Leinster
Round 1
Carlow v Laois
Quarter Finals
Dublin v Carlow/Laois
Wexford v Galway
Antrim v Offaly
Semi Finals
Dublin/Carlow/Laois v Kilkenny
Wexford/Galway v Antrim/Offaly

Kilkenny - 6, Tipperary - 4, Galway - 2, Waterford - 2, Dublin -1

Dublin’s first All-Star since 1990.

If Tipp and Kilkenny can manage another 6 goals between them in the final we’ll hit magical 100 mark which is a hell of a lot of goals for one hurling campaign and a nice lump of cash from Guinness.

Given the free scoring nature of Henry, Eddie, Lar, Eoin & co. there’s no reason why they can’t crack the 100.

Tipperary seem to have raised their tempo to Kilkenny’s standard and they should be the hungrier team but whether that’ll be enough is hard to say.

Could be a bit of a shootout. If Tipp can win the goals battle they might have a chance.

The ref will be important in how he handles the crowding defence but more than likely it’ll be another weak refereeing performance where he’ll get overly obsessed with the hurl around the neck and ignore all the pulls, pushes and trips that are now common place.

In the betting Kilkenny are obviously the favourites.
Paddy Power have them at 4/9 with Tipp at 9/4 and the draw 10/1.
Cashmans are even more convinced of the cats, as they’re at 1/4, Tipp at 10/3 and the draw at 14/1.

Shefflin was majestic, constantly finding space, causing havoc in the
full back line and being radar like with his shooting. 1-14 is a
phenomenal achievement, especially with 1-6 of that from play.
Kilkenny’s incredible scoring is the main reason teams just can’t cope
with them. Their huge work rate and hounding of the opposition is one
thing but when you can consistenly pick off points from any area of
the field, from any distance under immense pressure it’s always going
to be hard for the other team to live with you. You’re almost shocked
when you see them hit a wide.

That Waterford performed as well as they did without Ken McGrath and
with John Mullane having a rare off day is a tribute to the work Davy
has done with them and a sign that perhaps they do have some good
talent coming through to continue on the battle when some of the
current veterans hang up the boots.

Another mixed bag of refereeing from Barry Kelly. He was dishing out
yellow cards to beat the band at one stage and then he’d still let
guys pull & drag each other to their hearts content. The ref’s seem to
be obsessed with one thing, which this year is the hurl around the
neck, and then miss all the usual fouls.

Snippets from the press release:

To celebrate this incredible year, Guinness has teamed up with the GAA and The Last Word on Today FM to offer 250 lucky hurling fans the chance to win an extraordinary prize for the GAA Hurling All Ireland Senior Final on Sunday 6th September.

In what can only be described as a truly unique giveaway, 250 fans, 125 from each county playing in the final, will be special guests of Guinness on All Ireland Hurling Sunday. There will be 25 winners from each county, and each winner will be invited to bring four friends along to the hurling final, making it a grand total of five tickets per winner!

To enter, fans simply need to prove how much they know about their county hurling team!

Throw-in for this unique prize will be at 6pm on Friday 7th August on The Last Word on Sport on Today FM so be sure to tune in for that. For now, all competition details are available on the dedicated Guinness Hurling website, www.guinness.com and on www.todayfm.com

On the big day, each winner will make their own way to the Guinness Storehouse to prepare for the match build up. Here they will watch exclusive footage of their team’s path to the final, whilst enjoying some pre-match hospitality. Everyone will be transported from the Storehouse to Croke Park, to arrive for the start of the minor match, in sufficient time to savour the occasion that is GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Final day

Carlow?s Lyndsey Condell is back to defend her ?M Donnelly All Ireland
Camogie Poc Fada. In that contest she will face her sister Tracy
Condell who is representing Lenister and also ?Galways Catriona Daly,
Patrica Jackman of Waterford, Voureen Quigley of Louth, and ?Laura Mc
Guinness of Armagh . The camogie contest is pencilled in to start at
12.30pm.

The under 16 Poc Fada sees Noel Fallon from Roscommon, Liam O Dea from
Limerick, Nathan Green from Armagh and Ronan Geoghegan from Louth
competing for the title.

World Boxing Champion Bernard Dunne a regular visitor to the Poc Fada
which takes place on Annaverna Mountain near Ravensdale County Louth,
is also expected to attend the contest and cross the mountain with the
hurlers.

Chairperson of the national Coiste of An Poc Fada, Donie Nealon said
that a great days completion was expected. ?This is a very unique
sporting event. We can expect a close contest? said the former
Tipperary star hurler and Munster Council secretary. Chairperson of
the local organising committee Paddy mc Mahon remined all those
attending. ?This is a demanding 5km course and I would advise all
whether spectators or those coming to help to come prepared for just
that. I would ask that anyone taking a vehicle drives carefully and
perhaps parks their cars in the field at the bottom of mountain?. He
also appealed to local GAA Hurling, Camogie and Football Clubs to come
along and assist at the event to.

For Further Information contact
Pat Hamilton (Louth) 00353429323903 / 0862373345
Pat Mc Ginn (Armagh) 02830839588 / 07545558141

An Poc Fada Craobh na h?ireann
M Donnelly All Ireland Poc Fada Final Annaverna Mountain, Ravensdale
Cooley County Louth
Saturday 1st August 2009
Commencing 12.30pm

M DONNELLY ALL IRELAND POC FADA HURLERS 2009

1 - Kerrill Wade :The Connacht Poc Fada Champion ?is a member of the
Sarsfields Club in Galway and visits the mountain for the first time.
No doubt Kerrill hopes to ensure that his first vist will be a
victorious one. Will poc off first in this year?s event.

2 - Gerry Fallon: Runner up in the Connacht Poc Fada Final, Gerry who
plays his hurling with Roscommon Club Oran also visits the moutain for
the first time and is expected to go well. Goes out tenth in the field

3 - Shane O Connor: The Leinster Poc Fada Champion from Offaly and is
a member of the Coolderry Club makes his third appearance on the
mountain. His experience of the course will no doubt be of great
benefit. Will be fifth out

4 - Fintan O Brien: The Lenister Poc Fada runner up appears on the
mountain for the first time and Fintan who plays with Dublin Club
Cuala faces the 5km course with high hopes. Pocs off second in field

5 - Brendan Mc Namara: The Scariff hurler from County Clare returns to
the mountain as Munster Poc Fada Champion and would be expected to be
challenging for the all Ireland title. Will go out ninth in field

6 - Albert Shanahan: The Limerick hurler, a member of the South
Liberties club won the All Ireland Poc Fada title in 2001 and 2005.
Albert has a good insight into the tough mountain course and should
use this to his advantage. Albert will be fourth in the line out.

7 - Ruairi Convery: The Ulster Poc Fada Champion who is a member of
the Swatragh Club in Derry returns to the moutain after finishing a
close second last year. Ruairi is hopeful that he can go one better
this year. Will poc off third in the lineout.

8 - Carl Keating: The Portaferry hurler from County Down competes in
his first Poc Fada and the Ulster Poc Fada runner up hopes to give a
good account of himself over the 5km mountain course. Goes out sixth
in this years field.

9- Brendan Cummins ;The Tipperary hurler who plays with the
Ballybacon-Grange Club hopes to complete four in a row Poc Fada titles
having held the mantle since 2006. He won his first All Ireland Poc
Fada title in 2004 and holds the course record with 48 pocs. As
Champion, Brendan pocs of last.

10 - James McGarry : The highly accomplished and respected Kilkenny
hurler who plays with his local club Bennettsbridge takes on the
mountain for the first time. James will no doubt be determined to make
a strong showing. James will be seventh in the lineout

11- Damien Fitzhenry: The Wexford and Duffry Rovers hurler makes a
welcome return to the moutain and he is expected to make a strong bid
to capture the All Ireland Poc Fada title. Damien goes out eighth.

12 ? James Skehill:The Cappataggle Clubman came to prominence with the
Galway side and makes a welcome return to the Annaverna moutain. He is
expected to make a strong showing. James will line out eleventh in
this years Poc Fada.

The M Donnelly All Ireland Comorotas Beirte 2009
All Ireland Poc Fada Pairs

(A) ? ? Damien Fitzhenry and Fintan O Brien
(B) ? ? Brendan Cummins and Gerry Fallon
(C) ? ? Carl Keating and kerril Wade
(D) ? ? Albert Shanahan and James Mc Garry
(E) ? ? Ruairi Convery and Brendan Mc Namara
(F) ? ? Shane O Connor and James Skehill

M Donnelly All Ireland Camogie Poc Fada 2009

1 - Laura mc Guinness (Madden) Armagh
2- Voureen Quigley(Kilkerly) Louth
3 - Lyndsey Condell (Naomh Br?d)Carlow (2008 Champion)
4 - Catriona Daly (Mullagh) Galway
5 - Patricia Jackman (Gaultier) Waterford
6 ? Tracy Condell (Naomh Br?d) Carlow

M Donnelly Under 16 All Ireland Poc Fada

1 - Noel Fallon (Four Roads) Roscommon
2- Ronan Geoghegan (Naomh Moninne ) Louth
3 - Liam O Dea (Pallisgreen) Limerick
4 - Nathan Greene (Keady) Armagh

Carlow deserve a chance in the top grade having won the Christ Ring cup two years running. Antrim, Offaly, Clare and Wexford all need to stay up, where’s the sense in relegating one of them. Are we trying to promote the game and spread it to as many counties as possible or what?

Wake up someone in Croke Park and sort it out.

Kilkenny and Galway served up a great game. Galway should be happy enough, even though they lost they showed they could mix it with Kilkenny, they can have a physical edge to their game, and they should be able to negotiate their way through the qualifiers. Only issue I’d have with this game is that it was too physical almost, the game seems to be going that way. There are countless blatant fouls like trips, pushes and jersey pulls being let go because the ref wants some flow to the game. And no doubt plenty of people are wondering what a Kilkenny player has to do to get sent off! As one caller to a radio show suggested, they might have to behead someone first!

Waterford and Limerick got back to good hurling after the previous week’s mess although that won’t be much consolation to Limerick. John Mullane looks like he’s on for another great year.

Tipperary are an enigma at times. They should have been out of sight mid way though the game instead it came down to the wire. That was a brilliant attempt by Colin Ryan with the long range free at the end for Clare. Looked like it was headed for the top corner until Cummins made another top drawer diving save.

The qualifier structure this year is bizaare. The beaten semi finalist have to play each other before the winners play first round losers. There’s no logic to it. Anyway the draw is (with homefield advantage to the first named):
Phase 1:
Offaly v Cork and Laois v Antrim
Phase 2:
Clare v Galway and Wexford v Limerick.