On a cold and frosty morning, let’s take a look at some of the headlines making the rounds on KCLR and Scoreline.ie.
Throwing the eye over the world of Gaelic games, the Kilkenny football championships had their launch in UPMC Nowlan Park last evening as the first competitive club competition of the year gets underway in just over two weeks’ time. Defending county champions Mullinavat will begin their league campaign in Group B of the senior setup alongside Railyard, Clara and Muckalee.
This year’s senior championship gets underway on April 16th with the senior county final set for Sunday May 21st. All draw details for the senior, intermediate and junior competitions are heading for scoreline.ie this morning and are already available on KCLR socials.
Among those at the launch last night was Kilkenny GAA treasurer Barry Hickey who shared his thoughts on some of the difficulties in playing football in a hurling-heavy county while we also caught up with Mullinavat’s Shane Kelly, Danesfort’s Paul Murphy, Thomastown’s Rory Monks and Kilkenny junior county manager Christy Walsh.
One man who will be back in the the black and amber of Kilkenny this year will be Danesfort’s Paul Murphy. The Cats claimed the All-Ireland junior football title last year and the dual-star All-Ireland winner has been telling KCLR in recent days that he’ll be focused on both codes this year.
In other news, Carlow GAA have announced Myshall Camogie manager Brendan Hayden will guide the county’s under 20 hurlers this year. Tonight sees SETU Carlow in Purcell Cup camogie action as games resume after the winter break. They’ll host UCC’s seconds on the main campus pitch with throw-in set for 7pm.
The footballers return to Sigerson Cup action tomorrow night with the visit of MTU Kerry for a six o’clock throw-in.
Kilkenny ladies footballers begin their return to the national league stages this weekend with tickets now on sale for the visit of Limerick to the MW Hire Training Centre. That game throws in at 2pm on Sunday.
Full Time Returns
If you missed it last night, Full Time is back on the airwaves for 2023, last night with guest presenter and Camán Caint co-host Martin Quilty in the hot seat. Michael Walsh, Willie Quinlan, Tommy Murphy and our own Ken McGuire were on hand to recap the Walsh Cup and Kehoe Cup action of the weekend and more. Take a listen back below.
Thyestes entries rolling in
The excitement continues to build for Goffs Thyestes Day at Gowran Park on Thursday next.
Willie Mullins has eight wins in the feature race to his name and his eight entries include early top-weight and last year’s runner-up Franco De Port, Saturday’s Warwick runner-up Mr Incredible, Captain Kangaroo and Carefully Selected. Gordon Elliott has made 11 entries and his team are headed by 2021 Goffs Thyestes Chase scorer Coko Beach, this season’s Bar One Racing Porterstown Handicap Chase winner Punitive, Escaria Ten, Dunboyne and Pencilfulloflead.
We’ll be taking a big look at Thyestes Day on Scoreline this Friday night.
Back to basics for Liverpool?
On the soccer front this morning, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted his under-performing side will have to go back to basics in order to solve their current problems. The FA Cup holders go to Wolves for a third-round replay tonight, with the winners facing Brighton next. Liverpool are yet to win in 2023 and lost 3-0 to Brighton in the Premier League last weekend and were beaten 3-1 by Brentford the weekend previous.
Other replays this evening see Accrington Stanley face Boreham Wood while West Brom play host to National League side Chesterfield, Swansea take on Bristol City and Forest Green go up against Birmingham. Kolo Toure’s Wigan meet Luton.
All games are underway from 7.45pm.
Follow these stories and get more local updates on air across the day and if you missed our recap of the weekend’s action last night, take a listen back to Full Time here.
