INPHO/James Crombie
Anytime, Kilkenny are beaten in the championship, it’s going to be by a team in form. Anthony Daly’s side were denied last week in the first game out but the Dubs managed to get the job done in the Portlaoise replay on Saturday night. It’s a result that blows the All-Ireland hurling championship wide open; Tipperary and Kilkenny face off in a truly mouth-watering loser-leaves-town match next week before Galway and Dublin make up a novel provincial decider.
Did someone whisper ‘Dublin for the double’?
London fans cheer their side on in the final moments. Pic: INPHO/Mike Shaughnessy
As perhaps everyone said yesterday: there won’t be a cow milked in Piccadilly for a week. History was made in Roscommon’s Dr Hyde Park yesterday as London claimed a spot — for the first time ever — in the Connacht SFC decider. The Exiles almost let slip a 14-point half-time lead but managed ultimately to get over the line in another thrilling replay. Next up? Only a formidable-looking Mayo. Meanwhile at Croke Park, a rampant Dublin beat Kildare by the biggest margin in championship since 1897.
Meath’s Seamus Kenny with Brian Malone of Wexford. Pic: INPHO/Donall Farmer
The Royals’ Seamus Kenny started in his first game in 13 months for the county after sustaining cruciate damage. He impressed at wing-back as Meath defeated Wexford.
Take a bow, Eoghan O’Gara:
There was a bizarre moment in yesterday’s Cavan/Monaghan game in Clones as a Christopher McGuinness’s effort was scooped out from over the line by a Cavan defender before the ball was then seemingly fouled. Rather than award a goal or a penalty, the referee waved play on and the umpires stood by. Baffling.
Pic: The Sunday Game
David O’Callaghan was all over the place at O’Moore Park and he scored this cracker from the right wing while under pressure from Kilkenny’s Conor Fogarty in the first-half. Good man, Dotsy.
Pic: The Sunday Game
Tomás Mul couldn’t help himself as he explained that the Cats have a lot of miles on the clock and mental fatigue has set in at Nowlan Park. As he pondered the possibility that Brian Cody’s era of dominance might be coming to an end at last, more than a hint of a smile danced across the Glen Rovers man’s face. Roight.
INPHO/Ryan Byrne
During the Westmeath-Waterford game, a plea went out to find Tony Browne’s hurley which went missing after the game. He came on as a substitute and is 40 on Monday.
It was a big evening for the Association as the first Friday night championship game was played out. Pádraig McMahon marked the occasion by scoring for Laois against Carlow with a cracking individual effort as he ran 60 yards through the defence before tucking it away.
Go to 0.57
YouTube: KilkennyFootball
These lads are poets… and they know it. You may have thought it was Monaghan that was known for its poetry but it was these Cavan fans in Clones who had a rhyming rebuke for Sunday Game analyst Pat Spillane. A1.
Pic: INPHO/Donall Farmer
We’ve had Tebowing, Kapernicking and plenty other kind of celebration fad. Introducing ‘The Dalo’:
Pic: INPHO/James Crombie
Ireland out half Ian Madigan approves of Bernie B’s new look:
Comedian Dara Ó Briain reflects on the 90s-style revolution in hurling this summer
And Offaly legend Joe Dooley gives an honest — if unhelpful — answer when asked who he fancies in the aforementioned Tipp-Kilkenny showdown:
Sligo boss Kevin Walsh resigned in the wake of his side’s championship exit against Derry last night. Walsh saw his team defeated by seven points in Owenbeg in round 1 of the All-Ireland football qualifiers. It puts the tin cap on a tough campaign for the Yeats County after they lost to London in the Connacht championship. Eamon O’Hara — who was vocal in his criticism of Walsh earlier this summer — was a member of the Sunday Game panel last night; he insisted he doesn’t want the job. Honest.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say