Gaelic Games

John McGovern
BBC Sport NI Contributor in Owenbeg

Image source, Inpho

Armagh manager Greg McGonigle hailed the character and depth of his squad after they secured a third consecutive Ulster title with a hard-fought victory over Tyrone in Owenbeg.

In a tight, physical contest, McGonigle admitted he was expecting a stern test from a Tyrone side that had impressed in recent outings, including a strong victory over his Armagh side at Healy Park a fortnight ago.

Both teams went into the final with heavily altered line-ups, with Armagh making over 10 personnel changes from that previous defeat before lining out in today's decider.

"It was a tough encounter, and we didn't expect anything less from Tyrone," McGonigle told BBC Sport NI.

"We'd seen them against Donegal in Lifford, and they performed very well."

"In our last meeting, both teams fielded weakened sides, but we knew they had a seriously hard-working forward line coming in today."

The Armagh manager highlighted the impact of the bench as a key turning point in the contest, particularly in the second half when momentum swung firmly in the Orchard County's way as they opened up a five-point lead midway through the half.

"When we made a couple of substitutions around 40 minutes into the game, that was probably the period where things worked well for us," he explained.

"The experience coming on with Kelly Mallon and Blaithin Mackin made a real difference, that's the quality we have."

"Even with the less experienced players, such as Cassie Henderson, who got two or three crucial balls that set up scores, four or five minors have stepped into the panel this year wanting to prove themselves."

Reflecting on Armagh's approach, McGonigle said the side adapted after a slow start, with tactical tweaks and improved game management proving vital after the interval.

"I thought we were too open in the first half and Tyrone had the breeze with them," he said.

"So we dropped the line a bit and tried to play more on the counter. Which is where I think Caoimhe McNally's goal came from. We only had three turnovers in the first half, so we needed to improve that, and once we did, it gave us a platform."

He also praised the way his side adjusted defensively to key Tyrone threats as the game tightened, with match-ups becoming increasingly important in the closing stages.

"We had to make some defensive changes to pick up the likes of Sorcha Gormley and Chloe McCaffrey, and we got our matchups right in the end."

Armagh ultimately survived a late Tyrone surge to secure a single-point lead and another provincial crown, with McGonigle expecting more from the Red Hands in the future.

"It's difficult when you don't play a side often competitively, but Tyrone are an awesome side, and I believe they will go far in the All-Ireland as well."

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Down suffered defeat in Round 2A of the Tailteann Cup as they were beaten 3-22 to 1-20 by Offaly in Tullamore.

Goals from Dylan Hyland and Shane Tierney helped Offaly into a 2-13 to 1-11 at half-time with a late strike from Diarmuid Egan making sure of the comfortable win in the second half.

The Mourne men, who had overcome Leitrim in the preliminary round, produced a spirited attempt at a fightback in the second period, but ultimately fell short.

Conor Laverty's side will now drop into Round 2B while Offaly are through to the quarter-finals.

The two sides traded early scores before Offaly edged ahead through a two-pointer from Hyland.

Down responded through a goal from Pearse McPolin on eight minutes, but another two-pointer, this time from Jordan Hayes restored Offaly's advantage.

They stretched their lead out to five on 16 minutes as they were then awarded a penalty which Hyland duly dispatched.

A second goal arrived just five minutes later as Tierney netted to move Offaly out to 2-12.

On the back foot, Down set out to close the gap and rattled off a few points to reduce the gap to five at the break.

The Mourne men started brightly in the second half and drew level at 1-18 to 2-16 through a John McGeough point on 48 minutes.

Offaly found another gear and started to pull away again with a big two-pointer and a goal from Egan in a five-minute spell just after the hour ultimately moving the game beyond Down.

Odhran Crumley
BBC Sport NI journalist at Fitzgerald Stadium

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Donegal manager Jim McGuinness admitted that Micheal Burns' red card had a "big impact" as his side hammered Kerry to reach Round 2A of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.

The dismissal of Kerry's Burns before the start of the second half proved a major turning point, following a heated altercation between the sides after the half-time hooter that left Donegal's Ryan McHugh bleeding from the eye.

"Listen, it was a tough, tough game. Obviously, the sending off had a big impact on the game and probably had a big impact on the scoreboard as well," McGuinness told BBC Sport NI.

"It would have been a much different game in the second half other than that, but listen, from our own point of view, we were happy with the way we played, happy with the first half.

"It would have been a tougher battle in the second half, no doubt about that, but we're just happy to get the result."

There is clearly no love lost between the two counties following a fierce recent rivalry for the biggest prizes. Kerry claimed last year's All-Ireland title before Donegal gained a measure of revenge by winning the Division One final in March.

Kerry felt Donegal forward Michael Murphy was lucky to escape a red card in that league decider for a high-fisted challenge on Kingdom defender Dylan Casey and the bad blood from that game seemingly spilled into Saturday with the home side welcoming the All-Star forward to Killarney with a few scuffles before the ball was even thrown in.

"No, that was the big one. We knew coming into the game it was going to be that way," added McGuinness.

"It was going to be a very, very physical battle and the key thing for us was just to stand your ground and thankfully the boys did that and got the victory as well."

The Tir Chonaill side are now potentially just one win away from a return to Croke Park for the last eight of the All-Ireland series after bouncing back from their shock Ulster quarter-final defeat by Down in impressive fashion.

"I suppose, getting the win and putting us in a position now where one more victory could take us to the quarter-final is what we were looking for," said McGuinness, who hopes to lead Donegal to a second All-Ireland title as manager after masterminding the 2012 win in his first spell.

"That was the big part coming in here today. It was a game that we wanted to win from that point of view, listen, we just tried to embrace it.

"It gives us the opportunity now to win one more game and hopefully we can do that now.

"At the end of the day, it's very, very disappointing when you get beaten at Ulster. It was important we got back on the horse today and thankfully the boys did that."

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Former Tyrone joint-boss Feargal Logan says he hopes the Red Hands will "turn up big" in Sunday's All-Ireland opener against Roscommon.

Malachy O'Rourke's side will return to action at Dr Hyde Park [14:00 BST], over a month on from their Ulster Championship preliminary round exit at the hands of eventual winners Armagh.

They face a Roscommon side who won the Connacht title this month and Logan, who won the Sam Maguire as a player and manager, believes the Rossies will provide stern opposition, even if Tyrone come in fresher.

"It's a big one for Tyrone, everyone is on the starting line this weekend and next in the hunt for Sam. Tyrone will hopefully turn up big this Sunday," he told BBC Sport NI.

"Roscommon have always had superb forwards, they have added to their supporting cast, around their back and their keeper has been well tightened up, so Roscommon are a full force and ought to be challenging around semi-finals and finals of the All-Ireland stage.

"Sometimes sitting back and watching others empty themselves out, [in latter rounds of the provincial championships] all the injuries and suspensions and stuff comes with it is good, but momentum is still key in sport."

The All-Ireland series will have a new format in 2026, with the group stage ditched.

There will instead be a qualifier series with an initial round of eight games. The winners will move into round 2A and the four winners of those games will advance into the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

The first round losers will play in round 2B and those four winners will meet the losers of 2A to decide the remaining four quarter-final slots and Logan hopes it will bring greater jeopardy into the early stages of the competition.

"It'll be interesting to see how it goes. The round robin has been a bit tedious the last number of years so one default backdoor system, it will be an exciting couple of weeks coming up."

Image source, BBC Sport NI

This week on the GAA Social, Thomas Niblock and Oisin McConville speak to former Derry goalkeeper Eoin McNicholl.

The 41-year-old, who works in statistics with Ulster GAA, has been diagnosed with testicular cancer.

McNicholl won an All-Ireland minor title in 2002 with the Oak Leaf County, plus MacRory and Hogan Cup medals with St Patrick's College, Maghera, before representing his county at senior level.

Tragedy hit his family 30 years ago when younger sister Clodagh, aged six, died of brain cancer and now Eoin is dealing with his own recent diagnosis for which he is now receiving chemotherapy.

Speaking about his condition to "raise awareness", the Glenullin man tells of finding a lump for which he sought medical advice.

"It was what I needed to hear," the married father of three told the podcast.

"He [doctor] didn't hold anything back, but it was broken down to me in a way I could digest.

"As soon as he said the word 'cancer', it was nearly a moment you see in those war films where someone throws a grenade, all you can hear is ringing but see people talking and you're not hearing what they're saying. He was talking at me for a period of time and I just wasn't taking it in.

"Sinead [his wife] was in a bad way, I probably shed a tear or two but quickly turned into process mode as to what I needed to do."

Eoin underwent surgery the following week and a subsequent CT scan leaving a period of waiting until the next set of results.

"They said after the original surgery, I am 80-85% better, but me being a statistics person, I always feel 85% could be better," he added.

"Chemo can bring that down to two or three percent, so it was a no-brainer."

He admits chemotherapy has been "tough going" but he is "feeling 95% normal now" and has high hopes of a full recovery.

"Fingers crossed that if the next CT scan comes in and the lymph modes are still low, I won't need to go for another round of chemo. I feel like I'm getting there."

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Armagh captain Aidan Forker said that his side "were due one" as they ended an 18-year wait for an Ulster Championship title with a thrilling 2-28 to 0-25 win over Monaghan after extra time.

Playing in their fourth successive Ulster final, having lost the previous three, Kieran McGeeney's side led by seven at one stage of the second half at Clones and looked on course for victory before Monaghan fought back to force extra time.

Oisin O'Neill's goal early in extra time proved crucial as the Orchard County picked up a 15th Ulster title and a first since 2008, with Forker keen to savour the occasion after their recent heartbreak in the competition.

"It's something I've seen in my head for a long time [lifting the Anglo Celt-Cup]. Obviously the last number of years have been tough, but just delighted for the group and the boys who just stuck at it," he told BBC Sport NI.

"So happy for the management team too, we've had some tough days in Ulster. The first six or seven years of my career in Armagh were defeats, four finals in a row, I think we were due one."

Forker believes that Armagh used their experience of previous final defeats to their advantage and that fitness work done in the lead up to the Clones decider helped them to last the course and pick Monaghan off in extra time.

"We've been here before. We were there with Tyrone in the first round [a one-point extra-time victory in April] and we know the work we've done in terms of training and it won out in terms of our legs at the end, we started well in extra time and took our simple scores," he added.

"Delighted it all came together. We were deserved winners in the end."

Watch highlights as Armagh overcome Monaghan 2-28 to 0-25 after extra time at St Tiernach's Park in Clones to win a first Ulster Championship title since 2008.

Read more: Armagh end their 18-year wait for Ulster honours

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Armagh's Oisin Conaty says that their three consecutive defeats in Ulster Senior Football finals are "a big driving factor" ahead of this year's decider against Monaghan.

During their semi-final, Armagh thrashed Down 3-33 to 0-14 to book their spot in their fourth successive final as they also broke the record for the highest single-team score in an Ulster SFC match.

The side will now aim to win their first Ulster title since 2008 after losing the last three finals, one in extra time and the other two after a penalty shootout.

"It would mean everything," Conaty replied when asked what it would mean to beat Monaghan on 17 May.

"You know, that's the medal we've all been chasing. Three Ulster finals, three losses, so it's a big driving factor.

"It's the medal that we don't have in there. So, focus goes towards Monaghan and getting that medal, hopefully, in our back pockets."

Armagh's opponents Monaghan secured their spot in the decider for the first time since 2021 after an impressive comeback from 10 points down to beat Derry 1-30 to 3-23.

Conaty added that Kieran McGeeney's side will be prepared for a tight match against a tough opposition.

"We've seen the players they have and the team they have," the All-Ireland champion from 2024 continued.

"It's going to be another battle, like Ulster always is, especially an Ulster final here. So, our focus goes towards them and the qualities they bring.

"Hopefully we get over the line this time."

Image source, Inpho

Antrim defeated Westmeath 2-29 to 2-20 at Corrigan Park in Saturday's Joe McDonagh Cup game but Down lost out 4-28 to 0-27 to Laois at O'Moore Park.

Laois's win over the Mournemen means that they edge closer to a third McDonagh Cup final in a row, with Carlow already assured of contesting the decider.

Aaron Dunphy starred with a points tally of 3-5, including a second-half hat-trick, while Stephen Maher grabbed eight points to become his county's all-time leading scorer in the championship.

Down trailed 0-18 to 0-11 at the interval and their deficit increased further in the second period.

Pearse Og McCrickard top-scored for them with 0-15 but their hopes of making the decider hang by a thread at best.

They need to beat Westmeath in the final round of fixtures, hope that Laois lose to London and Antrim defeat Carlow, and emerge with a huge swing in points difference also.

Antrim clinched a comfortable nine-point victory over Westmeath.

Darragh McCormack and Oisin Donnelly traded goals late in the first half, with Eoin Keyes finding the net for the visitors in the second period, and Joseph McLaughlin scoring Antrim's second goal.

McLaughlin and Seaan Elliott contributed 1-4 and 0-7 respectively for the Saffrons, while David Williams accumulated 10 points for Westmeath.