Sport

April 2021

Rachael paves way for those who follow

Some sporting moments are forever etched in the memory, black and white or colour reels that will be played and replayed until the end of time.

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Classy Larkin is the purrfect match

The vacancy in the Wicklow management team left after the departure of Tom Mullally has been comprehensively filled with the news that former Kilkenny star Eoin Larkin will be joined Eamonn Scallan's backroom team.

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Counties that broke ban were 'selfish', says Burke

Wicklow Senior football manager Davy Burke has branded the actions of counties training before the permitted date of April 19 as 'selfish', while expressing his confidence that, now that inter-county matches are in line for a return from May 15, it will quell any other counties following suit.

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Calm before the storm as GAA action to resume

The hurlers will be the first Wicklow inter-county side in action when play resumes in early May with an expected May 8/9 start for the hurling leagues while it will likely be seven days later when Davy Burke's footballers face either Offaly, Tipperary or Limerick in the AFL Division 3 South.

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Gallery

Paul McNaughton's storybook career

As Stephen Jones was stepping up to swing his boot at a last second penalty on March 21, 2009, Paul McNaughton was stood in the stands in Cardiff, to the right of head coach Declan Kidney, unable to tear his anxiety-filled eyes away from the unfolding drama. Two minutes earlier, Ronan O'Gara was frantically wheeling away, having just put the ball between the posts with the most historic of potentially Grand Slam-winning drop-goals.

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Gallery

Three loyal servants retire

Following our reveal of Billy Cuddihy hanging up his inter-county boots for Wicklow last week, the GAA community in the county got two further seismic shocks when it was announced that two other Éire Óg stars were calling time on their long and memorable careers in the Garden County jersey.

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Gallery

Remembering a special time

In the week that Kevin O'Brien has been ratified as the Wicklow under-20 football manager for 2021, it might be an apt time to reflect on the last time a Garden County side contested the provincial championship final at this age group.

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Claire confident for future after first start

It may have ended in defeat, but Ireland's friendly against Belgium, on Sunday, represented a landmark day for several reasons. First of all, captain Katie McCabe won her 50th international cap, while there was a strong representation of the domestic, Women's National League on the panel, with five of those who currently ply their trade in Ireland, playing against the Belgians.

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Unbeaten but a win would be wonderful: Seagulls and UCD cancel each other out

An unbeaten start to the season would usually be welcomed with open arms but three draws from three is not the start Bray Wanderers were hoping for.

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Celebrating the hurling warriors of 1971

'Whatever we lacked in hurling ability, we made up for in heart and spirit, and the people around us were very good as well,' was how our phone call with the point-scoring, All-Ireland winning half-back of the Wicklow Junior hurling side of 1971, the 'stout-hearted' John Doyle, from Donard, ended on Monday morning last.

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Gallery

And here is your host... Jeremy Roberts

The Throwing Stones podcast may only be six episodes old, at time of writing, but host Jeremy Roberts has already been dubbed 'The Podfather' by Greystones RFC: the club around whose legends and revered characters - past and present - the pod is designed. Since hosting the very first instalment, released on February 25, he has spent a total of five hours and 15 minutes shooting the breeze with a variety of guests, ranging from Andy Kealy in that premiere episode, to Alex Naud in the most recent.

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When Blessington were the GAA kings

When Pat O'Toole hoisted the Miley Cup into the air in Aughrim in 1983 after Blessington had defeated Baltinglass in the county final few in the crowd would have imagined that that would be the last time to date that the club would win the premier title in Wicklow club football.

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From Kilmac to North Carolina: talented Sam on fire for the Tornados

A lot can change in eight short months. Back on August 9 of last year, I was at Ryder's Field, watching Glencormac United and St. Peter's share a nine-goal classic that ended with the latter taking the spoils with a 5-4 win that propelled them close to the league title. During the contest, a spirited Glens outfit were spurred on by brother Josh and Sam O'Callaghan.

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Making waves: Wicklow's Caoimhe goes from rowing novice to Cambridge star in seven years!

Wicklow native Caoimhe Dempsey made history last weekend when she was part of the Cambridge team that won the 2021 Gemini Boat Race on Sunday.

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Starting to shine! O'Connor beginning to really find his feet at Cliftonville

Daire O'Connor has had to be very patient since joining Cliftonville last October. For all of the talent that he possesses, the Arklow native has had to wait for a consistent run in the starting XI of the Belfast club.

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Massive test for Leinster

Co. Wicklow rugby players Josh van der Flier and Jack Conan will likely start this weekend's Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final clash with Exeter Chiefs following their superb showings against Munster in the PRO14 final two weeks ago.

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City to the 'four' in bid to make history

With the Premier League title long-since wrapped up for Manchester City, many will be wondering if the champions-elect can do the clean sweep and complete the elusive quadruple this season.

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Spoils shared after thriller in Tolka Park

If Bray Wanderers fans fell asleep during the stalemate with Treaty United, this match should have jolted them back to life.

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Gallery

Opportunity lost as Bray fail to finish

It is apparently not how you start but how you finish that matters. That perhaps is just as well as Bray Wanderers barely started on Sunday afternoon and they certainly could not finish.

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Man Mountain! Colin Byrne reflects on his time as king of the hill

The All-Ireland Poc Fada Championships have been a staple of the GAA calendar since its inception in 1960, when Fr. Paul McSean and Oliver Hodgers set out a 5.12km track from the Annaverna Mountains, to the Mills family fields in Aghameen. That same summer, a notice was put up in Cumann Ógra Naomh Moninne Fatima Dundalk inviting under-16 hurlers to run the course.

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Let's get Wicklow walking, let's get Wicklow talking!

'Just to help one other family or to prevent it from happening to one other family, that's why we're doing it,' said Orla Tyrrell from Ballymanus GAA Club who are hosting a fundraiser for the Talk to Tom charity in Gorey on May 1.

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Patryk has the ability to go a long way in the US

Former Arklow Town FC and Greystones AFC player Partryk Kibler is thriving in the college football scene in America at the moment and plans to enter the 2022 draft that could see him playing in the MLS.

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Class from Cassin: Stunning strike from Becky as Cork draw with Galway

Becky Cassin's reign as captain of Cork City FC has gotten off to an excellent start, as the 24-year-old Rathdrum native's late, long-range strike rescued a point for the Leesiders, who came from behind to draw 3-3 with Galway on the opening weekend of the Women's National League.

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The brilliant Blues: Conan and Van der Flier in superb form for Leinster

A dominant and ruthless display by Leinster that featured two Co. Wicklow men in top form proved too much for a rudderless Munster in the PRO14 final at the RDS last weekend.

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Gallery

A dream come true: Siobhan to compete at the highest level in Argentina

A Co. Wicklow woman is set to compete at the highest level of competition in ladies polo when she takes part in the Ladies Polo Open in Buenos Aires in Argentina later this year and she is seeking a sponsor to help make her sporting dream come true.

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A friend and a neighbour: tributes paid to late Rathnew AFC stalwart Tommy Merrigan

The small village of Rathnew was thrown into mourning on Thursday last (25th), with the news of the passing of Tommy Merrigan. A revered facet of the both the football and wider community, Tommy spent much of his life as part of Rathnew AFC.

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Reaction: 'It's a poor two points dropped'

He is in the business of winning - not of making excuses so Gary Cronin held his hands up on Sunday afternoon and admitted his side must do better in future.

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Bum note as Kenny meets his Waterloo

Like Ireland, Luxembourg have a proud history in the Eurovision Song Contest.

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March 2021

Ready and able! Start delayed but Cronin's Seagulls are rearing to go

At the end of the 2021 season, Gary Cronin's current contract as Bray Wanderers manager will expire. And the end of 2021 season is when Cronin will pause for thought about the situation as he has a First Division title to win first.

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Hungry for success

It has been three years since Wexford Youths last got their hands on the Women's National League title. In the time that has lapsed since that last coronation, in 2018, Peamount United have assumed control over the division by winning the last two titles and the most recent FAI Cup.