Latest news with #competitions
Irish Times
3 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
The Schemozzle: Tiered hurling system sending ill-prepared counties round in circles
'The success of these competitions in providing competitive games and a pathway to progress is a proven concept, so much so that it has inspired football to follow suit.' Those were the words of GAA president Jarlath Burns in the programme for Saturday's triple-header of Christy Ring, Nicky Rackard and Lory Meagher Cup finals . On closer inspection, while there is a pathway, teams often find themselves ill-prepared for progress when they achieve it. The grim reality is that teams who lift silverware in the bottom two tiers usually find themselves out of their depth at the next level up. Relegation often follows, before they win again at the lower level and repeat the process. In recent years, the record of teams at the next grade up, after winning the Rackard or Meagher Cup, has been very poor. The last three champions of both competitions have a combined win rate of 17 per cent in their first season at the higher grades. The upshot is that the same counties tend to dominate the lower tiers. Instances of counties progressing up the ranks and consolidating are very rare. READ MORE Mayo, for example, have played in five of the last 10 Rackard Cup finals, winning it twice and losing Saturday's final by a point against Roscommon. Donegal have won the same competition four times since 2013, while Kildare have won the Christy Ring Cup five times since 2014. Red Hand rising – but how high? While it's happened several times in hurling, 50 years have passed since Kerry managed a unique feat in football, winning the All-Ireland senior, minor and under-21 titles in the same season. Five decades on, could Tyrone repeat it? The Red Hand are on a high at underage level, having claimed three of the last four All-Ireland under-20 titles. Their latest success was highly impressive as they beat Armagh, Derry and Donegal in Ulster. Then they overcame Kerry by six points before beating Louth, 5-16 to 0-17, in last Wednesday's All-Ireland final. Tyrone also claimed the Ulster minor championship and will now face Cork in the All-Ireland quarter-final. Having also won the Ulster minor league, they are favourites to win the All-Ireland minor title. The closest Tyrone came to the unique hat-trick was in 2008 when they won the minor and senior All-Irelands, but their under-21s lost the Ulster semi-final to eventual provincial champions Down. Tyrone seniors are currently joint-fifth favourites for Sam Maguire, but their odds have lengthened since they were unexpectedly turned over at home against Mayo on Saturday. Bragging rights for brave Barry There was a delicious championship moment in the Laois v Offaly Tailteann Cup group game on Saturday. Six minutes into second-half injury-time, with Laois trailing their local rivals by a point, 3-16 to 2-18, Laois were awarded a penalty. Stepping up to take it was Mark Barry, whose home club, O'Dempsey's, straddles the border between the two counties. A draw or victory would have ensured qualification to a preliminary quarter-final for Laois, while there was a slim chance a loss would knock them out. Barry, who hadn't scored in the match, had a decision to make – knock it over the bar and guarantee a preliminary quarter-final or risk it for the same prize by going for goal. Laois were long overdue a win against Offaly. That and local bragging rights may have swayed things. Barry buried it and Laois won by two. Every point counts for Mayo Speaking of Tyrone, there was an unusual incident at the denouement of their loss to Mayo, as noted on social media by journalist Maurice Brosnan. 'Funny moment at the end of yesterday's game,' Brosnan posted. 'Ryan O'Donoghue turns to look at the clock and gets ready to kick it out. Mayo management start roaring to keep playing, score difference could matter. So he takes off and sets up Jack Coyne for his first ever championship point.' As it turned out, it is unlikely that score difference will come into play in that group. All four sides have a win on the board, so unless both of the final-day fixtures (Mayo v Donegal and Cavan v Tyrone) end in draws, there can't be any more than two teams on the same points, meaning the head-to-head rule will apply. Quote 'Over the last few years this particular group have been questioned for our commitment and our drive and I think today we answered a lot of f**king questions.' – Roscommon joint-captain Conor Mulry was a happy man after accepting the Rackard Cup. Number: 7 Two-pointers Monaghan scored in the second half of their win over Clare , who had scored four in the first half. Neither side managed an orange flag against the wind.
Sky News
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sky News
Urdd Eisteddfod: Why Strictly star Amy Dowden is supporting Welsh festival that is 'like Britain's Got Talent'
Thousands of people are expected to attend Port Talbot this weekend as the town gears up to welcome an annual Welsh festival. The Urdd Eisteddfod is a celebration of Welsh culture when children and young people up to the age of 25 take part in a variety of competitions. There are 400 of them in total, including singing, reciting poetry and dancing. The Urdd organisation itself was established more than a century ago in 1922, with the aim of giving children and young people in Wales the opportunity to learn and socialise in the Welsh language. Its six-day Eisteddfod is held during May half-term and in a different part of Wales each year. The Urdd Eisteddfod broke its own records last year, with more than 100,000 registrations to compete. Margam Park is home to this year's event - the first time since 2003 that it's played host. Among the main prizes up for grabs this year are the chair (awarded to the main poetry competition winner) and the crown (awarded to the main prose competition winner). This year's crown and chair have been made using some of the final pieces of steel produced at Port Talbot steelworks before the closure of the blast furnaces last year. There are some new additions to this year's Eisteddfod, including awards for singing, musical theatre and acting, named in honour of Sir Bryn Terfel, Callum Scott Howells and Matthew Rhys. Another new award - the Amy Dowden award for dance - will also be awarded for the first time this week. Speaking to Sky News, Strictly Come Dancing star Dowden said it was a "real honour" to be supporting the next generation of dancers. "The arts and the industry is tough, and I just hope that [the young people] can see that I've managed to push myself through it," she said. "I've worked hard, I've had a few challenges along the way. Hopefully I can help inspire them as well." 'It's like Britain's Got Talent' As a former competitor herself in what is one of Europe's largest touring youth festivals, Dowden says she "couldn't imagine [her] childhood without it". "I've loved Eisteddfods since I can remember. Every year at school I took part in everything, from the baking to the reciting poems, to the folk dancing, to the creative dancing," she said. "The Urdd Eisteddfod is literally like one big talent competition, it's like Britain's Got Talent." The winner of the Amy Dowden award will get one-to-one sessions with her as part of the prize, as well as masterclasses at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. They will have the opportunity to perform on an international stage and also win a cash prize. "I know from my dance training and everything, each of those is so beneficial to getting yourself to that professional level," Dowden added.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Train crashes, buying an elephant and other crazy stunts the Iowa State Fair once pulled
As the countdown to the Iowa State Fair continues on, now's the time to start planning your entries for the contests and competitions. From cow-chip throwing to homemade pies, from fine art photography to wine, there's something for everyone to enter for a chance to win the coveted Blue Ribbon. Check out how to participate at If you're worried about the economy and the Iowa State Fair this year, don't fret. More: Want to save money at the Iowa State Fair? Here are early deals for 2025 Back in the 1930s, deep in the Depression Era and way before safety regulations, fair employees had to stage bigger and bigger attractions to get people with less and less money in the gates. Thus, the great grandstand spectacle was born. Below are the stories behind five of our favorite spectacles, clipped from 1930s video shot by Frank Burns, Sr., the then-superintendent of the Varied Industries Building. The video has been archived and provided to the Des Moines Register by the State Historical Society of Iowa of Des Moines. The most famous fair-time spectacle ever was the Iowa State Fair elephant. Baby Mine — who, just for the record, was actually named simply Mine — was purchased by the State Fair and the Des Moines Register after crowd-sourcing nickels and dimes from Iowa's schoolchildren. Mine learned tricks and performed across the country as 'Iowa's pride and Joy' from 1929 to about 1942, always making a point to come back home in August for the Iowa State Fair. In her off-time, she lived in a climate-controlled stall on the fairgrounds. Mine's life had a tragic end, though, and she died in obscurity. Learn more about her rise to fame and fall to anonymity in this special Subscriber-exclusive story. Crashing various vehicles together was a big draw for the fair during the '30s, but the most infamous of these sorts of staged events was the collision of two steam-powered locomotives in 1932. Despite having also wrecked locomotives in 1896 and 1922, the 1932 crash took on an election theme by pitting a Herbert Hoover train against a Franklin Delano Roosevelt train. (Register reporting from the time is not clear on which train won, though in the actual election that fall, Iowan Hoover was defeated in a landslide by Roosevelt.) Traveling at about 50 miles per hour, the four engineers bailed just before the two trains hit each other head-on, hurling metal and wood into the crowd. More than 45,000 people had to be held back from getting too close to the crash site as fire spread from Roosevelt's engine to Hoover's, the Register reported. All of this was orchestrated by an Iowan (of course). Joseph S. Connolly became known as 'Head-On Joe' for his famous train-crashing performances, according to a biography titled 'The Man Who Wrecked 146 Locomotives.' 'Somewhere in the makeup of every normal person,' Connelly is quoted as saying in the book, 'there lurks the suppressed desire to smash things up.' 'As a historian, it kind of breaks my heart,' State Curator Leo Landis told me, 'because here you've got two steam-powered locomotives that, if they were around today, would just be priceless and there'd be museums that would love to have them, that, as a demonstration, get set up and crash into each other.' The smashing theme continued throughout the 1930s, but in 1937 the Iowa State Fair upped the ante by having Captain F.F. Frakes crash a speeding airplane into a house. About 60,000 people watched this climax to this fair's "Thrill Day," according to the Iowa State Fair archives, but the feat apparently made Frakes a wanted man. The house in tatters on the grandstand, Frakes barely escaped arrest for the stunt, State Fair lore says. In general, planes and air tricks of all sorts were draws for the fair. Even an appearance from the grand olde Register and Tribune autogiro (an airplane with windmill-like blades on the front), brought people out to the fairgrounds. With the Great War still in the memory of many older fairgoers, military-themed displays proved popular in the late 20s and 30s. In 1929, the fair staged an airplane dog fight of sorts. The culmination of the show was puncturing and capsizing a WWI anti-shrapnel balloon. And then there's the good old fun of a human cannonball. Wheeeeee! COURTNEY CROWDER, the Register's Iowa Columnist, traverses the state's 99 counties telling Iowans' stories. Her fair spectacle is seeing just how much food she can really eat. You can reach her at 515-284-8360 or ccrowder@ Follow her on Twitter @courtneycare. This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State Fair: Remembering some of the fair's wildest stunts
