THE 2024 TAILTEANN CUP Team of the Year has been announced, with winners Down earning five spots in the selection.
Pierce Laverty, Ryan McEvoy and Daniel McGuinness have all been included in defence along with Odhran Murdock in midfield and inside forward Pat Havern.
Tailteann Cup finalists Laois are also well represented on the Team of the Year, with Killian Roche taking up the goalkeeper position after kicking 0-13 in the campaign. Brian Byrne, Mary Barry and Evan O’Carroll complete the line-up.
Six counties in total make-up the Tailteann Cup team in what is the third year of the competition.
Rising Antrim star Kavan Keelan, Limerick midfielder Emmet Rigter and Naas and Kildare star forward Darragh Kirwan join the impressive Sligo contingent of Evan Lyons, Seán Carrabine and Niall Murphy.
“In just three years we have seen the Tailteann Cup establish itself in our calendar as a fantastic competition which gives competitive championship football to its competing counties,” said GAA President Jarlath Burns.
“Reaching the semi-final showdown at Croke Park is a realistic goal for the many and not the few, and the entertainment value of those games and that of the Tailteann Cup final between Down and Laois was exceptional.
“Congratulations to all of those who have been selected as having played an integral part in making the Tailteann Cup stand out and I know it is an honour that will be proudly shared by your families and clubs.”
Tailteann Cup 2024 Team of the Year
1. Killian Roche (Laois)
2. Pierce Laverty (Down), 3. Ryan McEvoy (Down), 4. Kavan Keenan (Antrim)
5. Daniel Guinness (Down), 6. Brian Byrne (Laois), 7. Evan Lyons (Sligo)
8. Emmet Rigter (Limerick), 9. Odhran Murdock (Down)
10. Mark Barry (Laois), 11. Darragh Kirwan (Kildare), 12. Sean Carrabine (Sligo)
13. Niall Murphy (Sligo), 14. Evan O’Carroll (Laois), 15. Pat Havern (Down)
Eh? I think this article was meant for the Leinster supporter’s website, it’s a little one eyed. Ulster were ultimately outmuscled, but performed well and could have nicked it.
Deeny’s was a yellow all day and Lenister were very lucky the ref didnt go back and look at Conan’s tackle in the build up, which was probably worse!
An upsetting number of injuries on both sides; are we sure the artificial surface has nothing to do with it?
@Farz S: Denny was extremely lucky not to get a red.
Ulster need to find some props ..nice tempo game. Enjoyed a few of Mike Lowry’s breaks…good game
@Stuart: Ah Stuart, it was absolutely awful. Leinster were a bit better in the 2nd half. Ulster are a rabble of a rugby team. This Wilson guy is the worst Scrummager I think I’ve ever seen.
@Ray Ridge: why do you watch a sport you seem to dislike so much?
@Stuart: anyone else questioning this IRFU model ? What’s the point in stacking Leinster when the other sides are poor, doesn’t help the national side when a guy like Scott Penny is Leinster 3rd choice 7 and barely plays, he is good enough to play for Ireland and it doesn’t help his career or the national side. Ireland could and should have so much more depth if the best talent was spread around.
@teuO6nLS: Just mute him. He never has anything to say worth reading.
@Barry Leahy: so now Penny is good enough to play for Ireland but when he got called into a training squad everyone lost their minds and said he was nowhere near that standard?
Also, these are people, not commodities. They have a say in where they work. If you start mandating that people have to play for a rival and can’t play for their home side, you’ll kill the work being done at grassroots. Shockingly enough kids from Leinster want to play for Leinster, not wherever suits the IRFU to keep other supporters happy
@Barry Leahy: I think the players have a say in where they play
@teuO6nLS: I think it needs to change though. The IRFU could encourage kids to choose other provinces straight out of school rather than Leinster being the first choice academy. Now, I have no clue how it would work and how you would manage their social support networks, but other countries make it work somehow. We are the only tier 1 rugby country with such clearly defined rugby borders within our national borders. Most clubs and regions from around the world are based around cities and therefore kids coming through regional amateur clubs don’t necessarily have a pre defined loyalty to one professional club or another. Whilst our private school system is the envy of the world it is now also the cause of this imbalance. It will break eventually, so better to get ahead of it.
@Paul Ennis: straight out of school means not going to college where they want to, to courses kids picked at 17 and might have wanted to do since they were kids.
It works in the UK because they have more top level universities spread out. France are similar. Both also have bucket loads more cash and 10 times the population.
What could work is what Munster should’ve done when they were asleep at the wheel for a decade – invest heavily in the AIL as a genuine semi-pro league. A starting point for that could be making players who aren’t picked to play for their provinces available to their club.
@Stuart: I don’t know hiw a back got POM ,the forwards added solidity to a very unstructured game.MOTM for me was Slimani
@teuO6nLS: It is hardly Munster’s responsibility to invest in the AIL. The IRFU control that funding. Plus, only 3 of this season’s Div1A are from Munster. You cannot build a professional team on that. The academies work for Ireland in the same way Pro D2 works for the French. There are excellent universities in Galway, Cork & Belfast so that should not be an obstacle. These kids are choosing rugby first and then their degree options second. But I agree with you, it could be a hard sell if a young lad has his heart set on Leinster. That is what David Humphries and Kevin Potts are paid the big bucks to figure out!
@Paul Ennis: And an excellent university in Limerick
@Ray Ridge: So you think you can come on this site and spout vitriol about a young talented prop who is highly rated. Do you ever think that your words can affect badly on a young man if he reads your nasty comments. Thankfully most educated people recognise you as a pathetic troll. Get a life and vacate this site.
@Pud: just saying look at models like NFL and NHL , a draft system works
@Tom Reilly: I’d just mute the bell end quite honestly. Has a staggeringly poor take on all things rugby
@Rugbyanbeer: He certainly destroyed EOS. Very difficult to pick a MOTM imo. Deegan was also very good. In the backs Ross good as was Larmour.
@Carmine Lorenzo: I know you’re right.
@Paul Ennis: these players want to play for their local club and the team they support. The fact that there are so many players who leave school at 17/18 of which leinster pick up maybe 6 or 7 a year. that’s not necessarily the best 6 or 7 but sometimes certain positions are needed in the academy. There’s nothing stopping any of the other sides picking up any of the players not selected by leinster. The simple fact is leinster have invested time effort and Cullen’s willingness to play the kids and give them game time has developed players a lot quicker than the other sides
@Ray Ridge: be quiet
@TL55: Ross had a great game in fairness. Perhaps his best for some time. He attacked the gain line and pushed through defenders. If he keeps playing like this he looks a contender again.
A little bit scrappy from both teams. Ulster seem to have a knack of putting their foot on the opposition throat but just letting go at the critical moment. They were far and away the better team in the first half but just couldn’t take the scores required. Doak was excellent. Leinster edged the second half but crucially took their scores. I thought Humphries looked good for a 5 or 10 minutes and then Leinster strangled the life out of the game after the bonus point try.
@Paul Ennis: Ridiculous analysis. I was at the game and Ulster were not even close to being the better team let alone being “far and away the better team”. The general consensus around where I was standing was that Leinster were better and Ulster were lucky to still be in touch. Stop saying stupid things. Even if you thought Ulster were better, keep phrases like “far and away” out of your analysis because it makes you look like a moron when it’s clearly inaccurate.
@Fagin Strauss: Geez, someone pissed in your corn flakes.
@JoeVlogs: God help anyone on Saturday morning
@Fagin Strauss: would have to agree. Leinster were in 2nd gear in first half when Ulster gave it everything and were barely ahead at half time. Leinster turned it on a bit in the second half and Ulster couldn’t live with it.
A game Leinster would’ve lost last season, much less won with a bonus point. Really surprised as I had Ulster by 10 after seeing that Leinster pack.
Fintan Gunne surely has to be in the 21 jersey going forward. The game changed once he replaced McGrath (who’s been a great servant, but his passing just isn’t where it needs to be).
Can we please get rid of these stupid plastic pitches? So many injuries being caused by them.
@teuO6nLS: Yeah not to rag on Luke, as he rolled back the years and took his try very well. And also put in some big, big tackles. However it’s so noticeable that his pass, even off his right, he does that little hop or skip before passing and that extra second or so is a lifetime if you’re defending. Gunne was pretty good I thought when he came on. Fast, accurate pass.
@teuO6nLS: Agree about the plastic pitches.
Watching this Leinster team is miserable viewing. Utterly turgid rugby. I’d take the bad old days of Gary Ella and Matt O’Connor over this dire Nienaber rugby any day.
The match also underlined how lucky we are with the quick emergence of Gus McCarthy because McKee and Barron don’t belong within an ass’s roar of a Leinster teamsheet right now.
@David Butler Manning: Rugby ain’t your sport lad
@PJ Smith: Not that rugby anyway.
@David Butler Manning: Try league, sounds like what you’re looking for
@David Butler Manning: And yet they won but your right 90 percent off that team will never play for ireland
@David Butler Manning: WoW, that’s a bit harsh. That was a good game considering the injuries that teams had and some guys returning from injury. There were mistakes but heck they lost this game last year. The lineout darts weren’t perfect but both had reasonable games around the park. Barron first game back after injury, otherwise he most likely would have been picked ahead of Gus for Irish side.
@David Butler Manning: are whole starting 15 and beach are wearing green at the moment. Great win for Leinster
@David Butler Manning: I think rugby league is what you’re after ..or sevens
I knew i should have watched Harlequins v Bristol. This was awful. 2 dreadful teams. At least Ulster has a chance to get back on track next weekend away to Toulouse. Oh dear. Imagine Scott Wilson trying to scrummage against this Toulouse pack. Just imagine there were lads chatting about this guy as a potential international.
@Ray Ridge: Not sure what game you were watching. It thought it was up there as the best interpro thus season. Offloads, line breaks, turnovers, some great tries from both sides.
@Conor Lynott: Good lad Conor, nice try. When the coach of the winning team describes it as ugly, there is no more to be said.
@Ray Ridge: Ugly means they had to fight hard for it and it wasn’t the type of game where every pass stuck because of good defensive sets.. But that’s what we want. A game where teams scrap for every ball and no quarter is given all over the park and teams come to play. If you’re not entertained by that, I think you should stick to Super Rugby or Sevens where defence is non-existent.
@Ray Ridge: ulster have zero chance v Toulouse no scrum no fun
@Conor Lynott: To be honest I don’t get any pleasure watching teams who can’t Scrummage, can’t throw a lineout, can’t tackle, can’t offload etc etc. After all, this is what’s rugby is about. It was poor standard let’s call a spade a spade.
@Ray Ridge: We’ll agree to disagree
@Ray Ridge: but that’s not what you do though to be fair Ray. You call a spade a miserable useless piece of rusty junk. Maybe you should get a different hobby? One that brings you more joy? Your rugby experience seem full of endless disappointment
@Conor Lynott: You’re both correct. I was entertaining but error ridden and overall quality wasn’t great. Stuart said Ulster need props and he’s not wrong. Wilson is a fine young TH but is still a relative baby in his position.
Ulster scrum is woefull leinster got the win but its not good watch lots young players but now i understand why penny and a few more wont play for ireland
@Shanie: have you heard of punctuation?
@Kevin: f… o..
@Shanie: Why the f o? It doesn’t take much to fix and makes it easier to read. Now, it would help us all if we had an ´edit’ option.
@Con Cussed: I said it before i say it again i just type fast sorry about that and i will mute ride guys like him
@Shanie: rude
@Shanie: I don’t understand most of your message but are you rounding on Scott Penny? Why? He’s a great player, and could well be capped at some point.
@Carmine Lorenzo: Another mute
@Shanie: I simply stated that I struggled to understand your message and asked for clarification on why you were singling out Scott Penny for criticism. Very childish and immature response.
Luke McGraths passing is so erratic, he kept passing the ball behind the persons shoulder which checked their run. He got Charlie tector smashed.
That was a very satisfying win. It’s the kind of statement win that shows a lot of the fringe players are coming of age. There was every excuse to lose that game and in previous games 17 Internationals would have been too much for them. To win against a pretty much full strength Ulster side as well. Very good. It’s the sign of a strong squad beyond the first XV and it bodes well and reminds me of how competitive the squad was when we won the double. The last few years there’s been a big gap between the first 23 and the rest. But thanks in large part to Emerging Ireland it is closing. There are work ons but that will only make them stronger.
@Conor Lynott: full strength ulster side? Missing their captain, their best backrower, their best back as well as their frontrow. We were lucky to win and we 12 internationals in the 23.
@chris mcdonnell: Leinster missing 21 internationals…
Ulster were a lot closer to full strength to say the least
@chris mcdonnell: I always find it funny, lads like you call Ross Byrne, for example, an international and use it as a point to complain we should be doing better but equally tear strips off the same player for not being good enough and demand they never be let play in the team again.
@chris mcdonnell: that wasn’t a lucky win. Better second half from Leinster. Ulster lucky to get LBP.
@Conor Lynott: I know your saying the first 23 and this was the rest with fringe players and its a pretty much full strength Ulster team, but just wondering, since 10 Leinster players are on central contracts, it means Leinster can pay players 11-26 what other teams pay their first XV, so of the Leinster and Ulster 23′s tonight which 23 would total the highest wages? With 12 internationals, including RG Synman, and Ulster using 3 acamady players, I think its the Leinster 23 have total higher salary.
@Kingshu: That has little relevance to today’s game. A lot of these players wouldn’t be in a sniff of starting a knockout game and they beat the strongest Ulster team available who have had four-five weeks to prepare. It shows Leinster squad is deepening.
@Kingshu: This is true but I think that the IRFU have taken measures this season to address this by invoicing 30% (I think) of the central contract value back to the province. Leinster might have more money through better sponsorship deals and gate receipts but that is on each individual club to sort out.
@Paul Ennis: yeah there is the 30% to rebalance it, even with that you can say 7 of Leinster highest earners are off the books and given Leinsters greater earnings its fair to say then 8-23 earn more than Ulsters 1st XV. Of course it up to the other provinces to produce players and gain central contracts, to rebalanceit better. But currently it puts some perspective on the win, in addition it makes it harder for players to move, eg Max Deegan, has been playing great but since he’s not playing Leinster big games the likes of Timoney and Prendergast are ahead of him. Its fair to say he earns more at Leinster than Timoney does at Ulster, meaning if say he was wanting to move to Ulster to increase international chances he would have to take a pay cut, plus then lose some/all the tax rebate.
@Kingshu: Would he lose the tax rebate? Why would anyone player move outside the 26 counties if that was the case. Surely there is a creative work around for that. Kevin Potts being a Chartered Accountant and all!!
@Conor Lynott: of course its relevant, if you can have a back up 23 that is on higher wages than others teams first XV than you would expect the back up 23 to win most times. Its a good win for Leinster, put does show that the system needs adjusted, 30% of central contracts doesnt address it enough. But I don’t want to see DH weaken Leinster, his job is to invest in the other 3 provinces, so that they produce international players at same rate as Leinster, and the contracts rebalance themselves then.
@Paul Ennis: unfortunately there isnt a work around, there was an intresting submission from Ulster Rugby for a grant to UK to help balance the additional £800,000 a season Ulster pay in tax on ticket sales that the others don’t have too (2 quality players a season really that the other 3 can afford that Ulster instead pay to the taxman), the increase in wages they have to pay, to compensate for the southern tax rebate, and on a club level ‘five of our nine border county clubs from Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan applied and received almost €250k between them from the most recent Sports Capital Programme from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. This amounts to more than the 42 NI-based clubs have received from the equivalent funder in the past five years.’
@Conor Lynott: A statement win? Really?
@Kingshu: This is a problem and one not easily fixed. It would make sense for some sports funding to come from the Irish Exchequer, especially if the British government is cutting back. At the end of the day, sport keeps kids out of trouble and it was reported in the last few days that every €1 of GAA funding is worth €2.30 to society. I am sure rugby is similar at an amateur level. We share an island and if there is trouble in Belfast, in doesn’t take long for it to have a negative impact in Dublin or Cork.
Conor Lynnot
What’s this nonsense referring to ‘a pretty full Ulster side’??
McCloskey /Henderson/O’Toole/Herring/Izzy on Ireland duty, Stockdale/Baloucoune/Hume plus others out injured, Verner Kok off after 14minutes…?
The strength of the pool does not have enough depth at present to be competitive without contributions from the aforementioned.
The Ulster faithful must live with the fact that this is a transitional year, with probably too much dependence on the necessity to develop the young academy players coming through.
Also, I have to agree with some comments regarding the artificial surface, in my opinion there are far too many player injuries to be writing off the concerns as coincidence.
Jimmy o Brien genuine International standard…..pity Max lacks both the physicality and dog of POM, he would be the perfect lineout replacement….. his work there is superb.
@Michael Murray: i thought deagan was excellent, as he has been all season.
@chris mcdonnell: deegan is amazing in the lineout and in the wider channels has great hands and speed but I think his lack of grunt in the tight has stopped him from claiming the leinster 6 jersey for the biggest games
@Scott: …exactly
@Michael Murray: problem for Deegan is he wants others to do the donkey work and the grunt. he’s a bit of a show pony.
Great win. Delighted with that. A BP away from home against a side that has had our number in the league in recent times. Solid showing from the non internationals. Not pretty but you’ll take a winning BP in any way you can from Belfast. Penny, Larmour and Conan showed very well.
@Carmine Lorenzo: What
Very good result to win away against a strong Ulster side with so many of our players missing.
@Harry O’ Callaghan: But are they strong? How many of them would make a full Leinster 23? Timoney, Doak and who else?
@Harry O’ Callaghan: Ulster missing both centres, both wingers, the captain, the hooker, their TH, their 15, Izzy sat wasting his career in the Aviva tomorrow and Kok, Moxham and Cooney fecked during the game. Plus being stuck with a bunch of very average props for reasons that only DH can fathom. Pretty average game on the whole. JOB looked good. Not many others did.
@Justin Robinson: leinster missing a whole side
@Shanie: Thanks for pointing that out. I’d never have known otherwise.
@Justin Robinson: Yes i know that
@Justin Robinson: Leinster were missing 20 players. It wasn’t a perfect game from Leinster whatsoever but to come back in the last 20 to score two tries under pressure shows great attitude and determination. They’ll be proud of that.
Pretty good game all things considered with so many players away. Good opportunity for some fringe players to make a mark. Leinster deserved the victory but Ulster had plenty of positive moments to build on. Of course you’ll have your usual English trolls here berating anything Irish and over critical on everything to do with the game but that’s nothing new
The forwards won the game. The backs were frustrating, and jeeses as an ex forward, I would have been livid with my backs
In the build up to Deeneys yellow card, Conan does a clear shoulder shot into Moores head in the tackle.
AOC raises it with the Ref post Deeney card and the Ref says words to the effect of trust us to look at things.
That was a card all day long. Leinster should have been down to 13.
@Dean Harper: Ahd that’s your takeaway from the full 80 minutes? No comment on individual performances, good or bad. About tactics, plays or defensive set ups? What about the set pieces or individual mistakes or brilliance? No?