Tipperary GAA Scene
By Jonathan Cullen PRO
FBD County Hurling & Football Championship Draws
The draws for the 2024 FBD Insurance County Championships in both Hurling and Football, take place this Thursday evening and will be broadcast live on the Tipperary GAA Facebook page and YouTube channel.
Starting at 8.00pm, viewers will be able to see all the draws and hear the thoughts of the panel as the draws happen. The link to watch the draws has been sent to each club and is also available across all Tipperary GAA social platforms and on the Tipperary GAA website.
2024 FBD Insurance County Senior Football Championship
Following the withdrawal of Drom & Inch from the Senior Football Championship, a vote took place at Mondays County Board Meeting to decide a new format for running the 2024 championship.
The Ardfinnan motion which will see only Drom & Inch being relegated in 2024 was overwhelmingly passed by 32 votes to 16. This means that at the end of this year there will be 14 Senior Football teams in Tipperary which will allow for the continuation of the original championship structure and see the number of teams in the Senior grade reduced to 12 at the end of 2025.
Munster Under 20 Football & Hurling Championships
Our under 20 Footballers played Cork last Wednesday in Phase 2 Round 1 of the Munster Championship. Having come into the game undefeated, the challenge of Cork was always going to be a big step up. While Tipperary did play some very good football, in the end the visitors to Fethard Town Park proved to be a little too strong on this occasion, winning 0-14 to 0-7.
Tipperary play Clare in round 2 this evening (Wednesday) in Ardfinnan at 6.15pm and manager Niall Fitzgerald has named an unchanged from the starting fifteen but there are changes in t the subs with Charlie English and Niall O'Connor coming in to replace Daragh O'Connor and Cian Smith.
Tipperary team v Clare: Robbie McGrath (Galtee Rovers); Jack O’Neill (Ardfinnan), Eoin O’Connell (Loughmore/Castleiney), Mark Corcoran (Clonmel Commercials); Charlie King (Ballina, Capt), Sean O’Meara (Grangemockler/Ballyneale), Darragh O’Brien (Aherlow); Joe Higgins (Clonmel Commercials), Eoin Doocey (Arravale Rovers); Thomas Charles (Clonmel Commercials), Joseph Lawrence (Rockwell Rovers), Michael Freaney (Kilsheelan/Kilcash); Orrin Jones (Arravale Rovers), Conal Grogan (Galtee Rovers), Shane Ryan (Ardfinnan).
Subs: Shane Ryan (Clonmel Commercials), Killian Butler (Moyle Rovers), Ben Carey (Ballylooby/Castlegrace), Charlie English (Ballyporeen), Daithi Hogan (St Patrick’s), Niall O’Connor (Clonmel Og), Tommy O’Connor (Kilsheelan/Kilcash), Paddy O’Keeffe (Moyle Rovers), Daragh Spillane (Fethard).
On Friday evening, it was the turn of our Under 20 Hurlers to commence their 2024 Championship campaign when they travelled to Rathkeale to play Limerick.
Having named a relatively young side for the game, manager Brendan Cummins may have been hoping for an energetic and enthusiastic performance and to their credit the players delivered excellently to overcome Limerick 3-18 to 1-17.
While it is important that players and supporters alike keep their feet firmly on the ground, well in the knowledge that this win is only step 1 on a journey, it was a very good win and a good start to the championship and head to Dungarvan to play Waterford in their second game this Friday at 7.00pm.
Munster Minor Hurling & Football Championships
Both our Minor teams continued on winning ways last week with Round 2 victories in their respective games.
On Tuesday evening in Lemybrien, the footballers comprehensively defeated Waterford by 1-14 to 0-9, and last night played Clare in Quilty but no result at the time of going to press. However, both sides are already through to the Darrel Darcy Cup final.
Meanwhile on Thursday evening in Dungarvan the Minor Hurlers withstood a second half Waterford comeback to prevail 3-16 to 2-14 and now have a three week break before playing Clare on May 2nd in Thurles.
Munster Championship Tickets
Tickets for Tipperary’s forthcoming Munster Senior Hurling championship games are now on sale and can be purchased online from Ticketmaster.ie or in selected Centra and Supervalu stores. Juvenile Group orders can now be placed via https://munster.gaa.ie/tickets for Senior Hurling Championship Round Robin games in Thurles, Cork, and Limerick.
Tickets for all underage games can be purchased via the following link: https://www.universe.com/users/munster-gaa-TR8ZGN
Tipperary Camogie
Huge congratulations to the Tipperary Senior Camogie team and management on a fantastic victory over Galway in last Sundays National League Division 1A final in Croke Park on Sunday. This group of players have made huge progress in the recent past and this victory was very well deserved.
Handball
Tipperary Players returned to Croke Park last weekend to compete in six All-Ireland Handball Finals.
In the Junior Singles, Jerome Cahill (Lahorna) was up against Jack Doyle from Kilkenny. The first game was close with Cahill edging it 21/19. The overall fitness of the Tipp man told in the second game, and he went on to win 21/8 to take the All-Ireland title.
In the Junior ‘B’ Singles, Paddy Delaney (Cashel) defeated Michael Busher from Wexford 21/14 21/18.
David Moloney from Cashel captured the Golden Masters ‘A’ title by defeating Paul Graham from Antrim 21/1, 21/7.
In the Silver Masters ‘B’ Singles final, Christy McGrath (Carrick-on-Suir) defeated Joe Boyle from Antrim 21/11 & 21/4.
In the Intermediate Singles final, Rory Grace from Lahorna was beaten by Eoghan McGinnity from Monaghan 21/16, 21/13.
In the Emerald Masters ‘B’ Singles Final, Kevin Buckley from Cashel was beaten by Kevin Doyle from Wexford 21/7, 21/13.
With the 40x20 Championships now completed players are now moving to the big court (60x30) where the Championships will commence shortly. All entries for both Adult & Juvenile have passed the deadline and fixtures will be out to clubs shortly.
Munster Scór Sinsear
Congratulations to Noel Joyce (JK Brackens) who picked up another Munster title in Recitation on Saturday night in Newport, and will represent club, county and province in the All-Ireland Final on May 11th in the INEC, Killarney.
Noel will join the Moyne-Templetuohy Quiz team on their travels to the Kingdom as they finished third in the quiz.
Commiserations to our other acts who came so close including the Newcastle Figure & Set Dancers, Katie Shanahan (Solo Singing) from Borris-Ileigh, and the Novelty Act from JK Brackens and our Toomevara musicians we thank you for all your hard work and promotion of Scór.
Friends of Tipperary Football Golf Classic
The Friends of Tipperary Football will hold its annual Golf Classic in Tipperary Golf Club, Dundrum on Friday 3rd & Saturday 4th May.
The format is a champagne scramble and the cost for a team of 4 is €160. Tee-Box sponsorship is also available for €50 which includes the name of each sponsor on a sign at the tee box.
This is our main fundraiser of the year, and we are hoping that you will be in a position to either enter a team or sponsor a tee-box. All proceeds go towards the advancement of Football in Tipperary from underage up to the senior. Over the years, this classic has garnered a reputation as being one of the most enjoyable events on the golfing calendar.
To book a tee time, contact Martin Dwyer 0862549154, Alternatively, payment for teams or tee boxes can be made on the day by cheque, card, or cash.
Tipperary Association Dublin Awards
The Tipperary Association Dublin’s annual awards function will be held on Saturday, 27th April in the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel, Newlands Cross, Dublin at 1.30pm.
The Tipperary Person of the Year Award for 2023 will be presented to the well-known duo of John O’Brien and John McMahon, better known as The 2 Johnnies. Also, the Hall of Fame Award will be presented to singer/songwriter Brendan Graham. The day will begin with a performance by singer Paul Harrington. Tickets, €30 each and includes lunch, can be purchased by contacting Pat Ryan 0876376663 or proriain@gmail.com.
Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday to Nancy Ryan (nee Gleeson) Silvermines who will celebrate her 100th birthday on Sunday, April 28th next.
Nancy’s father was the late Martin Gleeson who played hurling with Silvermines and Tipperary in 1885 & 1886. Martin Gleeson played on the Silvermines team against Nenagh Mitchells in the very first hurling game in Tipperary played under the new rules of the GAA on March 25th, 1885, and was played in front of supporters estimated to be in excess of 2,000.
Canon Fogarty, in his book, Tipperary’s GAA Story, wrote: “The battle was grim, and the Mitchells were sore and sorry and sorry at the finish. Glory went to the Mines.” He was a member of the North Tipperary hurling team which played a team from South Galway in the Phoenix Park on Tuesday, February 16th, 1886, in what is recognised as the first inter-county hurling game played under the auspices of the GAA.
Tipperary scored the only goal in that game. The report in the Nenagh Guardian of February 17th, 1886, is quite clear that the goal was scored by Martin Gleeson so to Martin belongs the honour of scoring the first goal in an inter-county hurling game.
A Silver Cup was presented to the winning North Tipperary team and was immediately put up for competition and was open to all teams in Ireland. A hurling contest was then organised among the clubs of North Tipperary with the Silver Cup as the prize. The final was played on St Patrick’s Day 1887 and Silvermines defeated Holycross on a scoreline of 1-5 to nil to retain the Cup.
The Silver Cup is the oldest trophy to have been presented to a winning team for a GAA competition. Previously on loan to the Lar na Páirce Museum in Thurles, it is now on loan to the GAA Museum in Croke Park.
Tipperary GAA Scene
If there is anything you feel should feature in this column going forward, feel free to forward it to pro.tipperary@gaa.ie