Gaelic Games

Image source, Getty Images

Antrim performance coach Neil McManus says the county face a "massive challenge" against Offaly in this weekend's Leinster Senior Hurling Championship relegation shootout.

Davy Fitzgerald's Saffrons travel to Tullamore on Sunday (14:00 BST throw-in) knowing that defeat will condemn them to the second-tier Joe McDonagh Cup for the 2026 season.

Both sides have lost all four games in this year's Leinster series. Antrim are coming off a bruising 28-point loss to Galway in Salthill last week and lost their Division One B trip to Tullamore 2-26 to 0-17.

"How ready can you ever be?," McManus said when asked if Antrim are adequately prepared to take on the Faithful County on Sunday.

"The Leinster Championship is incredibly competitive, some of the best teams in Ireland involved there and some of them going really well."

Having earned promotion to the top tier by winning the Joe McDonagh Cup in 2022, Antrim retained their Leinster status in 2023 and 2024 with last-round victories over Westmeath and Carlow.

In order to remain at the top table, they must shake off defeats by Wexford, Kilkenny, Dublin and Galway and conjure another last-ditch performance.

"We've been in this situation before. We tend to be in this situation annually," added McManus, who ed Fitzgerald's backroom team ahead of the 2025 season after retiring from inter-county hurling in 2023.

"We're fighting for survival in the Liam MacCarthy. It's a massive challenge on Sunday.

"Offaly have developed hugely over the past four, five seasons. Their county has improved massively over the past decade and everyone has enjoyed that but we'll be fully focused on ourselves on Sunday and retaining our Leinster Championship status.

"We love the fact that there's an Ulster county represented in Ireland's top flight and we want to ensure that not only Antrim Gaels but Ulster Gaels can come here to Corrigan Park and see our lads at the very, very top level."

Antrim have been plagued by injury issues this year and had defender Declan McCloskey sent off against Galway last week, with James McNaughton

Fitzgerald has been without forwards Keelan Molloy, Conor Johnston, Seaan Elliott and Conal Cunning in recent weeks, but McManus says the backroom team hope to "nurse at least one of them back to health" for Sunday's game.

On this week's GAA Social podcast, Thomas and Oisin are ed by the family of Sean Brown.

Mr Brown, a father of six, was abducted and shot dead by of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) as he locked gates at Bellaghy GAA club in 1997.

He was 61 years old when he died.

The family have sought to have a public inquiry heard into his murder and earlier in May, the Court of Appeal affirmed a previous court ruling, compelling the UK government to hold a public inquiry into his killing.

The government said it intends to seek a Supreme Court appeal over the ruling.

His wife Bridie and daughter Clare talk about Sean's life and legacy on the GAA Social and you can listen on BBC Sounds right here.

Image source, inhpo

Fermanagh recorded their first win in this year's Tailteann Cup with a comfortable 2-19 to 0-7 success over Longford at Pearse Park.

Kieran Donnelly's side bounced back from a shock defeat by Carlow last weekend, leading 0-9 to 0-4 at half-time with Ryan Lyons, Declan McCusker and Conor Love all on target.

Lyons and Darragh McGurn kept the scoreboard ticking over in second half either side of a two-pointed effort from Garvan Jones.

Love, who impressed in the Ernemen's Ulster quarter-final loss to Down, raced through to smash home a goal in the 53rd minute and extend his side's lead to 1-16 to 0-6.

Substitute Aoghan Kelm added further gloss to the victory with a second Fermanagh goal in injury time as the Ernesiders ran out comfortable winners.

Fermanagh will look to build on Sunday's win when they take on Wexford in their final group game in a fortnight's time.

Longford will take on Carlow - who have already booked their place in the quarter-final - needing a victory to retain their hopes of reaching the preliminary quarter-finals.

Image source, Inpho

Down opened their All-Ireland round-robin series campaign by easing past Clare in Ennis while Cavan shocked Mayo in Castlebar.

The Mourne County produced a blistering first-half display to lead by 14 points at the break before staying clear to win by 17 points in their Group Three opener.

But Cavan pulled off a huge shock result in Group One by sinking the Connacht finalists 1-17 to 1-14.

The Breffni men led 0-9 to 0-7 at the break with Mayo failing to score from play until the 32nd minute before losing defender David Neary to a black card.

Cavan took full advantage of their numerical advantage early in the second half with 1-3 in the opening five minutes with Gerard Smith scoring his side's goal.

O'Reilly kicked the Ulster side into the lead in the 39th minute and it was an advantage they refused to relinquish.

Cian Madden and Stephen Coen exchanged scores as Cavan managed to keep their noses in front.

Aidan O'Shea hit the net for the home side with the final action of the game but it was Raymond Galligan's side who claimed a shock three point win opening up group one.

Cavan host Ulster champions Donegal in a fortnight while Mayo will travel to Omagh to take on Tyrone looking to pick up their first points.

Meanwhile, Down got off to a flying start in Ennis, surging into a 1-3 to 0-0 lead after five minutes with John McGeough firing to the net.

Danny Magill kicked six first-half scores, which eased Conor Laverty's side well ahead.

They led 2-12 to 0-5 three minutes before the break as Daniel Guinness swept through to raise a green flag.

Two minutes later, Aaron Griffin hit the net for the Munster finalists but they trailed 2-17 to 1-6 at the interval.

In the second half, it was the Ulster side who held firm, adding a third goal through Caolan Mooney. Pat Havern kept the scoreboard ticking over, too, as he finished on nine points.

Having begun their campaign in style, Down will welcome Leinster champions Louth to Pairc Esler in a fortnight's time.

Odhran Crumley
BBC Sport NI Journalist at Corrigan Park

Image source, Inpho

Antrim's hopes of progression in the Tailteann Cup were dealt another blow as they were beaten 1-18 to 1-10 by Limerick at Corrigan Park.

The result means that Antrim have lost both of their opening two games in group three and will need to beat London in their final group match in a fortnight's time to secure a preliminary quarter-final spot.

Limerick will take on Westmeath in their final group fixture in a straight shootout for top spot and a place in the quarter-final.

The Saffrons trailed 0-8 to 0-5 at the break with both sides wasteful in front of goal, kicking six wides apiece.

Antrim full-back Eunan Walsh's two-point effort was the highlight of the half as Peter Nash and James Naughton led the Munster side's charge on the scoreboard.

The visitors would dominate the the middle third in the second half and started to convert that dominance onto the scoreboard with two pointed efforts from Danny Neville and captain Iain Corbett extending their lead out to seven points with just 10 minutes of the second half played.

It went from bad to worse for Andy McEntee's side as Emmett Rigter was hauled down by an Antrim defender as he entered the small parallelogram, giving referee Kieran Eannetta no choice but to award a penalty.

Corbett stepped up and sent the effort below Michael Byrne and into the net as Limerick led 1-15 to 0-8 with 20 minutes to play.

Antrim's chances of any fightback were dealt a serious setback seconds later when substitute Fionn Nagle was shown a black card for an off-the-ball shoulder charge.

Patrick McBride punched home a Marc Jordan cut back in the final minute of injury time but it was Limerick who would head home eight-point victors.

Image source, Getty Images

Former Down defender Kevin McKernan says the county must expect to be drawn into a "dogfight" in Sunday's All-Ireland round-robin opener against Clare in Ennis (14:00 BST).

The Mournemen won the 2024 Tailteann Cup to earn a spot in this year's Sam Maguire series.

Conor Laverty's side are coming off an Ulster semi-final loss to Donegal after suffering relegation from Division Two earlier this year, while Clare lost the Munster final to Kerry after missing out on promotion from the third-tier of the National League.

"It's a home game for Clare and they'll look at that as a serious strength but it's a huge challenge for Down," said McKernan, who started Down's 2010 All-Ireland final loss to Cork.

"It's a long way to travel but when they go down there they will find a team very similar to themselves; finding themselves between Division Two and Division Three.

"They had a huge performance against Kerry [in the Munster final] for large periods and against a team they weren't expected to beat.

"Down going to Clare - would they be expecting a win? Absolutely, but it's going to be a dogfight as well. If they can get big Pat [Havern] and Odhran [Murdock] moving with players like Pierce Laverty and Paddy McCarthy full of running from defence, the big spaces of Cusack Park will suit Down."

McKernan also said his Burren club-mate Murdock has the mentality to shoulder the burden of expectation after establishing himself at senior inter-county level.

"Odhran was blooded at senior level in midfield as a 19, 20-year-old and he's starting to get into his rhythm in games.

"It's a big ask for someone so young but he has the right mentality. Conor and his management team have built a structure of play for the whole team, but Odhran's a huge part of that.

"If Down launch themselves into this [All-Ireland series], they'll be excited to see Daniel Guinness and Odhran Murdock carry this team forward."

Image source, Getty Images

All-Star forward Shane Walsh has returned to the Galway starting line-up for Saturday's All-Ireland round-robin opener against Dublin in Salthill.

Walsh has not played since injuring his back in the Division One loss to the Dubs on 15 March, but is named at centre-forward with Sean Fitzgerald dropping out in the only change from the Connacht final win over Mayo a fortnight ago.

Damien Comer remains ruled out for the Tribesmen after missing the Mayo game.

Dublin, in action for the first time since their stunning Leinster semi-final defeat by Meath, name 43-year-old Stephen Cluxton in goal, but Sean Bugler and Eoin Murchan are still missing.

Galway beat Dublin 0-17 to 0-16 in a nail-biting quarter-final in last year's All-Ireland series.

Galway: Connor Gleeson; Johnny McGrath, Sean Mulkerrin, Jack Glynn; Dylan McHugh, Sean Kelly, Liam Silke; Paul Conroy, John Maher; Cein Darcy, Shane Walsh, Cillian McDaid; Matthew Tierney, Rob Finnerty, Matthew Thompson.

Subs: Conor Flaherty, Daniel O'Flaherty, Cian Hernon, Kieran Molloy, Sean Fitzgerald, John Daly, Sam O'Neill, Cathal Sweeney, Liam O Conghaile, Tomo Culhane, Peter Cooke.

Dublin: Stephen Cluxton; David Byrne, Theo Clancy; Conor Tyrrell; Cian Murphy, John Small, Brian Howard; Peadar O Cofaigh Byrne, Tom Lahiff; Niall Scully, Lorcan O'Dell, Ciaran Kilkenny; Paddy Small, Con O'Callaghan, Colm Basquel.

Subs: Evan Comerford, Luke Breathnach, Cormac Costello, Nathan Doran, Alex Gavin, Davy Keogh, Sean McMahon, Greg McEneaney, Killian McGinnis, Brian O'Leary, Dan O'Leary.

Down unchanged for Ennis trip

Down are unchanged from their Ulster semi-final loss to Donegal.

Clare boss Peter Keane, meanwhile, recalls Conor Meaney to midfield to replace Daniel Walsh in the only change from the Munster final defeat by Kerry.

Clare: Eamon Tubridy; Manus Doherty, Cillian Brennan, Ronan Lanigan; Ikem Ugwueru, Cillian Rouine, Alan Sweeney; Brian McNamara, Conor Meaney; Keelan Sexton, Emmet McMahon, Aaron Griffin; Mark McInerney, Eoin Cleary, Dermot Coughlan.

Subs: Tristan O'Callaghan, Fionn Kelleher, Daniel Walsh, Shane Griffin, Gavan Murray, Darragh Burns, Rory McMahon, Evan Cahill, Diarmuid O'Donnell, Jamie Stack, Brendan Rouine.

Down: Ronan Burns; Patrick McCarthy, Peter Fegan, Ceilum Doherty; Ryan Magill, Pierce Laverty, Miceal Rooney; Daniel Guinness, Ryan McEvoy; Danny Magill, Odhran Murdock, Eugene Branagan; James Guinness, Pat Havern, John McGeough.

Subs: John O'Hare, Finn McElroy, Aaron McClements, Donal Scullion, Shay Millar, Adam Crimmins, Oisín Savage, Caolan Mooney, Finn Murdock, Patrick Brooks, Conor McCrickard.

Mayo boss Kevin McStay makes one change for Sunday's Group One game against Cavan.

Diarmuid O'Connor, who started the Connacht final defeat by Galway, is replaced by Sam Callina.

Cavan are without Gearoid McKiernan with Evan Crowe, Cormac O'Reilly and Ryan Donohoe all coming into Breffni boss Raymond Galligan's line-up.

Mayo: Colm Reape; Jack Coyne, Donnacha McHugh, Rory Brickenden; Sam Callinan, David McBrien, Enda Hession; Stephen Coen, Matthew Ruane; Davitt Neary, Jack Carney, Jordan Flynn; Aidan O'Shea, Darren McHale, Ryan O'Donoghue.

Subs: Adrian Phillips, Bob Tuohy, Conal Dawson, Conor Reid, Dylan Thortnon, Fenton Kelly, Fergal Boland, Frank Irwin, Kevin Quinn, Paddy Durcan, Paul Towey.

Cavan: Gary O'Rourke; Cian Reilly, Brian O'Connell, Niall Carolan; Jason McLoughlin, Ciaran Brady, Padraig Faulkner; Killian Clarke, Evan Crowe; Gerard Smith, Dara McVeety, Oisin Kiernan; Cormac O'Reilly, Ryan Donohoe, Cian Madden.

Subs: Liam Brady, Luke Fortune, Killian Brady, Barry Donnelly, Luke Molloy, Ruairi Curran, Thomas Edward Donohoe, Ryan O'Neill, Sean McEvoy, Oisin Brady, Paddy Lynch.

Image source, Inpho

Defending champions Tyrone reached another All-Ireland Under-20 Football final with a 2-14 to 0-14 victory over Kerry in Sunday's semi-final in Portlaoise.

In a repeat of last year's final, the Red Hands raced into a 1-5 to 0-2 lead after 17 minutes with the goal coming from senior list Eoin McElholm.

While Kerry reduced the arrears to two points, Noah Grimes' superb finish high into the Kingdom net in the final minute of the half left Tyrone 2-8 to 0-8 up at O'Moore Park.

From there, Tyrone were able to keep Kerry at arm's length as they marched into their third final in the past four seasons, having also won the title in 2022.

Ruairi McCullagh, who scored 0-8 in the Ulster U20 final win over Donegal on 30 April, hit 0-9 for Tyrone while McElholm ended the game with 1-4. Paddy Lane top-scored for Kerry with 0-7.

Having gotten the better of Tomas O Se's Kerry for the second year in a row, Paul Devlin's Tyrone can look forward to another All-Ireland decider against either Mayo our Louth, who contest their semi-final in Longford on Friday (19:00 BST).

Image source, Inpho

Fermanagh and Antrim fell to defeats in their opening Tailteann Cup round-robin matches on Sunday.

The Ernemen were beaten 3-18 to 2-18 by Carlow in their Group Four contest at Brewster Park, while in Group Three Antrim were thrashed 4-24 to 1-17 by 2022 winners Westmeath in Mullingar.

Antrim, who exited the Ulster Championship quarter-finals at the hands of Armagh last month, conceded two quickfire first-half goals at Cusack Park with Sam McCartan and Danny McCartan both on target for the home side.

While Kavan Keenan raised a green flag for the Saffrons, Luke Loughlin's penalty helped Westmeath lead 3-9 to 1-10 at the break.

Matthew Whittaker scored Westmeath's fourth goal while Loughlin ended the game with a remarkable 1-17 haul.

Like Antrim, Fermanagh were also left with work to do after conceding two early goals in quick succession in Enniskillen as Mikey Bambrick and John Murphy struck for Carlow inside the opening 11 minutes.

Fermanagh - playing for the first time since their agonising Ulster quarter-final loss to Down - responded through a Conor Love penalty, but trailed 2-9 to 1-7 at the interval.

Joe McDade's goal early in the second half gave Fermanagh renewed purpose but Bambrick's second major of the afternoon inside the final 10 minutes proved a hammer blow to the Ulster side's hopes.

While Fermanagh reeled off an unanswered 0-4 (including Sean McNally's two-pointed free) to cut the deficit to two, Conor Doyle's two-pointer put the result beyond doubt.

Fermanagh travel to Longford for their second group game on 18 May while Antrim host Limerick on Saturday.

Donegal legend Michael Murphy itted he did not believe he would win another Ulster title with his county after returning to the this year.

Murphy played his part with a few scores as Donegal retained the Anglo-Celt Cup with a 2-23 to 0-28 victory against Armagh after extra time in Clones.

The 35-year-old has now won six provincial deciders with Donegal, but the thought of playing a part in a victory like this was a pipe dream a year ago after retiring in 2022.

He worked as a pundit for BBC Sport NI during last year's final which Donegal won on penalties, but was delighted to be able to contribute this year after returning to the fold.

"I didn't think it would happen again," he told BBC Sport NI.

"It happened last year; I was a Donegal man ing these boys last year and I was happy to watch them here last year.

"Today was a really tough game, nothing but respect for Armagh they are the All-Ireland champions and they're a good side, but credit to these young lads and their character, it's an hour to share a pitch and a dressing room with them again, I'm very blessed that they asked me back."

Image source, Getty Images

Murphy shared an emotional moment with his father on the pitch after the final whistle and said "bits of everything" were going through his mind as he fended off tears and exhaustion.

The forward also hopes that another Ulster victory can spur Donegal on for a big summer as they chase a first All-Ireland title since 2012.

They are in Group One for this year's round robin phase alongside Mayo, Tyrone and Cavan.

"It's a stepping stone, but we need to go again," added Murphy.

Meanwhile, Armagh keeper Ethan Rafferty described the county's third successive Ulster final defeat as "sickening".

"Even if you take the three in a row [defeats] out of it, we sort of kicked ourselves out of it for 10 minutes, both in the first half and second half," itted Rafferty.

"Look we'll go back and look at it and be as critical as we can. That's all we can do."

John Haughey
BBC Sport NI Journalist at Clones

Image source, Getty Images

Rian O'Neill has not been named in the Armagh squad for Saturday evening's Ulster Football Final against Donegal despite earlier speculation that he would be involved after arriving at Clones with the All-Ireland champions.

2024 All-Star O'Neill has not featured for the Orchard County this year and manager Kieran McGeeney said in mid March that he didn't expect the Crossmaglen man to play inter-county football in 2025.

A togged-out O'Neill was with the Armagh players when they walked on the Clones pitch during the half-time interval of the Ulster Ladies Final between Armagh and Donegal.

However, while two changes have been announced to the Armagh squad announced on Thursday night they did not involve the Crossmaglen star.

Skipper Aidan Forker has replaced Peter McGrane in defence with Tiernan Kelly taking over from Conor Turbitt in attack.

Donegal have also made two changes to the squad announced on Friday with Caolan McGonagle and Hugh McFadden replacing Stephen McMenamin and Conor O'Donnell.

Donegal: Shaun Patton; Finbarr Roarty, Brendan McCole, Peadar Mogan; Ryan McHugh, Caolan McGonagle, Ciaran Moore; Ciaran Thompson, Michael Langan; Daire O Baoill, Hugh McFadden, Shane O'Donnell; Patrick McBrearty, Michael Murphy, Oisin Gallen.

Subs: Gavin Mulreany, Mark Curran, Odhran McFadden Ferry, Odhran Doherty, Aaron Doherty, Eoin McHugh, Jason McGee, Jamie Brennan, Conor O'Donnell, Niall O'Donnell, Stephen McMenamin.

Armagh: Ethan Rafferty; Paddy Burns, Barry McCambridge, Aidan Forker (capt); Ross McQuillan, Greg McCabe, Jarly Og Burns; Callum O'Neill, Ben Crealey; Darragh McMullan, Rory Grugan, Oisin Conaty; Tiernan Kelly, Andrew Murnin, Oisin O'Neill.

Subs: Blaine Hughes, Peter McGrane, Tomas McCormack, Connaire Mackin, Jason Duffy, Niall Grimley, Shane Martlan, Cian McConville, Conor Turbitt, Stefan Campbell, Jemar Hall.