The other GAA stories of the day in brief...
Hickey and Hanley set up for encounter with Clare
IN THE second women’s football qualifier at Banagher, Offaly, yesterday, Tipperary produced a brilliant attacking performance to crush Meath by 2-16 to 0-9.
Full forward Patricia Hickey scored 2-4 while former All Star Edel Hanley kicked seven points for the Premier County.
At half-time, Tipp were eight points clear, 1-8 to 0-3, as Hickey notched 1-4 in the first half.
Elaine Duffy offered some resistance for Meath with a seven-point haul, but Hickey’s second goal, set up by impressive substitute Gillian O’Brien, settled this tie as a contest midway through the second half.
Tipp’s reward is a second-round qualifier meeting with Clare and the sides already met in this year’s Munster championship, when Clare overturned an eight-point half-time deficit to win with a powerful second-half display.
Kerry will now play beaten Ulster finalists Armagh while the other second-round ties will see Kildare take on beaten Leinster finalists Laois, with beaten Connacht finalists Sligo facing Tyrone.
Scorers
Tipperary: P Hickey 2-4; E Hanley 0-7; G O’Brien 0-3; J Grant, A O’Gorman 0-1 each. Meath: E Duffy 0-7; J Rispin, S Martin 0-1 each.
Cooney pays tribute to Mick Frawley
THE GAA President, Christy Cooney, has passed on his sympathy to the family of Michael (Mick) Frawley who passed away at the weekend.
Frawley, who had a long and distinguished involvement with both Tipperary and the GAA nationally, was a passionate supporter of football in the Premier County.
He served as a trustee of the GAA, chairman of the Munster Council, chairman of the Tipperary County Board, chairman of the West Tipperary Board and chairman of the Tipperary Football Board.
He was sitting member of the associations bye-laws committee up until the time of his passing.
“Mick’s involvement with the GAA from his club, Emly, right up to national level, touched on so many areas of the association and his contribution to the promotion of our games and activities was nothing less than immense,” said Cooney.
Remaining four sides are all novices
OF THE remaining teams in this year’s All-Ireland senior football championship, the last time any of the four claimed the Sam Maguire Cup was all of 15 years ago.
The defeat of Kerry, Tyrone and Meath at the weekend – along with the earlier-round exits of Armagh and Galway – means Dublin’s All-Ireland victory in 1995 is the
last occasion any of the four semi-finalists have tasted success.
It also means – as Jason Sherlock is no longer a member of the Dublin panel – that none of the four county panels includes a player that has already won an All-Ireland senior football championship winners’ medal.
While Dublin, Down and Cork have all claimed All-Ireland success during the 1990s, the last of Kildare’s four All-Ireland senior football titles came in 1928.
LAST ALL-IRELAND SFC TITLE
Dublin 1995
Down 1994
Cork 1990
Kildare 1928
Kingdom edge past Mayo
KERRY RECORDED an impressive victory in the first round of the All-Ireland women’s football senior football championship qualifier.
All eyes were on Mayo following their recent reinstatement to the championship, but the westerners bowed out as Kerry scored a 0-12 to 1-8 victory in the first match of a double-header in Banagher.
Cora Staunton scored 1-6 for Mayo, but it wasn’t enough to defeat Kerry, who had a six-point haul from leading scorer Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh.
Kerry posted six unanswered points in the second half to surge 0-11 to 1-5 in front.
The Kingdom held off a late rally from Mayo to clinch a famous one-point victory.
Scorers
Kerry: L Ní Mhuircheartaigh 0-6, P Dennehy S Houlihan 0-2 each, B Lane L Scanlon 0-1 each. Mayo: C Staunton 1-6, M Carter S Cafferkey 0-1 each.
Sligo sneak past Louth to seal spot in junior final
FIVE UNANSWERED points in the final quarter at Breffni Park yesterday saw Sligo defeat Louth, 0-13 to 2-6, to book their place in the All-Ireland Junior Football Championship final.
Sligo await the winners of the other semi-final, between Kerry and Lancashire, who meet on Saturday in Manchester.
A Mark Stanfield goal helped Louth into a 1-3 to 0-1 lead after eight minutes. However, they trailed by 1-3 to 0-7 at half-time.
Sligo went on to prove the more potent side and in David May they had the sort of match-winner that Louth craved.
However, a James Califf goal in the 41st minuteedged the Leinster champions back into a 2-5 to 0-8 lead.
Sligo had a sting in their tail and, after stepping up their dominance in the middle of the field, Joe Quinn and Mark Gordon notched a point apiece in the final minutes to bury Louths hopes.
SLIGO: J Farrell; D McLynn, L Bree, D Rooney; N Welsh, M Quinn, K Gallagher; J Murphy, P McTiernan; C Finan (0-2), P McGoldrick, B McGrath; C McNamara, S Stenson (0-1), David May (0-8, five frees, two 45s). Subs; N Gaughan for B McGrath (half-time); Daniel May for N Welsh (46 mins); J Quinn (0-1) for K Gallagher (51 mins); M Gordon (0-1) for P McGoldrick (54 mins).
LOUTH: C Lynch; P Brennan, JJ Quigley, J Carr; D Bracken, C Goss, L Shevlin; S ONeill, J Califf (1-0); C Grimes, P Boyle, B Osbourne (0-2); N Conlon, M Stanfield (1-3, three frees), M Larkin (0-1). Subs; D O’Connor for P Boyle (29 mins); W Reilly for N Conlon (55 mins); E ONeill for M Larkin (56 mins).
Referee: Damien Brazil (Offaly).
