Gaelic Games

Odhran Crumley
BBC Sport NI Journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Aidan O'Shea says "the appetite is definitely there" after becoming Gaelic Football's first ever outfield championship centurion.

The Mayo stalwart made his 100th championship appearance as a second-half substitute, as his county survived a late Monaghan fightback to secure a 1-24 to 2-20 All-Ireland SFC first round win at Clones.

The Breaffy club-man is on a run of 89 consecutive championship matches in the green and red, missing only the 2012 Connacht semi-final against Leitrim, after making his debut all the way back in 2009.

"Right now it doesn't really mean a whole pile but obviously, it's a lot of games. When you start dividing up the number of championship games you play in a year, it's a long time," O'Shea told BBC Sport NI.

",My kind of ethos is I always to try and be available as best I can. The one I missed really still annoys me a little bit, the Leitrim game. I was probably just about right to get in the squad and James (Horan) decided to hold me back.

"As I tell young fellas coming in, be available. You never know when your chance will come knocking and then you've got to grab it. So look, delighted to make 100 appearances.

"I've still a long way to go to catch Stephen Cluxton and I think Murph (Michael Murphy) hit 90 last week. So there's plenty of ways of racking them up now in the new structure, so they'll surpass me pretty quickly as well.

"But yeah it's probably a nice thing to look back on in years to come."

Despite trawling for the Mayo cause for 17 years, O'Shea is adamant that his appetite is not wavering, if anything it's getting stronger.

" I suppose it's more acute now, isn't it, when you're at the other end of the career," O'Shea continued.

"I appreciate these even more. I think the appetite is definitely there and obviously disappointed not to start and no doubt I'll be back on the pitch during the week trying to get my place back and that's still happening, I'm 35 now and 36 next month."

The victory means the Connacht county progress to Round 2A and are potentially just one win away from a return to Croke Park and sealing their place in the quarter-final of the All-Ireland.

"Ultimately we just had to win and it gives us that opportunity now to go and put ourselves 70 minutes away from a quarter-final and that's the way we've got to look at it.

"We haven't been in Croke Park for a few years so we need to really kind of get ourselves together over the next couple of weeks and give ourselves a right crack at it."

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Derry boss Ciaran Meenagh said his side "didn't attack well enough" in their 1-18 to 1-13 defeat against Armagh in the first round of the All-Ireland SFC at the Athletic Grounds.

The Oak Leafers were back in action for the first time since they let an 11-point lead slip against Monaghan in the Ulster semi-final at the same venue last month.

They were ultimately left to rue missed chances, especially in the second half when they failed to really capitalise on Jason Duffy's black card for Armagh, who ran out comfortable winners.

"It was never going to be easy to win, but to not bring the game down the stretch when they had the black card and we brought it back to three, it looked like we had the potential to do it, but we didn't attack well enough and it's devastating the number of chances we didn't take," he said.

"To have a good day at kickouts and things we did well, it's a really disappointing result.

"At half-time we were in a good enough place but didn't put enough pressure on Armagh."

Derry will now drop into Round 2B and face a tough route to progress to the quarter-finals of the competition.

When asked if he believes if they can make it to the last eight Meenagh said he "would like to think they can".

"We've had some great days and some not so great in recent weeks but I believe in the quality of players there there's serious quality in the changing room and on the bench," he added.

"It's just a matter of getting one big result or scalp but we're running out of time and if we don't get it right over the next two weeks our season will be over."

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Armagh boss Kieran McGeeney felt the black card shown to Jason Duffy in their 1-18 to 1-13 win over Derry in their opening All-Ireland SFC game was "harsh".

Duffy was shown the card on 42 minutes for a late hit on Conor McCluskey but the Ulster champions still went on to claim a comfortable victory.

McGeeney was critical of the performance of referee Martin McNally and had made his feelings known to the officials at half-time after a perceived missed breach.

"There was plenty out there and that seemed to be the one that was punished. It was harsh, but what can you do," he said.

"The less I talk about referees the better. There's a lot of good referees out there trying to do well but I think our focus can be on the wrong things at times. I think we need to know what rules to ignore to tell our players," McGeeney also joked on the topic of officials letting more go.

"I think everyone needs to know the parameters of the game. I don't think it's that complicated. We have rules we don't enforce. You're getting me talking about referees again and it's not my favourite subject."

On his side's performance, McGeeney added that the Orchard County were "very workman like" in getting over the line.

"It was tough at times going down to 14 men, the fellas controlled the ball and didn't give too much away. Our efficiency in front of goal wasn't as good as we liked."

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Conan Canavan scored 1-4 as Tyrone powered past Derry with a 2-16 to 1-12 win in Letterkenny to retain the Ulster Minor title.

After Conor O'Kane's early goal for Derry, Canavan - nephew of Red Hand legend Peter - raised a green flag as the Oak Leafers led 1-7 to 1-5 at the break.

However, Tyrone pulled clear in the second half before Logan O'Connor's goal helped seal a seven-point win.

Having produced a stirring comeback to beat Cavan in the semi-finals, Gerard Donnelly's side now remain on course to defend their All-Ireland Minor title.

"We were very calm at half-time," Donnelly told Peter Canavan in a post-match interview posted on Tyrone GAA's social media channels.

"We were two points down but I think we had eight wides at half-time but we knew the chances were there."

Donnelly's side will face Galway in next week's All-Ireland quarter-finals, while Derry also advance to the last eight.

Tyrone will be hoping for more underage success when their Under-20s attempt to win a third successive All-Ireland title in Saturday's final against Kerry at Croke Park (17:00 BST).

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Mickey Harte paid tribute to "one of a kind" Frank McGuigan, as Ardboe came to a standstill on Thursday to say its goodbyes to the 71-year-old, who passed away on Sunday.

Harte and McGuigan played on the same Tyrone team that won the 1972 Ulster minor title before McGuigan graduated to the senior squad which lifted the Anglo-Celt Cup 12 months later.

While Harte says McGuigan is "without a doubt" one of the best footballers never to win an All-Ireland title, his exploits in the 1984 Ulster final when scoring 11 points from play ensures he will remain in GAA folklore.

"I don't think I've ever seen a footballer with as much natural talent as Frank McGuigan and I've seen a lot of players playing football - he was the best I've ever seen," Harte, who managed Tyrone to three All-Ireland titles in the 2000s, told BBC Sport NI.

"He could do everything: field ball with anybody, pass the ball, vision, power and was deceptively fast.

"He had this ability not many have where he floated in for a ball. You see people putting in a real effort to get a high ball, this man was effortless. He has the timing, positioning and used his back end quite a bit to keep the people getting close to the ball - a nice little skill."

Harte reflected on a man who "enjoyed life to the full" and while his footballing aptitude was beyond question, it was matched only by his unassuming nature.

"I always said you could play him from corner-back to corner-forward or even stuck him in goals nowadays and he would have excelled," Harte continued.

"There's very few you could say that about, but the biggest thing of all was his modesty. He was such a humble man, you wouldn't even know he played football but was the best who ever walked these fields I believe."

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Fermanagh have been tasked with an additional game in the Tailteann Cup as they were drawn out to host New York in the preliminary quarter-final.

New York enter the competition at this stage to face one of the Round 2A winners and it was Declan Bonner's side who were drawn out of the hat, with Antrim, Laois and Offaly avoiding this scenario and moving directly into the last eight.

Fermanagh were 2-20 to 2-13 winners over Wexford in Sunday which was their second victory in this year's competition after an opening round win over Longford, and while they have been handed one last hurdle to clear before the quarter-finals proper, they will have home advantage for the tie.

Down's defeat by Offaly on Saturday saw them drop into Round Three of the competition and Conor Laverty's side are tasked with a trip to face Longford for a place in the quarter-finals.

Longford bounced back from their opening round defeat by Fermanagh to eliminate Clare from the competition at the weekend.

In the other Round Three ties, Leitrim will have home advantage against Wexford, Oisin McConville's Wicklow host Tipperary and London will welcome Sligo to Ruislip.

The preliminary quarter-final and Round Three games are scheduled for the weekend of 6/7 June.

Tailteann Cup draw

Preliminary quarter-final

Fermanagh v New York

Round Three

Leitrim v Wexford

Wicklow v Tipperary

Longford v Down

London v Sligo

John McGovern
BBC Sport NI Contributor in Owenbeg

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Armagh manager Greg McGonigle hailed the character and depth of his squad after they secured a third consecutive Ulster title with a hard-fought victory over Tyrone in Owenbeg.

In a tight, physical contest, McGonigle admitted he was expecting a stern test from a Tyrone side that had impressed in recent outings, including a strong victory over his Armagh side at Healy Park a fortnight ago.

Both teams went into the final with heavily altered line-ups, with Armagh making over 10 personnel changes from that previous defeat before lining out in today's decider.

"It was a tough encounter, and we didn't expect anything less from Tyrone," McGonigle told BBC Sport NI.

"We'd seen them against Donegal in Lifford, and they performed very well."

"In our last meeting, both teams fielded weakened sides, but we knew they had a seriously hard-working forward line coming in today."

The Armagh manager highlighted the impact of the bench as a key turning point in the contest, particularly in the second half when momentum swung firmly in the Orchard County's way as they opened up a five-point lead midway through the half.

"When we made a couple of substitutions around 40 minutes into the game, that was probably the period where things worked well for us," he explained.

"The experience coming on with Kelly Mallon and Blaithin Mackin made a real difference, that's the quality we have."

"Even with the less experienced players, such as Cassie Henderson, who got two or three crucial balls that set up scores, four or five minors have stepped into the panel this year wanting to prove themselves."

Reflecting on Armagh's approach, McGonigle said the side adapted after a slow start, with tactical tweaks and improved game management proving vital after the interval.

"I thought we were too open in the first half and Tyrone had the breeze with them," he said.

"So we dropped the line a bit and tried to play more on the counter. Which is where I think Caoimhe McNally's goal came from. We only had three turnovers in the first half, so we needed to improve that, and once we did, it gave us a platform."

He also praised the way his side adjusted defensively to key Tyrone threats as the game tightened, with match-ups becoming increasingly important in the closing stages.

"We had to make some defensive changes to pick up the likes of Sorcha Gormley and Chloe McCaffrey, and we got our matchups right in the end."

Armagh ultimately survived a late Tyrone surge to secure a single-point lead and another provincial crown, with McGonigle expecting more from the Red Hands in the future.

"It's difficult when you don't play a side often competitively, but Tyrone are an awesome side, and I believe they will go far in the All-Ireland as well."