After a weekend of highs and lows for local teams on the sporting front, here’s a look at what’s making the headlines for Monday 28 November on KCLR and Scoreline.ie.
On the camogie front, James Stephens are this year’s Leinster camogie intermediate club champions following a 1-7 to 0-5 win over Carlow’s Myshall in Clane yesterday. Myshall were left to rue a missed penalty as James Stephens made opportunity over experience
Player of the match Emma Manogue says some changes at the club this year have really paid dividends. They’ll have next weekend off before their Club All-Ireland semi-final appearance on the 10th.
On camogie, congratulations to Kilkenny’s eight camogie All-Stars for this year. Having had 11 nominations going into Saturday night, goalkeeper Aoife Norris and half back Laura Murphy picked up their first awards, joined by Grace Walsh, Claire Phelan, Julieanne Malone, Denise Gaule, Katie Nolan and Miriam Walsh.
Brian Dowling will be back at the helm next year, adding the overall Manager of the Year award to his account for the second time in three seasons.
Shamrocks march on
On the hurling front, Ballyhale Shamrocks are on the hunt for a fourth straight Leinster club senior hurling title as they saw off Naas in Croke Park yesterday 3-22 to 1-16 including 1-6 from a returning TJ Reid.
First-half heroics from goalkeeper Dean Mason kept Ballyhale in touch, something manager Pat Hoban quickly acknowledged after the game. It won’t be a Carlow-Kilkenny affair though as St. Mullins were well beaten in the second game of the day by Dublin champions Kilmacud Crokes. St. Mullins were left to rue a missed penalty in the first half as the game closed out 1-24 to 1-12 in favour of Kilmacud.
After the game, manager Maurice Aylward suggested they only have themselves to blame – more on that one later.
Hat-trick delight
There was FAI Cup action over the weekend for three Kilkenny sides. Evergreen players may have had to fight over the match ball as Decky McQuillan & Mikey Drennan both grabbed hattricks after a 9-0 win over Grangedale in Cork.
Bridge United also advanced to the next round after beating Monread 3-2 in Kildare while Kilkenny Division 2 champions St. Canices bowed out after a loss to Castlebar.
At the World Cup, Germany remain in contention for a place in the knockout stages as they rescued a late draw against Spain in the last game of the day yesterday while Canada are out after a 4-1 defeat to Croatia.
There are four more Group games today. Cameroon and Serbia kick off at 10am in Group G, with the other match in that Group between Brazil and Switzerland kicking off at 4pm.
Neymar and Danilo will miss out for Brazil through injury. In Group H, South Korea meet Ghana at 1pm, and it’s Portugal up against Uruguay at 7pm.
It’s also being reported Lionel Messi could be close to becoming the highest-paid player in the history of the MLS – by joining Inter Miami. The Times reports the American club are close to agreeing a deal with the Argentina captain, who currently plays for Paris Saint-Germain.
