TIME ,TIDE AND TYRONE
The Tyrone Stars that have entertained us for so many years with their unique brand of football resembled title fighters that had stayed in the ring for one bout too many during their semi-final clash with Cork in Croke Park on Sunday. If the Northern teams brought a new physicality to the game the Cork lads perfected the art with a combination of size, speed and confidence that was acknowledged by no less a manager than Mickey Harte himself.
That Cork could afford to waste as many chances as they converted was telling in itself, that they achieved this result with only 14 men for most of the game must provide hope for All Ireland glory after a drought of 19 years.
Conor Counihan the Cork manager is credited with wining the tactical game in that his team never allowed Tyrone “out of the traps”. “There are crucial stages in the game where you either stand up or crack, and I felt we stood up at times. You know there is only so many times a team can come at you. I felt we reached that at a certain point today, midway through the second half, where we stood firm in the battle and pushed on .But you are never happy you are out the gate until the final whistle blows” said the All Ireland medal holder.
Once Daniel Goulding scored the only goal of the match there was no looking back for Cork. What kept the game interesting was the expectation that Tyrone would turn on the style to make a game of it . When Alan O’Connor saw the line for a second yellow card there was a justifiable fear that this would be such a disadvantage to the Leesiders that it would spoil the rest of the match. The fears for Cork proved groundless, however as they never relinquished their lead thanks to a watertight defence.
It would appear as if the inter County careers of some Tyrone players is now at an end as “Time and tide wait for no man”
FIRST FOR CLARE
Clare will take part in their first., u21 All Ireland Hurling Final after an epic battle with Galway which went to extra time. The sides were level 11 times in this Bord Gáis Energy encounter with Joe Canning recording the amazing statistic of scoring 4-7 and still ending up on the losing side. Clare’s Darach Honan had a tally of 2-4 but manager John Minouge stated that it was the depth of the panel with the ability of subs to record vital scores that stood to Clare.
Anthony Cunningham the Galway manager suggested that it was now time for the Galway underage teams to follow their senior colleagues into the Leinster championship.
COONEY PLAYS HARDBALL
Ballaghadereen Clubman Stephen Cooney secured his second Minor handball gold medal with a 21-2, 21-20 win over Jason Murphy (Wexford) in Mullingar recently. This is his second Gold Medal of the season following his earlier 40x20 doubles triumph.
125
As part of the 125 celebrations there was a short athletics meeting during the half time period of the semi final game in Croke park on Sunday. As the name suggests the Gaelic Athletic Association was originally as much to do with Athletics as field sports. In order to celebrate the 125 year, a GAA/Athletics Ireland Inter Provincial Super Sprint relay was run during the interval.
The Munster team took the spoils in a tight contest. Derval O’Rourke led her sprinters home and she had Angela Walsh(Cork ladies football) and Clare hurler James McEnemey as part of her team. Olive Loughnane the 20k Silver Medal Walker had the honour of leading out the athletes and both she and O’Rourke received a warm reception from the Match goers in recognition of their recent achievements in the World Championships. Paul Hession the Irish 200m. Champion lined out for Connacht.
The 125 Celebrations are continuing in Sligo also. It is intended to make Club Final day the 27th., of September the focus of some of these celebrations.
All clubs are to be honoured on the day with a parade of Club Banners to take place between the Minor and Senior games. The Match programme will also feature a page on each Club in the County and PRO’s from the Clubs are asked to prepare a script of 500 words outlining a brief history of their unit of the organisation. A selection of photographs along with the script should be forwarded in the near future to pro.sligo@gaa.ie . Of special interest would be information regarding Cubs that are no longer in existence due to amalgamations.
Information regarding all aspects of the Association since its foundation in Sligo would be very much appreciated. 0876822365