The hurlers are playing a number of challenege games before the start of the NHL, Ed Donnelly brings us news of these games and plenty more besides. SENIOR HURLERS CHALLENGE GAMES The Tipperary Senior Hurling panel will play a number of challenge games before the start of the National League on February 20th. On this coming Saturday, January 8th at 12:00pm, the Garda College Templemore will provide the opposition. The Garda College have been drawn to play Galway IT in the first round of the Fitzgibbon Cup on February 5th and will be using this match to help with their preparations. Former Offaly hurler Joachim Kelly will manage the Garda College hurlers this year helped by Ken Hogan who will train the team. Players like Tony Carmody (Clare), Darren Rooney (Laois), Jerry O'Connor (Cork) and Brian Culbert (Clare) will backbone the Garda side while Emmet Dunphy (Roscrea), David Boland (Silvermines) and Alan Kelly (Ballinahinch) are just three of the Tipperary players involved. The remaining matches planned at this stage for the Tipperary Senior hurlers are with UCC (January 15th in Dr. Morris Park), NUI Galway (January 29th in Portumna) and Waterford (February 6th in Clonmel). I will confirm the start times for all of these matches in the GAA Scene column in the next few weeks. COUNTY BOARD NOTES All clubs in Tipperary have been sent an affiliation form for 2005. This form will need to be completed and returned to County Secretary Michael O'Brien before January 14th. The name, address, phone number, mobile phone and e-mail address of the following positions need to be completed on the affiliation form for each club - Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and County Board Member. In addition, affiliation forms have been sent out to clubs for the following League competitions (the deadline for entries is included in brackets) - County Minor Football League (January 9th), County Adult Football League (January 16th), County Senior Hurling League (February 1st) and County Intermediate Hurling League (February 1st). Meanwhile, the format for the local club championships in all grades will be decided at the next meeting of the Tipperary County Board. This meeting will be held on Monday, January 17th starting at 8:00pm in the Thurles Sarsfields Social Centre. Another key item on the agenda at this meeting will be the election of 2 County Board members on to the Executive for 2005. Clubs are asked to send in their nominations by Monday, January 10th. The outgoing holders of these positions are Harry Ryan (Moycarkey-Borris) and TF Stapleton (Borrisoleigh). LEVEL ONE FOOTBALL FOLLOW-UP In early 2004, a Residential Level One Coaching course for Football was held in the Clare Inn and over 100 people from the Premier County attended. A follow-up course for the people trained on this course has been planned and will take place on Sunday, January 16th from 2:00pm to 6:00pm in the Thurles Sarsfields GAA Centre. Pat O'Shea and Keith Ricken will be the tutors. RESIDENTIAL COACHING COURSE The Tipperary Coaching and Games Development Committee have organised a Residential Level One Hurling Coaching course in The Clare Inn, Dromoland, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Ennis, Co. Clare. The course will commence at 7:00pm on Friday, January 28th and commence at 4:00pm on Sunday, January 30th. The cost is ?150 per participant and this will cover the course, accommodation, full board and the use of the leisure facilities. The target audience for this course is to attract people who are coaching teams from Under 14 up to Adult level with a minimum of one years coaching experience. The tutors for this course will include Joey Carton, Alan Cunningham and a number of guest contributors. A similar coaching course was held for football in early 2004 and proved a big success. The closing date for applications is Friday, January 14th. Please note that bookings will only be accepted when accompanied by the appropriate fee. There are 100 places available for this course and these will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. Clubs and / or individuals are asked to contact any member of the Coaching Games and Development committee for more information. HANDBALL NEWS Well done to Ger Coonan from Ballina who qualified for the semi-final of the Boys 19 and Under Singles competition at the USHA National Junior Four-Wall championships at Des Moines, Iowa. Ger lost to top US pro-handballer Allan Garner in the semi-final and Garner went on to win the final, defeating Brian Carroll of Meath by 21-6, 21-10. BROTHER PERKINS RIP Since my last GAA Scene column on December 21st, the death has taken place of Brother Joseph Perkins. Much has been written about Brother Perkins in the past couple of weeks and it is not my intention to reproduce what most GAA followers will know was a long list of achievements on the hurling fields of Tipperary. His "Tales of the Gaels" column was a popular feature of the local newspapers in times gone by. I think it is appropriate to quote from one of his many ballads to demonstrate Brother Perkins love of hurling and of Thurles CBS in particular. The fact that this ballad can be found in the Moycarkey-Borris GAA Story from 1984 is both pleasing for this scribe and totally coincidental I assure you. Through winding streets and country roads, They come in haste to join Drombane, Clonoulty, Inch, Loughmore, Holycross, Ballycahill and Moyne. Fennellys, Sarsfields, Kickham's boys, With Gortnahoe, Glengoole, And famed Moycarkey-Borris play In the Christian Brothers school. At the gate I stood, warm grew my blood, As I watched those young men dash O'er the hard black ground, I heard the sound The sweet music of the ash. I had seen it all before I'm sure, In spite of war and woe When their fathers played the self-same game Forty years ago. The same deep fire is in their veins Their spirits still the same - They love the skills and the treasured thrills Of that grand old hurling game. INTER-COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DRAWS The dates and venues of the 2005 Munster Hurling and Football championships have been announced. See below details of Tipperary's fixtures in each grade in 2005. Best of luck to all the players, mentors, backroom teams and everyone concerned with the Tipperary teams listed below in their endeavours to bring some silverware back to the Premier County in 2005. SENIOR HURLING Tipperary's Senior Hurling team have a date with Limerick in the first round of the Munster championship. As a result of Tipperary travelling to play Limerick in the 2004 Qualifiers, Semple Stadium Thurles will be the venue for this years meeting of the sides on May 15th. If Tipperary defeats Limerick, they will play Clare in the Munster semi-final in the Gaelic Grounds Limerick on June 5th. Semple Stadium will be the venue if Limerick qualifies to play Clare. The other semi-final is the mouth-watering clash between Cork and Waterford on May 22nd in Semple Stadium. Cork and Waterford have won five of the last six Munster titles between them. The 2005 Munster Senior Hurling final is fixed for June 26th. NEW ALL-IRELAND SENIOR HURLING FORMAT 2005 will see the All-Ireland Senior Hurling championship being played in a new format. Only 12 counties are in contention for the Liam McCarthy Cup in 2005. These include 5 Munster counties, 5 Leinster counties, Galway and Antrim. The so-called weaker hurling counties will play for the newly established Christy Ring cup and Nicky Rackard cup. So how will it work in the top tier competition? The provincial championships will be played off as normal on a knockout basis. Lets take for example that Tipperary and Cork qualify for the Munster Hurling final and Kilkenny and Wexford qualify for the Leinster Hurling final. In this example, the three Munster counties that suffered a loss in the Munster championship (Clare, Waterford and Limerick) and the three Leinster counties (Laois, Dublin and Offaly) would join Galway and Antrim in an eight-team competition. These eight counties would be split in to two groups of four, lets call them Groups 1 and 2, where each team will play the other (total of three games each). These games are fixed for June 18th, July 2nd and July 9th. The top two teams in each group will qualify for the All-Ireland quarterfinals. The draw for the quarterfinals could look something like this: Quarterfinal 1 - Munster champions vs. Second place team in Group 1. Quarterfinal 2 - Munster runner-up vs. First place team in Group 1. Quarterfinal 3 - Leinster champions vs. Second place team in Group 2. Quarterfinal 4 - Leinster runner-up vs. First place team in Group 2. The bottom line for this new format is that the best eight hurling counties in Ireland should qualify for the All-Ireland Quarterfinals and this in turn should provide very competitive quarterfinals and semi-finals in the championship. INTERMEDIATE HURLING The early rounds of the Intermediate Hurling championship will be played as curtain raisers to the Senior Hurling championship as outlined above. The 2005 Munster Intermediate Hurling final is fixed for July 20th. The winners of the Munster Intermediate Hurling championship will play Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final on August 6th. The selectors for the Tipperary Intermediate hurlers in 2005 will be Len Gaynor (Kilruane McDonaghs - Coach), Fr. Tom Fogarty (St. Patricks College), Donal McCarthy (Ballylooby) and Vinny Ryan (Eire Óg Annacarty). UNDER 21 HURLING Tipperary's Under 21 Hurlers will be looking to win their third Munster title in a row in 2005, a feat last accomplished from 1983 to 1985. Tipperary has been given a bye to the Munster semi-final where they will play the winners of the first round clash of Limerick and Kerry on July 13th in Semple Stadium. The Munster Under 21 Hurling final is fixed for August 1st or 3rd. Given the overlap of players between the Tipperary Under 21 and Intermediate hurling squads in recent years, there will be a link between the selection teams of both panels. Fr. Tom Fogarty will coach the Under 21 Hurling side while being a selector on the Intermediate Hurling squad. While Intermediate coach Len Gaynor will be a selector on the Under 21 Hurling panel. Hugo Browne (Killenaule) and Tommy Grogan (Cashel) will also be part of the selection team for the Under 21 Hurling panel. MINOR HURLING Tipperary's Minor Hurlers have been drawn to play Clare in the first round of the Munster championship on April 2nd in the Gaelic Grounds Limerick. If successful, they will play the winners of Limerick and Waterford in the Munster semi-final on May 4th. If Clare defeats Tipperary in the first round, Tipperary will go in to the losers group where they will face the losers of the Limerick and Waterford match on April 13th. The selectors for the Minor Hurlers this year will be Liam Sheedy (Portroe - Coach), Martin Gleeson (Gortnahoe-Glengoole), Noel Russell (Carrick Swan) and Gerry Maguire (Lattin-Cullen). SENIOR FOOTBALL Tipperary's Senior Football team will take on the defending All-Ireland champions Kerry on May 29th in Semple Stadium Thurles in the first round of the 2005 Munster championship. If Tipperary is successful, they will take on Limerick in the Munster semi-final in Páirc Ui Chaoimh on June 19th. If Tipperary loses their first round clash, they will go in to round one of the All-Ireland qualifier competition, which will take place on June 18th. UNDER 21 FOOTBALL The Tipperary Under 21 Footballers will play Waterford on March 12th in Fermoy in the first round of the Munster championship. If Tipperary is victorious, they will take on Limerick in Fermoy on March 26th in the Munster semi-final. The selectors for the Senior and Under 21 Footballers in 2005 will be Seamus McCarthy (Galtee Rovers - Coach), Jim Healy (Loughmore-Castleiney), John Owens (Moyle Rovers) and Colm O'Flaherty (Cahir). JUNIOR FOOTBALL The early rounds of the Junior Football championship will be played as curtain raisers to the Senior Football championship as outlined above. The 2005 Munster Junior Football final is fixed for June 30th. The winners of the Munster Junior Football championship will play the Connacht champions in the All-Ireland semi-final on July 16th. The selectors for the Tipperary Junior Footballers in 2005 will be finalised in the near future. MINOR FOOTBALL Fermoy will be the venue for the first round clash of Tipperary and Waterford in the 2005 Munster Minor Football championship on April 6th. The winner of this match will go through to the Munster semi-final where they will play the winner of the play-off between the three first round losers. The semi-finals are fixed for June 29th. If Tipperary loses their first round match, they will face the loser of the first round clash of Cork and Clare on April 20th. The selectors for the Tipperary Minor Footballers in 2005 are unchanged from 2004 and are as follows: - Peter Creedon (Manager), Sean Scully (JK Brackens), Pat Cremin (Burgess), Tommy Sheehan (Fethard) and Sean McManus (Emly). CHANGING OF THE GUARD The recent annual conventions brought few changes by way of elected officers with the exception of one position - Public Relations Officer. In this era of increasing media coverage and information technology, there are more avenues than ever for the promotion of Gaelic Games. The month of December brought some changes to the position of PRO in Ladies Football, County Bord na nOg, West Tipperary Divisional Board and the County Football Committee. Beginning with Ladies Football and the Tipperary Ladies Football AGM saw the outgoing PRO Patreece Ryan announce that she was stepping down. Despite being a current panellist with the Tipperary team, Patreece has found the time to keep everyone informed of the activities of Ladies Football in Tipperary at both club and county level through the medium of her weekly column and also on the airwaves of local radio. Her successor will be confirmed at the next meeting of the Tipperary Ladies Football Committee. JJ Kennedy from the Kickhams club surprised many when he announced his intention to step down as PRO of the West Tipperary Divisional Board recently after 25 years in the position. Given the volume of match reports, there are talks of forming a press group in West Tipperary to continue the work completed by JJ Kennedy in recent times. The successor to JJ Kennedy will be selected at the Adjourned convention of the West Tipperary Divisional Board. Ricky Sheehan of Mullinahone has been involved as PRO for County Bord na nOg for a number of years. Ricky has given long service to Bord na nOg over the years and in particular, has been involved in the organisation of the Arrabawn Co-Op Under 16 Hurling competition, which in 2004 was given "All-Ireland" status. Ricky has also been involved with the Coaching Games and Development committee in recent years and was the co-ordinator of the 2004 McDonalds Lift and Strike initiative. John Smith from the Durlas Óg club, the current Mid Bord na nOg PRO and outgoing Durlas Óg chairman was elected as the new PRO at the recent County Bord na nOg Convention. Outgoing Football Committee PRO Hugh Kennedy from Arravale Rovers retired at the recent County Football Committee convention. Hugh Kennedy has worked tirelessly for many years at club level and is a former Chairman of the County Football Committee. His replacement as PRO will be Jonathan Cullen from the Loughmore-Castleiney club, the current Mid Youth Officer and Chairman of his club. Thanks to all the outgoing PRO's outlined above for their work in recent times and best wishes to the new PRO's in their new roles. There will be regular columns in 2005 on Football and Bord na nOg affairs. I will work with the PRO's in question to ensure that there is no duplication between the aforementioned columns and the Tipperary GAA Scene column. TIPPERARY GAA SCENE Information concerning all areas in the GAA will appear in this section in the future. If you wish to include any item of interest in future articles, please contact the County Public Relations Officer Ed Donnelly at 087-2055642 or via e-mail at [email protected] Tweet

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