Articles in the GAA Category

BY ADRIAN HARTE I would prefer even to fail with honour than win by cheating”. There’s no record of Sophocles lining out as a corner-back for Attica in ancient times, so the Greek playwright – who also knew all about sour grapes after choking to death on some – may not have had Gaelic football in mind when he penned his famous line, but his words ring true this week after Monaghan’s controversial All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Tyrone. The reality is that there is little left of honour in sport or indeed ...

The big days continue to come for Monaghan with the county’s senior and minor footballers both going in search of places in the All-Ireland semi-finals this weekend.by COLM SHALVEY After winning a long-awaited Ulster title just under two weeks ago, Monaghan now have a chance to get another monkey off their backs by defeating a Tyrone team who have all too often proved an insurmountable roadblock in the past. Monaghan have lost four times to Mickey Harte’s Tyrone in the championship, including Ulster finals in 2007 and 2010, so they won’t ...

MONAGHAN V TYRONE John Graham The encounter between Monaghan and Tyrone is going to be another tight, tactical battle, as each side will seek to limit the influence of key players on the opposing team. While it will not be the furcrum of Monaghan’s approach a key element will be how to contain the threat Sean Cavanagh will pose and essentially Monaghan have to prevent him making those runs from deep and then wrong footing defenders before either going for a score himself or setting up a colleague. Tyrone have Pascal McConnell back in goals ...

“Grab the goals but don’t concede them” will be the game plan that secures the silverware. by COLM SHALVEY Nothing beats being there’, says the advertising slogan from Croke Park and it’s an apt one for Monaghan supporters as the county’s senior and minor footballers go in search of a unique double Ulster final success in Clones on Sunday. Monaghan have never won the Ulster senior and minor championships in the same year and they will be seeking to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1988 Ulster SFC win by finally ...

Monaghan 4-16 Tyrone 1-10 BY MARY GRIMES MONAGHAN made the long journey Derry to commemorate the City of culture and duly came away with their fifth Ulster ladies SFC title in the searing heat of Celtic Park thanks to an impressive 4-16 to 1-10 win over Tyrone. Monaghan went in search of a four in a row and were the favourites to retain the Ulster title and after hitting 1-7 on the trot after the restart never looked like falling short of achieving their goal. With a couple of enforced changes at the outset, ...

Ulster Senior Football Championship Final MONAGHAN V DONEGAL Monaghan captain Owen Lennon has put injury woes in recent years behind him to lead his county to a third Ulster final since 2007. Lennon, who has had to wait a number of years to be given the captaincy, told the media at Monaghan’s press night last week: “I’m just happy to still be playing away. I’ve been injury-free for this last few years and Malachy asked me to be captain this year, so I gladly took it on. I cracked a disc in my ...

BY PATRICK SMYTH Recently appointed head of fundraising for Irish patient-led charity Fighting Blindness, Tony Ward from Lough Eglish, Co. Monahan was in Croke Park recently to launch the charity’s full programme of activity as one of the five selected official GAA charities for 2013. With guest of honour Páraic Duffy, GAA director general in attendance at the launch, players past and present also lent their support on the day including Barney Rock (Dublin), Pat Fox (Tipperary), Eoghan O’Flaherty (Kildare), Aindreas Doyle (Wexford) and Sinead Finnegan (Dublin). In addition to a ...

After the 3rd round of the British Rally Championship, the Scottish Rally in Dumfries, Daniel McKenna and Co-Driver Arthur Kierans find themselves leading the R2 Championship by 5 points from Norwegian driver Steve Rokland and lying a magnificent 5th in the overall championship among the top R3 category drivers after finishing 1st in R2 and 8th o/a last weekend. This is the first time the Scottish Rally has been a round of the BRC for 7 years and was a new challenge for the majority of the championship competitors including Daniel. ...

Monaghan’s dream of Ulster glory is still alive after their senior and minor footballers both made it into the Ulster Final with victory over old rivals Cavan at Clones last Saturday. by COLM SHALVEY Monaghan’s minor and senior footballers qualified for a unique Ulster final double when they both won last Saturday’s semi-finals in Clones. For the seniors, a spirited finish saw off the challenge of Cavan. A typically keenly-contested local derby was close throughout, with the teams level six times, but Monaghan were deserving winners over the 70 minutes, even ...