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Irish Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Tipperary captain pays emotioal tribute to Dillon Quirke after All-Ireland-win
Sam O'Farrell paid tribute to Dillon Quirke after captaining Tipperary to victory in the All-Ireland U20 Hurling Championship final on Saturday. The Premier County defeated Kilkenny at Nowlan Park in the decider. Tipp ran out winners by 3-19 to 1-16 thanks to two second half goals from Paddy McCormack before Conor Martin got the third as they lifted the James Nowlan Cup for the first time since 2018, when Quirke was part of the winning team. Quirke died after collapsing during a county senior championship game at Semple Stadium in 2022. The Dillon Quirke Foundation was set up in his memory to raise awareness of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS) and fund widespread cardiac screening for young people (aged 13-17) involved in sport. Paying tribute to Quirke, O'Farrell said during his speech after Saturday's final: "On happy occasions like this, there's always some sadness when we think of the people who are no longer with us to celebrate this victory. There's one man in particular I want to mention, who wherever Tipperary hurling teams play will never be forgotten. That man is Dillon Quirke. "An All-Ireland winner at under-21 level in 2018. For the blue and gold, he always played with pride, determination, courage and skill. And it is those qualities that we wanted to bring here today and represent the Tipperary jersey as Dylan did when he played. "Dylan will continue to inspire Tipperary hurlers for many years to come."
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Paddy McCormack goals inspire Tipperary to All-Ireland under-20 hurling title
All-Ireland Under-20 Hurling Final: Kilkenny 1-16 Tipperary 3-19 After the heartbreak of missing their All-Ireland Under-20 final defeat last year, Paddy McCormack was Tipperary's goalscoring hero to bring silverware back to the Premier county with a nine-point victory over Kilkenny . In a game dictated by the wind, all four goals arrived in the second half. McCormack blasted 2-01 before Conor Martin's clincher completed his 1-04 tally in front of 14,455 fans at Nowlan Park. Marty Murphy bagged a consolation goal in stoppage time for Kilkenny. Tipperary's first under-20 success since 2019, and 12th in total, moves them level with Kilkenny in second on the roll of honour. Thirty years after he first lifted the trophy as a player, Brendan Cummins was reunited with the James Nowlan Cup, this time as a winning manager. READ MORE Nowlan Park has become a happy hunting ground for Tipperary teams, adding this under-20 crown to the minor titles won at the venue in 2022 and '24. The wind strength was emphasised by Kilkenny's first two pointed frees. Both times, Tipp were penalised for thrown passes. Michael Brennan came back inside his own half and converted each one. He would end with 0-11 to his credit. Tipperary's Oisin O'Donoghue with Kilkenny's Darragh Vereker. Photograph: Tom O'Hanlon/Inpho But even with the conditions, the Cats were set up to contain Tipp rather than build a score. The Premier puckout wasn't stressed as they retained 100 per cent. Martin scored the first point from play to level. When Kilkenny did get back into Murphy, he caused trouble. He caught one high ball for a point and in the next play, lost his marker for a shot at goal, which Eoin Horgan saved. Oisín O'Donoghue and Brennan traded points before Tipp threaded together five on the spin. O'Donoghue was fouled for 1-04 in the Munster final and he won two quick-fire frees for Darragh McCarthy points. In between, the Cashel targetman notched a point of his own. When Cathal English and McCormack arrowed over, they led 0-08 to 0-04 after 22 minutes. Kilkenny picked their way back into the contest with four of the next five points, including three Brennan frees. Jeff Neary had picked up plenty of ball in a sweeping role, but he got further upfield to split the posts. They sought a leveller, but Adam Daly sent Tipp in with a 0-10 to 0-08 advantage. Tipperary's Aaron O'Halloran and Kilkenny's Marty Murphy. Photograph: Tom O'Hanlon/Inpho Martin got them up and running with the second-half breeze straight from the throw-in. Brennan and Murphy kept Kilkenny in contact either side of an O'Donoghue sideline cut and Sam O'Farrell's long-range effort. In the 38th minute, Tipp couldn't be contained any further. In the battle for possession under a long puckout, McCormack swept on to the loose sliotar, sidestepped towards goal, and bounced his finish to the net. A long-range Daly point made it 1-14 to 0-10. Four Brennan points kept Kilkenny's faint hopes alive as far as the 51st minute. Then, O'Donoghue turned over Neary and fed McCormack for a low finish to lead by 2-17 to 0-14. And in the 56th minute, Martin secured a turnover before finishing off the move after taking the final pass from McCarthy. Kilkenny went for goal in stoppage time, netting one when Murphy grabbed a high ball and drove it to the net, but the cup was already in Tipperary hands. KILKENNY: S Manogue; D Vereker, R Garrett, I Bolger; E Lyng, T Kelly, C Hickey; T McPhillips, J Neary (0-1); E Lauhoff, A McEvoy, M Brennan (0-11, 0-8f); E McDermott (0-1), M Murphy (1-2), R Glynn. Subs: J Dollard for McPhillips (14-20 mins, temp), A Ireland Wall for McEvoy (40), Dollard for McPhillips (50), G Kelly (0-1) for Hickey (51), S Hunt for McDermott (54), J Hughes for Glynn (58). TIPPERARY: E Horgan; C O'Reilly, A O'Halloran, S O'Farrell (0-2); A Ryan, P O'Dwyer, J Ryan; J Egan, A Daly (0-2); C English (0-2), C Martin (1-4), D Costigan; D McCarthy (0-5f), P McCormack (2-1), O O'Donoghue (0-3, 0-1slc). Subs: C Fitzpatrick for Costigan (50 mins), M Cawley for Egan (54), J Ormond for Martin (57), S Butler for McCormack (59), P Phelan for Daly (60). Referee: S Hynes (Galway).
Irish Times
29-04-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Head of hurling William Maher: ‘A colleague said he never got an opportunity to hold a hurl. That's just crazy'
The GAA 's new head of hurling, William Maher, wants to grow the game outside its traditional heartlands and believes the establishment of hurling in 45 clubs over the last year demonstrates the potential for the small-ball code. Maher, who captained Tipperary to All-Ireland minor success in 1996 and subsequently managed the Premier County to All-Ireland glory at that grade in 2012, started his new role earlier this month. And he feels growing hurling above a much-referenced theoretical Dublin-to-Galway line on the map of Ireland is achievable. 'That's the north star, that's what we are working towards,' he said. 'If that's even in participation numbers that would be a major impact. Are we going to get [those] counties to win the Liam MacCarthy Cup in the next 10 or 20 years? Probably not. But how can we get more players playing the game? Then we can start thinking about things like that. READ MORE 'That would be the dream. I think hurling hasn't really moved outside its traditional boundaries in 100 years so I think it's important to try to broaden that out but without trying to impose it on GAA clubs up the country. It's to give kids the opportunity to play our national game. 'There was a colleague at work from Kildare and he said to me six months ago that he never got an opportunity to hold a hurl. That's just crazy. [ If hurling is so good, why is it so small? Opens in new window ] 'If someone had said to you 20 years ago that Cuala or Na Fianna would win club All-Irelands, you'd say, 'you're mad'. So this can be done. If you can build hurling in Dalkey, you can build it anywhere.' The Hurling Development Committee, established last April, has had 45 successful applicants to avail of its starter pack toolkit to help existing or new clubs establish hurling. Of those, 18 have been in Leinster, 17 in Ulster, five in Connacht and five in Munster – including three in Kerry. Maher is originally from Ballingarry in Tipperary and lives in Bennettsbridge in Kilkenny. He managed Cuala to Dublin senior hurling titles in 2019 and 2020. More recently he was in charge of the Laois senior hurlers between 2023-24. There have been similar roles created by the GAA in the past, though with varying job titles – Paudie Butler was the national hurling co-ordinator between 2006-11 while Martin Fogarty was the national hurling development manager from 2016-21. Maher feels Gaelic football and hurling can coexist. 'We're all GAA people and we all have our challenges in the fixture calendar as regards where hurling or football is played, depending where you are. 'But I think it's very much about talking with county boards, understanding the issues that are there with fixtures and working with the different committees.' And he believes a strong Dublin senior hurling side is important. 'Dublin [challenging for major honours] would be brilliant and could revolutionise our sport. We've seen what their club teams have done now, so throw down the gauntlet, it's up to the senior team now.' Silverbridge, home club of GAA president Jarlath Burns , is one of the units to have set up a hurling section for the first time. 'We are not going to see more teams and counties participating in the Liam MacCarthy Cup, where we want them to be, unless we have more clubs in the counties,' stated the Armagh native. And Burns agrees with sentiments of Camogie Association president Brian Molloy that more should be done to incorporate Gaelic games in the school curriculum. '[Brian] is an extremely visionary person with some exceptional ideas, one of which is that because our national games are indigenous to us and part of our culture, they should be in every single curriculum in every national school in Ireland. 'That's not an unreasonable thing, that's something that we are going to work with camogie to try to achieve. I think that would be massive.'
