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1 day ago | 
irishtimes.com | Sean Moran |Seán Moran
Not all breakthroughs are the same. As Louth walked their high-wire routines of running down the clock and keeping possession out of Meath hands for nearly all of seven minutes, they were effectively chasing the past. The major achievement of winning Leinster for the first time since 1957 will of course influence their future and how football is seen in the county – but it also connects with their history.
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3 days ago | 
irishtimes.com | Sean Moran |Seán Moran
The GPA has spoken out on what it sees as lack of progress and transparency in the process of integration between the men’s and women’s games. Joint chairs of the national executive, Tyrone footballer Niall Morgan and Dublin camogie captain Aisling Maher, in an address to be delivered to Monday night’s GPA agm, are to protest that they “mostly in the dark” on progress and caution that the players body “will not allow this opportunity to be wasted”.
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3 days ago | 
irishtimes.com | Sean Moran |Seán Moran
Saturday’s win in Ennis was only Tipperary’s third in the province since winning the 2019 All-Ireland. During that time, the county has played 18 matches in the Munster championship, winning three, drawing four and losing 11. This is the sixth round-robin provincial championship. To date Tipp have qualified only twice. For manager Liam Cahill, the 4-18 to 2-21 victory over All-Ireland champions Clare marked a turning point after a difficult opening couple of weeks in the campaign.
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4 days ago | 
irishtimes.com | Sean Moran |Seán Moran
Tipperary outstared the abyss to achieve a vital win in Zimmer Biomet Cusack Park on Saturday evening. It leaves All-Ireland champions Clare needing a whole sequence of results to fall their way if they are to survive and take their title defence out of Munster. On a sunny May evening in Ennis, a near-capacity crowd of 20,685 watched as yet another epic battle played out.
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5 days ago | 
irishtimes.com | Sean Moran |Seán Moran
Things have changed for these teams since meeting in last year’s final. Most notably, Armagh are All-Ireland champions and have developed an impressive panel depth. For a team that had suffered so graphically in tight situations, losing four penalty shoot-outs in successive championship exits, Kieran McGeeney’s team emerged the priceless point ahead in the semi-final against Tyrone.
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5 days ago | 
irishtimes.com | Sean Moran |Seán Moran
Clare built their recent profile and ultimately the All-Ireland on an ability to hit back after tough setbacks. This weekend’s challenge takes that to a new level. With just one point from the first two matches, both teams have to win to nurture hopes of staying in the fight. Both are also short of their best lineout but Tipperary‘s loss of Darragh McCarthy to suspension is a relatively light impediment compared with Clare’s list of the missing.
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5 days ago | 
irishtimes.com | Sean Moran |Seán Moran
Camogie’s Munster Council have called off Saturday’s provincial final to avoid confrontation with players determined to wear shorts in the ongoing controversy over skorts, the prescribed wear for the sport. In a statement from Munster camogie, chairwoman Christine Ryan said the committee had reviewed the situation.
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6 days ago | 
irishtimes.com | Sean Moran |Seán Moran
Hurler of the Year Shane O’Donnell is back on the panel for Clare‘s crucial Munster championship match against Tipperary in Ennis this weekend. The 30-year-old had originally been ruled out for this season after a shoulder operation in January. His return is on course with the player’s most optimistic projection in mid-April of “four to eight weeks” but maybe not surprising given what’s at stake in this weekend’s encounter.
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1 week ago | 
irishtimes.com | Sean Moran |Seán Moran
The provincial championships are having a moment in the sun. For all the structural incoherence and distortion, they frequently bring to the schedules, this year has had provincial finals with genuine competitiveness stirring up interest and intense rivalries – with the abiding exception of Munster. Leinster would be great without DublinThis has become possible since 14-in-a-row champions Dublin had their lease abruptly terminated by Meath, who play Louth in Sunday’s final.
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1 week ago | 
irishtimes.com | Sean Moran |Seán Moran
This is the sixth iteration of the provincial round-robin championship. In Munster, the format has proved an outstanding success. A general level of competitiveness has been established throughout the province. This is despite the apparently unpromising statistics of Limerick having won all but one of those championships – plus the two in between during Covid – and Clare having been beaten finalists in four of the five years to date.
