Messages

[Minors edged out late on]

Published: Thursday, 25th March, 2010 11:09am

Minors edged out late on
by Editorial Department

Fermanagh 0-13  Antrim 1-11


Kane Connor in action for the Fermanagh Minors against Antrim on Saturday.

Fermanagh lost their second game in this year's Ulster Minor League when they slipped to a one point defeat to Antrim at Brewster Park on Saturday.

Mark Henry's side looked as if they had done enough to secure the victory when they edged two points in front with seven minutes left to play but it was Antrim who finished the stronger of the sides as they fought back to clinch the win with three unanswered points.

Fermanagh had the adavantage of the breeze in the first half and they dominated the opening 20 minutes although they did not open up as big a lead as their superiority had merited.

And Antrim managed to claw their way back into contention following this with Declan Lynch firing in what proved to the decisive score in the finish up when he registered the only goal of the encounter.

Fermanagh did forge ahead again in the second half but they then lost Aidan Breen and Vinnie O'Brien to injuries, both of who were influencing matters, and Antrim went on to pick up the win.

Having dictated the first 20 minutes Fermanagh moved into a 0-06 to 0-01 lead with points coming from Ciaran McBrien, Kane Connor, Aidan Breen and John Joe Strain.

However, for their domiance Fermanagh did not knock over scores as frequently as they would have wished and Antrim began to come more into things after this. A well worked move resulted in Lynch driving past goalkeeper Brian McAleer while midfielder Aidan McKeown supported his attack well in banging over three first half points as they closed to within a point by the break, 0-08 to 1-04.

Fermanagh struggled to get their hands on the ball in the opening ten minutes of the second half as Antrim edged their way into a two point lead with Christy Sheerin, Gerard Slane and McKeown the scorers.

However, Fermanagh responded positively to this with substitute Johnny Feely launching over a fine point while Jarlath Jackman notched a point from play and one from a free with McBrien also tagging on a point.

With seven minutes to go Fermanagh had worked their way into a winning position but injuries to Breen and O'Brien hit their hopes and it was Antrim who finished the stronger with three points in arow taking them to the win.

Fermanagh

B. McAleer; V. O'Brien, R. Porteous, R. McGullion; P. McGovern, L. Leonard, P. Mullan; C. Jones, P. McManus; A. Breen, S. Quigley, JJ. Strain; K. Connor, R. Hyde, C. McBrien.

Subs used: B. Owens, J. Feely, J. Mulligan, R. Hyde.

[Ulster Under 21 Football Championship]

Ulster Under 21 Football Championship

Monaghan v Cavan  Brewster Park Enniskillen 31-03-2010 20:00 Eugene McConnell
 
Derry v Donegal  Healy Park Omagh  31-03-2010 20:00 Leo Smyth

[Meath minors win]

Meath minors win
by Conall Collier
Down 1-05 Meath 3-15                                                   
                                                                                         Meath pylon the pressure against Down.


Meath got their first win in the Ulster MFL against Down at Saval.

Understrength Down had no answer to Meath's relentless pressure and the Royals were ahead by 2-9 to 1-2 at the interval.

Meath maintained the momentum after the resumption and were worthy winners.

Meath also played Louth in a challenge game - Meath 3-13, Louth 2-08.

[Ulster Minor Football League]

Ulster Minor Football League
Section A
  Round 1
Armagh 0-10 Monaghan 0-08   13/03/2010   
Down 0-08 Dublin 3-11   13/03/2010   
Cavan 1-10 Meath 0-09   13/03/2010   

Round 2
Armagh 0-15 Meath 1-12    20/03/2010   
Monaghan 2-10 Down 1-08   20/03/2010   
Cavan 0-11 Dublin 0-10    20/03/2010 

Round 3 
Cavan 1-11 Armagh 2-11  27/03/2010
Monaghan 2-07 Dublin 2-07   27/03/2010   
Down 1-05 Meath 3-15   27/03/2010

Round 4 
Monaghan  - - Meath   03/04/2010   
Down  - - Cavan    03/04/2010   
Armagh  - - Dublin   03/04/2010 

Round 5
Armagh  - - Down   10/04/2010 12:00 
Monaghan  - - Cavan   10/04/2010 12:00   
Dublin  - - Meath    10/04/2010 12:00   


   

Ulster Minor Football League
Section B
Round 1
Donegal 2-06 Fermanagh 0-06   13/03/2010   
Tyrone 1-07 Derry 0-10   13/03/2010   
Antrim 0-13 Westmeath 3-11   13/03/2010 

Round 2
Derry 0-11 Donegal 1-08    20/03/2010 
Fermanagh 0-13 Antrim 1-11    20/03/2010   
Tyrone 1-16 Westmeath 0-05    20/03/2010

Round 3 
Derry  1-13 Antrim 2-07    27/03/2010
Donegal  1-05 Tyrone 0-12  27/03/2010   
Fermanagh 1-11 Westmeath 0-05   27/03/2010

Round 4 
Tyrone  - - Fermanagh    03/04/2010   
Antrim  - - Donegal   03/04/2010 
Derry  - - Westmeath    03/04/2010

Round 5 
Fermanagh  - - Derry   10/04/2010   
Antrim  - - Tyrone   10/04/2010   
Donegal  - - Westmeath    10/04/2010 




Ulster Minor Hurling League Division 1
  Round 1
Antrim  3-11 Derry 2-07
Armagh  1-14 Down 1-11   

Round 2 
Down 5-13 Derry 2-09  20/03/2010
Antrim 2-12 Armagh 3-12  20/03/10

Round 3
Derry  0-16 Armagh 0-11 27/03/2010 
Down  4-16 Antrim 1-10 27/03/10

Ulster Minor Hurling League Division 2
Round 1 
Fermanagh  1-03 Donegal 1-09   
Monaghan  1-12 Tyrone 3-16

Round 2 
Fermanagh 1-05 Monaghan 5-12  20/03/2010 
Donegal 2-09 Tyrone 3-15  20/03/2010

Round 3
Tyrone  9-16 Fermanagh 0-03 27/03/2010 
Donegal  2-07 Monaghan 0-03 27/03/2010

Kerry 2-22 Armagh 1-09

National Hurling League

Kerry 0-14 Armagh 0-03

Half Time

[Football Section A]

All unconfirmed.


Football Section A
Cavan 1-11 Armagh 2-11
Monaghan 2-07 Dublin 2-07
Down 1-05 Meath 3-15

Football Section B
Donegal 1-05 Tyrone 0-12

Hurling Division 1
Down 4-16 Antrim 1-10

Hurling Division 2
Tyrone 9-16 Fermanagh 0-03

[McBrearty missing for Donegal minors' game with Tyrone]

McBrearty missing for Donegal minors' game with Tyrone

Ulster Minor League Group B - Donegal v Tyrone - MacCumhaill Park, Saturday, 12 noon

By Alan Foley

Patrick McBrearty's trip to Berlin with Carrick Vocational School's transitition years students is just one of the reasons Donegal manager Charlie Mulgrew will alter his team for Saturday's Ulster Minor League fixture against Tyrone in Ballybofey.
Mulgrew, at the outset of the competition, had maintained that he would be willing to alter the composition of his line-up in the league and progression was the asset he sought before the championship meeting with Down in May.

With that in mind, Donegal have made an enterprising start, having overcame Fermanagh, 2-6 to 0-6, in their opener at O'Donnell Park the week before last and they followed that up with a commendable 1-8 to 0-11 draw in Celtic Park against Derry on Saturday.

Peter Boyle, the Aodh Ruadh goalkeeper was due to keep goal for the U-21s last night against Armagh in the championship at Brewster Park in Enniskillen. Otherwise, there are a handful of absentees including Naomh Columba's Declan McGinley (hip), Barry Griffin of St Naul's (knee), Milford's Christy McCafferty (knee) and Eoin Grant of Naomh Mhuire (tonsillitis). Tyrone, who drew with Derry in their opener, albeit without the MacRory Cup Omagh CBS connection, and easily defeated Westmeath last week, 1-16 0-5.

"We said at the start of the campaign that we want to see an improvement from one game to the next and that hasn't necessarily changed," said Mulgrew's backroom member John McEniff. "We hope to get better from one game to the next and at the minute, we're progressing. Tyrone, though, will be our biggest test yet and a win is always something that you're after."

26 March 2010
Press Release

The GAA wishes to confirm that where Teams in the National Leagues finish on equal points the tie shall be decided by the following means and in the order specified:

(i)                 Where two Teams only are involved - the outcome of the meeting of the two Teams in the previous game in the Competition;

(ii)               Scoring Difference (subtracting the total Scores Against from total Scores For);

(iii)             Highest Total Score For;

(iv)              A Play-Off.

Exceptions:
In relation to means (ii) and (iii) above, if the accumulated scores of a team, so involved, are affected by a disqualification, loss of game on a proven objection, retirement or walk over, the tie shall be decided by a Play-Off.

3.50 ayr.. PHONE IN 17-2

Rang 172 a couple of times to get the tip for the 3-50 Ayr but a voice just comes on saying 'the number you have dialled has not been recognised.'

Viv Martella joined Sun Hill as a uniformed officer, an attractive dark-haired, dark-eyed girl with an Italian grandfather, a sharp cockney mouth and a determination not to get swamped in a male-dominated world. She never did. She shrugged off the chauvinism she found round every corner, and resisted all prying male attempts to find out about her love-life. She found a way of turning down the chat-ups with a smile and a witty word that didn't leave the up-chatters feeling too knocked-back. ('Not while there's a phone-book!' she told Roach when he suggested a date.) There were plenty of chatters. Burnside had a go, so did staid Sergeant Penny, so did Reg Hollis if you'll believe it, and so did Lennie Powell, a villain-turned grass Viv had to guard in a safe house one night. Viv always had a civvy boyfriend on the go - nothing too heavy - but she was determined that she wouldn't get involved with anyone in the Job. The only time she came close was when charming DS Hooper arrived at Sun Hill. Viv fancied him and was stunned when he turned out to be a divorced wife-beater, once married to another woman officer. What did happen was that DC Tosh Lines became a close friend. She felt she could talk to Tosh unofficially, and more than once he cried on her shoulder - or came as close as Tosh could ever get to crying.

CID took to using Viv Martella every time they needed a woman to work undercover, and after a time her title changed from WPC to WDC. It didn't start too well, her career as a detective. She'd bought herself a stunning new suit - hardly plain clothes and she was sent out on her first job to pick up a prostitute needed as a witness. The girl gave Viv the slip a couple of times and was only finally caught after an exhausting chase, during which Viv fell over and tore her new outfit. She arrived back at Sun Hill triumphant but dishevelled, and reacted angrily when the male CID establishment laughed at her scarecrow appearance and told her the girl she'd brought in was no longer needed. But they praised her, too. She'd become, said Burnside, 'one of the boys'.

When she joined up Viv Martella saw the Job as just a job. She wasn't ambitious, she didn't have a burning social conscience, she just thought it would be an interesting life. But as she got involved in police work Viv began to care more and more about the victims and sometimes about the villains, too. Her generous heart was easily touched by a hard-luck story, and other officers sometimes accused her of being too soft on criminals. At the same time her quick temper with a wife-beater or a child-molester or a rapist sometimes made her blow an interview because she couldn't keep her cool. But that was Viv, a girl who cared and who couldn't always stop it showing. She applied for a position in the Bermuda police force on one occasion, but after being punched during a fight, then failing to prevent a suicide jumper, felt she wasn't up to the job and withdrew the application.A girl, too, who was always willing to have a go. When Sun Hill was challenged to a football match with a local youth team, Viv went in goal. She let in five, and Sun Hill lost, of course. She didn't care. She'd done her best.

Tragically, Viv was shot dead in the line of duty when approaching a gunman's car. For the station her death was a tragedy. For PC Tony Stamp, himself wounded in the same incident, it was a trauma so deep it took him months to get over it. Sun Hill conducted its own bitter inquest into how Viv, a girl everyone loved, was allowed to approach a car unarmed when it was strongly suspected that the thieves inside had guns. That day, Sun Hill lost of one of its liveliest characters.

Poor Reg!

["It's do or bust next Saturday. If we want to get promotion to Division Two we have to beat Antrim. Before this, we were hoping to get four points out of the last six. Now we are looking to get four out of four."]

Fitzpatrick will not rush back injured stars for top of the table Antrim clash

"It's do or bust next Saturday. If we want to get promotion to Division Two we have to beat Antrim. Before this, we were hoping to get four points out of the last six. Now we are looking to get four out of four."
PeteR Fitzpatrick
Louth Manager


By Gary McLaughlin
Louth boss Peter Fitzpatrick was extremely disappointed following Louth's shock loss to Roscommon.


The defeat seriously dented the promotion push to Division Two, but rather than blame the players, Fitzpatrick thought it was just "one of those days."

Now, with everything to play for in Casement Park on Saturday, Fitzpatrick said he will not rush back his injured stars, such as Paddy Keenan and Ray Finnegan.

Speaking after the game, a dejected Fitzpatrick said: "We just did not play well for the whole 70 minutes which is very disappointing.

"I think the difference was and in fairness to Roscommon, they were more hungry than us today, they were first to the ball. I just thought it was a bad day at the office.

"We got two opportunities there at the very end, Shane Lennon went straight for goal and missed a goal and Adrian Reid had an opportunity for a goal aswell, but it was one of those days when nothing went well for us. I thought we could have sneaked a draw in the end but it wasn't our day and that's it."

After last week's result against Fermanagh, Fitzpatrick's men were expected to continue their rich vein of form against Roscommon, but it just did not happen on the day, something the Louth manager put down to Roscommon's perilous position.

"I knew this was going to be a hard, physical game of football. Roscommon have been unlucky in their last three games, losing the games by a total of four points, and I knew today if Roscommon were beat today, they would be relegated and in typical Roscommon style, they came and they fought and they bet us in our back garden.

"It is a set-back. We are very disappointed. I'm disappointed for the lads as they put fantastic effort into it. I cannot have any complaints at all. I know we might not have played well but they the one thing that showed is that they never stopped trying and that's the most important thing at the moment."

Throughout the week, Fitzpatrick and his backroom staff will look at the defensive frailties which were exposed again, but one thing he will not do is rush back injured players for the top of the table clash with Antrim.

It's do or bust next Saturday. If we want to get promotion to Division Two we have to beat Antrim. Before this, we were hoping to get four points out of the last six. Now we are looking to get four out of four.

I do not think it is looking good for a lot of the lads coming back. If they are not right, I am not going to play them. The most important game at the moment is the Antrim game and I cannot take a chance.

All I asked when I took this job was that the lads gave me 100% and today, we didn't play well, but we kept the heads held up high, we kept chasing, we kept hassling. Roscommon are not a bad team, they are a physical team so all I can hope is that we can bounce back against Antrim and if we bounce back, we are back in the race and if not, that is it.

We have to get it right in the middle"- boss

AS THE Wexford footballers get back into the promotion mix in the National League, manager Jason Ryan reckons his side's patchy performances in Division 3 can be remedied by some basic improvements around the general midfield area.

Even in the victories over Offaly, Sligo and Fermanagh they have struggled in that zone, although Jason is not placing the finger of blame on just those in shirts 8 and 9 but the half-backs and half-forwards too.

When it is ventured that Wexford's failure to put Fermanagh to the sword last Sunday was largely down to the tendency of Wexford players to launch aimless deliveries inside, the manger initially agreed before stating: "Our efforts were blighted above all by the fact that we were not winning kick-outs, and that is not all down to the midfielders – it is about the wingbacks and wing-forwards picking up the breaks too.

But not one of our players managed to do that today. In the modern game individual genius is disappearing and instead it is becoming about all round efficiency.

So we have to get it right in the middle by being quicker in terms of picking up the breaks and being more efficient with the ball once we get into the opposition's '45."

He steered away from cribbing too much about the quality of Wexford's overall play against Fermanagh as instead Jason opted to praise the effort of an injury and suspensionhit squad.



"Never mind the win," he cried before quickly enthusing: "...that was the most significant performance since 2008 if you look at the size of the squad we had, which is something that we have been playing down for the last few weeks.

But, while we had Daithí Waters, PJ Banville and David Fogarty in the squad, we were never going to be able to risk them because they are only just coming back from injury.

On top of that we are without Ben Brosnan (serving a month's suspension) and Brian Malone (missed the Fermanagh game having been dismissed for two yellow-cards twice within a 48-week period). So really we only had 20 players to work with today.

"I am just delighted we got through the game okay, and what made the result most pleasing is that while we did not play well the lads still fought so hard."

Even still, Jason accepts a repeat performance will hardly suffice next Sunday away to Roscommon. "No, but getting the win gives our lads a new confidence that hopefully they can feed off.

We already had plenty of motivation for the Roscommon match after what they did to us in last year's championship (beating Wexford in a replayed Qualifier), but with our win over Fermanagh and the way the other results fell at the weekend we know that if we can win in Roscommon and at home to Antrim that we could still get promotion," he points out.
 

[Hurlers hope to turn the corner against Fingal]

Hurlers hope to turn the corner against Fingal

By Alan Rodgers


SEVERAL players are preparing to make their return for the Tyrone senior hurlers ahead of what looks set to be another tough outing against Fingal this weekend.

Three defeats in the opening trio of matches have marked a dismal start to the campaign for the Red Hands. Defeats at the hands fo Roscommon, Donegal and Louth have removed the positive pointers generated by last year's Lory Meagher Cup success.

Strabane's Peter O'Connor and Cormac McHugh of Dungannon were due to return to training last night. Carrickmore's Damien Maguire is also back on track as the injury concerns surrounding the squad ease slightly.

It follows a crucial meeting last week between the players, team management and the County Board, and attended by Chairman, Ciaran McLaughlin, to discuss the disastrous run of form.

But team manager, Tony Fawl, is nevertheless well aware of the challenges facing them against a Fingal side which has been showing good form in Division 3A.

"Fingal will not be any easier than any of our previous matches. But I think things are a lot better than they were a few weeks ago," he said.

"Hopefully the meeting last week will focus attention on the challenges ahead. There was a positive response to it and there was an improved attendance at the training as well.

"But this week is going to provide the first real indication of whether we have turned a corner. The resolve is definitely there from the players and I think the few coming back into the panel should be a help.

"Realistically at this stage we're not going to gain much ground in the National League. It's a case of trying to get something from the couple of remaining matches and concentrating on the championship then," he added.

The match is due to take place in Swords and has a 2.30pm throw-in.