CARA GAA ROUND - UP
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Cavan manager Tommy Carr
The Cavan manager Tommy Carr remains in a job despite delegates at last night's county board meeting requested more time to seek a mandate from their clubs on a proposed vote of no confidence.
At the meeting, chairman Philip Smith revealed to the floor that both he and secretary Liam McCabe had approached Carr last Friday and suggested he resign his position with immediate effect after the executive of the county board had taken a vote two days previous, which suggested the majority were in favour of a new senior team management.
However, Carr refused to step down and a secret ballot before last night's meeting in the Kilmore Hotel saw the same executive committee make a u-turn on their stance of five days previous, in favour of the current manager being allowed to carry on with the second year of his three-year term.
When put to the floor, there were a number of negative comments made by club delegates, and soon after a vote of no confidence in the team management was proposed and seconded.
However, other delegates were unwilling to put forth a show of hands to the executive on the matter until receiving a mandate from their respective clubs.
Now, and over the next seven days, clubs in Cavan will decide the future of the team management's position, as a decisive meeting will take place next Tuesday, August 4, where one representative from each of the 40 clubs in the county will be asked to vote 'for' or 'against' Carr and his management team continuing on in their tenure.
The Cavan manager Tommy Carr remains in a job despite delegates at last night's county board meeting requested more time to seek a mandate from their clubs on a proposed vote of no confidence.
At the meeting, chairman Philip Smith revealed to the floor that both he and secretary Liam McCabe had approached Carr last Friday and suggested he resign his position with immediate effect after the executive of the county board had taken a vote two days previous, which suggested the majority were in favour of a new senior team management.
SFC Qualifier: Second half break secures Longford win
Longford 0-13
Leitrim 0-10
Leitrim's dismal record in the All-Ireland qualifiers continued as Longford came away from Carrick-on-Shannon with victory on Saturday evening.
The Connacht side had never won a qualifier game in the seven years since the system's inception and that drought continued against their neighbours.
Both sides enjoyed periods of dominance in the opening 35 minutes, with each firing five unanswered points before they went in level at the break (0-7 to 0-7).
Longford were much better on the restart, however, with Ger Dennigan, Padraig Berry and Francis Magee all on target to open up a four-point lead (0-12 to 0-8).
Leitrim tried valiantly to close the deficit but the task proved beyond them and it's Longford who march on to Sunday's second round qualifier draw.
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Anthony Lynch was keeping his feet firmly on the ground after inspiring Cork to an impressive Munster SFC semi-final replay over Kerry at Pairc Ui Chaoimh.
The Naomh Aban clubman produced arguably the finest performance of his long Cork career when keeping Colm 'Gooch' Cooper scoreless from play as the Rebels made no mistake at the second time of asking.
"We had a good advantage at half-time," the man of the match said.
"It was very important to get the win, but it's only a Munster semi-final at the end of the day. But at least we're into the Munster final and that's something to look forward to."
Conor Counihan was also playing down the significance of the win which confirms Cork's status as All-Ireland contenders.
"The reality is that we let them back into a game we were dominating," the Rebels boss said.
"That was a feature with us before and something we had to address. We have a lot of work to do coming out of this game.
"We did that today but once again we are only in a Munster final and that is going to be a serious battle. The dominance of the 1970s, 80s and 90s with two and three teams is gone, it's so wide open now that it's going to be a serious challenge for us. Hopefully we can rise to that challenge."
Micko picks unchanged side
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Wicklow manager Mick O'Dwyer has kept faith with the team that beat Longford for Sunday's Leinster SFC quarter-final against Westmeath at Tullamore.
Wicklow defeated Glenn Ryan's Longford by two points in Portlaoise, and Micko has opted for the same starting XV for the Garden County's latest assignment in the midlands.
International Rules star Leighton Glynn will captain the side from centre half forward, while Wicklow fans will be looking to the highly-rated midfield pairing of Thomas Walsh and James Stafford to inspire a shock win over Tomas O Flatharta's side.
NFL: Kerry collect 20th league crown
Kerry 1-15
Derry 0-15
Kerry gained sweet revenge for last year's loss to Derry with a well-earned three-point defeat of the same opposition this evening at Croke Park in the National Football League Division One final.
Donnacha Walsh's tenth minute goal proved the ultimate difference here, but a masterclass from the one and only Colm Cooper was Derry's undoing on the day as he and Tommy Walsh ravaged through the Ulster men's rear guard to help their county to a 20th NFL crown in its history.
Young defender Christy McKaigue doubled the advantage for Derry two minutes later, but by the tenth minute disaster had struck for the Oak Leafers when Micheal Quirke fetched a high ball along the edge of the square and dished off to Donnacha Walsh, coming flying through the centre, who blasted to the net.
Tomas O Se split the points of the Eoin and Paddy Bradley to keep things even until Kerry moved ahead again as Colm Cooper introduced himself to a game with a fantastic point from 45 metres off his weaker (if indeed the Dr Crokes attacker has one) left boot. Declan O'Sullivan clipped the inside of the upright to put the Kingdom two ahead, but the frees of Mark Lynch and Eoin Bradley levelled things up again.
Kerry were sticking to the game plan of dropping high balls in on their full-forward, and it was coming off without a hitch as Tommy Walsh broke possession down to Cooper for his second before 'the twin towers' combined when Kieran Donaghy sent in a sublime pass from midfield to Walsh, who brushed off the attentions of Kevin McCloy and shot over.
James Kielt, who replaced the hurt Paddy Bradley 23 minutes in, slotted over a left-footed free, backed up by centre-forward Paul Murphy shooting a classy point from the right side, which squared the sides for the fourth time in the half.
Cooper (free) and Walsh each extended their respective tallies towards the end of the half, but a Fergal Doherty pass which made its way to Eoin Bradley for a point made sure Derry only trailed by one at half-time.
To no surprise, Damien Cassidy re-introduced Paddy Bradley to the game three minutes into the restart, while Jack O'Connor looked to counter the move by sending on Kingdom hero Dara O Se shortly before Cooper opened the second-half's scoring with a free won by Tommy Walsh on the edge of the square.
Proving a thorn in Derry's side the entire evening, Cooper carved out a wonder pass for Tomas O Se down the right side that provided the defender with the simplest of tasks for his second point.
Derry aimed for Bradley at full-forward, which saw possession break nicely for Enda Lynn to point and when Mark Lynch shot over an effort from 40 metres the difference was back to one.
Cooper and substitute Brian Sheehan each swapped frees with the accurate Lynch, who kept the difference down to the bare minimum before the game's aristocrats pushed down on the throttle just hard enough to see out the win.
Another impact sub for Kerry, in the form of Tadgh Kennelly, won an easy free off McKaigue in front of goal for Sheehan to dart over from the floor and the former AFL star combined with Dara O Se moments later to set up Aidan O'Mahony for the defender's point of this decider.
Although they were only in need of a score to tie it up again, Derry were showing signs of a let up to try and retain their title at this stage, even when substitute Seamus Bradley struck over a point on the left side.
Swatting at his every attempt, Derry's defence couldn't contain Cooper, and sub Seamus McBride would have his evening cut short as a result when he dragged down the corner-forward before Sheehan sailed the resultant free.
'The Gooch' could well have had the final say a minute from time when Sean O'Sullivan used some good approach play from the left side only to see his fisted attempt of a point come off the far post and land to Cooper, who had only Barry Ellis to beat, but he calmly stroked over his sixth point of the day, pulling Kerry four clear heading towards injury-time, where only an Eoin Bradley point in the last minute was conceded at the other end.
Kerry - D Murphy; P Reidy, T O'Sullivan, K Young; T O Se (0-2), A O'Mahony (0-1), T Griffin; A Maher, M Quirke; D Walsh (1-0), Declan O'Sullivan (0-1), Darran O'Sullivan; C Cooper (0-6), K Donaghy, T Walsh (0-2). Subs: D O Se, T Kennelly, B Sheehan (0-3), D Moran, D O'Sullivan, D Bohane, S O'Sullivan, A O'Shea.
Derry - B Gillis; K McGuckin, K McCloy, G O'Kane; P Cartin, B McGoldrick, S L McGoldrick; F Doherty, J Diver; E Lynn (0-1), P Murphy (0-1), C McKaigue (0-1); E Bradley (0-5), P Bradley (0-1), M Lynch (0-4). Subs: J Kielt (0-1), P Bradley, D McBride, S Bradley (0-1), R Dillon.
Ref: Marty Duffy (Sligo)
Clare manager Mike McNamara was ruing his side’s lack of cutting edge after their comprehensive NHL defeat to Tipperary.
"We were way off in terms of aggression levels," he admitted.
"That was a big worry. The lack of scores, the silly points given away from frees - when you take all that into account, Tipp weren’t that far ahead of us, we’re not that far away though.
"You come to Thurles on a big day and you’re a couple of percentage points down - look at what happened to Anglo Irish Bank when they were a couple of percentage points down!"
The Scariff man dismissed the notion that heavy training was affecting Clare’s on-field performances.
"Heavy training? Wasn’t that the excuse we used last week? Individually, we’re playing well but as a team we’re not. I’m not looking for excuses. I’m looking for areas we can work on."
Clare manager Mike McNamara was ruing his side’s lack of cutting edge after their comprehensive NHL defeat to Tipperary.
"We were way off in terms of aggression levels," he admitted.
"That was a big worry. The lack of scores, the silly points given away from frees - when you take all that into account, Tipp weren’t that far ahead of us, we’re not that far away though.
The Scariff man dismissed the notion that heavy training was affecting Clare’s on-field performances.
"Heavy training? Wasn’t that the excuse we used last week? Individually, we’re playing well but as a team we’re not. I’m not looking for excuses. I’m looking for areas we can work on."