Search Results for 'James Ryall'

First round

The big three Kilkenny, Cork, and Tipperary have dominated the hurling scene for quite some time now, you have to go back to 1998 when the last non-superpower of hurling, Offaly, won the Liam McCarthy. Thirteen teams have ambitions to derail the current champions Tipperary but realistically only a handful have the talent to do so.

It has been a long hard winter in Kilkenny and I'm not just talking about the weather. The disappointment of not achieving the illusive five-in-a-row has been well and truly trashed out since last September.

The year 2010 will be remembered for a lot of different reasons. From a national perspective the sight of the IMF coming in to bail out our financial affairs will live long in the memory. The severe weather conditions at certain times will also rank high on the list but on the sporting front from Kilkenny's perspective it will be remembered as the year Tipp spoiled our dream of the illusive five-in-a-row. This current panel did not need to reach this milestone for greatness, that was already achieved over the last decade, but it sure would have been nice for themselves if they had pulled it off.

James Ryall announced his retirement earlier this week from inter-county hurling. There was a lot of speculation in September that the Graig-Ballycallan man would retire after Kilkenny’s defeat to Tipperary in this years All-Ireland final and this has now been confirmed.

Rumours that long-serving Kilkenny hurling team members Michael Kavanagh and James Ryall are to hang up their boots and retire from senior hurling have been well and truly quashed and vehemently refuted by the Kilkenny County board.

Kilkenny very easily secured their place in the All-Ireland SHC final after a landslide win over Cork on Sunday in front of an attendance of 41,060 in Croke Park.

Kilkenny's drive for five is still very much alive after their empathic victory over Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final last Sunday. The victory was great but the sight of Brian Hogan and Henry Shefflin leaving the action injured dampened the celebrations.

The Kilkenny senior hurlers made their trip to the capital a successful one last Sunday when they outscored a spirited, if somewhat naive, Dublin outfit.

Two injury-time points helped Cork to an Allianz National Hurling League 0-18 to 1-13 victory in Páirc Úi Chaoimh last weekend. The teams were level at 0-8 apiece at the break in a very intense and heated contest where the Cats had Michael Grace dismissed leaving them a man down.