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Champions Cup 2021/22 Draw Update

The 2021/22 Heineken Champions Cup draw will be held on Wednesday, July 21st at 12:00 pm.

The draw will be staged in Lausanne, Switzerland where the tournament’s governing body, the EPCR’s headquarters are.

It will be streamed live on HeinekenChampionsCup.com and will include the winners of the three domestic leagues involved in the competition – Top 14 and Champions Cup holders Stade Toulousain, Gallagher Premiership winners Harlequins and Pro14 winners Leinster.

The draw will consist of eight teams from the three leagues mentioned above, as it did last season.

The teams who have qualified from the three leagues will be listed from one to eight for the draw, with number one being the champions.

The clubs will first be placed into four tiers based on their rankings, before being drawn into two pools of 12 – Pool A and Pool B.

Clubs from the same league in the same tier will not be drawn into the same pool.

Tier 1 will have numbers one and two on the qualifiers in it with Tier 2 having numbers three and four.

Tier 3 will have numbers five and six while Tier 4 will have numbers seven and eight.

The Tier 1 and the Tier 4 clubs which have been drawn in the same pool, but which are not in the same league, will play one another home and away during the pool stage.

Tier 2 and Tier 3 sides that are in the same pool but not from the same domestic league will do the same.

For example, Champions Cup and Top 14 double winners, Stade Toulousain, will be in Tier 1 and drawn against either Bath Rugby or Wasps, and against either Cardiff Rugby or Glasgow Warriors from Tier 4.

Similarly, Bristol Bears in Tier 2 will be drawn against either Pro14 qualifiers Scarlets or Ospreys, and against either ASM Clermont Auvergne or Stade Francais from Tier 3.

Once the draw is concluded, clubs will know their pool stage opponents and EPCR will begin work on the fixture schedule with an announcement of exact dates, venues, kick-off times and TV coverage following as soon as practicable.

The 2021/22 tournament will be played over nine weekends with four rounds of matches in the pool stage starting in December when Stade Toulousain begin the defence of their title.

The eight highest-ranked clubs from each pool will qualify for the knockout stage which will consist of a Round of 16 on a home and away basis, quarter-finals and semi-finals, with the final in Marseille on 28 May 2022.

2021/22 Heineken Champions Cup qualifiers

Gallagher Premiership: 1 Harlequins, 2 Exeter Chiefs, 3 Bristol Bears, 4 Sale Sharks, 5 Northampton Saints, 6 Leicester Tigers, 7 Bath Rugby, 8 Wasps
Guinness PRO14: 1 Leinster Rugby, 2 Munster Rugby, 3 Ulster Rugby, 4 Connacht Rugby, 5 Scarlets, 6 Ospreys, 7 Cardiff Rugby, 8 Glasgow Warriors
TOP 14: 1 Stade Toulousain, 2 Stade Rochelais, 3 Racing 92, 4 Union Bordeaux-Bègles, 5 ASM Clermont Auvergne, 6 Stade Français Paris, 7 Castres Olympique, 8 Montpellier Hérault Rugby

Pool Draw tiers

Tier 1: Harlequins, Exeter Chiefs, Leinster Rugby, Munster Rugby, Stade Toulousain, Stade Rochelais
Tier 2: Bristol Bears, Sale Sharks, Ulster Rugby, Connacht Rugby, Racing 92, Union Bordeaux-Bègles
Tier 3: Northampton Saints, Leicester Tigers, Scarlets, Ospreys, ASM Clermont Auvergne, Stade Français Paris
Tier 4: Bath Rugby, Wasps, Cardiff Rugby, Glasgow Warriors, Castres Olympique, Montpellier Hérault Rugby

Munster Hurling: How To Get Tickets

Tipperary and Limerick will contest the 2021 Munster Senior Hurling Championship (Munster SHC) Final on Sunday, July 18th at 4:15 pm.

The Munster SHC climax will be held in Páirc Uí Chaoimh and 7,000 spectators will be allowed to attend.

But how can you become one of the 7,000 to watch either Tipperary or Limerick lift the Mick Mackey Cup this weekend?

Tipperary will receive an allocation of 2,500 with 2,000 of these Stand at €40 each and 500 Terrace at €25 each.

The Tipperary County Board will give an allocation of tickets to every club in the county based on a points system that credits clubs with members fully registered in Croke Park.

Clubs in Tipperary will receive Stand tickets for this weekend’s showdown.

It is understood that the Limerick County Board will follow a similar model and allocate tickets to each club in the county.

Caherline GAA in Limerick will give their tickets to members via a draw.

There will be no public sale of Munster SHC final tickets unless clubs fail to sell their allocation of tickets.

Paudie Clifford Voted Footballer Of The Week

Kerry’s Paudie Clifford has been voted GAA.ie Footballer of the Week after a fantastic performance against 2020 Munster Senior Football Championship winners Tipperary in the provincial semi-final.

The forward received 5,923 votes from the public, over 1,000 more than Tyrone’s Darren McCurry and Mayo’s Ryan O’Donoghue.

The older brother of fellow inter-county star David Clifford made his first start for Kerry earlier this year and has performed brilliantly so far in 2021.

His performance against Davy Power’s Tipperary continued this trend with the Fossa native leading the Kerry attack to an impressive 1-19 (22) to 1-8 (11) victory.

He controlled Kerry’s attacking tempo with 34 possessions underlining his importance as a playmaker in the final third, the most in the Kerry side.

His work allowed his brother David and Killian Spillane to shine, with the former grabbing a goal on the day to help Kerry gain control of the tie.

Sean O’Shea also benefitted from the East Kerry forward’s movement in the final third as he moved into scoring positions because of it.

Paudie’s point is the icing on the cake for a spectacular performance that earned him the Man of the Match award and solidified Kerry as one of the top sides in GAA this year.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Clifford acknowledged the strength of Ronan McCarthy’s Cork side, who beat them in last year’s Munster semi-final.

“These two games are going to give us a good template to go on but, obviously, we’re going to have to lift it another bit for Cork.”

Kerry will play Cork in the 2021 Munster Senior Football Championship Final, a repeat of the 2019 final which saw the Kingdom edge a tight game.

Cork will want to go one step further than they have been able to go in the past nine

The final will be held on Sunday, July 25th at 4 pm in Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney.

Eric Lowndes leaves Dublin panel

Seven-time All-Ireland winner Eric Lowndes has left the Dublin senior panel for the upcoming season.

The St Peregrine’s corner-back made his senior debut for the Dubs in 2014, during their 2014 Allianz League win.

The 27-year-old has been on the fringes of snatching a starting place, but due to Dublin’s great depth, he has struggled for game time under former manager Jim Gavin and more recently under current manager Dessie Farrell.

Lowndes has featured in all of Dublin’s league games this season, playing four and adding another league title to his already glistering senior career, sharing the crown with Kerry.

His departure from the panel was said to have been made clear to the Dublin management team after their Leinster opening victory over Wexford.

However, the defender has not made a championship appearance since last season’s Leinster senior football final against rivals Meath, coming off the bench.

His last championship start goes back even further, with his last inclusion in the starting 15 being against Tyrone back in 2019 in a Super 8 tie in Omagh.

Part of the Dublin minor side that captured the All-Ireland in 2012, alongside the likes of current senior players Jack McCaffrey and Ciarán Kilkenny, Lowndes also was a respected hurler for his county, winning two Leinster Minor titles back to back from 2011 to 2012.

This news will be a blow to Dessie Farrell and his side, as many of Dublin’s go-to defenders are set for late fitness tests against Meath in Sunday’s Leinster semi-final.

Alongside Lowndes, the team from the capital have seen senior departures from Cian O’Sullivan, Paddy Andrews, Michael Darragh MacAuley and reports of goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton still up in the air, the level of insecurity within the Dublin panel is yet to be put to rest by Farrell and his backroom staff.

 

 

Limerick prepared for new penalty rule and fullback Mike Casey injured

Limerick manager John Kiely has reviewed the new penalty rule with his team ahead of clash with Tipperary. Speaking to Michael Moynihan of the Irish Examiner, he also said that full-back Mike Casey will miss the Munster final

The hurling world has been very confused since a controversial moment in the Munster Senior hurling semi-final between Tipperary and Clare.

At a pivotal moment in last week’s game, Clare’s Aidan McCarthy slide tackled Tippman Jake Morris near the side-line of the 21-yard line. The new rule allows the referee to use their own opinion to decide the severity of a foul near the goals.

The referee that day, James Owens believed that it was a clear goal-scoring chance and awarded Tipperary a penalty while the Clare defender was sin-binned.

This view incensed many viewers and pundits who thought there were enough Clare defenders back to stop a goal. The Limerick boss Kiely agrees with this view after he was at the game in the Gaelic Grounds.

He has decided that the best way to deal with the rule is to prepare his side so that the same incident will not happen to them.

“I think all our cards have been marked at this stage, and nothing will be a surprise to us going forward. I think we’ll have to be careful and not be inviting trouble on ourselves. Hopefully, that’ll be the case,” Kiely said to the Examiner.

 

Former Limerick hurler Shane Dowling spoke on the incident as well and he believes that there should be more assistance for referees in these cases.

Although the implementation of a VAR-like system would have its critics, Dowling thinks it would really help referees in this very high-paced sport.

“Referees are going to make mistakes but if they have that bit of help it will take that extra pressure off them and ensure that any big calls that are going to be made will be made in the right way,” he said while speaking to BoyleSports’s Leon Blanche.

Mike Casey injury

The Munster Hurling final between Tipperary and Limerick will throw-in at 16:15 on Sunday, 18th July in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Limerick’s sole injury is to full-back, Mike Casey. The hurler recently recovered from an ACL injury but has received a different injury to the same knee.

Although the injury is not as serious as first believed, he will still miss out on the final on Sunday.

Connacht Final to take place in Croke Park

The Connacht Final between Mayo and Galway will now take place in Croke Park to accommodate more fans.

Sunday week’s Connacht SFC final was due to take place at Elvery’s MacHale Park, with Mayo having home advantage.

Now, the reigning Connacht champions have given up home advantage for their clash with their long-time rivals.

Connacht GAA has decided to avail the decision for extra capacity.

It means over 18,000 supporters of Mayo and Galway followers will be able to watch the game in the capital.

Mayo’s win over Leitrim in the Connacht SFC semi-final held in Castlebar had a 3,000 seater capacity.

After announcing the change of venue, Connacht Council said;

“Following a meeting of the Connacht GAA Management Committee (Tuesday) evening, the decision has been taken to stage the Connacht Senior Football Final between Mayo and Galway on Sunday the 25th July in Croke Park.

“Due to current Covid restrictions, had the game been held in Elvery’s MacHale Park the crowd would only have been 3,600 so the game has been moved to Croke Park to accommodate 18,000 supporters on the day.”

The news comes as a surprise for many, with this being the first time that a Connacht football final will be played outside the province of Connacht.

After 8,000 supporters were able to attend last Saturday’s two Leinster Hurling Championship semi-finals at Croke Park, the biggest crowd in Ireland since COVID-19.

The return of an extra 10,000 fans gives hope for later games when the All-Ireland series comes around in the coming weeks.

The fixture change has been confirmed by Connacht GAA for a 1:30 start on Sunday afternoon.

Mayo defeated both Leitrim and Sligo in their last outings, hammering both in one-sided affairs to book their place in Sunday week’s decider. While Galway overcame Roscommon in Dr Hyde Park in their semi-final.

 

 

 

Golfer DeChambeau responds to claims of a spat with Brooks Koepka

Bryson DeChambeau has been in the tabloids a lot lately and all for the wrong reasons. First, he had to deny claims that he does not shout ‘Fore’ when his wayward shot goes into a crowd and now, he is against the idea of a feud with Brooks Koepka.

Many viewers and pundits have shown their disappointment towards DeChambeau for how he didn’t appear to shout the warning term ‘Fore’ when a few of his shouts landed in a crowd of people at the US Open last month.

Ireland’s Gary Murphy branded this behavior as “disgraceful” and not good for the sport. For more about this incident click here.

Speaking at Royal St George’s yesterday ahead of the Open, the world number six insisted that he does shout fore on almost every time.

“I do shout fore. I don’t know what you’re talking about. There are plenty of people on the tee-box that do shout fore,” said DeChambeau.

“You’re bringing up a very controversial thing, which is unfortunate, but 99% of the time I do, and unfortunately people think I don’t. But that’s okay, they can say whatever they want.”

 

The Brooks v DeChambeau fued

Fellow American golfer Brooks Koepka also made claims about a public spat with DeChambeau.

Koepka believes that the golfer had broken an agreement not to criticize each other in public or to the media.

DeChambeau responded to the claims by saying that he does not understand what Koepka is talking about, preferring to focus on his golfing.

“I don’t know what he’s talking about in that regard, maybe that’s on me, maybe I didn’t, I really don’t remember anything about that.

“I’m just here to play golf and focus on that. If we keep bantering back and forth, obviously being respectful and keeping lines where they aren’t getting crossed, yeah, I think it’s fun and a good environment for people in golf.”

The pair are set to be teammates for the Ryder Cup in September where they plan to reclaim the trophy from Padraig Harrington’s European team.

U20 Football Preview: Down v Fermanagh – Live Scores, Team News, Betting

Here is all the information you will need to know for the Ulster u20 Football semifinal between Down and Fermanagh

Throw in for this match will be at 20:00 on Friday, 16th July in the Athletic Grounds.

Down look to be a very strong side after thrashing a poor Cavan side, scoring 2-17 in the match.

Their goalkeeper has shown his class as well, keeping a clean sheet and coming up the field to score two frees and two 45s.

Fermanagh also had a very comfortable victory over Antrim by nine points. They have shown their class in front of goal, hitting the back of the net twice.

Corner forward Conor Love managed six points from play in the game and will want to get on the score sheet on Friday.

 

Predicted Starting 15

Down

Smyth (GK); T. Fettes, S. Campbell, P. McCarthy; T. Smyth, P. McMullan, R. Magill; A. Morgan, T. Close; D. Magill, S. Johnston, J. McGovern; A. Gilmore, E. Brown, R. O’Hare.

Fermanagh

McNally (GK); A. Jones, J. Horan, M. Flanagan; J. Largo-Elis, A. McManus, R. McHugh; J. McDade, J. McDade; F. O’Brien, T. Keenan, J. Largo-Elis; R. McCaffrey, D. McBrien, C. Love.

 

Betting

Down 1/10

Draw 14/1

Fermanagh 13/2

 

Score Prediction

Both sides faced poor teams in the quarter-finals and showed their quality to create scores.

Down seemed to be the more capable and tenacious side and should have the edge over Fermanagh on Friday. Expect Down to take the win in a close tie only separated by a few points.

2020 Minor Football Final – Derry v Kerry – Starting News, Live Scores & TV Coverage

All-Ireland Minor Football 2020 Final – Derry v Kerry – Bord Na Mona O’Connor Park – 1:00 pm – TG4

Kings from the Kingdom dominate

16-time All-Ireland Minor football champions Kerry will go head to head in the All-Ireland Minor Football Championship Final this Sunday at 1.00 pm live on TG4.

The Kingdom is coming into this match after coming out victorious against 4-time Connacht winners Roscommon in the All-Ireland Minor semi-final last Sunday.

Far from dull, the game itself saw Kerry come out 11 points victors, with a score of 3-21 to 2-13 at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick.

The standouts from a Kerry point-of-view is their forward line. With Cian McMahon scoring 1-5, along with Keith Evans and Darragh O’Sullivan who scored 1-4.

Dazzling in front of goal, possession and won the midfield battle from the start.

Looking out of sorts at times with Roscommon’s kicking game but made up for that by making the Rossie’s give possession back to Kerry from their own kick-outs.

They booked their place in the final with style.

Derry’s youngsters impress

Derry, on the other hand, had a much tougher game on their hands with their 7-point victory over Leinster outfit Meath at Páirc Esler in County Down last Saturday.

Winning by a score-line of 1-14 to 1-7, Derry looked promising throughout, with midfield commander Dan Higgins and half-forward Matthew Downey playing blinders on their way to a gracious victory.

Downey scored an impressive 8 points and was the main factor in his side’s victory alongside Higgins, who won every ball and played without fear throughout.

Both teams coming into this game have only one competitive game between them since Christmas time and looking like not an ounce of fitness has diminished, it will be a close encounter.

The last time these two sides met in an All-Ireland Minor football Final was all the way back in 2017 when Kerry dismantled Derry with a score of 6-17 to 1-8, with David Clifford scoring 4-4.

The Oak-Leaf County will be hoping to redeem that embarrassing loss with a win here, to make it their first minor win since 2002.

While Kerry is looking to add their 17th minor title and their first since 2018 after defeating Galway.

Conclusion

For a neutral, it is a hard game to call, both teams have shown how capable they are when on form, boasting great young players and have a willingness to attack.

From past games of this calibre, Kerry is the obvious option to favour heading into Sunday’s final.

Having already beaten Derry before in a final, they know what it takes, and have an overall much more talented side than Derry.

The Munster side usually shows up for games like these and expect nothing different here.

Prediction: Kerry by 4 points

Predicted Teams – Subject to Change

Derry
  1. Kian McGonigle
  2. Adam McGonigle
  3. Eoin McEvoy
  4. Connor Shiels
  5. Donncha Gilmore
  6. Patrick McGurk
  7. Lee Brady
  8. Dan Higgins
  9. Patrick O’Kane
  10. Mark Doherty
  11. Matthew Downey
  12. Jody McDermott
  13. Charlie Diamond
  14. Lachlan Murray
  15. Niall O’Donnell
Kerry
  1. Sean Broderick
2. Cian O’Donoghue
3. Joey Nagle
4. Dara O’Callaghan
5. Paudie O’Leary
6. Armin Heinrich
7. Killian O’Sullivan
8. Caolan O Conaill
9. Oisin Maunsell
10. Keith Evans
11. William Shine
12. Thomas O’Donnell
13. Cian McMahon
14. Cian Foley
15. Darragh O’Sullivan

Hurling – Laois v Waterford – Starting News, Live Scores, Betting &; TV Coverage

All-Ireland SHC Qualifiers Round 1 – Laois v Waterford – UMPC Nowlan Park – 2:00 pm – GAAGO

CLICK HERE FOR LIVE SCORE COMMENTARY ON LAOIS V WATERFORD

Laois and Waterford will go head to head in Round 1 of the All-Ireland Championship Qualifiers at the UMPC Nowlan Park in Kilkenny in the second championship Qualifier live on GAAGO.

Waterford had a successful league campaign, finishing second from Division 1 Group A, only behind Galway.

Their opponents, Laois endured a drastically different league run compared to Waterford, finishing bottom on their Division 1 Group B, playing 5 and losing 5. Having a points difference of -54 in the process.

In the two sides last game, Laois were played off the park in the Leinster quarter-final loss to Wexford, losing 5-31 to 1-23 in a 20-point margin.

Waterford on the other hand, came up just short against Clare in the Munster quarter-final tie, losing 1-22 to 0-21 in a 4 point winning margin.

The winner of this game will end up facing Galway in round 2 of the qualifiers on the 24th of July.

Conclusion

Coming into this game, there is only one team I consider favourites to progress further in the championship and that is Waterford.

Not a bad team by any stretch of the imagination, but they will be facing a rather poor Laois side, who were awful during the league and looked out of their depth against Wexford.

Losing against Clare by 4 points is not an embarrassment, and they should make a statement by dismantling Laois by some margin.

They will then go on to face off against Galway, who before their shock loss to Dublin, were favourites for the Leinster title.

Prediction: Waterford by 12 points

Predicted Teams – Subject to Change

Laois
  1. Enda Rowland
  2. Lee Cleere
  3. Sean Downey
  4. Donnchadha Hartnett
  5. Stephen Maher
  6. Ciaran McEvoy
  7. Ryan Mullaney
  8. Fiachra C Fennell
  9. Jack Kelly
  10. Paddy Purcell
  11. Charles Dwyer
  12. Ciaran Collier
  13. PJ Sculley
  14. Willie Dunphy
  15. Ross King
Waterford
  1. Billy Nolan
  2. Shane Fives
  3. Conor Gleeson
  4. Shane McNulty
  5. Calum Lyons
  6. Iarlaith Daly
  7. Kevin Moran
  8. Austin Glesson
  9. Darragh Lyons
  10. Peter Hogan
  11. Jack Fagan
  12. Stephen Bennett
  13. Dessie Hutchinson
  14. Shane Bennett
  15. Jack Prendergast

Betting

Laois: 14/1

Waterford: 1/50

Draw: 33/1

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