Latest news with #SamMaguire
Irish Daily Mirror
9 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Jim McGuinness delivers powerful message at Donegal homecoming
Donegal manager Jim McGuinness delivered a powerful speech at Monday's homecoming, promising fans in attendance that the county would bring Sam Maguire home sooner rather than later. McGuinness was speaking a day after his side's collapse in the All-Ireland final where they were beaten by 10 points and failed to lay a glove on an awesome Kerry side that cruised to victory. While beaten hurling finalists Cork cancelled their homecoming after defeat to Tipperary, McGuinness and his team took to the stage to speak to the Donegal public - whose support cannot be questioned. "First of all I want to recognise the players behind me here, the players and the staff but particularly the players," began McGuinness as his players stood behind him on stage. "There's a lot of hurt, a lot of hurt behind me. There's a lot of pain behind me. There's no doubt about it that these fellas wanted to be standing in front of you and they wanted to have the Sam Maguire and that's not here. "And there's nobody more disappointed than that group of players. "I really hope that this can be a moment that they latch onto and can make them stronger, more resilient and bring them to a point when they are in a better position than they were yesterday afternoon in terms of going into a big game and taking on a big team. "And so, I just want to recognise them and thank them for everything that they have done over the last 24 months or so. Their efforts, their commitment and their sacrifice. "We're very disappointed we're here and we don't have Sam, and we're very disappointed for you people, particularly all these young children across the front here that are the future of Donegal football on the male and the female side. "We're really disappointed. But there will be brighter days. The rain will stop and the sun will shine. And I know for a fact that Donegal will be back here someday with the Sam Maguire Cup." Sunday was Donegal's fourth All-Ireland final in their history, and all four have involved McGuinness. He was a player in 1992 and manager in 2012 when they won, and also managed the side in a losing final in 2014 before stepping down. He returned a decade later and has led Donegal to back-to-back Ulster titles, an All-Ireland semi-final last year and a final this term.
The Irish Sun
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
From Croke Park to lost luggage and dashed dreams – the painful reality of Donegal's near miss in All-Ireland final
LOSING an All-Ireland final is hard enough without the baggage — literally. As a native, covering Advertisement 2 Patrick McBrearty and Shane O'Donnell of Donegal are left heartbroken after the defeat to Kerry last Sunday 2 Kerry players staff and family celebrate with the Sam Maguire cup after the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship final match win over Donegal at Croke Park There's an emotional attachment that must be put to one side — and that's not always simple — but I think we managed it. After My parents and sisters headed for home but plenty of my friends remained in the capital to drown their sorrows. There was a lot to digest. Advertisement read more on gaa Kerry were the better team, no doubt, but Donegal's call to leave Hugh McFadden on the bench was a head-scratcher. Meeting old friends and just chatting nonsense at the Harcourt Hotel — which was the hub for Donegal folk in the big smoke — certainly helped our mood. But the morning after the night before came with all sorts of horrors. My professional hat had to go back on to conduct interviews at the victorious Kerry team hotel. Advertisement Most read in GAA Football My little silver suitcase had been giddily packed in anticipation for a victorious trip back to the hills. But the result meant I was off to the Burlington Road with my luggage and laptop before the onward, unwanted journey to Heuston Station and Athlone, where I live. 'Sad to see him go' - GAA fans emotional seeing Michael D Higgins attend last men's All-Ireland final as President This was like taking a child to the world's greatest amusement park and not allowing them to go on any of the rides. Look, but don't touch. Weary but happy Kerry heads thronged the lobby as Sam Maguire sat proudly among them — and I tried to ignore the glare off the iconic cup. Advertisement I located some of my colleagues who were in somewhat brighter form than I was and left my case and laptop bag where they were stationed before we sat down with Jack O'Connor. When we returned from this engaging conversation which featured in yesterday's paper, my belongings were gone. Suitcase, laptop — the whole lot. This felt like a sick joke from some cute Kerry hoor as I prowled the place looking for my stuff while David Clifford posed for selfies and O'Connor's players began to load up the bus. I rooted through that Kerry boot like nobody ever has before but only found O'Neill's gearbags and nothing belonging to me. Advertisement The hotel staff were alerted and a very helpful manager checked the cameras. It turned out a chauffeur driver had taken my luggage by mistake while we spoke to O'Connor, and everything from my toothbrush and clean undies to my laptop were on their way to Tralee. The driver's phone number was retrieved but he would not answer the phone, while another member of staff was reluctant to divulge any more details about the driver due to GDPR as my belongings tore down the M7. Just in time, the manager returned, the driver phoned back and my luggage would be left at Barack Obama Plaza on the Tipperary-Offaly border. Advertisement Always there in times of need, my good wife contacted someone she knew at Roscrea Garda station to retrieve my things. Getting them back to Athlone was the next job. My brother-in-law, Gerard, is from Templetuohy in Tipperary and even though he doesn't like hurling — those people exist — he was on the road in the Premier County to retrieve the stricken luggage. Just to cap off the day, enter Irish Rail. Advertisement They clearly didn't feel Donegal's pain as there are no trains there and with my phone battery about to die — like myself inside — I managed to scan my ticket at Heuston. Ciarán — the captain of the good ship here at SunSport — could only see the funny side of this predicament and the O'Connor copy would have to wait until I got home. A young group of loud, enthusiastic Americans failed to help my head or mood before I promptly moved to the back of the carriage to wallow in my own self pity. We sat on the tracks for a solid 20 minutes outside Tullamore for good measure before the smiles of my daughter Cara at Athlone Station cleared the clouds. Advertisement It could have all been so different but as Mike Tyson once said — everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.
BreakingNews.ie
3 days ago
- Sport
- BreakingNews.ie
Pictures: Hundreds of fans welcome All-Ireland champions Kerry home
Homecoming celebrations are underway for Kerry's All-Ireland Senior Football champions. They won by 1-26 to 0-19 points against Donegal in Sunday's All-Ireland final. Advertisement Tralee was the first to host homecoming celebrations from 6.15pm, before the open-top bus travelled to Killarney for 8.30pm. Hundreds of delighted fans turned out to welcome the Kerry footballers home with the Sam Maguire Cup. The Kingdom have been parading through the county this evening after winning their 39th All-Ireland Senior football title. The official homecoming event will take place at Fitzgerald Stadium from 9pm. Graham O'Sullivan, Tadhg Morley and Gavin White arrive back to Tralee with the Sam Maguire trophy. Photo: Ben Brady/Inpho The victorious Kerry team arrive back to Tralee with the Sam Maguire. Photo: Ben Brady/Inpho Dylan Casey poses for a picture with fans as he arrives back to Tralee with the Sam Maguire trophy. Photo: Ben Brady/Inpho
The 42
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The 42
Over one million viewers tune in to All-Ireland football final on RTÉ
RTÉ'S LIVE TV coverage of yesterday's All-Ireland football final drew an average audience of 933,000 – with viewing figures peaking at 1,033,000 towards the end of the game as Kerry stormed to glory against Donegal. 79% of the available audience tuned in as Kingdom secured a record-extending 39th Sam Maguire crown following a 1-26 to 0-19 win at Croke Park. Advertisement The game also attracted 378,000 streams on the RTÉ player, while a further 175,000 people watched last night's Sunday Game on RTÉ 2. RTÉ have also revealed that 'The Sunday Game' social media accounts saw video views reaching 6.73 million with over 705,000 engagements. It was the 'top performing piece of content across all RTÉ social channels and platforms'. Last week's All-Ireland hurling final between Tipperary and Cork had an average audience of 980,000 tuned into live coverage on RTÉ, which peaked at 1,119,000. Over one million viewers also watched the 2024 All-Ireland football final on RTÉ. A peak audience of 1,085,400 watched Armagh beat Galway last summer. *****
The 42
3 days ago
- Sport
- The 42
Kerry captain Gavin White lands All-Ireland football final man of the match award
KERRY CAPTAIN GAVIN White has been named man of the match after today's All-Ireland senior football final. The Kingdom stormed to Sam Maguire Cup glory with a 1-26 to 0-19 win over Donegal. White scored 0-3 in a superb half-back performance at Croke Park. Advertisement While David Clifford and Paudie Clifford were among others in the conversation, the winner was announced on The Sunday Game on RTÉ, and presented by GAA President Jarlath Burns at the team banquet at the winners' hotel. Mayo legend Lee Keegan labelled White's showing as 'one of the all-time great half-back performances,' to which he said: 'Ah look, I suppose you go out there and try to perform as best you can. 'Plenty of the lads played exceptionally well today. You see Paudie there getting 76 possessions, it's unbelievable. Look, it's a team performance, our main objective this morning was to get the Sam Maguire back to the Kingdom so we're just absolutely thrilled with that. ' Kerry captain Gavin White is the 2025 All-Ireland Final Man of the Match 📺 Watch the #SundayGame live: — The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 27, 2025 White continued: 'One of our targets at the start of the game was to make a mark in the first 10 minutes, use our experience from the last couple of years and thankfully we were able to do that. 'I'm a bit lost for words to tell you the truth, just so emotional over the last five our six hours. Immensely proud of all the players. It's been a tough year, it's been a tough couple of years. To get Sam Maguire back home, I'm just immensely proud of all of them.' The Dr Crokes man also spoke about changing his own game, recalling a meeting with team coach Cian O'Neill at the start of the season. 'Like any player in the country with the new rules, you have to evolve to some degree,' said White. 'The kick out has obviously been a huge part of it, breaking ball being key to primary possession. It's something that probably wouldn't have been one of my strengths in previous years so it was obviously something I needed to target this year. Related Reads 'I was inside here a month ago and there steam coming out of my ears' - Jack O'Connor How Joe O'Connor put injury hell behind him and played his way into Footballer of the Year contention 'It was a bit of a struggle when I came back after the club campaign, but gradually got to grips with it and thankfully it paid off.' Both captains landed the man of the match awards in this year's All-Ireland football and hurling finals: Ronan Maher was honoured for Tipperary last week. *****
