Let’s take a look at some of the stories making the headlines making KCLR and Scoreline.ie for your Tuesday morning.
Football returns in Kilkenny
Football season in Kilkenny begins this week with the first round of league games underway on Friday night with Danesfort hosting Erins Own at the first game of the night. While a ball is yet to be kicked, the league and championship have been helping to put the building block in place for the county’s adult team to return to the National Football League.
For Danesfort’s Paul Murphy, a four-time All-Ireland hurling winner with Kilkenny, and owner of an All-Ireland junior football medal with the county, it makes sense to be back playing football with Cats this year. We spoke to Paul recently about the league setup in the county and ambitions for the footballers. You can hear the full interview on the latest Scoreline Extra below.
Cuter tackles
Carlow senior footballer Eric Molloy has been telling KCLR that they’ll need to keep all their players on the pitch if they’re to live up to their ambitions in Division 4 of the National Football League. His quotes come in the wake of the latest sending-off for the county as they battled to a 2-10 draw against Wicklow in this past weekend’s Allianz Football League opener. Speaking to our Full Time show last night, analyst Willie Quinlan suggests Carlow will need to be cuter in the tackle to avoid sending offs.
You can hear Willie’s full take on the latest Full Time podcast out today.
Senior football saga, camogie registrations
The Kilmacud Crokes Glen senior football championship saga looks like it will near an end this afternoon.
It’s been reported that the CCCC met with both clubs last night and are due to issue a decision on the game’s outcome – whether to award the title to Glen, call a replay, or issue a fine to Kilmacud Crokes for having additional players on the pitch at a key moment contrary to the rules of the game.
Carlow Camogie are inviting parents of Under 14 players to register online for the county under 14 development squad for 2023. Players born in 2009 or 2010 are eligible to register with a deadline of Wednesday, 8 February.
You’ll find links on Scoreline.ie later this morning.
There are two games tonight for SETU Carlow this evening. At 5.30pm the university’s freshers footballers are away to Mary Immaculate College in the Freshers 3 Football Championship while their junior footballers will have home advantage for the visit of DCU Dóchas Éireann in the Higher Education Junior Football Championship. Throw-ins are at 5.30pm and 7pm respectively.
It’s also a busy week for local schools on the camogie front with Colaiste Abhainn Ri Callan heading for an All-Ireland senior C semi-final this weekend while Loreto Kilkenny take on Ursuline Thurles in the senior A semi-final. Home advantage is there for both teams with John Locke Park and Conahy Shamrocks GAA grounds set to host the games this Saturday.
Snooker Legends
James Stephens Jackie Tyrrell, Eoin Larkin and Niamh Deely’s snooker skills look set to be put to the test as The Village host A Night with Ken Doghery as key club fundraiser for the season ahead this coming Thursday night at Langtons.
There will be a number of exhibition games against local legends and no doubt a word or two from Doherty as well. Tickets are available from the club rooms at Larchfield with Thursday’s event underway at half past seven.
Soccer roundup
St. Mary’s Academy CBS in Carlow are top of the world this week, a 3-2 win over Tullow on Monday for their U15s earns them the Carlow/Kilkenny title and completes a treble of victories in the U19, U17 and U15 Competitions. They move on now to the Leinster Champions League.
Kilkenny & District Soccer League have opened expressions of interest for the role of manager for their women’s inter-league squad, a position that will involve selecting and managing a squad to represent Kilkenny & District League to take part in this year’s Angela Hearts inter-league cup.
With sponsorship from St. Canice’s Credit Union, women’s soccer returned to Kilkenny this season with eight teams from across Kilkenny and Carlow competing for the first time in a number of years.
West Ham are also through to the fifth round of the FA Cup. Their 2-0 win away to Derby last night setups up a date with manager David Moyes’ old haunting ground of Man United.
Fourth-round replays, including one for Kilkenny man Tom O’Connor’s Wrexham, are slated for Tuesday 7 February. Should they beat Sheffield United next week they’ll get a big-money payday against Spurs. Man City, now favourites for the trophy, are away to Bristol City in the next round with Leeds away to either Fulham or Sunderland.
It’s also transfer deadline day, still one of my favourite days in the soccer calendar. Chelsea look on course to smash a British transfer record with a €120m bid in place for Benfica’s Enzo Fernandez while Spurs are set to unveil Pedro Porro following a €45 move from Sporting in Portugal. Bournemouth are also splashing the cash in a bid to stay up this year while Leeds have landed Weston McKennie on loan until the end of the season.
Tonight sees Newcastle bring a 1-0 lead to St. James’ Park when Southampton head Tyneside. Kick-off in their League Cup semi-final second-leg clash is at 8pm.
RED MILLS Tickets
If you missed your chance to get your hands on tickets for RED MILLS Day at Gowran Park, fear not. The early allocation of free tickets were made available last Friday morning and were quick to sell out.
A small number of remaining tickets will be released this Friday morning at 9am but you have to register online at GowranPark.ie to make sure you get yours.
Get these stories and more across the day on our sports bulletins on KCLR, on air and via the KCLR app. Got a story to share? Email [email protected].
