GAA Mop-up: Mullane's late winner keeps Waterford alive

Step inside for all the details of the weekend’s GAA action – it’s better than the Sunday Game …

Munster Senior Hurling Championship

Waterford 3-15 Limerick 3-14 An 70th-minute goal from Déise veteran John Mullane proved to be difference between the two sides in a ding-dong battle at Semple Stadium this afternoon.

After a pitiful opening 34 minutes for Donal O’Grady’s men, a goal from wing-back Wayne McNamara on the stroke of half-time brought Limerick back into a match they hardly deserved to be in. With the lead changing hands often in an enthralling second period, two brilliantly-taken second-half goals from 19-year-old Kevin Downes looked to have put the Munster Champions to the sword before Mullane popped up at the death to break Limerick hearts.

Leinster Senior Hurling Championship

Kilkenny 1-26 Wexford 1-15 Henry Shefflin capped his comeback to the senior inter-county hurling with a nine-point haul as Killkenny comfortably saw off Wexford on Saturday evening. But for two brilliant saves from Cats keeper David Herity, the final scoreline could have been considerably closer, but in truth, Kilkenny’s victory never seemed to be in doubt from the moment Richie Hogan smashed home a goal in the ninth minute.

Brian Cody’s men will now meet the winner of next weekend’s second semi-final between Dublin and Galway in Tullamore.

Ulster Senior Hurling Championship

Armagh 0-14 Down 1-10 The real shock of the weekend’s action came in Casement Park this afternoon. Because it happened in an Ulster Hurling Championship match, few people are likely to notice, let alone care.

Late points from Ruairi McGrattan and Conor Corvan settled a hard-fought semi-final in Armagh’s favour, booking the Mourne men’s place in a first Ulster Championship Final since 1946. There, in a repeat of the final from 65 years ago, they will face the province’s reigning champions, Antrim.

Leinster Senior Football Championship

Wexford 1-24 Westmeath 0-15 Wexford may have been marginal favourites going into yesterday’s Leinster SFC quarter-final clash against Westmeath, but not even at his most optimistic could Jason Ryan have foreseen the drubbing which his men would hand out.

Ciarán Lyng and Ben Brosnan were almost unplayable for the Model County, terrorising the Westmeath defence and posting a total of 17 points between them, nine of which came from play. Dessie Dolan did his best to keep Westmeath in the game with seven points of his own, but not even the introduction of young star John Heslin at the break could help erase Wexford’s six-point advantage.

Carlow 0-14 Louth 0-13 Carlow closed the book on an unwelcome statistic in Portlaoise today, pulling off a shock against Louth to record their first Championship win since 2006.

Daniel St. Ledger led the scoring with four points for Luke Dempsey’s men, but it was midfielder Brendan Murphy who will receive most of the plaudits, capping an industrious day by kicking the winning point deep into injury time.

Ulster Senior Football Championship

Donegal 2-14 Cavan 1-8 As expected, Donegal booked a semi-final date against Tyrone with a comfortable nine-point win over Cavan in Kingspan Breffni Park, but at what price? Star forward and captain Michael Murphy will be forced to watch the meeting against the Red Hand from the sidelines after he was dismissed for a straight red card for striking just 15 minutes into today’s game.

As he considers his options for the semi-final reshuffle, Jim McGuinness will take heart from the performance of another starlet, Paddy McBrearty. Still a minor, McBrearty stole the show on this, his first senior start, adding three points to his well-taken 21st minute strike.

Connacht Senior Football Championship

Roscommon 2-12 Leitrim 0-6 Donie Shine and Senan Kilbride were in encouraging form at Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada this afternoon, though they hardly needed to be such was the toothless nature of Leitrim’s display. With Shine’s goal giving them a 1-7 to 0-2 lead at the break, Roscommon never looked back and the game was wrapped up long before Conor Devaney put the icing on the cake with the Rossies’ second goal.

Fergal O’Donnell’s men will now meet either Mayo or Galway in the provincial final.

All-Ireland Qualifiers Round 1 Draw

Clare vs. Down
Laois vs. Tipperary
Antrim vs. Westmeath
Louth vs. Meath
London vs. Fermanagh
Cavan vs. Longford
Wicklow vs. Sligo
Offaly vs. Monaghan