Congress with a difference set for coming weekend
Last year’s First Division champs win with own goal
THE PROPOSED new penalties for cynical fouling in hurling and football could conceivably get their first airing in this year’s championship without a trial beforehand. The GAA are also likely to make a decision on the proposed new championship format at a Special Congress later this year, even if the event cannot be held in person.
The Association’s annual Congress will take place this weekend, but plans are in place for a second gathering later in the year.
While the delegates will have 47 motions to consider in total, ten of them will not be discussed at all next weekend. They have been deferred to the Special Congress, a date for which has not yet been set. The GAA are aiming for it to take place in the autumn, with the intention of implementing any decisions made in time for the 2022 season.
The annual Congress next weekend is set to debate and vote on proposed rule changes, one of which would see any player guilty of a ‘cynical’ foul inside the 20-metre line or ‘D’ sin-binned for ten minutes, while a penalty would be awarded to the attacking team.
While the GAA are still hoping that the new rules would first come into effect in the truncated Allianz National League, it depends on whether there is time in the calendar to play them.
Games will not return without some form of lead-in time, with the likelihood that inter-county teams will be given a month to prepare.
Another factor to be taken into account is that there may not be any return to squad training until after Easter at the earliest, unless the elite status is restored to inter-county activity.
If the motion is passed, the new rules would be introduced on a trial basis in this year’s championship, unless space is found for a reduced league campaign.
Also at Congress, a vote will be held on whether to ban the maor fóirne from entering the playing area at any time.
This role has caused growing controversy in recent years, particularly since the infamous Greg Kennedy incident, when the Dublin hurling coach was banned for four weeks after he caught the ball in open play while on the playing pitch.
Many other incidents have also drawn the attention of Croke Park and these will help contribute to what should be a lively debate.
Team managers are insistent that it would be impossible to relay a message to a player on the pitch without the assistance of the maor fóirne.
The proposal could mean only a doctor or medical professional would be allowed on to the pitch at the referee’s discretion.
A motion is also being put forward that would write into rule end dates for the All-Ireland post-primary school competitions, as well as the Sigerson and Fitzgibbon Cups for third level institutions.
There also appears to be a wish to tidy up the manner in which the presentation of trophies is made. This would outlaw the practice of joint captains, with teams set to be able to nominate just one person to lift any silverware.
The nuts and bolts of how the online Congress will work are still being put together. Ordinarily in recent years, members have done their voting in Croke Park’s conference centre by way of an electronic voting pad distributed to each candidate.
The GAA are now finalising how remote voting on the online call will work, but they have examined various systems. It is a matter now of making the final decision.
The final number of participants will also be confirmed. With around 300 people usually involved in a traditional Congress, it’s felt that it may not be feasible to retain those numbers.
It is likely that the counties, who are mandated by clubs on how to vote on particular motions, will work off reduced voting numbers.
One of the largest voting blocs comes from the overseas units, but one of the motions next weekend is set to reduce their voting numbers if passed.
Finally, congratulations to the Mahoney family on winning Ireland’s Fittest Family, and congratulations also to the Cullen family on a marvellous showing right through the competition.
Sunday evening’s show made for riveting viewing. And what a celebration dance from our very own Davy Fitzgerald. He eventually got over the line.
Hopefully it was the start of what will be a successful year for the Model county.
DROGHEDA UNITED WEXFORD FC
A GUTSY Wexford FC made a wasteful Drogheda United, last year’s First Division champions, work hard to eke out the narrowest of victories in their first pre-season encounter in United Park on Sunday.
Several new faces were on board, including a further two acquisitions during the week in the form of goalkeeper Jimmy Corcoran and defender Daniel Dobbin, who had the misfortune to concede the game’s decisive own goal.
Corcoran – who manned the posts in the second-half – has represented Ireland at under-age level and had a stint as Dundalk’s reserve ’keeper last year following a period cross-channel with Preston North End.
Meanwhile, defender Dobbin arrives from St. Patrick’s Athletic, having captained the Dubliners to the national Under-19 league title last season.
Charlie Smith, who re-signed during the week, also featured on Sunday, while supporters will be looking forward to seeing how winger Paul Fox fares in future games after he joined the club following five years with Cabinteely.
Fox was among those unavailable for Sunday’s encounter, along with Dan Tobin, Karl Fitzsimons, Paul Cleary, Kieran Murphy and Jack Doherty.
As well as Corcoran and Dobbin, new arrivals Cameron Power, Jack Connolly, Success Edogun and Ayman Yousif all featured in the action, along with three trialists.
One of the most pleasing aspects was the involvement of Evan Farrell from Piercestown, making his first team debut after progressing up through the ranks from Under-11 with the club. He is still eligible for two more campaigns with the Under-19 squad.
In their first game since being crowned First Division champions last October, there were understandable signs of rustiness from Tim Clancy’s Drogheda United, but they still have more than three weeks to sharpen up before hosting Waterford in their league opener.
The same applies to Wexford ahead of their opener at home to
Cabinteely in Ferrycarrig Park on March 26. And they also learned during the week that their first away tie, one week later, will be in Limerick after Treaty United were granted a licence and now become the tenth team in the First Division.
A clean sheet will be regarded as a positive for the Drogs after they lost all six of their pre-season games last year, although victory was only secured late in the game thanks to a bizarre own goal scored by the unfortunate Daniel Dobbin.
With their most experienced signings Gary Deegan and Dane Massey both left out as a precaution owing to slight injuries, Drogheda’s starting XI had a familiar look, with ’keeper Colin
McCabe the only newcomer as eight of last year’s regulars lined out along with Under-19s Killian Phillips and Mohammad Boudiaf.
Wexford also had a fair sprinkling of their 2020 squad on show, and it was Karl Manahan who was first to threaten with a sixth-minute shot that was blocked by a Drogheda defender.
That half-chance apart, it was the home side who looked the more dangerous for most of the first period, and Chris Lyons, Jake Hyland and Brandon Bermingham all narrowly missed the target with 18-yard efforts around the 20-minute mark.
Then Conor Kane lent support to the attack, controlled a long ball from the back and cut inside before forcing a save from Wexford
’keeper Tom Murphy low to his right.
Moments later Murphy batted away a powerful Mark Doyle effort and the rebound fell to Luke Heeney who blazed over the bar.
This was Drogheda’s best spell of the game and a dangerous counter-attack was snuffed out when Murphy showed brilliant awareness to advance outside his area and intercept Bermingham’s pass to Doyle with a well-timed headed clearance.
Either side of that incident, Wexford twice survived decent shouts for a penalty kick as Drogheda’s impressive young right-back Boudiaf seemed to be upended by Cameron Power before being pushed over by Charlie Smith in almost exactly the same spot close to the byline.
Yet Wexford almost snatched what would have been a shock lead on 41 minutes as their big centre-forward Success Edogun - a former under-age international in sevens rugby - saw his powerful angled drive superbly parried by Drogs ’ keeper Colin McCabe, diving low to his right.
Drogheda made seven changes at the break, to Wexford’s two, and yet it was the visitors who struggled to adapt in the early stages of the second-half.
Jordan Adeyemo side-footed narrowly wide from a Ryan O’Shea cross seconds after their introduction and another of the substitutes, Dinny Corcoran, completely miskicked in front of goal as he tried to take advantage of hesitation in the Wexford defence.
Corcoran, making his first Drogheda appearance in a decade after signing from Bohemians, seized on another mistake and rounded his namesake in the Wexford goal, Jimmy Corcoran, who had come on for Murphy.
However, the ball rolled over the endline just as the striker hooked it across for Darragh Markey to tap into an empty net and Wexford were awarded a goal kick.
Bermingham and Corcoran both tested the visitors’ ’ keeper from distance, and in between Adeyemo made a brilliant individual run into the box, only to lose his balance and blaze high over the bar.
Two of Drogheda’s new signings combined for their next chance as Markey’s corner was met by the head of Daniel O’Reilly whose effort grazed the post.
Then Markey rolled a quick free-kick to James Brown and the right-back, wearing the captain’s armband for the second-half, cut in from the flank and flashed a shot off the upright.
Wexford’s only shot of the entire second period came in the 73rd minute, but it nearly produced a goal as Daniel Dobbin’s powerful effort towards the top corner of the net was spectacularly palmed around the post by Drogheda’s second-half ’ keeper David Odumosu.
The longer the game went on the more likely a 0-0 stalemate looked, but disaster struck for Wexford on 82 minutes when newcomers Dobbin and Corcoran got their wires crossed and the defender’s attempted back-pass rolled past the stranded ’keeper and into the empty net for an own goal.
Ironically, Drogheda had just been reduced to ten men, with Bermingham going off with a quad complaint after all their substitutes had been used.
It was desperately hard luck on Wexford, who played tidy football throughout and clearly wanted to begin their season with a big scalp, but if they can produce performances like that in the league then they should prove far more competitive in the First Division this season.
In skipper Conor Crowley they had one of the better players on the park. Drogheda native James Carroll anchored their defence well, and Murphy was unflappable between the sticks.
Edogun is something of a raw talent in the role of centre-forward, but his physicality alone should give opposition teams a few headaches when the First Division season kicks off in four weeks’ time.
As for Drogheda, they’ll be happy that Wexford gave them such a competitive fixture and it should stand to them as they prepare for this week’s second friendly against one of the First Division title favourites, Shelbourne.
Wexford will be back in action this Friday with another tough test against Premier outfit St. Patrick’s Athletic in Dublin at 7.45 p.m. They will also travel to the RSC to take on Waterford at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 13.
Wexford FC: Tom Murphy; Trialist 1, James Carroll, Kevin McEvoy, Cameron Power; Conor Crowley, Karl Manahan, Jack Connolly, Charlie Smith; Success Edogun, Jack Larkin. Subs. - Jimmy Corcoran for Murphy (46), Daniel Dobbin for Trialist 1 (46), Evan Farrell for Manahan (61), Ayman Yousif for Smith (61), Trialist 2 for Larkin (61), Trialist 3 for Edogun (61).
Drogheda United: Colin McCabe; Mohammad Boudiaf, Hugh Douglas, Jack Tuite, Conor Kane; Killian Phillips, Jake Hyland, James Clarke; Brandon Bermingham, Chris Lyons, Mark Doyle. Subs. - Luke Heeney for Clarke (19), David Odumosu for McCabe (46), James Brown for Boudiaf (46), Sam O’Brien for Douglas (46), Daniel O’Reilly for Tuite (46), Ryan O’Shea for Kane (46), Darragh Markey for Hyland (46), Dinny Corcoran for Lyons (46), Jordan Adeyemo for Doyle (46).
PAT DOBBS from Enniscorthy returned after eleven days on the sidelines to pull off a sparkling Group 3 double from his four rides as the Meydan Carnival continued in Dubai on Thursday, with each race worth more than €100,000, leaving some of the world’s top riders in his wake.
He was expected to land the UAE Oaks on the Doug Watson-trained Mnasek, the 6/5 favourite, and he obliged in impressive style by six and a half lengths, with Frankie Dettori further back in third on Saeed Bin Suroor’s Last Sunset (11/8).
The Enniscorthy man pulled off a real shock in the concluding six-furlong sprint on Watson’s 25/1 shot, Al Tariq. In a perfectly-timed run, he took it up with 50 yards to go and had half a length to spare over Mikael Barzalona on Important Mission (4/1), with William Buick another three lengths back in third on hot favourite Gladiator King (4/9).
He kept up the good work on Friday with another double for Watson at the lower profile meeting at Jebel Ali on a pair of favourites, Pharoah King (5/2) in a one-mile two-furlong handicap, and Uncle Hamed (7/4) over seven furlongs, taking it up in the final one hundred yards.
At Ascot on Saturday, Daryl Jacob had one of those unfortunate days that sometimes happen in racing when he lost a horse he has been closely associated with for quite a few years.
Mid-race he had to pull up L’ami Serge and it was immediately obvious the horse had broken a leg. There was no option but to put down the popular eleven-year-old.
It was a big blow for Jacob personally and for trainer Nicky Henderson and owners Simon Munir and Isaac Souede for whom Jacob is the retained rider. He first won on the horse in January 2016 and had ridden him 18 times since then with three more wins, including the French Champion Hurdle in 2017 and the Grade 1 Aintree Hurdle at the 2018 Grand National meeting when he outgunned Jessica Harrington’s Supasundae.
L’ami Serge rarely ran a poor race and he was a battling second on eight occasions, capturing the public imagination over his seven years and 25 runs in Britain.
He had only five runs since that big Aintree success and did not have quite the same sparkle but amassed career earnings of more than £660,000. Many tributes were paid to L’ami Serge and it was a sad way for his career to end.
Racing can be a tough game at times and Jacob had to fulfil a booking in the very next race, the Grade 1 £100k Betfair Chase, on Master Tommytucker (7/2) for Paul Nicholls. It is a tribute to his professionalism that he gave the horse a terrific ride but had to accept second behind Dashel Drasher (4/1).
There was an unusually strong Sunday card at Newbury, and Jacob and his owners got some quick compensation with a great win in the £45k Grade 2 Game Spirit Chase when he guided Sceau Royal (3/1) to victory over Champ (5/1), who was having his first outing since his last-gasp
RSA Chase win at the Cheltenham Festival last March.
It was a nicely-judged ride by Jacob to take it up two out, and he won snugly by two lengths. Nicky Henderson was delighted with Champ’s run over an inadequate two miles and he will be aimed at the Cheltenham Gold Cup next month.
On the flat in Britain, P.J. McDonald
has been having a quiet time but got back to the winners’ enclosure at Newcastle on Saturday evening aboard The Brora Pobbles (11/2) for Andrew Whilans.
On the home front, the weather was the real winner with meetings at Clonmel, Limerick and Gowran all being lost.
Thurles did go ahead in tough conditions on Monday and there was little Wexford success. The best effort was second for Paul Nolan’s Mercury Lane (9/2) under Bryan Cooper, overhauled by Keith Donoghue on Gordon Elliott’s Dunboyne (3/1).
The best was kept until last and Seán Flanagan delivered a great ride at Navan on Sunday to take the €35k Grade 2 Boyne Hurdle on Noel Meade’s well-backed Beacon Edge (8/1 in the morning to start at 15/8).
He stalked Jack Kennedy on Gordon Elliott’s favourite, Fury Road (11/8), laid down a strong challenge on the run-in and got up by a neck in a thriller.
It was a great way for Flanagan to end a win-less lean spell going back 30 rides to Punchestown on January 18.
Jamie Codd won yet another bumper for Gordon Elliott, his 32nd win of the season from just 112 rides for a remarkable 28% strike rate. This one was on Ginto (5/6f) and he coasted in by eight lengths.
PROMINENT YOUNG point-topoint rider, Jordan Gainford from Caim, decided last week the time had come to turn professional and he had a dream start when he booted home a 25/1 winner on his first ride in the paid ranks at Navan on Sunday, beating off 19 rivals.
He was due to make the switch from the Qualified Rider to the Conditional Jockey ranks at Limerick on Friday but the meeting was lost to the weather, as was Gowran on Saturday.
However, he grabbed his chance when it came on Fierami for Gordon Elliott in a two-mile five-furlong handicap hurdle, making much of the running to beat Keith Donoghue on Westy Fox (7/1) by a length and a half.
Elliott was happy with his new recruit: ‘It’s great for Jordan as that’s his first ride as a professional.
‘He’s coming to me now three days a week and he’s a lad we’re going to get plenty of use out of. He’s a good rider.’
Gainford only recently had his 20th birthday and he has been catching the eye mainly on Colin Bowe mounts since he made his point-to-point debut at Boulta in December 2018.
He has had eleven wins between the flags, including four in the recent autumn programme, and he had also won four on the track.
He developed his love for horse racing at the yard of neighbour, Shay Slevin, from a young age and has been with Colin Bowe for the past three years, with Bowe facilitating his move to Elliott.
He has already ridden a few for him, including a spin in the Thyestes Chase at Gowran last month.
Gainford will remain a part of the Bowe team, riding out three days a week until the end of the point-topoint season, before making the switch full time to Elliott.
Two other point-to-point riders also made the switch this week.
Richie Deegan has been a familiar face on the local scene for almost a decade, noted mainly for his association with the yard of his neighbour, Aidan Fitzgerald, just across the border in Borris.
He has ridden 57 point winners from almost 900 rides.
Twenty-three year-old Shane Fenelon from Newtownmountkennedy in Wicklow has worked for Ballydoyle, Peter Croke, John McConnell, ‘ Shark’ Hanlon and Seán Doyle’s Monbeg stable.
The best of luck to the three of them as they try to carve out a career in a very competitive profession.