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[Monaghan, McGee and Toye return for the Championship]

Monaghan, McGee and Toye return for the Championship

By Tom Comack


Donegal's championship preparations got a shot in the arm this week with the return to the county squad of Barry Monaghan, Eamonn McGee and Christy Toye.


Both Monaghan and McGee trained with the squad on Monday night in Castlefin while Toye is due to return to training tonight (Thursday). Also called up to the squad having been given a number of runs before during Brian McIver's term is Toye's St Michael's club colleague, Martin McElhinney.

Experienced defender Monaghan was a member of the team for much of the league and just opted to take a break a couple of weeks ago to recharge the batteries and shake off the effects of a virus that ruled him out of much of the Dr. McKenna Cup campaign.

McGee, who has been ever present in the starting 15 in recent seasons, played for London in Division Four of the Allianz National League having transferred to Tir Chonaill Gaels.

However, he returned home in recent weeks and had resumed with Gaoth Dobhair at the weekend in their against Four Masters in Donegal Town and is available once again to play for Donegal.

Toye picked up a straight red card in a club game at the weekend and only recently returned to club action after a lengthy lay off with an achilles injury suffered last July playing for Donegal against Clare in the All-Ireland qualifiers.

Likewise, his club colleague McElhinney spent much of the last 12 month in rehab following treatment on a groin injury. He only returned to action earlier in the year in the latter stages of St. Michael's all conquering U-21 championship run.

"It is good to have the boys back. They are all quality players and they do strengthen our options. Barry (Monaghan) took a short break to do a bit of work on his own and recharge the battery while Eamonn (McGee) is back from London and playing with Gaoth Dobhair again. I watched him at the weekend in the league against Four Masters and he played very well and is most definitely and option," said Doherty.

"As for Christy (Toye), he was always in our plans once he recovered and got a few games with the club. Unfortunately he got a red card at the weekend and is going to miss a number of games but he is in good shape and seems to have a good appetite for the game again while Martin (McElhinney) is a good a footballer and has been playing well for St. Michael's since his return."

Doherty also has made no secret that he plans to draft in a number of the U-21s into the squad but has insisted this week that he will not be doing anything on that front until after Saturday week's All-Ireland final with Dublin and as a consequence will not be finalising his championship panel until after the U-21 final.

"The U-21s have done very well and have given football in the county a big lift. A number of the lads are in my plans but I don't think it would be fair to call them up at this stage.

[MUNSTER MINOR HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP 2010 QUARTER FINALS]

MUNSTER MINOR HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP 2010 QUARTER FINALS

WEDNESDAY APRIL 28th

@ Pairc Uí Chaoimh, Cork
Cork v Tipperary
at 6.30pm
Reiteoir - Michael O'Connor (Luimneach)

@ Walsh Park, Waterford
Waterford v Clare
at 6.30pm
Reiteoir - Colm Lyons (Corcaigh)

@ Kilmallock
Limerick v Kerry
at 6.30pm
Reiteoir - Damien Fox (An Clár)


Extra time in the event of a Draw at the end of 60 minutes in all games


Munster Minor Hurling Championship Draw

1 QF Cork v Tipperary  28/04 Pairc Ui Chaoimh
 
2 QF Waterford v Clare  28/04 Walsh Park 

3 QF Limerick v Kerry  28/04 Kilmallock 

4 Play-Off 1  Loser of 2  Loser of 3  01/05   
5 Play-Off 2  Loser of 1  Winner of 4  05/05   

Semi Final  Winner of 1  Winner of 3  24/06   
Semi Final   Winner of 2  Winner of 5  24/06 

Final      11/07

Fixture Details

MUNSTER GAA MINOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP 2010

SATURDAY APRIL 24th

Play Off 2

@ Semple Stadium, Thurles

Tipperary v Clare

at 7.00pm

Winners to play Cork in Semi Final on May 12th.

Reiteoir – Martin Collins (Corcaigh)

Extra time in the event of a Draw at the end of 60 minutes

[Walsh targets another win]

Walsh targets another win

NOW that they've happily gotten accustomed to winning, the reborn Sligo want to keep it that way.

Into the National Football League Division Two realm for 2011 and qualified for this year's Division Three decider against Antrim, who Sligo stuffed in the 2009 Division Four final, the former Connacht champions have developed a taste for gleaning victories.

"Any final you get to, you want to try to win it," said Kevin Walsh, the Sligo Senior team manager, ahead of Saturday's Croke Park showdown against Antrim, last year's Ulster finalists (throw-in 7pm).

"The last four games we've played [in Division Three] have been like championship games and we want to keep that edge."

That they have the opportunity to complete their National League duties on a high is, according to Walsh, an unexpected but most welcome side-effect of a progressive series that yielded five wins from seven games.

"We said that when we had got promoted we wanted to stay up [in Division Three] and make sure we didn't go down again. We set out to get 10 points and then get promoted."

Walsh maintained all along that in the topsy-turvy world of Division Three that those teams displaying the most consistency would prosper.

Indeed, Division Three is not entirely removed from the lowest tier in terms of participants being able to make errors (and get away with it) and the fact that a team could be, say, five or six points ahead (or behind) and still not be sure of a game's outcome.

When Sligo lost two of their opening three games – against Antrim and Wexford – few would have envisaged that Walsh's charges would end up as one of the two promoted sides.

The circumstances that led to a repeat of last year's Division Four final, this time in the higher section, left Wexford marginalised.

"Look at Antrim, they lost their last three games and got through. Wexford beat both ourselves and Antrim and still didn't go up," Walsh observed.

If expanding his selection options and maintaining Sligo's Division Three status were among Walsh's original targets then the Galway native and his selectors, Dessie Sloyan, Paul Taylor and Paul Durcan, has overachieved, much to the delight of Sligo fans who, in recent weeks, have watched the county's U-21 team contest a provincial decider and St Attracta's Community School feature in an All-Ireland Colleges final at Senior 'B' level.

Although expected to select a team similar to the line-ups of recent games, Walsh has no problem introducing new faces according to how players have performed in training sessions since the cohesive win over Roscommon at Markievicz Park on the Sunday before last.

Another feature of this year's campaign is the reaction of those players who have been substituted or dropped – they've usually bounced back with renewed appetite.

For Saturday's game in Dublin (Sligo's first in the capital since their loss to Cork in a GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship quarter-final in August 2007) forwards Colm McGee and Adrian Marren, who both missed the Roscommon game, are expected to be available for selection with midfielder Eugene Mullen the sole absentee through injury.

Kevin Bradley's Antrim are still without one of their leading forwards, Kevin Niblock, with their attacking hopes pinned on the form of, among others, Paddy Cunningham.

With June's Connacht Senior Championship clash with Mayo – the Division One finalists – beginning to crop up in conversations, Sligo can go into their preparation phase for that game with, ideally, another win registered.

SLIGO OVERVIEW

Defence
THE old reliables of Sligo's rearguard – Philip Greene, Charlie Harrison, Noel McGuire, Ross Donovan and Johnny Davey – started all seven Division Three games with Harrison and Davey proving the most consistent and Brian Kennedy, with one appearance thus far, emerging as an option.
Mark Quinn has settled into the No.6 role by doing the simple things well and Keelan Cawley, on current form, has edged ahead of Neil Ewing and Donal McLynn for one of the wingback berths.

Midfield
THE Eugene Mullen-Tony Taylor partnership, which worked throughout last year's successful Division Four campaign, was broken up when Mullen unfortunately got injured against Wexford. Stephen Gilmartin has since stepped in and has improved alongside Taylor, who has been outstanding in recent games. Kevin Walsh will worry if anything should happen to Taylor, with the obvious replacements either Sean Davey, Eamon O'Hara or, indeed, Shane Stenson.

Attack
FREE-taker Mark Breheny's prowess – 19 converted frees and 29 points in total – has underpinned the bulk of Sligo's scores with Alan Costello, Adrian Marren, Colm McGee and David Kelly also figuring prominently on the scoring charts. The absence of Adrian Marren, who missed four games through suspension and one through injury, was compensated somewhat with the emergence of Colm McGee.
If top scorer Breheny and Kelly have been Sligo's outstanding forwards, Kelly particularly as a fulcrum, full-forward Kenneth Sweeney's importance cannot be overstated either.

[Sligo Hurlers avoid relegation]

Sligo Hurlers avoid relegation
By Paul Healy

Sligo 3-17 Tyrone 1-13

SLIGO retained their place in Allianz GAA Hurling National Hurling League Division 3B courtesy of an eventually comprehensive 3-17 to 1-13 victory over Tyrone, who were themselves consequently relegated from this competitive section along with Donegal.

Going into the game at Markievicz Park last Sunday a head-to-head win for the visitors would have meant they would have leapfrogged Sligo and consigned the Frank Browne-managed side to life in the bottom tier next year – despite Sligo, last year's Division Four champions, having a sizeably healthier for-against scoring average.

Fortunately, there was no repeat of a return to Division Four for Sligo, where they had been forced to tread their wares throughout 2009, as a determined performance, sometimes worryingly patchy in the first-half but one in which the hosts mostly looked the likelier winners, ensured another season in the third tier.

A blistering start saw a Colin Herity-inspired Sligo race into an 0-4 to 0-0 lead inside five minutes, with the Kilkenny native unlucky to see that fourth point rise over the bar when a goal looked certain.

Tyrone recovered strongly, however – with the home side only able to add Larry Cadden's 20th minute point to their own total before the half-hour mark – and a poacher's finish from Ryan Woods on 28 minutes gave the visitors an ominous 1-6 to 0-5 lead.

Yet a settling Herity free on 30 minutes seemed to reignite Sligo and, within 60 seconds, Larry Cadden had struck for their opening goal.

Sligo followed up with four rapid pre-interval scores – with a Justy Kelly free on 32 minutes Tyrone's solitary response – to open up a 1-10 to 17 advantage at half-time.

The hosts enjoyed a 1-14 to 1-10 lead 15 minutes into the second-half but it was a well-executed second Sligo goal from the introduced Aidan Walsh on 52 minutes that gave his side some real distance on the scoreboard (2-14 to 1-10).

Kelly valiantly tried to keep Tyrone in touch but Herity's frees kept restoring the home side's seven-points advantage and, in added-time, Cadden grabbed his own second goal, Sligo's third, to seal a 10-points win (3-17 to 1-13).

Overall, Sligo can look forward to their upcoming Nicky Rackard Cup campaign, with a good balance evident now from goalkeeper Mark Kearney's accurate deliveries to Herity's assuredness in front of the posts.

Furthermore, should talisman Keith Raymond recover from injury, a strong Nicky Rackard Cup run should be attainable.

Sligo: Mark Kearney, Cian Hackett, Jamie Kenny, Derek O'Brien, Shane Glynn (0-1), Mark Burke (c), Niall Cadden, Ciaran Brenan, Liam Reidy, Alan Cawley (0-1), Robert Molloy (0-3), Damien Burke (0-1), Mark Gordon, Colin Herity (0-10, 6f, 1 '65'), Larry Cadden (2-1) Subs used: Aidan Walsh (1-0) for Gordon (21 mins); Pat Quinn for D Burke (47 mins); Michael Gilmartin for Cadden (47 mins); Niall McDermott for Gilmartin (62 mins); Vinny O'Hora for Brenan (66 mins)

Tyrone: Nicky McBride, Sean Paul Begley, Jason Patton, Chris Cross, Gareth Fox, Jason Kelly, Michael O'Gorman, Justy Kelly (0-9, 6f), Leigh Moore (0-2), Garry Cox, Aidan Kelly (c) (0-1), Eric Kirwin, Ryan Woods (1-0), Paddy Conway, Seamus O'Hagan Subs used: Damien Maguire (0-1) for Conway (halftime); Conway for Fox (52 mins)

Referee: Ger Hoey (Clare)

[All change.]

All change.

Final moved to Breffni Park.
Tyrone still play Dublin.
Still Tuesday 27-04-10 at 19:30.
Referee: Jim Galligan.

[Ulster Minor Football League Final]

Ulster Minor Football League Final
Tuesday 27-04-10  19:30
Healy Park Omagh

Tyrone v  Dublin

Does anyone know how easy or difficult it is going to be to get tickets down there on Sunday? Heading down with a few mates and we never got tickets from any of our clubs, ticketmaster seems to be out and we wanted tickets beside each other. They'd hardly be expecting more than 40k for the game would they so you'd expect there to be plenty of tickets around, just don't wanna be running round Dublin all afternoon or queueing for ages for tickets.

mayo1955 should have a couple to spare as his son and ex-girlfriend seem to have lost interest.

IRELAND: F. McConnell (Tyrone); J. Kenny (Offaly), D. Fay (Meath), S.M. Lockhart (Derry); F. Cullen (Offaly), J. Nallen (Mayo), K. McGeeney (Armagh); J. McDermott (Meath, capt.), A. Tohill (Derry); J. Fallon (Mayo), C. McManaman (Mayo), B. Stynes (Dublin); B. Devenney (Donegal), D. McCabe (Cavan), P. Canavan (Tyrone). Inter-change players: P. Brewster (Fermanagh), S. Moynihan (Kerry), G. Ryan (Kildare), D. Foley (Tipperary), S. Og de Paor (Galway), M. Donnellan (Galway), D. Marsden (Armagh), K. O'Brien (Wicklow).

[Wednesday April 14th]

Wednesday April 14th
Munster GAA Minor Football Quarter Finals

Kerry 1-12 Tipperary 2-07


Limerick 3-10 Waterford 2-04


Clare 0-09 Cork 1-09                                   



Monday April 19th
Play Off 1
Clare 4-10 Waterford 1-06 

Saturday April 24th
Play Off 2
Tipperary v Clare

May 12th
Semi Final
Kerry v  Limerick

May 12th
Semi Final
Cork v Winner of Tipperary v Clare

July 4th
Final

[Referee Barrett struck by spectator]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAGpFdogL8k



Referee Barrett struck by spectator
By Jackie Cahill

Monday, April 19, 2010



FORMER intercounty referee Willie Barrett abandoned a club hurling match in Tipperary on Saturday after he was struck twice by a 'supporter' wielding a hurley.



Barrett called a halt to the Ballingarry v Carrick Davin South SHC clash at Kilsheelan ten minutes into the second half after a Davin fan rushed from the crowd and struck Barrett first on the back, before aiming a second blow at the referee.

The assailant was then engulfed by a number of people before he could continue his assault on a defenceless Barrett, as the Ardfinnan whistler was protected by a player and linesman Keith O'Brien (Kilsheelan).

Gardaí are investigating the incident and are understood to have spoken to members of the Carrick Davin club yesterday after Barrett was left with a cut on his back.

It is understood that the assailant struck Barrett with the edge of the hurl and connected cleanly, leaving a gash and bruising which required ice treatment on Saturday night.

Barrett, who reported some discomfort yesterday following the traumatic incident, also received a blow to his wrist as he attempted to defend himself from the second blow.

Ironically, Barrett had awarded a free to Carrick Davin before the supporter ran onto the pitch and launched his attack.

Barrett is well-known not only in local GAA circles but also on the national refereeing circuit, having taken charge of a number of top championship games during his career.

He was the man in the middle for the infamous 1998 Munster hurling final replay at Semple Stadium between Clare and Waterford, when the fallout led to Clare midfielder Colin Lynch receiving a controversial three-month ban.

The assault on Barrett is the second example of violence against a Tipperary referee in the space of just six months as the problem of serious physical abuse within the GAA rears its ugly head once again. Last October, Premier County disciplinary chiefs acted swiftly and dished out heavy suspensions to members of the Carrick Swan club, the town rivals of Carrick Davin, following an attack on John Kelly.

Tipperary county board disciplinary chiefs will launch an immediate investigation into the incident. Gardaí are investigating separately and were in touch with members of the Carrick Davin club yesterday to ascertain the identity of the man.

[(Saturday)]

24.04.10 (Saturday)
National Football League Roinn IV Final
Luimneach V Port Láirge   TG4
Time: 5 00 PM, Venue: Páirc an Chrócaigh
Referee: Robert O Donnell Abú(Dún na nGall)

National Football League Roinn III Final
Aontroim V Sligeach   TG4
Time: 7 00 PM, Venue: Páirc an Chrócaigh
Referee: Maurice Condon(Port Láirge) - which is handy for him as long as he can get watching the first match.


25.04.10 (Sunday)
National Football League Roinn II Final
Ard Macha V An Dún   TG4
Time: 2 00 PM, Venue: Páirc an Chrócaigh
Referee: Gearoid O Conamha(Connacht)

National Football League Roinn I Final
Corcaigh V Maigh Eo   TG4
Time: 4 00 PM, Venue: Páirc an Chrócaigh
Referee: Padraig Hughes(Ard Macha)

[(Saturday)]

17-04-10 (Saturday)
All Ireland Under 21 Football Semi Finals:
Ros Comáin 0-08 Áth Cliath 2-10

Tiobraid Árann 0-04 Dún na nGall 0-12



18-04-10 (Sunday)
National Hurling League
Round 7
Roinn I [Final Round]
Cill Chainnigh 1-20 Port Láirge 2-12

Gaillimh 3-17 Corcaigh 2-13

Uíbh Fhailí 2-14 Tiobraid Árann 1-18

Áth Cliath 6-30 Luimneach 2-11

Roinn II [Final Round]
Loch Garman 4-18 Aontroim 1-12

Cill Dara 0-11 An Clár 2-15

An Dún 1-18 Iar Mhí 3-14

Ceatharlach 1-10 Laois 1-16

Roinn IIIB [Final Round]
Sligeach 3-17 Tír Eoghain 1-13

Cill Mhantáin 3-21 An Lú 1-08

Dún na nGall 1-13 Ros Comáin 1-17

Fingal - no match

[SATURDAY APRIL 17TH]

Speaking of which, where was the match where a supporter came on the pitch and blattered the fcuk out of the ref with a hurl this weekend? Lyster mentioned it.

SATURDAY APRIL 17TH

SENIOR HURLING Rd 1
BALLINGARRY V CARRICK DAVINS   IN KILSHEELAN @ 6.00PM




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