Referee attacked with a hurl!!

Refereeing is well regarded as a thankless job because no better what side you blow the whistle for the other half in the crowd are only gonig to shout abuse at you anyway.

However, verbal abuse is one thing but being hit with a hurl is an entirely different matter. Above is mobile phone footage of the attack on Tipperary referee Willie Barrett by an angry fan during the South Tipperary SH championship clash between Carrick Davin and Ballingarry 10 minutes into the second half.

Barret, a former inter-county referee, was left with no choice but to abandon the fixture in the interest of his own safety.

WATCH OUT FOR THE LAD IN THE GREY!

Murphy shoots Donegal to glory

Donegal 2-08
Cavan 0-07



Young Footballer of the Year Michael Murphy was the star of the show as Donegal comfortably saw off Cavan tonight in Enniskillen to secure the Cadbury's Ulster Under 21 Football Championship title.

The full-forward was Donegal's trump card on the night and his vital goal just before the half-time interval put his side into a healthy 1-4 to 0-2 lead.

Cavan, to their credit, came back at their opponents after the restart and narrowed the deficit down to three-points. However, that was as good as it got for Terry Hyland's troops as they never looked like breaking down a packed and determined Donegal defence.

Donegal bagged a late goal through Dermot Molloy to all but kill off the Breffni challenge and get their hands on some provincial silverware for the first time in this grade since 1995.

From the throw-in, Donegal's whole game plan revolved around Murphy and he lashed over an early point and then won a free for Molloy to send over their second.

Cavan settled down after that and clawed level after Brendan Fitzpatrick's point after a mazy run was followed up by a super effort from corner-back Paddy Carroll.

Donegal took over for the rest of the half though, with Murphy to the forefront as he banged over a superb score from the right wing before gathering a ball in front of goal, shrugging off his marker and rounding Martin Smith to tuck the ball to the back of the Cavan net and his team in five up at the break.

Cavan were revitalized after the break and significantly improved their performance. Quick, direct ball into the full-forward line saw them outscore their opponents by 0-4 to 0-1, as Barry Reilly began to find some room to create inside.

Donegal held their nerve though and Murpy delivered a much needed point at a crucial point in the game and Molloy then slotted home a fortuitous goal to all but end Cavan's hopes of a comeback.

Donegal: P Boyle; E Doherty, C Boyle, P McGrath; D Walsh, T McKinley, C Classon; K Mulhern, D Curran; M McHugh, L McLoone, D Molloy (1-2, 1f); J Caroll, M Murphy (1-5, 2f), D McLaughlin.
Subs: A McFadden (0-1) for Caroll (43mins), P McNeillis for McLaughlin, S O'Kennedy for McKinley (both 48), D Murphy for Curran (58)

Cavan: M Smith; P Carroll (0-1), R Dunne, D Tighe; D Graham, J McEnroe, T Reilly; G McKiernan, D Givney; N Smith, N McDermott, B Reilly (0-4, 2f); B Fitzpatrick (0-2), D McKiernan, C McClarey

Subs: O Minagh for Reilly, R Maloney Derham for McClarey (both 40 mins), B Murray for Carroll (46).

Cavan and Donegal to meet in final

Late Givney point does it for Cavan

Cavan 1-10
Monaghan 1-9


Fourteen man Cavan pulled of a shock comeback today to overcome neighbours Monaghan in Enniskillen.

The fantastic win ensures Cavan will contest their first final at any age-group for five years against Donegal, who themselves caused an upset by beating a hotly fancied Derry side.

After shooting an unanswered 1-5 in the opening quarter, the Breffni men looked like they had thrown it away as they surrendered their lead at the same stage of the second-half when David Miller found the net for Monaghan moments after James McEnroe had been sent off for the Blues.

However, unlike many recent Cavan team’s this side did not crumble and no-one at Brewster Park was left in doubt about their spirit and resolve as they finished with a flurry.

David Givney, who was impressive throughout, sailed over a brilliant winner a minute from time and Cavan defended like men possessed to book their place in the championship decider.

Cavan: M Smith; P Carroll, R Dunne, D Tighe, D Graham, J McEnroe, T O'Reilly, G McKiernan, D Givney (0-1); N Smith, N McDermott (0-2, 1f), B Reilly (0-1), B Fitzpatrick (0-2), D McKiernan (0-3, 2f), C McClarey (1-0).

Subs Used: O Minagh for P Carroll, R Maloney-Derham (0-1) for N Smith, N Smith for C McClarey.

Monaghan: E McArdle; M Reilly, D Daly, C Galligan; C Walshe, K Duffy, D Hughes; G McArdle, K Hughes (0-1); D Hahessy (0-3, 2f), D Malone (0-1), B McArdle; C McGuinness (0-2, 1f), P Tavey, D Miller (1-0). Subs: P O'Hara (0-1) for G McArdle, D McNally (0-1) for P Tavey, G McArdle for D Hahessy, K Hill for D Miller.

Ref: E McConnell (Tyrone)

Ulster tops Inter-Provincial study

Is Ulster and Munster football better than Connacht and Leinster? A fellow blogger for Hoganstand website used the current national leagues as a guide.

Over the course of years there are always endless debates on the relative strength of each province against the other. In the pub you will hear talk that is always a mixture of intelligent debate and a few wind-up merchants stating their piece.

The impossibility of comparing provinces on championship results, with qualifiers and different amounts of teams participating in the four provincial competitions, means that the leagues offer us our only real concrete comparative tool and even that does not give us a truly accurate picture. But nevertheless, it is the best we have got.

For the means of this study, in the NFL we decided to give the team at the top of Division 1 - Cork - 33 points and the team at the foot of Division 4 - Kilkenny - one point. The 31 teams in between these two get score ratings from 32 all the way down to 2 based on their league position. i.e. The second team in Division 1 scores 32, the third, 31, the fourth 30, and so on down through all the divisions until we end up with Kilkenny at the foot of Division 4 with one point.

The totals are added up for each province and then divided by the number of counties that compete in provincial competition, to give us a final ranking score. Leinster football fans should probably stop reading now.

Football provincial standings

First - Ulster, 195 points, 9 counties, 21.67 score

Second - Munster, 104 points, 6 counties, 17.33 score

Third - Connacht, 95 points, 6 counties (inc London), 15.83 score

Fourth - Leinster, 167 points, 12 counties (inc Kilkenny), 13.92 score

Kilkenny were included in Leinster even though they don't compete in the Leinster SFC and even if they were taken out of the calculations, Leinster would still finish in fourth.

If London were taken out of the Connacht calculations then they would finish above Munster in the table. However, before Connacht fans start getting too excited by that news, if the final table included all the sides that are allowed to compete in their provincial SFC, New York's inclusion would see them slip below Leinster into fourth place.