Seven short days after Opening Weekend and we were back to Sunday Rounders in two venues on 26 April

Tymon Park hosted three Senior and three Intermediate games while Castlebar was the venue for three more Senior Games.

Clashes of Champions in Connacht

Senior Women

Four in a row All-Ireland Women’s Champions Breaffy hosted newly promoted Carrickmacross Emmets in both sides’ first game of the 2026 Championship and while, on paper, this looked like an easy warm up game for Breaffy, the Monaghan ladies had other ideas and came out fighting. Kim Thornton, Marie Whelan and Laura Hughes all got home in the first innings before Breaffy got their third out and came in to bat. Some clever Carrickmacross fielding saw them hold the Mayo side to the same score. Unfortunately, the following two innings saw the Champions up the pace and keep Carrick scoreless, while managing to get 21 home themselves.

With the score 24-3 going into the fourth, Carrick had an uphill battle to win and, with the fourth innings not bringing anyone home, they batted on where Olive Allen managed to score a run to make the final score 24-4. Breaffy’s outs and homes came from several players, showing their talented squad’s abilities to field and bat well. Carrickmacross can be proud of how they performed against the reigning All-Ireland champions in their first Senior Women’s outing and will undoubtedly use the skills learned on Sunday in their next match against The Heath, their old adversaries from Intermediate, on 17 May. Breaffy ladies face Cúchulainn on 10 May in Athlone.

Senior Mixed

Next up were the Senior Mixed teams from both clubs. Breaffy batted first, getting two home, before Carrickmacross went comfortably ahead, bringing five runners home. Breaffy came out in the second meaning business and scored seven runs, to which Carrickmacross had no answer, with two scoreless innings. Both sides brought one home in the fourth but the damage had been done and the match ended 19-11 to the current All-Ireland Mixed title holders. Euan Matthews, Justin Burns and Frank Duffy all performed well for the Monaghan side while Breaffy’s Colin Cannon and Michelle Hopkins were responsible for the majority of their side’s outs.

Senior Men

Last to play in Castlebar was the match of the day between the 2025 All-Ireland Men’s winners, Carrickmacross, and the hosts’ Men’s team who reached the 2024 final and the 2025 Semi-finals.

Carrickmacross batted first and were leading by one at the end of the third innings. However, Breaffy found their stride in the fourth, bringing nine home to give them a 24-18 lead going into the final innings. With Carrickmacross not managing to bring anyone home in the fifth, Breaffy won 24-18 with a bat in hand. Breaffy’s outfield trio of John Gibbons, Victor del Rosal and Nathan McHale secured six of the day’s outs while Carrick’s Colm Kiernan at Back Catcher and Declan Finnegan and Dillon Carolan outfield contributed well to their side’s scoreline.

Dublin Sides Welcome Wexford, Monaghan and Laois to Tymon Park

Dublin Metropolitans are working with Limekiln this year to host some of their games in Tymon Park and Sunday saw them welcome Wexford’s Glynn Barntown to Walkinstown to play both Intermediate Mixed and Women’s games.

Intermediate Women

From the first innings, Glynn Barntown’s ability to get players home made it difficult for them to make an impact on the scoresheet. Dublin Mets punished this by scoring 21 runs in their first three batting innings, forcing Glynn Barntown to bat on. Although the Wexford side brought eight runners home in the final innings, it just wasn’t to be their day, and the Dubs won 21-15 with two bats in hand. Shortstop Karen Byrne and Jackie Long on 2nd base were Glynn Barntown’s notable fielders while Eileen O’Connor pitched multiple foul-outs for Dublin Mets.

Also in Tymon Park, newly promoted Inniskeen took on their first Intermediate match against Laois side Emo. In a close match which saw Emo lead for the first two innings, then go behind by three and pull it back to lead by one at the end of the fourth, it was the Monaghan ladies who managed to get three runs in their final innings at bat to win by the narrowest of margins and take the match 9-8.

Inniskeen’s Siobhán Cunningham at Right Outfield had a great day for outs while Emo’s pitcher Claire Suda and Right Outfield Ruth O’Connell both contributed well to their side’s fielding stats.

In Intermediate Mixed, Dublin Metropolitans and Glynn Barntown met once again. Mets batted first and took an early 10-2 lead after the first three innings. It wasn’t until the final innings that Glynn Barntown found their stride and got eight runners home. However, it was too little too late and the home side took the win 17-12. Glynn Barntown’s catcher, Michelle Malone, got home twice and was responsible for four outs while the Dublin side’s stars were Short Stop Beau Carley and his Left Outfield brother Asa who, between them, were responsible for three runs and seven outs.

Next up for Dublin Mets is a home game against newly promoted St. Senan’s of Limerick on 10 May while Glynn Barntown have a break until the end of June when their Women will play Inniskeen Grattans, also in Tymon Park.

Senior Games in Tymon

Limekiln’s Senior pitch saw mixed action start the day with Wexford’s Glynn Barntown taking on the home side. Glynn Barntown batted first and got four home before a foul by pitcher Chris Hughes and two great catches by Left Outfield Adam Riordan and Right Outfield Yvonne Healy led to the switchover. Limekiln got two home. The game was close and both teams tightly matched, with scores level at 7-7 headinginto the final innings. Glynn Barntown got three home and Limekiln had to match that to draw.

While Yvonne Healy got safely to first, Merilin Neiland’s hit was caught by Paddy King, Adam Riordan was caught out by Ann Roche and Serena Costelloe’s ball was hit straight into the hands of Paul Cooper. The game ended 10-7 to the visitors. Paddy King and Paul Cooper both had a great game with multiple catches.

It was time for the Men from both clubs to take centre stage and in a cracking hour-long game we saw amazing catches, skilful batting and great fielding from both sides. Ultimately it was the Wexford men who took the win 14-8 but, for the second week in a row, pitching ten innings in the same day, Chris Hughes played two super games, while Ciarán Weldon racked up runs and outs. Eddie Healy covered every inch of the pitch and was involved in four outs. Pitcher Aaron Walsh and 3rdBaseminder Paul Delaney were outstanding for Glynn Barntown.

Our final game of the day was the Senior Women’s match and Glynn Barntown’s starting line-up was interesting and unexpected. Aileen Kelly came in from her usual outfield position to pitch, Alisha Reddy moved from 3rd base to 1st and Sheena King left her comfort zone of 1st base to cover Left Outfield. After two innings, with Glynn Barntown trailing by nine runs, Emma Reddy came on for Stephanie Kelly and everyone moved back to their usual positions.

However, Limekiln’s ladies were just too strong and managed to rack up another five runs to win 17-13 with a bat in hand. Strongest for the Wexford side were Alisha and Emma Reddy while Limekiln’s notable outs came from pitcher Serena Costelloe, Marion Hughes and Yvonne Healy.

Limekiln’s next matches are on 17 May in Athlone versus Breaffy while Glynn Barntown’s Women are next out on 24 May against The Heath.

Sunday 3 May will be our last week of only Intermediate and Senior action as Junior matches will commence on 10 May, following next Saturday’s Junior Day in Wexford GAA’s Centre of Excellence in Ferns. Previews of this weekend’s matches will drop this Thursday.