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RTÉ News
4 days ago
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Brendan Cummins: Cork must restructure to avoid dentist chair pain
Tipperary legend Brendan Cummins believes Cork must adopt a more pragmatic approach if they are to dramatically turn the tables on Limerick and win a first Munster title since 2018 this Saturday. In their round-robin encounter last month, the Treaty County ruthlessly put 3-26 on the Rebels as they continually exploited the space left by Cork's aggressive attacking approach – especially on puck-outs. Cummins, who guided Tipperary to All-Ireland Under-20 glory last Saturday, believes Pat Ryan has to adapt if they are to reverse their fortunes. "Has there been much talk in Cork about the structure of the game against Limerick," Cummins asked on the RTÉ GAA podcast. "(Cork) played with all their forwards up the pitch, the half-forward line never came back to help their own half-back line which meant players were doubled-up on in every position around the middle third of the pitch. "Were there any murmurings that 'we can't go with this project of man-to-man all over the pitch like Clare did last year and got success. Maybe we need to tweak.'" One of the big issues for Cork against Limerick in the round-robin game, as examined by RTÉ GAA analyst Shane McGrath this week, was Darragh Fitzgibbon's inability to get to terms with the influence of Kyle Hayes. "Will O'Donoghue will mark Darragh Fitzgibbon and that will allow Kyle Hayes to come back a bit," Cummins offered. "That was the problem the last day that Darragh Fitzgibbon had, he was stuck between two big trees. Normally he comes out the pitch and he floats around but to be fair to Limerick, the Limerick midfielder picks up the opposition 11; you can't really see that in the general play and that's why Will O'Donoghue is so good. "Darragh Fitzgibbon came back out the pitch and everywhere he went he was tracked by a midfielder so there was none of these loose ball that we saw Tony Kelly get on for years at 11 or Cian Lynch. "The reason Lynch is so good is because he can stand in between that channel at the 65, you can hit it at him through the letterbox and he makes it stick whereas Fitzgibbon's not that kind of hurler. "Cork had no anchor there to play it through." Cummins also feels that the dramatic peak and trough disposition of the Rebel fans is also becoming a factor with the atmosphere for their round 5 win over Waterford noticeably subdued for such an important fixture in their season. "Below in Páirc Uí Chaoimh the last day, the supporters were fair jumpy and anxious against Waterford, it was like sitting there in the dentist chair waiting to know when the drill was going to go off and when the pain was coming. "I said before about the supporters, you're on an unbelievable high, you're going to win the All-Ireland, 'no we're not', this kind of thing."
RTÉ News
17-05-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Tómas Ó Sé: Galway need to embrace All-Ireland pressure
RTÉ GAA analyst Tomás Ó Sé has said that the pressure on Galway to deliver an All-Ireland title is something the Tribe County should welcome as they continue their pursuit of a first Sam Maguire success since 2001. Like last year, when they lost to Armagh by a point in the decider, Pádraic Joyce's side enter the All-Ireland arena with a Connacht title safely tucked away – their fourth provincial success in a row – and are favourites to get their Group 4 campaign off to a winning start when Dublin visit Salthill this evening. "Galway will be looking at this group and they'll have a serious hunger to make sure they top that group and get through straight to the quarter-finals," Ó Sé told the RTÉ GAA podcast. "I'd imagine they're desperate hungry for it, there's probably a pressure on them to deliver an All-Ireland now in Galway. That's a good thing to have. "They have absolutely dominated Connacht and it's something Mayo had a grip on, [but] they've come in and dismantled that, they're ruling the roost up there. "Now the next step for them, and has been in fairness, last year you'd imagine an All-Ireland was the end game as well, but that's definitely the target here." Joyce's side dumped out Dublin at the quarter-final stage last year – their first championship win in the fixture in 90 years – and it was viewed as a shock result, but a repeat 11 months on wouldn't raise too many eyebrows. "They way things are at the minute for Dublin, the struggles that they have, I think Dublin will be under pressure against a Galway team that are physically very dominant and playing well at the moment," Ó Sé added. The five-time All-Star said that Dublin's recent past means that they can never be ruled out, but he hasn't much faith in their ability to leave the west with two points. "You're not going to write Dublin off, there's still an awful amount of quality there. "I think they struggled with their kick-outs, teams will defend strongly enough and I think when you get to this stage of the year when there's less teams involved and you get to the knock-out stage, it'll come basically to what firepower you have up front and how you can score. "There's no doubt about it, call it transition or whatever you like, but the fear factor is gone."
RTÉ News
05-05-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Calls for change following skorts protest ahead of Leinster semi-final
Ursula Jacob, former Wexford Camogie All-Ireland winner and RTÉ GAA pundit on the protest held by Dublin and Kilkenny players over the weekend.
RTÉ News
02-05-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Lee Keegan: 'Group of life' no boon to Kerry's Ireland hopes
Many Kerry fans will have been delighted to see the Kingdom avoid the 'group of death' in Thursday's draw for the All-Ireland SFC, but former Mayo star and RTÉ analyst Lee Keegan believes a routine path through the next stage of the competition could prove detrimental to their prospects of lifting the Sam Maguire for a 39th time. Should Keegan's native county defeat Galway in the upcoming Connacht provincial decider, they'll face true tests against Derry, Dublin and the losers of the Ulster final between Armagh and Donegal. A defeat would still see them face one of Armagh or Donegal, Tyrone and Cavan. Kerry's group challenges appear less onerous, with Cork, Roscommon and the beaten side from the Leinster final – Louth or Meath – providing their opposition, should they justify their overwhelming favouritism against Clare in Killarney on Sunday and lift the Munster Cup. Last season, Jack O'Connor's side made smooth progress through the group stage, but they came up just short against eventual All-Ireland winners Armagh at the semi-final stage. Could an unwanted case of deja vu lie in store for Kerry this time around? Keegan opined just that view on the RTÉ GAA podcast. "I would make an argument from a Kerry perspective that it's the worst draw for them," he said. "If you look at their form last year, they had a pretty similar group and nothing to trouble them. "When it got to the business end, Kerry really struggled, because they didn't have a big favourite to take on. "Kerry are huge favourites for Sunday and rightly so, but into a group stage like that, where it's potentially not going to be competitive enough for them, if they come up against another Armagh or Donegal in the quarter-finals or semi-finals, they could be caught cold again. "Last year we saw it against Armagh. I felt they just lacked something about them. "Armagh were battle-hardened, they'd come through a real rigorous group, a tough league campaign. "I just don't think Kerry can afford to have that again this year." One area where Keegan believes future opponents may expose Kerry is in their defence of two-pointers. "I still think Kerry are under the old regime a little bit," the Westport man said. "They're sitting deep and they're attacking with lovely flair, but they're nearly forgetting about those outside zones a little bit. "Later in the championship, if you've Donegal, who are quite good at two-pointers for example, they'll exploit that against Kerry defensively. "I think Kerry are getting caught a little bit in no man's land, whether to sit too deep, and then they're nearly afraid a little bit to push the line because if you look at the Cork game in extra time, they coughed up two really clearcut goal opportunities. "I think they really need to sort that out in the latter stages. I don't think they're going to get caught on Sunday, but a team with high-end forwards and smart forwards will exploit that later in the year."
