FROM COLLINGWOOD TO Cavan, it’s been a hectic few weeks for Aishling Sheridan.

Aishling Sheridan was speaking at the 2021 Lidl Ladies National Football Leagues launch.

After her stunning second season in the Australian Football League Women’s [AFLW], she’s firmly rooted back home in Mullahoran, readjusting to life on these shores.

With that, comes her first love of football. The switch between codes has certainly been challenging, but it’s welcome as she enjoys the best of both worlds — and plans to continue in the same vein, contracted for another season with the Pies.

“I’m not going to lie, the transition has been a bit difficult,” Sheridan said at the 2021 Lidl Ladies National Football League launch yesterday.

“Last year when I came home I had a full 10, 12-week lockdown to prepare myself whereas I kind of only had the 10 to 14 days this time. So far it’s all getting better, I’ve been doing my own extra bits every day to just get comfortable on the ball.

“Self confidence is a big thing so even getting more time holding the round ball as opposed to an oval ball, that can make a massive difference.

“But delighted to be home, delighted to be back with family and be back in with Cavan. We’ve a new set-up this year, a lot of new girls and a lot of new faces on the panel. It’s been a good challenge but I’m definitely delighted to be back.”

Reflecting on her Australian odyssey, Sheridan was certainly pleased with her season.

Alongside Sarah Rowe of Mayo, the 25-year-old starred in the Collingwood forward line and chipped in with plenty of goals to steer the side to the Finals Series, where they fell just short to eventual champions Brisbane Lions.

The growth and progression within the team has been “phenomenal,” with similar strides made on an individual level.

“Looking back on my season, I’m definitely happy with it,” Sheridan nods. “There’s obviously areas for growth. I suppose I had a shortened pre-season, I only made it out for three weeks of pre-season so I kind of have to take that into account.

“Overall, definitely a lot happier than I was in my first year and I suppose that only comes with practice and experience. You obviously understand the game better and get to know the game better.”

With 14 Irish players on the books of AFLW clubs last season, Irish interest was massive as people looked to fill the considerable Gaelic games void through lockdown.

TG4 showed games every weekend, and Sheridan says that support from home was certainly felt.

“I know I can probably speak on behalf of all the Irish players who were playing in the AFLW when I say about the support that we got from back home, whether you knew the players or you didn’t, no matter where they were from, was absolutely phenomenal.

Sheridan celebrating scoring a goal.

Source: AAP/PA Images

“Full credit to TG4 for the coverage they gave the games. It’s funny, the Australians even noticed the support that the Irish were getting. There was so much interaction. With the games being at difficult times, sometimes they were at three in the morning so we didn’t expect anyone to be watching them at that time but there were a good few people watching them.

“The messages I received personally in the 10 weeks I was playing was absolutely phenomenal. It really warmed your heart to see people who mightn’t have ever seen the game before get such pleasure out of watching the games.”

Thinking of one in particular brings a massive smile to her face. 

“I had a message from an elderly person who was probably in their 80s or 90s from Cavan, to say how every weekend they looked forward to watching the games. It’s something really heart warming.”

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There’s plenty she brings home with her, and into her county set-up; the Breffni preparing for another Division 2 league campaign under the watchful eye of new boss Gerry Moane, Tyrone’s All-Ireland intermediate winning manager from 2018.

“I suppose there’s things that one (sport) might do a bit better than the other,” Sheridan explains.

“It’s one thing I always talk about over in Australia, how far advanced Gaelic football is here. That’s one thing they can’t comprehend, how it’s not semi-professional or a professional sport.

“Essentially we have girls who work and then come to training, and it is quite similar in Australia but even, take for example, the fact that there’s going to be 50 games streamed in the league. Out in Australia it’s quite similar and that, to me, is absolutely massive.

“But I suppose in terms of qualities to bring back home from Australia, it would probably be more so off-the-field qualities like leadership. I think the preparation and the whole set-up the way the county system has gone in recent years, it’s been phenomenal, it’s been hitting towards that semi-professional environment.”

Training on both sides of the world is “not too dissimilar,” with timing and the length of sessions the main difference, while huge emphasis is put on prehab and skills work Down Under.

With the notable similarities between the codes, Sheridan expects more Irish talent to head over the coming years, though that could be impacted by recent news of scheduling changes.

“The season is starting a lot earlier next year although they’ve not announced any official dates,” she says. “They’re hoping to get the first game off around early December whereas last year it was late January so it’s a full two months earlier. That’ll require us to move back a lot sooner rather than later.

This is honestly huge 🙌🏻 make sure you sign up and register so you can stream the games live for FREE . So good especially when spectators and family members can’t be at games #SeriousSupport https://t.co/mTaIhBGNfP

— Aishling Sheridan (@AishlingSherdo) May 18, 2021

“With four new teams coming in, that means that 30 new players will be needed for each team and then there might be older players on each team that only have another year or two left.

“I imagine in the next two or three years, there will be a good few Irish looked at to go over. I’m sure they will go over, that’s their decision but they’ll have to take into account if the season changes, will it impact their Gaelic football season. If it doesn’t, then I’d imagine another one or two will be going over.”

For now, her entire focus is on home soil, and the Breffni county’s 2021 campaign, which opens with a meeting with neighbours Monaghan in Clones on Sunday.

Lining out alongside her older sisters, Mona and Geraldine, Sheridan is hoping her side can make a splash in what will be a testing few weeks.

“Our main goal when it comes to league for the last few years has been trying to get out of Division 2,” she concludes. “There was two years there where we made it to the final and fell short. It’s something we keep striving to progress in.

“We’re playing senior championship and you do find that gap between Division 2 league and then going into senior championship which I found especially in that Donegal game [in 2019].

“Looking forward to this year, the goal will still be to try to get that one step forward that we haven’t in previous years. I know especially playing senior championship you want to be playing Division 1 league and getting used to that standard, that pressure and then being able to transition into championship.”

– Lidl and the LGFA have confirmed live-streaming of 50 league games. Read more here.

SEAN McLOUGHLIN EARNED substantial praise from his manager after producing an encouraging performance in his first outing in English football.

McLoughlin played all 90 minutes for Hull City as they ended a run of five consecutive defeats by playing out a 1-1 draw away to Reading in the Championship on Saturday.

With Hull missing five other centre-backs for the trip to the Madejski Stadium, McLoughlin finally got a chance to impress for the club he joined from Cork City last summer.

He certainly appears to have made the most of the opportunity, with Hull manager Grant McCann full of praise for the 23-year-old afterwards. 

“I thought he was fantastic, I really did. He’s a proper defender,” McCann told the Hull Daily Mail. “Anything in front of him he’ll head it but one thing he’s very good at as well is that he’s really comfortable on the ball. He’s so calm.

“It was an excellent debut from Sean and that showed that loan spell we gave him with St Mirren has given him more confidence that he can play at this level. He showed that.”

Just days after signing a three-year contract with Hull back in July, McLoughlin was sent on loan to the Scottish Premiership to gain more first-team experience.

He played every minute of St Mirren’s league campaign – 21 appearances in total – before being recalled from the loan spell at the end of December.

A native of Cobh in East Cork, McLoughlin previously turned down offers from several UK clubs in order to attain a degree in Business Information Systems at University College Cork.

Cork City were the beneficiaries, with the former Republic of Ireland U21 international selected in the PFAI Team of the Year in 2018.

He’ll hope to retain his place in the Hull City starting line-up for tomorrow evening’s trip to Blackburn Rovers.

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THE GAA ARE expected to announce a three-month ban handed down to Dessie Farrell later today, while Dublin may also lose home advantage for an Allianz Football League game as part of the punishment.

It’s understood the suspension decided by the GAA’s Management Committee will replace the ban of similar length imposed by the Dublin county board on 1 April for organising a training session at the Innisfails GAA club.

The suspension will start from the date Dublin were informed, which is believed to have been yesterday.

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A 12-week ban from 8 April would run up until 1 July, which would mean Farrell will miss Dublin’s entire league campaign that runs from 15/16 May to 19/20 June if they make the Division 1 final.

He’s likely to be back on the sideline in time for Dublin’s Leinster SFC quarter-final on either for first or second weekend in July. Dublin typically receive a bye in the opening round of Leinster, meaning Farrell is unlikely to miss an early round championship game.

“[The Management Committee] have applied a sanction in the Dublin case and we are happy with the sanction we have applied. In terms of is it enough, management thought it was enough in this case,” said GAA president Larry McCarthy yesterday.

“Management are investigating the Monaghan one and will apply a sanction after an investigation.

“I think any breaches put it [inter-county’s return] in jeopardy,” he added.

The Cork native also confirmed that Farrell “can’t be involved with the team whatsoever” for the duration of his ban.

The same will apply to Monaghan boss Seamus ‘Banty’ McEnaney, whose training breach is the subject of an investigation by a group set-up by McCarthy yesterday.

A 12-week suspension is also expected in his case, again superseding the one handed down by Monaghan county board which began at the end of March when the collective session took place.

If the GAA impose a three-month ban on McEnaney next week at some stage, then the earliest he would return to the sideline would be the weekend of 10/11 July. With the Ulster SFC set to kick-off two weekends earlier, McEnaney could miss at least one championship tie.

It’s understood the GAA will ultimately overrule any penalties handed down by county boards for similar breaches.

Meanwhile, GAA director of games and administration Feargal McGill said the organisation wanted to include a backdoor in the All-Ireland SFC but there wasn’t enough weeks in the calendar to do so.

With just 11 sides involved in the Liam MacCarthy Cup, a qualifier system has been factored into the equation but the same has not been afforded to football.

McGill estimated that a further three weeks would have allowed a backdoor element to be implemented to give teams beaten in the provincials a second chance in the championship.

“You needed another three weeks – it’s as simple as that. Otherwise, you would have had games on top of each other,” he said.

“There were two things that influenced it: you were going to have to take that time off the club season which you didn’t want to do or you were going to have to shorten the league season further.

“To the vast amount of counties in football the league is the more important competition.

“There were three things up for grabs – the qualifiers or Tailteann Cup or the other two, which was to maintain the number of games in the league and then protect the club window. That’s what it came down to. I wouldn’t say it was close.

“We felt the end of August was the latest we could with the inter-county. You could have squeezed them a little tighter? I’m not so sure. But you also have to remember you have to look at players as well and look at the fact you can’t just churn them out and whip them for a period just to have a nice-looking championship.”

IT LOOKED LIKE a day to lift the pressure and tension that hangs over Clare hurling circles.

A winter of sparring over issues off the pitch concerning the health of the game in the county provided the background to the commencement of the 2021 season.

As starting points go, last Sunday in Corrigan Park in Belfast was not desirable. The second day out, and first on home soil, arrived yesterday when Wexford landed in town.

And for the bones of an hour it was the type of response Brian Lohan would have asked for all week. Clare set the tone early as they rattled over the first three points of the game. They were in front by five at the break and pushed on to be eight clear at various stages in the second half.

The last time was in the 60th minute, teenage debutant Shane Meehan wriggling clear of the defence and despite seemingly being off-balance, he managed to loft over a brilliant point. To go from that position to an eventual one-point loss was not easy to digest.

If it was heartening to lead 1-19 to 0-14 after the red card shown to defender Liam Corry moments previously, it was the last time Clare would feel as comfortable. Wexford exploited the advantage of an extra man to devastating effect as they fired 2-4 without reply and even when a draw looked on for Clare again, they were caught by Rory O’Connor’s winner.

“Disappointed with how we finished the game,” admitted Lohan as he gathered his thoughts after.

“Very positive for 63, 64 minutes but certainly the last ten minutes was poor. We looked a bit open, a possession team like that, once they get possession it’s very hard to get it off them and then they had the extra space in our defence in getting those goals.”

If there was solace for Clare, it lay in the fact that the late collapse could be traced to the setback of the dismissal and that there were a bunch of positives to take from their earlier form. They played with energy and purpose from the start. Diarmuid Ryan was terrific, particularly in the first half. Cathal Malone popped over some good points. Aron Shanagher was a superb target man, his aerial abilites hurting the Wexford defence as he struck 0-3. John Conlon looked solid at centre-back, showing good defensive instincts to hassle Lee Chin on a few occasions.

And they created what looked a winning platform, despite being shorn of their talisman Tony Kelly who limped off in the 29th minute. His injury is not serious, just a dead leg as Lohan confirmed afterwards, and while Aidan McCarthy had an impressive scoring day with 1-8, it was still a setback for Clare to lose the man who ripped Wexford apart last November with a haul of 1-15.

“Last week was terrible,” said Lohan.

“There was a bit of spirit there, we’ve a good bunch of lads there. We’d prefer to be winning games and the game is all about winning. But it is about trying to strengthen up the panel as well and introduce new guys. We introduced two 19-year-olds last week and the same again this week so look we’ll see how things go.”

That reference to youth was a nod to Cian Galvin and Paddy Donnellan lining out last week, while Mark Rodgers and Meehan made their bows yesterday. In Scariff player Rodgers from the off and The Banner clubman Meehan when drafted in, there were flashes of promise that offered signposts for the future.

But they need experienced stalwarts around them. Lohan is hopeful of having Colm Galvin and Patrick O’Connor back soon but David McInerney ‘did a bit of damage to his quad’ as he suffered a setback last week.

Down the sideline from Lohan at the Ennis venue stood Davy Fitzgerald. The animosity between the pair has been well-documented but there was no interactions to spark flashpoints here.

Fitzgerald was calm and satisfied after, buoyed by the manner in which his team reeled in Clare. They had limped out of the 2020 championship race by seven points to the Banner. This game looked like unfolding along similar lines until that quickfire run of scores, underpinned by goals from Simon Donohoe and Lee Chin, completely changed the outlook. Shifting Rory O’Connor closer to goal was a ploy that worked noticeably as he was superb in the closing passages.

“We shouldn’t have been in that position,” reckoned the Wexford manager.

“We had a lot of bad wides today and I am happy with the fighting mentality. We changed up tactics a small bit but we found a nice bit of room in there. The one thing I would like to think about, even when I was manager of Clare, is that we never give in. We fight to the bitter end.

“That is very important for me. Never ever give in and they didn’t do that today. Clare were fighting hard and their attitude was very good. Obviously, TK (Tony Kelly) going off was a loss to them as well. He’d be a loss to any team.”

Fitzgerald made the valid point that while they outscored Clare 2-5 to 0-2 after Corry’s dismissal until the Matthew O’Hanlon red card put the teams on equal numbers again, earlier during Joe O’Connor’s sin bin it was Wexford who had suffered in losing that period by 1-4 to 0-1 on the scoreboard.

One glaring issue in the game was Wexford’s problems with free-taking. Lee Chin missed four and saw an effort from a ’65 also go wide while Rory O’Connor spurned another really good chance but their manager will be keeping the faith.

“That was Chinners (Lee Chin) first game in five months, or five and a bit, same Aidan Nolan. A lot of them hadn’t played much. Clare popped their frees, we didn’t pop ours. We created the opportunities, I can’t wait to see how many bad wides we had.

“I can’t expect them to be nailing everything, normally Chinner would put those frees over in his sleep and he will be going back on the frees, 100%. I have massive confidence in him and I will put him back on them again.

“But fair play, Rory got one tight angle at the end and he made it count.”

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Updated May 22nd 2021, 3:59 PM

TIPPERARY BOSS LIAM Sheedy has hailed the reaction of Patrick ‘Bonner’ Maher to his latest major injury setback after the experienced forward suffered a serious Achilles tendon injury.

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The Lorrha-Dorrha club man sustained the injury in training on Thursday night and is now set to miss the rest of the 2021 inter-county season.

It’s another case of bad luck for the three-time All-Ireland winner after he tore his cruciate in June 2019 in the Munster championship against Limerick in Thurles.

Tipperary GAA wish to advise you that Patrick “Bonner” Maher sustained a serious Achilles Tendon injury at training on Thursday. He will now under go surgery next week, which will be followed by a period of recovery. We look forward to seeing him on the playing field soon again. pic.twitter.com/0mHbRynGvK

— Tipperary GAA (@TipperaryGAA) May 22, 2021

Maher will undergo surgery next Wednesday to repair the damage and while there may be a chance of club action in 2021, Sheedy admitted his inter-county season is over.

“He’s just a warrior, I think he’s such a loss to the championship, such a loss to the year,” remarked the Tipperary boss after their win over Galway today.

“What he’s gone through, the way he brought himself back. He’s the fittest man on my panel. The way he applied himself since last January is just incredible.

“It’s tough on me, it’s tough on the lads, who probably felt they were representing him today. He’s at home watching that.

“He has dictated how we want the Tipperary attitude and Tipperary spirit to be for the last 13 years. Seeing the way he reacted, how unselfish he was – he just said, ‘there are people in worse situations than I’m in’. To see the way he was on that table the other night, my heart went out to him.

“He’s having surgery on Wednesday and it’s three or four months (recovery). I hope he can get back to a Lorrha jersey later in the year but if there’s one man who can come back it’s Bonner Maher, he’s incredible.

“You’ve all seen him often enough. He’s an awful loss to the game. It’s a tough pill to swallow for us because he’s a really integral part of our set up.”

Maher burst to the fore in 2010 when he won All-Ireland senior and U21 medals, establishing himself as a member of the Tipperary half-forward line before tasting further Liam MacCarthy Cup success in 2016 and 2019. He won All-Star awards in 2014 and 2016.

The 31-year-old returned from the cruciate setback to feature in the 2020 championship while this season he started in the league opener against Limerick before coming on as a substitute against Cork last Saturday night.

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Roy was stunned that Jamie wanted to leave Ryan Giggs out of his team.

Source: YouTube

LAST NIGHT SAW Roy Keane back in the Sky Sports studio for Monday Night Football as Manchester United got the better of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. 

After the game, the Corkman sat down with Jamie Carragher as the pair picked their combined XI from the treble-winning United team of 1999 and this season’s Liverpool side. 

The heated discussion made for entertaining television, with Keane remaining incredibly loyal to his former team-mates. 

While he accepted that Virgil van Dijk was worthy of a spot, the rest of his selection was entirely made up of United players. 

Source: Sky Sports Football/YouTube