Home Blog Page 477

Roscommon GAA appoint Hurling Manager

Roscommon GAA has announced the appointment of Johnny Keane as manager of the Senior Hurling Team.

Speaking on Tuesday night following the ratification of the appointment by the “Coiste Bainistí of Roscommon GAA. Seamus Sweeney Chairman of the County board praised Christy Mc Dermott and the Hurling Committee on the efforts they had gone to, to fill the vacancy.

“Johnny is well known to us here in the county as he has been the coach to our hurlers since 2017, Johnny was an integral part of Ciaran Comerford’s management structure and it’s good to see continuity with the team. Johnny now takes the reins of the senior team for 2020 and 2021.”

Christy Mc Dermott Chairman of the County Hurling committee highlighted Johnny’s career to date explaining that “Johnny is a Portumna native and was an integral panel member of all 4 of Portumna’s Club All Ireland victories. He managed Portumna in 2018 and most recently was associated with Borris Kilcotton in Co. Laois. I’ve worked closely with Johnny over the past three years and I know he has a lot to offer to the position”.

“Johnny will be joined by Gary Murphy who will act as the Strength and Conditioning coach, the rest of the backroom team will be finalised in the coming days” Christy Mc Dermott stated.

Cricket Ireland cancels match as a precautionary measure

Cricket Ireland has taken a safety-first approach and cancelled tomorrow’s Test Triangle Inter-Provincial T20 match between Munster Reds and Northern Knights as a precautionary measure that relates distantly to the recent positive test of a player at Northamptonshire County Cricket Club.

It was reported in the UK media yesterday that a Northants player was self-isolating after testing positive for COVID-19. While Irish international Paul Stirling is not a ‘close contact’ of that player, three of Stirling’s white-ball teammates at Northants are flatmates of the positive player. All three have been tested, with two coming back negative, but one test result is still unknown.

As Stirling had returned to Belfast before the news about the positive case was known, after consulting with teams and local organisers Cricket Ireland made a safety-first decision to ensure there was no risk to the Northern Knights squad, who were set to travel seven hours on a bus to Cork this afternoon for tomorrow’s game.

Richard Holdsworth, High Performance Director of Cricket Ireland, said:

“While highly unfortunate, we have taken a risk management approach to our decision. There is absolutely no suggestion that Paul [Stirling] has contracted the virus, but until all three tests of his Northants teammates have been returned, we don’t know conclusively whether the chain of transmission has been broken.”

“This is a case of a ‘close contact of a possible close contact’, but while Paul is somewhat removed from the player who tested positive, we left the decision on the game as late as possible to see whether Northants had received the test results of Paul’s teammates.”

 

“Paul wasn’t in the squad for tomorrow’s game but had been in contact with some Knights teammates over the weekend. Given the lengthy bus trip the Knights have to take for the match in Cork, they were heading down today and staying overnight in Cork. We delayed the bus departure time as long as we could hoping Northants would get the test result, but it didn’t come in time, so we reluctantly had to cancel the trip as a precaution.”

 

“These are unprecedented actions, but we are concerned first and foremost with protecting the health and safety of players, staff, match officials, volunteers and those family members close to the players.”

 

 

How to watch or stream Pro14 Final – Leinster vs Ulster Preview

We preview the Pro14 Final between Leinster v Ulster, we also have how to watch or stream the match that kicks off at 7:35pm on Saturday.

Leinster will aim to make it 3-in-a-row this Saturday in the Pro14 Final against Ulster. Dan McFarland’s men earned their place in the final with a dramatic 22-19 win over Edinburgh. Likewise, Leinster had to grind to beat Munster in their semi-final.

This will be Ulster’s first appearance in the final in seven years. After coming second in Conference A, they were underdogs coming up against Edinburgh. They were a huge price to win at half time and those who used Sky Bet sign up offer thought they were in trouble.

5-0 down at half time, McFarland made some big calls. Firstly, Alby Mathewson replaced John Cooney at scrumhalf. Secondly, Michael Lowry went to fullback with Stockdale moving to the left-wing and Louis Ludik sitting out the second half.

The comeback was slow to come though. Edinburgh were stout in their defence. Accordingly, they went 19-7 up by the hour mark. Nonetheless, Ulster were manic in their hunt to get back in the game. Marcel Coetzee led by example. Offering himself at every opportunity, he put in a colossal shift.

Finally, with the clock in the red, Ulster won a penalty 45 metres out. Ireland’s Prodigal Son Ian Madigan stepped up to punt it through the posts.

Leinster still the team to beat

Having lost 28-10 to Leinster a week ago, Ulster will know that they have to be at their best this weekend. Leo Cullen’s team had to grind to beat Munster 13-3. Speaking ahead of the weekend, he’s called for his team to focus on executing the basics.

“We just need to focus on ourselves and try and improve and get better”.

Furthermore, Leinster will be boosted by James Ryan being available for selection again. Despite having not played since the restart, the lock’s presence is a great addition. A week after the final, Leinster will be in action again in the Champion’s Cup quarter-final. As a result, squad depth will be a valuable asset.

On the other hand, Jordan Larmour may not be around at the weekend. The full-back failed a HIA on Friday night. If he doesn’t feature in the final, Rob Kearney’s experience could be called upon.

Ulster will be able to learn from their defeat a week ago. Yet, Leinster likely have a few more tricks to pull out. It’s unlikely that Madigan’s heroics will be enough to put him in ahead of Burns. However, his versatility means he will undoubtedly feature at some stage. This will be a big test for him as he attempts to stop his former club from going unbeaten. One man who is already a winner is Andy Farrell. The Ireland Head Coach has gotten plenty of action from his players ahead of the 6 Nations’ return.

If Ulster can repeat the desire they displayed in the semi-final, they could push Leinster all the way.

Saturday 12th of September: Leinster vs Ulster 19:35 (Eir Sports 1, Premier Sports 1)

https://twitter.com/PRO14Official/status/1302986667263959041

http://34.245.76.62/rugby/rugby_irish/video-ulster-into-pro14-final-after-dramatic-thanks-to-ian-madigan/

http://34.245.76.62/rugby/rugby_irish/video-ulster-into-pro14-final-after-dramatic-thanks-to-ian-madigan/

Mikey Pender and Javas Gucci win in Portmore

Kildare rider Mikey Pender claimed his first win in the Underwriting Exchange Grand Prix on Saturday in Portmore Equestrian.

Riding Javas Gucci, an eight-year-old gelding, he took home the winner’s share of the €4,000 on offer in the Bluegrass Horse Feeds-sponsored class.

Pender, who returned from a successful tour in Europe, has made his presence felt on the National Circuit. Last weekend at The Irish Breeders Class at Barnadown, he took second place in the five-year-old All Studbook class with Cubix van de Berghoeve Z and fifth in the 1.50m Grand Prix with HHS Calais.

Reigning National Grand Prix Champion Liam O’Meara took second when clocking 43.43 seconds, ahead of Derek McConnell and Dothraki in 44.74 seconds.

Tim MacDonagh also put in a foot perfect round with Hollypark Galloway, but a slower time of 45.48 seconds proved good enough for fourth place in the line-up.

Philip Gaw and Ardnacashel Coovella stopped the clock in 45.52 seconds for fifth place, edging out Adam Carey and Quebello D who produced a clear round in 45.69 seconds for sixth place.

Chat With Champions Webinar on Thursday 10th September

Ahead of Longines Irish Champions Weekend on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th September, a Chat With Champions webinar is being organised for Thursday evening,10th September, at 7.30pm.

Journalist Daragh Ó Conchúir will chat during the event with Classic-winning trainer Donnacha O’Brien, top jockey Shane Foley as well as other guests ahead of an exciting weekend of racing action.

The virtual event will be hosted online via Zoom and is free to view but registration in advance is necessary.

Register free of charge for the event on The Curragh Racecourse’s website.

Once registered a confirmation email will then be sent.

2020 Women’s National League – Week 6 Results & Reports

There were first wins of the 2020 Women’s National League season for both Athlone Town and Cork City, while the title race took an interesting turn. With the top two teams – Shelbourne and Peamount United – not winning, Wexford Youths and Galway WFC took a giant leap forward by picking up positive results.

Athlone Town 3-2 Treaty United

There was a lot of talk about the goalscoring potential of Aoife Horgan ahead of this fixture and the Treaty United forward responded by doubling her tally for the season. However, this day belonged to Athlone, who responded to Horgan’s first goal after three minutes with a goal of their own through Katelyn Keogh – poking the ball home from close range. Horgan hit back when she pounced on a parry from goalkeeper Niamh Coombes, but it was all square by the interval when Athlone captain Paula Doran chipped the ball into the back of the net from the edge of the penalty area. Treaty will be disappointed in how they ultimately lost this one as the third goal came from defensive errors that eventually saw Kellie Brennan score. This is a big win for Athlone that will give them a lot of confidence.

Bohemians 3-4 Cork City

Even though they haven’t played Week 2, Cork City made a fast start to this game by scoring two goals inside the opening half hour through Lauren Egbuloniu and Christina Dring. Bohs have been making steady improvements and they scrapped their way back into the contest due to goals from Aoife Robinson and Alannah Maxwell. Cork retook the lead when Lauren Shine netted a brace late on and that proved to be too much for the home side, even though Maxwell got another goal back. For Ronan Collins’ Cork side, this is an important win as it gets them off the mark for the season and shows that their young side can score goals.

Galway WFC 1-1 Shelbourne

It was always going to take something special to separate these two teams considering their competitive nature. And it looked as though that arrived through Chloe Singleton’s thunderbolt strike on 27 minutes, The hosts needed to register an early blow to their opponents and Singleton provided exactly that to put Billy Clery’s team in front. Shels, who went into this game as League leaders, knew that they had to respond. Their goal did not arrive until the hour mark when Jessica Ziu got enough space to fire in. While both teams will be disappointed not to have secured a win, a point apiece will boost their chances of being in the top half of the table when the season splits.

Wexford Youths 3-0 Peamount United

Ellen Molloy will be hoping to make the final cut for the Republic of Ireland Women’s National Team squad following her first call-up and a brace of goals here will certainly have helped. The Kilkenny native netted one in each half after Nicola Sinnott opened the scoring on 12 minutes when finding herself in the right place to meet a delivery from a corner kick and head in. Peamount had not conceded a goal in their previous four games this season, but they fell further behind when Molloy showed her alertness to steal possession from Dearbhaile Beirne and then fire into the back of the net. Tom Elmes’ team were looking for a reaction following a narrow defeat to Shelbourne and this was it as Molloy wrapped things up when curling in a left-footed effort after her first shot was blocked by keeper Niamh Reid-Burke.

Next Fixtures

Tuesday, September 8th
Treaty United v Cork City, Jackman Park, KO 19:45

Saturday, September 12th
DLR Waves v Bohemians, Jackson Park, KO 18:30
Peamount United v Galway WFC, PRL Park, KO 18:30

Sunday, September 13th
Cork City v Athlone Town, Bishopstown Stadium, KO 14:00
Treaty United v Wexford Youths, Markets Field, KO 14:00

5 medals for Ireland at European Rowing U23 Championships

Ireland’s eight crews at the 2020 European Rowing U23 Championships in Duisburg won 5 medals over the weekend – 2 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze.

Lydia Heaphy and Cliodhna Nolan secured a Gold Medal in the A Final of the BLW2- as they held off competition from Germany and Italy to secure gold.

The BM2x Crew of Ronan Byrne and Daire Lynch won their A Final, beating the Belarus boat for gold, by 3.93 seconds.

The BLW2x– crew of Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey took silver in the A Final, remaining ahead of Germany (bronze) from the beginning, finishing with a time difference of 6.78 seconds.

The BM4+ crew of Alex Byrne, Ross Corrigan, Jack Dorney, John Kearney and Leah O’Regan were 3rd in the A Final, taking home the bronze medal. There was only .64 of a second between second and third.

The BW2– crew of Tara Hanlon and Emily Hegarty also finished 3rd in their A Final, beating out Czech Republic (4th) by 3.35 seconds. Ireland finished behind the Romanian and Greek crews in gold and silver positions respectively.

Rowing Ireland’s High-Performance Director, Antonio Maurogiovanni said of the weekend’s successes:

“We are delighted with the results from our crews at the 2020 European Rowing U23 Championships. Winning two Gold, one Silver and two Bronze medals is an excellent result for Irish Rowing this weekend. We entered eight crews, and all of our athletes represented Ireland proudly throughout the weekend. We had seven crews progress to the A Final in their categories, and this is a testament to the effort that was put in during training in the National Rowing Centre by the athletes over the last few weeks.”

Other Irish results:

BW1X- Claire Feerick: fourth in the A Final with a time of 08:00.86

BLM4X- Hugh Sutton, Hugh Moore, Eoin Gaffney, and Will Ronayne: fifth in the A Final with a time of 06:13.31

BLM1x- Samuel O’Neill: second in the C Final with a time of 07:27.25

Rugby media rights getting out of control

Watching rugby games live is more accessible than ever. The rise of the sport in the professional era has been meteoric. However, every tv channel wants in on the action. As a result, the rights to screen rugby games are dispersed across seven different channels for Irish viewers. This has actually hindered viewing for fans of the game instead of making it easier.

By comparison, soccer fans are often put out by the BT Sport and Sky rivalry. Having to choose between two is a blessing though. Rugby fans have to invest much more to ensure they don’t miss any action. Specifically, you would have to be subscribed to Sky Sports, BT Sports, Eir Sport, Premier Sports, TG4, RTE, and Virgin to be able to watch every rugby game available. Amazon could potentially join this list in the near future.

International games are easily the most popular. In rugby though, they don’t come around all that often. When they do, they take centre stage. For example, a record 44.9 million people watched South Africa prevail over England in the 2019 Rugby World Cup final. Luckily, the annual 6 nations goes to free-to-air Virgin.

Yet, the November and Summer test games are a huge draw. To avail of these mouthwatering fixtures, you need to be a Sky customer. This may not be the case for much longer. Amazon is currently looking to buy the rights to screen these November internationals.

Fans the ones who suffer

Club rugby is what most of the calendar comprises of. There is no shortage of games and likewise, there is no shortage of places to watch them. The Pro14 is spread out across Eir Sport, Premier Sports, and TG4. If you fancy watching the English Premiership though, you need BT.

The Champions Cup is arguably the biggest competition in the club game. Unfortunately, fans who follow their team through the league could be deprived of watching this competition. Free-to-air channels lose out to BT Sports to show these headline games. Meanwhile, those attracted to the more open Super Rugby championship or Mitre Cup must have Sky.

Here is a full breakdown of the dispersion of TV rights for Rugby Union games.

Six Nations: Virgin

November/Summer Internationals: Sky Sports.

Pro14: Eir Sport, TG4, Premier Sports.

English Premiership: BT Sports

Champions Cup: BT Sports

Women’s Rugby: RTE

U20 Internationals: RTE

Super Rugby: Sky Sports

School’s Rugby: Premier Sports

Mitre Cup : Sky Sports

Womens Internationals : RTE

Rugby World Cup: Eir sport, Virgin Sports

Possibly

November internationals – Amazon

Perhaps rugby is a victim of its own success. With so many fans of the game, it is a big task to keep everyone happy. Nonetheless, very few people have access to watch any competition that comes around. It’s clear that watching rugby has grown out of control and seems to only be continuing that way.

https://twitter.com/SixNationsRugby/status/1301941848450236417

http://34.245.76.62/rugby/rugby_irish/leinster-rugby-13-munster-rugby-3/

http://34.245.76.62/rugby/rugby_irish/leinster-rugby-13-munster-rugby-3/

Niall Quinn leaves his role with FAI

Niall Quinn has today written to his FAI colleagues to inform them that he will be stepping away from the role of Deputy Interim CEO of the Football Association of Ireland.

The decision was taken by the former Ireland international in the wake of last week’s announcement that Interim CEO Gary Owens will not be seeking appointment to the permanent CEO role.

Niall told FAI.ie: “I have really enjoyed my time working with the talented and dedicated staff in Abbottstown and I now have a better understanding of just how much great work they do for Irish football, often unheralded and seemingly always amidst a cloud of job uncertainty.

“When I joined the Association with Gary back at the end of January, we wanted to protect jobs and help implement real structural change within the FAI for the betterment of the Irish game. With the successful vote for change at last Monday’s EGM and the completed restructuring of day to day roles in HQ, the game can now look forward to a more productive future.

“Even though these changes were met with resistance by a small minority of constituents, the way is now clear for a new incoming CEO to drive football forward again. I will remain close to Irish football and I wish all of my colleagues the very best of luck in the coming weeks and months as more important changes are implemented to make our game and our association strong again. I will remain available to the FAI, as required, until the new CEO is in situ.”

3 March 2020; FAI Interim Deputy CEO Niall Quinn joined ex Republic of Ireland Women’s international Olivia O’Toole as well as representatives from the UEFA EURO 2020 volunteers and mascot Skillzy to mark the ‘100 Days To Go’ milestone in Dublin today. Over 1,400 volunteers have already signed up and UEFA EURO 2020 are calling on the general public to be a part of the EURO 2020 City Volunteer Team here: https://euro2020.fai.ie/2020/02/27/be-part-of-euro-2020-city-volunteer-team/. In attendance at the launch are FAI Interim Deputy CEO Niall Quinn, centre, ex Republic of Ireland Women’s international Olivia O’Toole, and official UEFA EURO 2020 mascot Skillzy, pictured alongside UEFA EURO 2020 Volunteers, from left, Vito Moloney Burke, Stephen O’Halloran, Alan O’Halloran, Kasia Salek, Yash Nabar and Cynthia Rivera. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile *** NO REPRODUCTION FEE ***

Slovenian Pogačar becomes youngest Tour stage winner this century

Twenty-one year old Tadej Pogačar won his first Tour de France stage in Laruns as UAE Team Emirates claimed their second stage of this year’s race.

Pogačar, who took three stages in the 2019 Vuelta a Espana, claimed stage 9 this afternoon, a 153 kilometres stage from Pau to Lauruns. The Slovenian outsprinted a group containing the new yellow jersey Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), Marc Hirschi (Sunweb), Egan Bernal (Ineos-Grenadiers) and Mikel Landa (Bahrain-McLaren).

“It is incredible to have won at the end of such a hectic day,” admitted Pogačar, “I am very happy, in the final my goal was to recover as many seconds as possible in the general classification, also aiming for bonuses, but the concentration was then turned to the sprint: I don’t remember exactly how I won the sprint, I just thought about pushing as hard as possible.”

The UAE Team Emirates rider becomes the youngest Tour stage winner in the 21st century.

Nicolas Roche’s teammate Mark Hirschi had led the race for 80 kilometres, before being caught by the chasing quartet with the finishing line in sight on the ascent of the Col de Marie Blanque.

The group of the favourites was influenced by two attacks of Pogačar, with only Roglic, Bernal and Landa able to follow the UAE Team Emirates leader who had a near crash when he made contact with Roglic over the top of the climb.

Adam Yates surrendered the yellow jersey to pre-race favourite Primoz Roglic as the Briton lost touch with the main group of contenders late on the 153km stage.

In the general classification, Pogačar gains another two positions and climbs back to 7th place (+44″ from Roglic), while in the youth ranking the Slovenian is 23″ behind Egan Bernal (Ineos-Grenadiers).

Ireland’s Sam Bennett finished 153rd on stage nine and remains second in the race for the green jersey on 131 points, seven behind Slovakia’s Peter Sagan.

Stage 9 results:
1. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) 3:55:17
2. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) s.t.
3. Marc Hirschi (Sunweb) s.t.

General classification after the 9th stage:
1. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 38:40:01
2. Egan Bernal (Ineos-Grenadiers) @ 21 ”
3. Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) @ 28 ”

1...476477478...598Page 477 of 598

EDITOR PICKS

POPULAR POSTS

POPULAR CATEGORY

ABOUT US

SportsNewsIreland is an Irish website launched in 2009 to offer sports fans in Ireland an alternative and independent source to keep them up to date with all the news from around the country. Every week we bring you live score updates from all levels of GAA, rugby, soccer, racing and athletics. Contact

Contact us: Email: info@sportsnewsireland.com

FOLLOW US

Design by SportsMediaIreland.ie