Sunday fixtures
National Hurling League
Division 1A: FULL-TIME: Tipperary 2-25 Kilkenny 1-19
Clare v Cork, Cusack Park, Ennis – 3.15pm
Division 1B: FULL-TIME Antrim 4-22 Laois 0-21
FULL-TIME: Waterford 7-34 Westmeath 0-24
Division 2: FULL-TIME: Down 0-28 Kerry 1-23
Division 3: FULL-TIME: Mayo 3-21 Armagh 1-18
National Football League
Division 3: FULL-TIME: Sligo 1-19 Clare 2-14
Sluggish start by Clare in Ennis. Cork are dominating right now. After 20 minutes, Cork lead 2-4 to 0-4.
Westmeath heading for Division Two in the league and the large victory sets Waterford up for promotion to Division 1A.
GOAL for Cork. Declan Dalton with Cork’s second goal as the Rebels strong start in Ennis continues. Just 13 minutes gone and Cork lead Clare 2-3 to 0-2.
Westmeath’s Mark Cunningham sent off in Mullingar. The home side just need this game to be over.
GOAL for Cork. Shane Barrett hits the game’s opening goal, Cork 1-1 Clare 0-1.
Waterford hammering Westmeath in Mullingar, the visitors lead 7-30 to 0-22 with six minutes remaining. Not a good day for Westmeath hurling.
Shane Barrett opens the scoring in Ennis but Aidan McCarthy replies for Clare. 0-1 apiece after six minutes.
Full-time highlights of Tipperary’s win over Kilkenny.
That’s a big win for the Sligo footballers over Clare at Markievicz Park. It’s a significant result for Tony McEntee’s side as they battle to avoid the drop from Division Three. Defeat is a blow for Clare’s promotion hopes.
FULL-TIME: Sligo 1-19 Clare 2-14
Okay, while we catch our breath after the drama from Nowlan Park, let’s look towards Clare v Cork for a moment. Here’s an update from Denis Walsh, who is at Cusack Park.
‘On a beautiful afternoon in Ennis a crowd in excess of 10,000 is expected for Clare and Cork’s first meeting since last July’s epic All-Ireland final. Clare are desperately in need of the points to stave off the threat of relegation while Cork seem to have their sights trained on a league final appearance. David McInerney’s return to the Clare team at wing-back is the only late change to the line-ups published during the week.’
Waterford 4-22 Westmeath 0-12 after 40 minutes in Mullingar.
Tipperary take all the points, but the conversation around this game will be dominated by the four second-half red cards and in particular Kilkenny playing much of the second half with just 12 men. Mad, mad second half. We’ll have all the reaction as we get it, including from our man Seán Moran who is at Nowlan Park.
FULL-TIME: Tipperary 2-25 Kilkenny 1-19
Points from Ronan Maher and Noel McGrath extend Tipperary’s lead in the closing minutes, 2-24 to 1-19.
In football, Sligo lead Clare 1-12 to 1-8 midway through the second half.
Tipperary have wrestled back control of the game after a crazy, madcap period during which four players were sent off. After 66 minutes, Tipp lead 2-22 to 1-17.
Mikey Carey’s red card.
Waterford in total control against Westmeath. They lead 4-20 to 0-11 approaching half-time.
FULL-TIME: Down 0-28 Kerry 1-23
Antrim stay up in Division 1A. Davy Fitzgerald’s side beat Laois, 4-22 to 0-21.
This is Alan Tynan’s sending off.
Tipperary 2-18 Kilkenny 1-16 after 57 minutes at Nowlan Park.
This is extraordinary. Four red cards, Kilkenny down to 12.
ANOTHER RED CARD FOR KILKENNY!!! They are down to 12 men. Jordan Molloy sent off now.
RED CARD for Mikey Carey. Kilkenny down to 13 men. Indiscipline costing the Cats here. It’s now 14 man Tipperary v 13 man Kilkenny. Tipp lead 2-17 to 1-15 after 50 minutes.
Tipperary lead 2-16 to 1-13 after 46 minutes. Kilkenny needed to keep calm heads after Tynan’s sending off and use the extra man to graft a way back into this game. Blanchfield’s red card scuppered a great opportunity.
RED CARD for David Blanchfield. Kilkenny had an extra man only for about two minutes. Only ten minutes gone in the second half.
RED CARD for Tipperary’s Alan Tynan for a high tackle. Tipp are down to 14 men. Replays suggest Tynan is unlucky to be sent off.
As an indicator of what the Kilkenny management made of the first half, Derek Lyng made three changes at the break. Richie Reid, Shane Murphy and John Donnelly have been introduced with Billy Drennan, Tommy Walsh and Peter McDonald making way.
The action is back underway at Nowlan Park, the sides have swapped a pair of points each, 2-15 to 1-12.
Waterford and Westmeath are tied on 0-4 apiece after ten minutes in Mullingar.
Antrim still leading in this relegation crunch fixture at Ballycastle. Davy Fitzgerald’s side are 2-19 to 0-13 ahead after 55 minutes.
There is also a small bit of big ball taking place today, with the Sligo footballers at home to Clare in a significant game in the promotion and relegation battles. After 30 minutes, Sligo lead 0-8 to 0-6.
Here are the highlights of the first half fin Nowlan Park.
Meanwhile, here is the Waterford team for their clash v Westmeath. Throw-in is at 2pm.
That was a positive 35 minutes of hurling by Tipperary. Kilkenny looked disjointed at times but that late goal has kept them in touch. You’d expect a big opener quarter from the Cats after the break.
HALF-TIME: Tipperary 2-13 Kilkenny 1-10
GOAL for Kilkenny. Respond they have - Gearóid Dunne raises a very important green flag for the Cats as they halt Tipp’s momentum, 2-12 to 1-10.
GOAL for Tipperary. Oisín O’Donoghue with the strike, he puts Tipp 2-11 to 0-10 ahead. Kilkenny need to stop the rot and respond here.
Here is Tipp’s goal as they lead Kilkenny 1-11 to 0-9 approaching half-time.
HALF-TIME: Antrim 2-15 Laois 0-8
HALF-TIME: Kerry 0-15 Down 0-13
HALF-TIME: Mayo 1-10 Armagh 1-9
Sam O’Farrell extends Tipperary’s advantage, 1-11 to 0-7. This is a good spell for the visitors.
GOAL for Tipperary. Craig Morgan smacks the ball beyond Eoin Murphy to give Tipp a 1-10 to 0-7 lead after 25 minutes.
A nicely worked score by Tipp, John McGrath making it 0-8 to 0-7. Good play by Darragh McCarthy again. This one is building a nice head of steam. Few strongly contested battles for possession.
Tipp still have their noses in front at Nowlan Park, they lead 0-7 to 0-5 after 16 minutes.
Antrim currently showing no ill effects.........of the sickness that hit the camp this week. The Saffrons lead 2-14 to 0-7 after half an hour. Conor Johnston with their second goal of the game.
Darragh McCarthy sends a free over from the middle of the field. Lovely strike. Tipperary 0-5 Kilkenny 0-3.
A monster of a score by David Blanchfield. Tipp 0-4 Kilkenny 0-3 after ten minutes.
Little early spurt by Tipperary as they lead 0-4 to 0-2 after nine minutes. TJ Reid just struck over a difficult free for Kilkenny with ease. We are fortunate the Ballyhale man continues to line out for the Cats. What a wonderful player.
Level pegging early on at Nowlan Park. The sides are level on 0-1 apiece after three minutes. Darragh McCarthy opened the scoring before TJ Reid replied with a converted free.
Antrim leading Laois 1-7 to 0-4 after 15 minutes. James McNaughton scored the goal for the Saffrons.
Derek Lyng speaking just ahead of throw-in at Nowlan Park.
Update from Seán Moran ahead of Kilkenny v Tipperary:
‘Beautiful afternoon and decent crowd in UPMC Nowlan Park for Kilkenny v Tipperary. Late changes for Kilkenny: DCU’s Fitzgibbon Cup final captain Pádraic Moylan comes in for selected full back Huw Lawlor and last year’s prolific under-20 player, Gearóid Dunne, replaces Eoin Cody. No changes for Tipp.’
Strong start by Antrim in Ballycastle. They lead 0-4 to no score after four minutes. Here is Antrim’s second point, it flu over the crossbar!!
Kilkenny, hurling country.........................
The Battle of the Bug is just about to throw-in at Ballycastle between Antrim and Laois. Earlier in the week, Davy Fitzgerald said several of his Antrim players had been struck down by a virus. The game starts at 1pm.
To get you in the mood for the latest Kilkenny-Tipp showdown, Malachy Clerkin took a look at the new batch of Premier County hurlers as they try lift the county back towards the top table.
We have dispatched Seán Moran to Nowlan Park today for the clash of Kilkenny and Tipperary while Denis Walsh is taking in a repeat of last year’s All-Ireland final as Clare host Cork at Cusack Park. We’ll have all the latest updates from our men on the ground throughout the day.
And despite not playing yesterday, it was a significant afternoon for the Offaly hurlers as results elsewhere confirmed their promotion to Division 1A.
There was also plenty of action yesterday, with Limerick laying down a marker in a very impressive victory over Galway at the Gaelic Grounds. Here is David Byrne’s match report.
Good afternoon and welcome to today’s live blog of all the Allianz League action taking place across the country. It’s Gordon Manning here, I’ll be with you throughout the day as hurling takes centre stage.
The big two encounters of the afternoon will see Cork travel to Ennis to face Clare at 3.15pm while before that Kilkenny host Tipperary at Nowlan Park, 1.15pm.
In Division 1B, Antrim play Laois in Ballycastle while Westmeath are at home to Waterford in Mullingar.
There is also a Division Three football match, with Sligo at home to Clare. The original fixture was postponed last month because of an unplayable pitch.
