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BBC News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Dublin v Armagh headlines bumper All-Ireland weekend
And now the championship really gets going. After an opening round split across two weekends to allow provincial finalists a bit of breathing space, all 16 teams with ambitions of becoming All-Ireland champions are in action this weekend. The first batch of games produced a couple of eyebrow-raising shocks, namely Cavan's win in Mayo and Tyrone stunning Ulster champions Donegal in four games apiece on Saturday and Sunday, another healthy dose of drama is guaranteed as teams jostle for position in their respective groups. The pick of the bunch is unquestionably Armagh's first trip back to Croke Park since lifting the Sam Maguire Cup last summer, so that's where we'll start. Remarkably, Sunday's Group Four contest will be Dublin and Armagh's first championship meeting since the 2010 All-Ireland qualifiers. In that game at Croke Park, Bernard Brogan hit nine points to help the Dubs see off Paddy O'Rourke's Orchardmen 0-14 to 0-11. And not only is it Armagh's first trip back to headquarters since that momentous day last summer, it is the first time they have faced Dublin in Croke Park since the opening round of the 2022 Division One campaign (which was only the second time Armagh boss Kieran McGeeney has faced the Dubs during his 11-year reign). The star of the show that night? Rian O'Neill - and with the Armagh ace having ended his self-imposed inter-county exile in last week's win over Derry, he will surely relish another blockbuster outing at Croke Park. Armagh in a 'brilliant place' for Dubs test Dublin, like Armagh, are coming off a win. Having crashed out of the Leinster championship at the hands of Meath, Dessie Farrell's side rebounded impressively to beat Galway in Salthill, meaning the winners of Sunday's game will more than likely top Group Four and earn straight passage through to the quarter-finals. "Dublin are not where they were at," says Armagh legend and BBC pundit Oisin McConville. "But there's still a little bit of fight in them. They will enjoy Croke Park but Armagh will too; obviously they have lovely memories from the last time they were."Apart from winning the Ulster Championship, Armagh have ticked all the boxes this year. They've gotten a lot of players back from injury so I think they're in a brilliant place for this game."Already without All-Ireland winning stalwarts Brian Fenton, James McCarthy and Michael Fitzsimons among others, Dublin must cope with the absence of injured three-time All-Star Con O'Callaghan on Sunday."They need absolutely everybody right now. The biggest thing they need is experience," added McConville."The fact that O'Callaghan won't be there - or we're led to believe he won't be there - definitely helps Armagh and detracts from Dublin's forward line." Preceding Dublin v Armagh on Sunday is Derry's must-win game against Galway at Celtic Park. Back-to-back Ulster champions and strong All-Ireland contenders as recently as two years ago, Derry have endured a miserable first year under Paddy Tally, who is still searching for his first win since replacing Mickey Harte. While Derry earned a draw with Galway in the league, overcoming Padraic Joyce's men in the championship pressure-cooker is a big ask, especially for an Oak Leaf unit still shorn of All-Star quality in Gareth McKinless and Conor McCluskey. "Derry must take something from the last 10 or 15 minutes against Armagh when they ripped them apart at times and could have three or four more goals," said McConville. "You wouldn't have argued if that game ended a draw but now it's about results, it's not about anymore hard luck stories and the fact they have Galway at home makes it even more must-win."In Sunday's two other games, Donegal will attempt to regroup against a rejuvenated Cavan at Breffni Park while Monaghan, who beat Louth in their opener, hope to strengthen their position in Group Three when they host Clare. For Tyrone, Saturday evening presents a golden chance to take a significant step towards the last eight when they welcome Mayo to Omagh in Group the Red Hands basking in the glow of their win over Donegal and their latest All-Ireland triumph at Under-20 level, Malachy O'Rourke's side are firm favourites to dispatch a Mayo side for whom the past couple of weeks have been turbulent. Having fallen to Cavan in their opener, manager Kevin McStay stepped back to deal with health issues before an extraordinary meeting of the county committee on Monday which followed recent reports of the board's financial situation. Also at that meeting, GAA president Jarlath Burns condemned "bullying, intimidation and threats" directed at Mayo county board officers. With McStay stepping back, Stephen Rochford leads Mayo against Tyrone in what is a rerun of the 2021 All-Ireland final, which was won by the Ulster county."A lot of things have gone against Mayo and that's usually when they'll give you something so Tyrone need to be on their game but I can't see anything other than a Tyrone win," said McConville."Mayo have history in this regard. They've been written off previously. The performance against Cavan was so alarmingly poor so there's a lot of work to be done. "But Tyrone have the ability to keep the scoreboard ticking over. I don't think Mayo have that."In Group Three, Down hope to make it two wins from two when they welcome Leinster champions Louth to Pairc Esler. Having comfortably dispatched Clare last time out, victory over Louth would leave Conor Laverty's Mournemen in a commanding position before facing Monaghan at a neutral venue in the final round of group games in a fortnight. On Sunday, there are two Ulster counties in Tailteann Cup action as Antrim take on London and Fermanagh face Wexford in the final round-robin games. After defeats by Westmeath and Limerick, Antrim must win to secure an away preliminary quarter-final, while Fermanagh can still top Group Four if they beat Ernemen's game will be played at Croke Park as the curtain-raiser to Dublin v Armagh. Finally, there is a triple-header of hurling finals at Croke Park on Saturday with two Ulster counties vying for silverware. Cavan face New York in the Lory Meagher Cup final before Derry take on London in the Christy Ring Cup decider. Mayo face Roscommon in the Nicky Rackard Cup final. All-Ireland SFC fixtures All times BSTSaturday 31 May Group Two: Cork v Kerry, Pairc Ui Chaoimh, 16:45Group Two: Roscommon v Meath, Dr Hyde Park, 18:00Group Three: Down v Louth, Pairc Esler, 17:30 Group One: Tyrone v Mayo, Healy Park, 19:00Sunday 1 JuneGroup One: Cavan v Donegal, Breffni Park, 14:00Group Four: Derry v Galway, Celtic Park, 14:00Group Three: Monaghan v Clare, Clones, 16:00Group Four: Dublin v Armagh, Croke Park, 16:00 Tailteann Cup fixtures Saturday 31 May Group Three: Westmeath v Limerick, Portlaoise, 14:00 Group Two: Offaly v Laois, Newbridge, 18:00Group Two: Wicklow v Waterford, Wexford Park, 18:00Sunday 1 JuneGroup Four: Carlow v Longford, Tullamore, 13:45Group Three: Antrim v London, Pairc Esler, 13:45Group One: Leitrim v Tipperary, Mullingar, 13:45Group Four: Fermanagh v Wexford, Croke Park, 13:45Group One: Kildare v Sligo, Dr Hyde Park, 14:00 Hurling fixtures Nicky Rackard Cup final: Mayo v Roscommon, Croke Park, 13:00 Lory Meagher Cup final: Cavan v New York, Croke Park, 15:00Christy Ring Cup final: Derry v London, Croke Park, 17:00
BBC News
4 days ago
- General
- BBC News
O'Callaghan not in Dublin squad for Armagh game
Dublin captain Con O'Callaghan has not been included in Dessie Farrell's squad for Sunday's All-Ireland round-robin contest against holders Armagh at Croke Park (16:00 BST). The three-time All-Star forward was forced off injured in Dublin's win over Galway on 17 May and has been replaced by Tom Lahiff. Armagh boss Kieran McGeeney has also been forced into a change with Oisin O'Neill replaced by Conor Turbitt in attack. Crossmaglen club-man O'Neill was withdrawn after just 11 minutes in the Orchard's opening Group Four win over Derry at the Athletic Grounds last week. Rian O'Neill - Oisin's brother - has been named to start at corner-forward after making his return against Derry. Having not featured since last year's All-Ireland final, O'Neill replaced Aidan Forker just prior to throw-in last week. Dublin: Stephen Cluxton; David Byrne, Theo Clancy, Sean MacMahon; Alex Gavin, Brian Howard, Tom Lahiff; Peadar O Cofaigh Byrne, Killian McGinnis; Ciaran Kilkenny, Lorcan O'Dell, Sean Bugler; Brian O'Leary, Cormac Costello, Colm Evan Comerford, Luke Breathnach, Nathan Doran, Lee Gannon, Davy Keogh, Greg McEneaney, Eoghan O'Donnell, Dan O'Leary, Niall Scully, John Small, Paddy Small. Armagh: Ethan Rafferty, Paddy Burns, Barry McCambridge, Peter McGrane; Ross McQuillan, Tiernan Kelly, Jarly Og Burns; Jason Duffy, Ben Crealey; Darragh McMullan, Rory Grugan, Oisin Kelly; Rian O'Neill, Andrew Murnin, Conor Blaine Hughes, Tomas McCormack, Greg McCabe, Connaire Mackin, Cian McConville, Joe McElroy, Niall Grimley, Callum O'Neill, Stefan Campbell, Shane McPartlan, Jemar Hall.
Irish Times
6 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
Darragh Ó Sé: Rian O'Neill being back for Armagh is good news for everyone, especially Rian O'Neill
Rian O'Neill coming back to play for Armagh is win-win all around. It's good for Armagh , good for Kieran McGeeney, good for supporters. It's even good for the rest of us who are looking in from the outside. If you can have a championship with Rian O'Neill in it, you're better off than having him sitting at home. But most of all, it's good for Rian O'Neill. When you're that talented, you have to play. Whatever stopped him getting involved at the start of the year, getting out and doing the thing he's best at can only be a good thing. Get out on the grass, get in among your friends, feel the love of the crowd. Go and do it. Does it create issues in a dressingroom? That depends on the dressingroom. In Armagh's case, I'd say there's no chance of it, high up or low down. For one thing, being All-Ireland champions tends to iron out an awful lot of issues. This is a squad that has everything going for it – age profile, panel depth, management. It's well able to look around the rest of the championship and have no fear of anyone. What you have that, everyone knows what's on offer here. Nobody involved in that group will be in any doubt that there's the potential for a second All-Ireland in the group. There might even be more. Are you really going to get cranky because someone of Rian O'Neill's calibre has been brought back in? What sort of tolerance do you think there would be for your point of view? READ MORE Every dressingroom has a few tiers, whether you like it or not. The top tier of players will only see upside in O'Neill coming back. The next tier – the ones who are on the fringes of the team but regularly in the match day 26 – they won't be annoyed either. They'll see it as a challenge. Whose spot is he taking? Well he isn't taking mine, I'll tell you that for nothing. If anyone is sore about it at all, it will be the players on the fringe of the panel. We know Armagh carry a big squad already and this is one more body ahead of them in the queue. But even then, they aren't fool enough to think that Rian O'Neill is their actual competition. The job isn't any more difficult now than it was a month ago. And if you think it is, there's only one solution. We're defending Sam Maguire here – suck it up and get better. This is all down to brilliant management by Kieran McGeeney. The loyalty he shows every player who plays under him is getting its payback. They all know he will go above and beyond the call of duty for them and so there's going to be no giving out. I'd be surprised if there was ever even a conversation about it. I'd say it was just, 'Good news everyone, Rian is back.' Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney during Saturday's game against Derry at the Athletic Grounds. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho McGeeney is able to get that buy-in anywhere he goes. Even now, 15 years later, if you ask any Kildare player who played under him, they'd say the same thing. They know you only get one go at an intercounty career – they had McGeeney for the part of theirs when they were playing their best football and they'd have done anything for him. They're still sore at their county board for giving him the door. It's noticeable that Armagh very rarely lose players. Tyrone won the All-Ireland a few years ago and five lads walked out the door over the following winter. But whether Armagh have had good times or bad times under McGeeney, you very rarely hear of anyone throwing their hat at it and walking away. My guess is that a dressingroom as tight as that would have had no issue with O'Neill coming back in. It has happened a good few times over the years, even in teams that are contending. Stephen O'Neill came out of retirement for Tyrone . Diarmuid Connolly disappeared from the Dubs for a summer and only landed back in after a visa problem stopped him going to the US. Dublin's Diarmuid Connolly during the 2019 All-Ireland final replay against Kerry. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho In both cases, these were top-class forwards coming back in to take the place of someone else who had been there all year, doing all the slog. But neither Mickey Harte nor Jim Gavin were turning them away. They knew they could help win Sam Maguire. When Mike McCarthy came back into the Kerry squad halfway through 2009, he hadn't played a game for Kerry in three years. But as soon as he landed back in the dressingroom, there wasn't one bit of grumbling from anyone. The only question anyone had for Mike was, 'How soon can you start?' Certain players are above reproach. This was one of the best defenders in Kerry football, plain and simple. The fact that he was back in playing with us was only good news. Whatever he was going to be able to add, we'd take it. It's the same with Rian O'Neill. McGeeney isn't stupid. He was a player himself, in good teams and in bad teams. He knows that on some level, everybody has their own racket going on. Somewhere, in quiet corners, probably in cars going home from training, there'll be a couple of fellas bitching about the fact that they were killing themselves in the muck and the shite last November and Rian wasn't. Kerry's Mike McCarthy during the 2010 Munster final. Photograph: Cathal Noonan/Inpho There's only one reaction to that kind of talk. Cry me a river, boys. The All-Ireland quarter-final is four weeks away. There's a chance here to do what no Armagh team has ever done and what no Ulster team has done since the early-1960s. Do you want to sing a sad song or do you want to go after back-to-back All-Irelands? Rian O'Neill is one of those trigger players that every team needs. He is hard-wired into the supporters – they feed off the things he does in a way that doesn't happen with other players. He scored a point in the first half against Derry and the whole terrace went mad for it. It's like when Damien Comer scores a goal for Galway – there's a different type of reception for it than when Rob Finnerty scores one. It's like the supporters are going, 'We have our main man back – come and take us on now.' There aren't many Rian O'Neills in the country. He's like a universal remote – you can put him to work in any position from six to 14. If you can get him back on the field, you don't even think twice about it. Armagh were a force to reckon with anyway. They're even stronger now.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
O'Neill played 'quite well' after 'brave' McGeeney call
Armagh legend Oisin McConville said Rian O'Neill played "quite well" in the county's All-Ireland round-robin win over Derry on Saturday after manager Kieran McGeeney's "brave" decision to start him. Having initially not been named in the matchday squad, O'Neill was a late replacement for Aidan Forker at the Athletic Grounds, marking the Crossmaglen club-man's first competitive appearance since last year's All-Ireland final. O'Neill stepped away from the panel for personal reasons earlier, and while McGeeney previously said he did not expect him back this year, the All-Star returned to help the team begin their Sam Maguire defence with a 2-21 to 2-17 win. "It was great to see him back," McConville said on The GAA Social of his nephew. "He got a great reception and for a lad that's missed so much football, he actually played quite well, was on the ball a good bit, got a score. "It was a brave decision from Geezer to throw him straight back in there. Most people would have thought 'yeah, he'll be on the bench, he'll get 20 or 30 minutes' but he actually got 50-plus minutes under his belt, which is a massive help going into the Dublin game." McConville, an All-Ireland winner with the Orchardmen in 2002, added that while Armagh were "disjointed" in the second half against Derry, it was a "fairly perfect" precursor to Sunday's game against Dublin in Croke Park. The Wicklow boss also said Derry can take positives from the game, having kept Armagh within reach despite trailing by 13 points with 20 minutes left, but argued that Oak Leaf boss Paddy Tally must address his side's kick-outs. "They need to sort out their own kick-outs," McConville said of Derry, who are yet to win under Tally. "That's an area that needs sorted quickly and that'll give them much more of a platform. "Armagh went to town on it at times in the first half and especially the first 15 minutes of the second half. "I turned to the lad beside me and said 'this could be anything'. Armagh were 2-19 and I was thinking it could be 2-30. "For Derry to avoid that and do what they did at the other end should give them enough without trying to patronise anybody." Listen to the latest GAA Social on BBC Sounds
BBC News
26-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
O'Neill played 'quite well' after 'brave' McGeeney call
Armagh legend Oisin McConville said Rian O'Neill played "quite well" in the county's All-Ireland round-robin win over Derry on Saturday after manager Kieran McGeeney's "brave" decision to start him. Having initially not been named in the matchday squad, O'Neill was a late replacement for Aidan Forker at the Athletic Grounds, marking the Crossmaglen club-man's first competitive appearance since last year's All-Ireland final. O'Neill stepped away from the panel for personal reasons earlier, and while McGeeney previously said he did not expect him back this year, the All-Star returned to help the team begin their Sam Maguire defence with a 2-21 to 2-17 win. "It was great to see him back," McConville said on The GAA Social of his nephew."He got a great reception and for a lad that's missed so much football, he actually played quite well, was on the ball a good bit, got a score. "It was a brave decision from Geezer to throw him straight back in there. Most people would have thought 'yeah, he'll be on the bench, he'll get 20 or 30 minutes' but he actually got 50-plus minutes under his belt, which is a massive help going into the Dublin game."McConville, an All-Ireland winner with the Orchardmen in 2002, added that while Armagh were "disjointed" in the second half against Derry, it was a "fairly perfect" precursor to Sunday's game against Dublin in Croke Park. The Wicklow boss also said Derry can take positives from the game, having kept Armagh within reach despite trailing by 13 points with 20 minutes left, but argued that Oak Leaf boss Paddy Tally must address his side's kick-outs."They need to sort out their own kick-outs," McConville said of Derry, who are yet to win under Tally. "That's an area that needs sorted quickly and that'll give them much more of a platform. "Armagh went to town on it at times in the first half and especially the first 15 minutes of the second half. "I turned to the lad beside me and said 'this could be anything'. Armagh were 2-19 and I was thinking it could be 2-30. "For Derry to avoid that and do what they did at the other end should give them enough without trying to patronise anybody."Listen to the latest GAA Social on BBC Sounds
