Articles in the GAA Category

COLM SHALVEY REPORTS Scotstown secure spot in championship semi’s Scotstown are through to the JFC semi-finals for the first time since 2015 after they ousted Currin in Threemilehouse last Sunday. Having failed to win a JFC group game in the last two years, Scotstown now have four wins to their name in this year’s competition after they outscored their opponents by 1-6 to 0-2 during extra-time. This had been a wellcontested last-eight tie for long spells, but Currin’s challenge gradually petered out after they lost their star attackers Jack McCarron to injury ...

COLM SHALVEY The 2022 club championship season is set to really heat up this weekend, with semi-final places in the SFC and IFC on the line, as well as key games in the relegation groups. The SFC quarter-finals are down for decision on Sunday afternoon, starting with Ballybay v Truagh in Scotstown. This is a repeat of last year’s semifinal, where a breakthrough victory for Truagh saw them qualify for their first SFC decider in 20 years. Ballybay, who sorely missed the influence of Dessie Ward on that occasion, have put ...

Colm Shalvey reports Carrickmacross Emmets Rounders team will line out in the Senior Men’s All-Ireland Final for the third year in a row this Sunday. Having seen off Cuchulainns from Carlow in last month’s All-Ireland semi-final, Carrickmacross will take on Erne Eagles for the second consecutive year at the GAA’s National Games Development Centre in Abbotstown, Dublin, at 4pm on Sunday. Carrick beat Glynn-Barntown from wexford in the 2020 decider, before losing out to Erne Eagles last year. The Cavan side have won three of the last four senior titles, with ...

Farney search for a manager continues COLM SHALVEY REPORTS The saga that is Monaghan’s search for a new senior football manager had another twist last week, with former Dublin defender Ger Brennan the latest front-runner to remove himself from contention. Brennan had reportedly been the favourite to end Monaghan’s lengthy pursuit of a replacement for Séamus McEnaney, but it appears that he will now remain with Moorefield, who exited the Kildare SFC late last month. It leaves Monaghan as one of three Division One counties yet to appoint a senior football manager ...

COLM SHALVEY The Monaghan Senior, Intermediate and Junior Football Championships reach a crucial point of the group stage this weekend as teams vie for places in the knock-out rounds. Scotstown will be expected to make it back-to-back wins in Group One of the Greenfield Foods SFC when they travel to Aughnamullen on Saturday. The holders fell to a first championship defeat since the 2019 county final in their opener against Ballybay, but a strong finish last time out saw them get the better of previously-unbeaten Donaghmoyne. Ballybay can secure top spot ...

COLM SHALVEY The Monaghan LGFA Senior, Intermediate and Junior Football Championships got underway last weekend, with Donaghmoyne sending out another statement of intent to any pretenders to the throne. Having run out convincing winners in the recent Senior League Final against Emyvale, Donaghmoyne were in even more prolific form last Sunday, with the reigning Ulster Club champions ruthlessly seeing off Latton. Donaghmoyne are bid ding to lift a n unprecedented 20th consecutive county title. The other first-round games in the Combilift sponsored Senior Championship were played on Saturday. Emmet Óg, who ...

JACK MADDEN Even in the smallest and most tightknit communities, it really is incredible the stories that can be thrown up. Turmoil, devastation. Victory, elation. On and off the sporting field, in so many walks of life. A GAA club is forced to balance responsibility alongside privilege. Oftentimes that responsibility can be directly exchanged into euros. The modern era can be a challenging one for clubs, with investment needed on an almost constant basis to ensure sustainability, never mind growth. The likes of the Kilmore Development Project in Scotstown is not ...

JACK MADDEN They really do mean more, these club championships. On Saturday afternoon in Emyvale, the trad music played over an hour before throw in. The crowd slowly filtered in, a substantial away support as well as a home one. It really is the glue of a community, especially in this modern age with the Catholic Church on the wane. Many travelled from the second most northerly club in the county to the other IFC clash between Magheracloone and Corduff, where the latter were beaten for the first time in 2022. ...

ROAD TO HARPS COMPLEX RENAMED IN MEMORY OF BELOVED YOUNG FOOTBALL STAR A poignant ceremony in the early evening sunshine of Friday last saw the road from Old Cross Square to the Monaghan Harps GFC complex in Monaghan Town renamed in memory of Brendan Óg ‘Ógie’ Ó Dufaigh, the Harps and county U-20 football star who lost his life in a road traffic accident at Clontibret a year previously, having led his Monaghan team to victory in an Ulster Championship semi-final only hours before. The idea of renaming the roadway Slí ...

COLM SHALVEY Just as we went to press yesterday, news broke of Séamus McEnaney’s resignation as Monaghan senior football manager. ‘Banty’ initially took charge of Monaghan Seniors between 2005 and 2010, contesting two Ulster finals and winning an Allianz League Division Two title in 2005. After winning an Ulster MFC title as Monaghan minor manager in 2018, McEnaney returned to the senior hotseat for the interrupted 2020 season, which ended with an extra-time loss to Cavan. With Peter Donnelly and Conor Laverty leaving the set-up for 2021, McEnaney brought Dónie ...