Kilkenny & Galway Through To Semis

National Hurling League Roundup

Kilkenny 3 - 22 Antrim 1 - 8

Despite playing against the strong wind in the opening half, Kilkenny were still level at half-time, 0 - 8 to Antrim's 1 - 5.

Within 2 minutes of the restart, Kilkenny scored 1 - 3 without reply toe effectively close out the game.

Waterford 3 - 18 Dublin 1 - 17

At Walsh Park, Waterford strolled to a 7 point win over Dublin to make sure of a quarter final place.

There was also something for Dublin in the result as due to a score differential they retain their Division One Status.

In a very entertaining game that Waterford never really looked like losing. John Mullane was the star of the show.

In all Mullane scored 3 - 4 from play of Waterfords total.

In summary, Waterford put last weeks horror show against Kilkkenny behind them. One expects that now that they have made the quarter finals they will increase their training and preparation for tougher battles ahead.

Cork 0 - 22 Wexford 1 - 17

At Pairc Ui Chaomh, Cork needed injury time points to put away a gallant Wexford in a high quality game.

With the game entering injury time, Wexford led by 1-17 to 0-18, but 2 late points apiece by John Gardiner and Neil Ronan stole the league points for the home side.

Niall Ronan was Cork's chief scorer with 10 points (4 from play). Cork now progress to the quarter finals while Wexford are now delegated from Division One

Division 1B
Results
Tipperary 4 - 17 Laois 1 - 12
Galway 2 - 24 Limerick 1 - 16
Clare 1 - 18 Offaly 2 - 13

The only surprise in the above results was the margin of victory of Galway over Limerick at Limerick.

The fact that Limerick had already qualified for the quarter final probably took some of the edge off their approach.

As expected, even though they had already qualified for the semi finals, Galway played with tremendous commitment, as due to their late entry into the Championships they rely on league games as stepping-stones to formulating their championship squad.

Grants Scheme Gets Final Approval

The GAA have released the final document pertaining to the Government intercounty awards scheme. Instead of any direct grant aid the Scheme is based on vouched expenses only. The total fund is Euro 3.5 million with players entitled to claim from Euro 1,400 to Euro 2.500 depending on championship progress. The GAA have confirmed that no infringement of Rule 11 (Amateur Status) has arisen.

Wexford Forces Further Depleted

With the announcement last week of the retirement of Wexford's Michael Jordan from intercounty action, team manager John Meyler received further bad news at the weekend. Long serving center-half back Declan Ruth has now decided not to rejoin the panel for this years campaign. Ruth, a member of the 1996 All-Ireland winning squad has been one of Wexford's top performers over the past 10 years. Of that 1996 winning team only Damien Fitzhenry and Rory McCarthy are still involved with the County squad.

New Championship Sponsors

The GAA have announced new sponsors for the All-Ireland Championship. The football championship will be jointly sponsored by Toyota, Ulster Bank and Vodafone. The arrangement is for 3 years.

The hurling championship will be sponsored by Etihad Airways, Guinness and RTE. This arrangement will last for 2 years.

An important element in both arrangements is that the championships will be known as "The GAA Football All-Ireland Championship" and "The GAA Hurling All-Ireland Championship". As Dermot Power, the Associations Commercial Manager announced "we are getting our own brand back".