CORK DUAL STAR Briege Corkery looks like she could win her third TG4 Player’s Player of the Year award.

The 2015 Player of the Year has been nominated alongside her team mate and 11 time All-Ireland winner Bríd Stack, as well as Dublin full-forward Sinead Ahearne.

Sinead Ahearne takes on Bríd Stack in this year’s All-Ireland Final.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

Both Corkery and Stack were pivotal throughout the Rebel’s championship campaign, as they helped Ephie Fitzgerald’s side to their 11th All-Ireland title in 12 years.

In the intermediate grade, Kildare’s All-Ireland heroine and goalkeeper Mary Hulgraine is in line for the honour, alongside her captain Aisling Holton and Clare full-forward Niamh O’Dea.

Antrim’s Claire Timony could win her second Junior Player’s Player of the Year Award but she faces stiff competition in the form of her fellow Saffron Mairéad Cooper and Longford captain Mairéad Reynolds.

The nominees for each category were announced earlier today and the winners will be revealed at the 2016 TG4 All Star Awards on 12 November.

TG4 Senior Player’s Player of the Year Award Nominees

Briege Corkery (Cork)

Bríd Stack (Cork)

Sinéad Aherne (Dublin)

TG4 Intermediate Player’s Player of the Year Award Nominees

Niamh O’Dea (Clare)

Aisling Holton (Kildare)

Mary Hulgraine (Kildare)

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TG4 Junior Player’s Player of the Year Award Nominees

Mairéad Cooper (Antrim)

Claire Timoney (Antrim)

Mairéad Reynolds (Longford)

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GALWAY HEAD INTO 2017 as the reigning Connacht champions, but the enduring memory for the Tribesmen is their quarter-final collapse to Tipperary.

Tipperary stunned Kevin Walsh’s side in the last eight clash at Croke Park, running out nine-point winners to make the semi-finals for the first time since 1935.

Source: Tommy Grealy/INPHO

For Galway, much of their good work earlier on in the championship was undone and the year ended on a sour note.

They defeated Mayo and, after a replay, Roscommon before going down to underdogs Tipp. They haven’t won a game at Croke Park since their All-Ireland final win in 2001.

Centre-back Gary O’Donnell is still trying to put his finger on what went wrong.

“We haven’t had a huge opportunity to look through it,” he said. “But obviously there was huge dissapointment, heads were very much down. Not that we took the game for granted but just the way we performed on the day, I thought we were very flat.

“The first 10 or 15 minutes, things were going to plan and we were comfortable enough. I think we had four points on the board to one, and I just think we found it very difficult to get through the gears.

“Once the intensity of the game went up we needed to push through the gears but there was nothing really there.

He continued: “It’s funny, it was the only game we lost in championship all year and then when it’s over, it’s over and lads go their seperate ways.

“I just think we probably put a lot of effort and time into the Connacht championship and the fact it went to a replay as well. It was probably a huge sense of relief and [we were] just very flat on the day [against Tipp].

“It definitely puts a bit of perspective and motivation and hunger in for next year. So we have it all to prove again.”

Source: Morgan Treacy/INPHO

Still, perspective is important here. Galway ended Mayo’s reign in Connacht, having spent much of the last decade under the Westerners’ thumb. Kevin Walsh is on-board as boss for another three-year term, with a young squad at his disposal.

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“Even though a few weeks after the Tipperary game it was all dissapointment, on reflection you’d have to take a lot of positives out of the year.

“If you were given a Connacht championship in January you’d obviously have taken it with both hands so, we’re going into 2017 defending the Connacht championship, which is very encouraging.

“A lot of the work and improvements we’ve made over the years has been down to Kevin and the management. The fact he got another three-year term is brilliant for us that he can bring forward and hopefully bring a bit of consistency to our performances as well.”

Galway will play the winners of Sligo and Mayo in the last four of the province. A first Connacht two-in-a-row since 2003 is a realistic ambition, although they’ll likely face a Mayo side determined to restore their dominance.

“We’ve on the other side of it before, where we’ve had a run of games. There’s pros and cons to it. I suppose there will be a big gap between league and championship but it was something similar this year as well.

“It will probably give us a chance to get our house in order after the league depending on how that ends. And we’ll look forward to that game whoever it’s against.”

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AFTER WEEKS OF speculation, Kevin McStay has been ratified as Roscommon manager for the next two years, with an option for a further 12 months.

The former RTÉ pundit was joint-manager of the county last season, but after Fergal O’Donnell resigned from his position, questions were raised about the Mayo man’s future within the county setup.

Previous front runner Nigel Dineen was nominated to take over in the new year, but dropped out of the race due to his concern over the appointment process.

McStay’s backroom team will include existing selector Liam McHale with others to be named in the coming weeks, after David Casey and Stephen Bohan joined O’Donnell in standing down last month.

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Roscommon, who were beaten in this year’s Connacht final by Galway after a replay and then knocked out of the qualifiers by Clare, managed to retained their Division 1 status in the league.

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Home

One Zero conference co-founders Ross O’Dwyer, Rob Hartnett and Richard Barrett.

Source: Morgan Treacy/INPHO

• Sunderland are reportedly keen on bringing Ireland internationals Robbie Brady and Shane Long to the club to strengthen their squad ahead of a likely relegation battle in England’s Premier League.
• Disgraced former cyclist Lance Armstrong has sensationally withdrawn from tomorrow’s One Zero conference in Dublin, citing legal reasons.
• The GAA wants to play the hurling and Gaelic football All-Ireland finals in August and replace the football quarter-finals with a round-robin stage.
• Paul O’Connell‘s autobiography is among the 20 books in the running for eir Sports Book of the Year after the longlist was announced today.
• Attendances in the Gaelic football championship have fallen by an average of more than 7,000 per game over the last 10 years, the GAA has revealed.
• Ireland have fallen two places in the latest Fifa rankings despite Martin O’Neill’s side recording two victories in their last two outings.
• Pádraig Harrington has put himself in contention at the Portugal Masters after his first-round 66 put him in a tie for 12th at Vilamoura.
• Belfast fighter Carl Frampton has confirmed he will contest a WBA featherweight title rematch with Leo Santa Cruz. It is expected to take place on 20 January in Las Vegas, although those details aren’t yet confirmed.

Away

Chicago Cubs catcher Willson Contreras tags out Los Angeles Dodgers’ Adrian Gonzalez in Game 4 of the National League championship series.

Source: Mark J. Terrill

• Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola insists his goalkeepers will continue to operate in a playmaking role despite the approach being heavily criticised in the wake of their 4-0 thumping at Barcelona in the Champions League.
• Wayne Rooney has been recalled to Manchester United’s starting XI for tonight’s Europa League clash against Fenerbahce.
• Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin has said that he would consider playing the Champions League final outside Europe for the first time.
• New Zealand Rugby will do all it can to keep fly-half Aaron Cruden on its books amid reports that French club Montpellier are keen to secure the Chiefs star’s services.

The Best Thing We Shared

Waterford legend Ken McGrath visited the office this week and he made light work of the challenge we posed him.

On The Record

We’ve been around each other, which I found has made it easier. Being away from the squad, with the lads around here, that would make it harder. I think the more time we spend together the better.

An emotional Peter O’Mahony opens up on how the Munster players have been helping each other deal with the tragic passing of head coach Anthony Foley.

Where we were today

Ben Blake is at Tallaght Stadium tonight for the latest installment of Dundalk’s European adventure.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

Kevin O’Brien is at Parnell Park tonight for the third and fourth quarter-finals in the Dublin SFC — Ballymun Kickhams v Raheny (18.45) and Lucan Sarsfields v St Vincent’s (20.15).

Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO

The Fixture List

• There are five fixtures in the SSE Airtricity League tomorrow night — Cork City v St Patrick’s Athletic, Derry City v Sligo Rovers, Galway United v Longford Town (all 19.45), Shamrock Rovers v Bray Wanderers and Wexford Youths v Finn Harps (both 20.00)
• There is one game in the English Championship tomorrow night, Burton v Birmingham (19.45)
• Sale Sharks take on Toulon from 19.45 in Pool 3 of the Champions Cup
• Pádraig Harrington, Paul Dunne and Michael Hoey are in action in the second round of the Portugal Masters
• Practice sessions at the United States Grand Prix also get under way tomorrow

Showbiz, Baby!

Luis Suarez‘s humility went wonderfully halfway when he picked up his Golden Shoe today. Power to him, we’d like this kind of honesty across the board.

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THE NOMINATIONS FOR the eir Sports Book of the Year prize have been revealed.

In its second year running, the inaugural award was won by former Dublin footballer John Leonard with Dub Sub Confidential in 2015 and a 20-strong longlist has been announced this evening.

Included are books from ex-Ireland and Munster rugby captain Paul O’Connell (The Battle), Ireland’s top MMA coach John Kavanagh (Win Or Learn), Kerry footballer Kieran Donaghy (What do you think of that?), Olympic medallist Rob Heffernan (Walking Tall) and the authorised biography of Jack Charlton by Colin Young.

It will be cut down to a final shortlist on 28 November and the winner, who receives a €1,500 cash prize, a specially-commissioned trophy and €10,000 worth of TV advertising on eir Sport, is set to be announced at an awards event in December.

“When we decided to begin a new award scheme to recognise the best in Irish sports writing in the middle of last year, we could not have foreseen just how successful year one would have been,” said eir Sport Director of Operations Brian Quinn.

“The standard of entries was remarkably high and in Dub Sub Confidential we had a book that was a compelling read for any sports fan due to its honesty, wit and excellence.

This year’s longlist is again full of quality writing and I am certain that the judging panel will arrive at a book that will be a worthy winner of the accolade of eir Sport Sports Book of the Year.

“I would like to thank our partners at Publishing Ireland and the publishing houses throughout the country without whom this scheme could not be a success.

“I’d also like to thank Mark and the judging panel. They have a tough task ahead of them this year!”

The judging panel is independently-chaired by Mark Duncan and made up of sports editors and producers from the national media: Shane Scanlon (Irish Independent), Brian Flanagan (Irish Daily Star), Jack White (Irish Daily Mail), Malachy Logan (Irish Times), Jacqui Hurley (RTE), Adrian Barry (Newstalk), Michael Foley (Sunday Times), Dion Fanning (SportsJoe).

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Here’s the longlist:

• Win or Learn: John Kavanagh – Paul Dollery
• The Battle: Paul O’Connell – Paul O’Connell
• Blood, Sweat & McAteer – Jason McAteer
• The Best is Yet to Come – Alan O’Mara
• Spirit of ’58 – Evan Marshall
• Full Throttle – Liam Beckett
• Coolmore Stud – Alan Conway
• Jack Charlton: The Authorised Biography – Colin Young
• My Life In Rugby – Donal Lenihan
• Front Up, Rise Up – Gerry Thornley
• The Heart and Soul of Kerry Football – Weeshie Fogarty
• Rob Heffernan’s autobiography, Walking Tall – Rob Heffernan
• Everything to Play For: 99 Poems about Sport – John McAuliffe
• Out Of Control – Cathal McCarron with Christy O’Connor
• What do you think of that? – Kieran Donaghy
• Retired: What happens to footballers when the game’s up? – Alan Gernon
• Blood, sweat, triumph and tears – John Scally
• Hand on Heart – Ken McGrath & Michael Moynihan
• Second City – Neal Horgan
• Man Tests – The misadventures of an endurance fanatic

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FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP ATTENDANCES have fallen by an average of more than 7,000 per game over the last 10 years, new figures released by the GAA show.

A total of 788,746 fans attended the 60 games (not including replays) played in the provincial championships and All-Ireland series in 2016.

This average crowd of 13,146 per match represents a drop of almost 35% from the 2007 average of 20,172.

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Crowd numbers have been steadily decreasing since then, although there was a slight increase in 2015.

The figures and the charts were released as part of a document to outline a new football championship format and address criticisms.

The major change would see the quarter-final stage of the championship scrapped and replaced by a round-robin with two groups of four teams (four provincial champions and four Round 4 qualifier winners), with each team playing each other once, and the top two teams in each group progressing to seeded semi-finals.

“The new structure will generate an increase in football championship attendances, which have been declining in recent years,” the GAA writes. “We recognise, of course, that the economic recession has been a factor here.”

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THE GAA HAS issued revised proposals for a Gaelic football championship restructure in what appears to be an attempt to appease critics of the original ideas revealed in August.

However, the latest document released by GAA director general Paraic Duffy is persisting with a round-robin stage for the last eight of the football championship, to replace the knock-out quarter-finals.

The process for finding the last eight would remain the same under the proposal, with the four provincial winners guaranteed their spots along with the victors from clashes between the provincial runners-up and the final four sides in the qualifiers.

But from there the teams would be divided into two groups with each side to play each other once — including one home game, one away fixture and one tie at Croke Park.

The top two from each group would then advance to the semi-finals, with those fixtures to be played across both days of the first weekend in August.

The hurling All-Ireland final would be played on the second Sunday in August with the football equivalent coming two weeks later, meaning inter-county players would be available to their clubs earlier in the year.

Some have claimed that a move to a round-robin for the last eight of the football championship would make life even more difficult for weaker counties to bridge the gap with the game’s elite.

The fear is that the likes of Tipperary, one of the stories of the GAA season this year, would find it considerably more difficult to make the All-Ireland semi-finals under such a structure.

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But the GAA seems adamant that the best teams in the country should make up the final four in the race for Sam Maguire.

“This will have the effect of ensuring that the finalists will have been equally tested and that the two best teams in the country contest the All-Ireland final,” the proposal argues.

There is some good news for the so-called weaker counties in the proposal however, with Division 3 and 4 teams guaranteed home advantage in round one, two or three of the qualifiers if they are pitted against a side from one of the top two divisions.

The group stage of the football championship would add eight matches to the season but it is proposed that the football league semi-finals would be abolished, as well as reducing the waiting times between fixtures, to aid congestion issues.

There are also plans to introduce extra-time at the end of all drawn games to reduce the likelihood of replays and the amount of extra fixtures being added to the calendar.

The proposal insists it is just a “medium-term” reform of the football championship as the GAA believes options for immediate and radical change are quite limited.

Key focus points of the proposal include:

• Retaining the provincial championships in their current format
• Group stage to replace quarter-finals in football championship
• Playing All-Ireland football semi-finals over one weekend, but hurling semis would be played on consecutive weekends
• Playing hurling and football All-Ireland finals in August
• Keeping all teams in provincial championships and qualifiers, crucially not implementing a ‘B’ championship
• A low-price ticket policy for group stage matches
• A more condensed season
• Reducing the intervals between inter-county matches
• Play extra-time at the end of all drawn games
• Abolishing league semi-finals in football

Well, what do you make of all that? Would it be a good move for the GAA? Let us know in the comments section below.

You can see the proposal in full here.

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FORMER LOUTH PLAYER Colm Nally says Dundalk’s dominance of the national soccer scene has left local Gaelic football teams with a battle to win over the hearts and minds of talented teenagers.

Several Louth minor footballers have quit the game to play underage soccer for Dundalk, according to Nally, with a view to ultimately making it in the first team.

It’s the inevitable consequence of the club’s thrilling progress both at home and abroad under Stephen Kenny though the GAA intend to fight their patch in the north-east.

Nally is a coaching tutor with the Leinster Council who have launched a new programme throughout the province to recruit former inter-county players for Award 1 Youth/Adult coaching courses.

There’s been a particularly high uptake in Louth with 23 ex-players including Seamus O’Hanlon, Ken and David Reilly and 2010 Leinster final goalkeeper Neil Gallagher all beginning the course in Darver last night.

The hope is that the players will progress to coaching locally and Nally reckons that, in Louth’s case, the mere presence and high profile of those players could help to convince young players to stick with Gaelic football.

Asked about Dundalk’s profile in the region, Nally said: “It’s massive, it is. You’d have a lot of players at 18 or 19 that would be part of Louth minor squads and part of the Dundalk U-19s too. They (Dundalk) have the full first pull on them at the minute.

They are following the dream. They have access to European football. The top League of Ireland players are all playing for Dundalk at the minute so their profile is quite high. They are all involved with them and they are all hoping to make the breakthrough.

“They are also all GAA players, all playing with their local clubs but we are hoping we can get a few of them to wear the red of Louth.

“There would be four or five fellas that would have played on our recent minor teams who are now playing with Dundalk and there is a few with Drogheda as well.”

Ex-Louth goalkeeper Nally said the ultimate aim is to keep Louth’s best young Gaelic footballers together.

“Louth is a great sporting county and it keeps producing great sports people, many of them successful players,” he said.

“From the Gary Kellys to the Ian Hartes, who have all played Gaelic football, Rob Kearney played with Cooley minors and seniors and his brother, Dave, they’ve all played so it’s a great sporting county and you’d love one day that they’ll all come together, those with the best potential, and just click.

‘Devastated’

“I think if we get one breakthrough team, the fellas will see that there’s a huge buzz to playing for your county.”

The 2010 Leinster final naturally sticks out as a huge PR opportunity that passed Louth by with Meath winning that game following a late goal that was awarded in error.

“I wasn’t playing at the time and was with my own kids when that match was on, they left the Cusack Stand to run down onto the pitch,” said Nally. “By the time they got to the bottom that famous goal was scored and they were devastated.

“I know they, like hundreds of other kids, were just devastated. They couldn’t believe it. That would have been a massive plus for us to win that.”

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ALL-IRELAND WINNING DUBLIN football coach Jason Sherlock has downplayed the issue of Dublin’s enormous backroom team and highlighted the role that volunteers have played in their incredible run of success.

Sherlock, a former Dublin star forward, was among a 23-strong group of backroom team members photographed on the Croke Park pitch after their All-Ireland final replay win over Mayo.

A number of others, such as high performance manager Bryan Cullen, weren’t included so Jim Gavin’s entire Dublin management team could stretch to beyond 25 people.

It’s drawn inevitable commentary that Dublin enjoy an unfair advantage as the cash rich capital county with access to financial resources that their rivals can only dream of.

But Sherlock insisted that the majority of their backroom team are unpaid volunteers and noted generally the impact that ex-players have had on bringing through vital rookie talent from development squads.

“In relation to that picture, I think Jim’s father was in it and maybe two or three members of the county board but anyone that was in it are volunteers as far as I know, excluding Bryan Cullen,” said Sherlock.

“I don’t know how many volunteers are with other counties. All I know is that I was asked by Jim to see if I could assist and I’m happy to do it. I don’t know what’s going on elsewhere.

“I understand there is always going to be that debate about Dublin (and their finances) and all that but as far as I’m concerned it was the same situation when I played. We had the biggest population, the biggest resources but we didn’t have success.”

Sherlock reckons that Dublin are simply more organised these days, something that can be done without major financial investment.

“You’d have to look at that as a contributory factor,” continued the 1995 All-Ireland medallist. “From my point of view, I was asked to get involved in the Dublin development squads three years ago and it was a privilege to be asked and something I was delighted to do.

“I asked others that I would have played with to get involved and probably to a man they all agreed and were willing to give their time. It was great to see that they were willing to do that.

Sherlock celebrates with Paddy Andrews after the All-Ireland final.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

“We’re in grounds at the weekends with U-14s and U-15s, as volunteers. We have Davy Henry, Paul Griffin, Paul Casey, Declan Lally, Brendan O’Brien and then we’ve a few other guys as well.”

Dublin’s sponsorship deal with global insurance giants AIG is worth a reported EUR800,000 per annum while their list of ‘official partners’ runs into double figures.

But Sherlock insisted all of those ex-players are simply in it to give something back to the county and he said they’ve played an important role in the overall success.

“When I picked up the phone they were all happy to play their part and to contribute,” he said. “That’s got nothing to do with resources, they are people who are proud to have played with Dublin and want to give something back.”

Sherlock was recognised as one of the most creative and exciting forwards of his generation and is responsible for mentoring the current Dublin forwards.

Those forwards’ challenge has been more difficult in recent seasons as a result of consistently coming up against packed out defences. Former Dublin defender Ger Brennan claimed after the drawn All-Ireland final with Mayo that Dublin’s attacking edge has been blunted by being continuously forced to recycle and retain possession.

“We can’t control how a team sets up against us,” said Sherlock. “There’s a big emphasis on the defensive side of the game at the moment and that’s a challenge Dublin have had over the last number of years so there’s no point in doing something a certain way if you don’t think it’s going to have benefits.

“The stage where the players are at is that they have to decide themselves on the pitch what is the best way of reacting to something.

“As a coach, that’s all you can do, empower your players to deal with situations and full credit to the lads, they’ve been able to deal with what’s in front of them.”

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SECOND HALF GOALS from Thomas Hill and Ross Mulcahy ensured Moyle Rovers edged tonight’s Tipperary SFC quarter-final against Aherlow Gaels by a score of 2 – 11 to 0 – 13.

File photo: Ross Mulcahy in minor action for Tipp in 2013.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

Rovers, playing without the Dubai-based Peter Acheson, had to come from behind as Aherlow finished the first period the stronger side to build a half-time lead of 0 – 5 to  0-9 having been level at five points apiece with 17 minutes on the clock.

Liam Boland signalled Moyle Rovers’ intent from the start of the second half with back-to-back scored before Hill hit the net on 44 minutes.

File photo: Thomas Hill in minor action for Tipp in 2009.

Source: Lorraine O’Sullivan/INPHO

That score gave Rovers the lead which they would not cough up. Though the score was reduced to the minimum by Aherlow until Mulcahy struck to open up a 2 – 8 to 0-10 advantage with just over 15 minutes remaining.

The victory sets up a clash with Kilsheelan-Kilcash in Sunday’s semi-final (throw-in 14.30). Reigning Munster champions Clonmel Commercials take on 2014 Tipp senior champions Loughmore-Castleiney in the other county semi-final.

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