; Kerry the standout favourites at the start of the summer are the very obvious 6/4 underdogs this afternoon, and given that the market factors in tradition when pricing the Kingdom, the price based purely on form is even bigger than that. Kerry's hope is that with their backs pressed against the wall, they will find something deep that will deliver a performance that will give them a real chance. Perhaps, one on a scale of what they managed in the first half of the 2022 semi-final against Dublin, but which exhausted them to the point that they spent most of the second half, fighting on the ropes and gasping for air. The good news for them is finding that should not take a lot of searching, given that it is Armagh they face. It's hardly no coincidence that Kerry's best performance of a patchy season was in the penultimate round league game in Tralee when last year's semi-final defeat to the Orchard County was on their mind, as they racked up a 10-point win playing with such fire that Kieran McGeeney opined afterwards that his players were 'bullied' off the pitch. Mind, they were played off it too. But it is hard to ignore the truth in that old line that if revenge is all that you have got going, it is best to dig two graves, including one for yourself. The Limerick hurlers found that out this summer when in expunging last year's semi-final loss to Cork, they vaporised the Rebels with the perfect display in a group game, the result of which did not really matter and after that found that their capacity to be the best versions of their great selves had been drained empty. It is not that Kerry will have been sated by a league win, but the price for it has left them in significant debt as two minutes from the end of that game, the mood of their season had already coloured a shade darker when Diarmuid O'Connor went to ground clutching his shoulder. He had added further to his citation that evening as the game's top midfielder during the spring with another dominant performance, assisting for three points but even more importantly freeing up Joe O'Connor to thrive in a half-forward line alongside Paudie Clifford, with the prospect of Sean O'Shea still to come back. It was the lack of physicality in that line in particular which Armagh had so pointedly exploited in last year's semi-final, and it felt prior to O'Connor's injury – one despite efforts to rehabilitate has haunted the player – Kerry had constructed a fix. But no longer as O'Connor's absence compounded by ongoing fitness concerns about Paudie Clifford – who is named to start today on the bench – and with Joe O'Connor likely to have to put his shoulder to the wheel in a deeper role, Kerry may well return to Croke Park today as an angrier team than 12 months ago, but hardly as a better one. And that's not just because of bad luck; in a condensed season and in a new game far more demanding of players, injuries are a fact of life which every one has to factor in, but only the strongest and deepest can do so well. A group like Armagh, for instance, who for large swathes of the season have been without key players such as Aaron McKay, Aidan Forker, Niall Grimley, Oisin O'Neill and Rian O'Neill among others, but have continued to evolve and become better, not least because of what the likes of Ethan Rafferty, Ross McQuillan, Darragh McMullan and a rejuvenated Jarly Óg Burns has brought to them. That is why Armagh, a team deemed by many to be one-off champions, have the feel of a back-to-back championship winning team. And it is why Kerry look like pretty much what they are; a team cut hopelessly tight to the bone with a great player rolling a boulder up a sheer hill face. Where the only counting doing business is the number of times it rolls back down. ***** Check out the latest episode of The42′s GAA Weekly podcast here
Irish Daily Mirror
26-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Armagh-Kerry TV info, throw-in time, date and more for All-Ireland quarter-final
The All-Ireland Football Championship quarter-finals are upon us this weekend as reigning champions Armagh face a wounded but spirited Kerry side. The Orchard County were the only side to guarantee top spot in the round robins with a game to spare, which allowed them to take it easy in the build-up to their defeat to Galway. Regardless, they will feel that the extra week off afforded to them by topping the group can only aid them as they bid to retain the Sam Maguire Cup. Kerry have been ravaged by injuries so far this season with several key players facing a race against time to feature in the knockout stages, with Paul Geaney, Mike Breen, Tony Brosnan and Diarmuid O'Connor all out injured. This didn't stop them from winning in the preliminary quarter-final against Cavan however, progressing after a 3-20 to 1-17 win thanks to a David Clifford hat-trick. Their most recent meeting favours them too, as they took the victory when these sides met in the league in March, with the Kingdom putting up a 2-21 to 0-17 score line. Here's what you need to know: The match takes place in Croke Park in Drumcondra, on Sunday June 29. The action is scheduled to get under way at 4pm. The match is being shown live on RTÉ 2. Armagh: 8/11 Draw: 15/2 Kerry: 6/4
