Tag Archive for: Myshall Rounders

GAA Rounders September & October Round-up

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Now that our Championship season is over and we’ve had our three fantastic All-Ireland Finals weekends, we get a break from Rounders until next April 😉…we do not! And nor do we want one! The four weekends since our Mixed All-Ireland Finals have been busy and Rounders-filled and it’s time to have a look at the action that’s taken place, nationwide, in September and October.

20 September

Naomh Pol and Sporting Limerick – Munster Cup Mixed Finalists

Rounders took over Mallow GAA on Sunday 13 September for our three All-Ireland Mixed finals and Munster Rounders were back in Cork the following Sunday for their Provincial Cup. In glorious late summer sunshine, the Mixed Final was held between Naomh Pól of Waterford and Sporting Limerick. Following a closely fought game, Naomh Pól took the victory 15:14 and the title of Munster Mixed Champions for 2026 made its way to the Déise for the first time. Meanwhile, the Women’s final was won by another Waterford side, Passage, newcomers to GAA Rounders this year. A fantastic achievement for both Waterford teams in their first year of competitive Rounders action – we look forward to seeing both grow and develop as Rounders clubs.

Passage of Waterford – Munster Cup Women’s Winners 

Well done to Munster Ard Chomhairle Representative Michael Sheahan for organising such a great day of Rounders, to Michael and Hazel Hartigan for refereeing and for all the clubs who attended and players who took part. Thanks to Mallow GAA for their hospitality and for their generosity with allowing GAA Rounders to use their excellent facilities.

Clontuskert Open Day Exhibition Game

On the same day, Clontuskert GAA Rounders – another new club, based in Co. Galway – held a Club Open Day which ended with an Exhibition Game between their players and a side comprising players from Galway City Rapparees, Breaffy and Athenry. Showcasing all that is good about our sport, the game featured some excellent displays of Rounders skills from seasoned players and newcomers alike. Clontuskert have had a brilliant first year as part of the GAA Rounders family with teams entered in underage competitions, Go Games days hosted and a team in the upcoming Connacht Cup. We can’t wait to see how they get on in their second year in competitive action! Maith sibh!

27 September

Our InterProvincial Competition, not played since 2023, had been scheduled for March but, due to bad weather, had to be cancelled at short notice. It was postponed to 27 September and was highly anticipated and planned for. This year was to be the first time we held Men’s and Women’s InterPros and teams from all four provinces, of both genders, were training and getting ready to represent their province on a national stage. Unfortunately, bad weather once again caused a problem for us and the original venue, Athlone GAA, had to cancel at very short notice when a yellow weather warning for rain was issued. The Rounders gods were smiling down on us though and the legends that are Chris and Christy Hughes and Limekiln Rounders stepped in to save the day, offering us their pitches for the following day. Players from all seven teams (Munster Men were unable to field) stepped up and agreed to travel to the new venue – although this added to many of their journeys and we are grateful for their last minute flexibility – and we were ready to go. Our Women’s semi-finals were Connacht vs Munster, won by Connacht, followed by Leinster vs Ulster, where Leinster took the win. In the Men’s competition, the only semi-final was between Leinster and Ulster and, although close, it was Leinster who marched on to the Final against Connacht.

Connacht Men

Connacht Women

Our two finals were excellent displays of our game at its best with Connacht ultimately coming out on top in both matches. Our Referees for the day were Danielle Keane, Áine McLaughlin and Michael Dowling and Players of the Match for the two finals were Tommy Hoban of Connacht (Kilmeena) and Leah Mullins of Leinster (Cúchulainn).

GAA Rounders President Paula Doherty was on hand to present medals to the runners-up and winners, and plaques to the Referees. It was another fantastic day of Rounders and we extend our thanks to anyone involved

  • players from all seven teams
  • managers – Connacht Men – Martin Hoban, Aidan Lynskey and Stephen Cox; Connacht Women – Craig Davis, Jenna O’Brien, Gwen Redmond, Caitríona Cox & Séamus Keegan; Leinster Men – Carmel Moloney & Caroline Waters; Leinster Women – Serena Lewis & Grace Salmon; both Leinster teams – PJ Lalor & Peadar Waters; Munster Women – Michael Sheahan; Ulster Women – Shane Dolan; Ulster Men – Shane Sheridan & Darryl Dolan
  • referees
  • Limekiln Rounders
  • GAA Rounders Ard Chomhairle members who attended on the day

3 October

Saturday 3 October dawned bright and sunny and for the 80 Rounders players who had signed up for the Clew Bay Bash it was a highly anticipated morning with a very early start for some! It had also been a very late night for some others who had ventured to Clare Island the evening before 😉 Planned and organised by Kilmeena Rounders’ Will Fahy, with Stephen Cox, Darragh McDonnell and Martin Hoban, this genius idea involved bringing Rounders players from Connacht teams, and beyond – some brave Ulster players and the Leinster-based National Secretary were also signed up! – to Clare Island. Famous as the home of legendary pirate queen Grace O’Malley, this 140 inhabitant island didn’t know what hit it when a ferry load of Rounders players descended on it on Saturday morning! With two Rounders pitches (sketchily) marked on the island’s GAA pitch (which had been more or less under water the previous day!), teams were given coloured jerseys and sent off to play Round Robin games to see who could overcome tiredness, slight hangovers and the after effects of seasickness to become the Clew Bay Bash Champions for 2026!

Clew Bay Bash Winners

The very snazzy pink team, captained by Galway City Rapparees’ Pakie Killilea, were overall Champions and Cup winners while the Blue team, captained by fellow Rapparee Edel Brennan, took the shield. Male MVP was Owen Roe “Ditch” O’Reilly of Erne Eagles who took chasing the ball down to a whole new level, while Female MVP was another Rapparee, Cat Carty. I was honoured to be given my own Rounders G.O.A.T. medal which was a lovely, unexpected surprise. The return ferry left the island at 5.30pm bringing a group of tired but delighted and happy Rounders players back to Roonagh to make their way home. The organisation and planning that went into the event was phenomenal and Will and his team should be commended for their hard work. Plans are already afoot for next year’s event and the advice is…book early!

4 October

Sunday, 4 October, was the Limekiln Rounders Memorial Cup Day in honour of Amy Haverty. Another fantastic summer’s day in Limekiln with sunshine and smiles all around as three teams – Limekiln, St. Clare’s and a team made up of players from Galway City Rapparees, Na Gaeil Nua and Kevin’s Hurling & Camogie as well as some softballers-turned-Rounders-players for the day – played to see who would take home the Cup for 2026. Following three great games played with good humour and craic, and watched over by a cygnet from the park pond, the final was played between home team Limekiln and St. Clare’s. Won by one run by Limekiln, it was a fantastic day of Rounders enjoyed by all who took part. Thanks to Limekiln Rounders for organising such a great day, to all who played and took part and to Referees Niamh, Áine and Shirley.

10 October

Erne Eagles – Ulster Cup Winners 2026

The following Saturday it was the turn of Ulster to host their Provincial Cup and, while the weather wasn’t quite as kind as it had been the previous weekend, Cloghan in Monaghan was the destination for teams from all over Ulster and two from Connacht. In a change to previous years, the 2026 event was open to clubs from all grades and only featured a Mixed Competition. With nine teams entered and three pitches on the go, the action started at 10.30am and each team played two games over the morning league action. After lunch there were semi-finals culminating in a Cup and Shield final. The Cup final was between Erne Eagles of Cavan and Kilmore of Roscommon – the 2025 title holders – while the Shield was contested by St. Clare’s of Cavan and Slaughtneil of Derry.

Erne Eagles’ Justin Perrin receives his Player of the Match award from Referee Shirley Lennon

The two Cavan sides came out on top in two excellent games and Players of the Match were Slaughtneil’s Mark Farran and Erne Eagles’ Justin Perrin. Referees on the day were Adam, Shirley and Emma. Thank you to Michael Dowling who came on the day to shadow Trainee Referees Matthew, David, Alex, Justin and Arleen and to Ulster Representative Arleen Ramsey who organised a very enjoyable day of Rounders.

11 October

Kilmore and Carrickmacross Emmets Junior Women

Moneygall Junior Women

Nobber Junior Women

And in our second double-header weekend of October, and Limekiln’s third Sunday in a row to host a Rounders event, Tymon Park was, once again, the place to be for a Junior Women’s End of Year Blitz. Teams from Meath – Nobber, Monaghan – Carrickmacross Emmets, Tipperary – Moneygall and Roscommon – Kilmore, arrived in Dublin 12 bright and early and action started at 12pm. With each team playing all the others in the morning we had some close and competitive games with Kilmore and Carrickmacross Emmets both making it to the final which was won by the Roscommon ladies, captained by Sameen Oates.

Kilmore Captain Sameen Oates receives the Junior Women’s Blitz trophy from National Secretary Shirley Lennon

Special mention to Rachel and Sinéad from Carrickmacross who sustained injuries in their first game and we’d like to wish both ladies a speedy recovery. The remaining seven women on their team put in some work to play four games while down two players and are to be commended for their never say die attitude. Moneygall, in their first competitive Rounders event, were fantastic and, as each game progressed, the improvement in their play could be seen. Another side to watch for the 2027 Championship, it was a pleasure to have them involved. Nobber also played some great games with some clever batting and strong fielding – for another team only formed in early 2026, the future is exceptionally bright for these committed Meath-women. But the day belonged to Kilmore and their excellent teamwork, smart base running and brilliant fielding and batting were a pleasure to watch. For Annie and Sorcha, who had their first outings with the team on Sunday, congratulations and we hope you were both bitten by the Rounders bug and will continue to play and enjoy our game for many years to comes. Thanks again to the ever-willing-to-assist Chris and Christy Hughes of Limekiln. Chris reffed all day while Christy marked both pitches. We are very grateful for all your help over the entire year!

Looking Ahead

17 October

Saturday 17 October is the date of our third Provincial Cup of the year, the Connacht Cup, hosted this year by Liam Mellows GAA in Galway. With nine teams competing for the title of Connacht Cup winner, there will be interest from Connacht and Ulster teams with St. Clare’s and Erne Eagles making the trip from Cavan to Galway while Elphin, Kilmore, Clontuskert, Athenry, Kilmeena and two Galway City Rapparees teams will represent the home province. A review of the day will be published next week but the best of luck to all teams and players taking part.

18 October

The “getting bigger and better every year” CWL kicked off their 2026-27 season on 4 October and will hold their second Sunday of the year on 18 October in Myshall. With Women’s, Men’s, Mixed and Social Women’s categories, there will be multiple games over the day and anyone in the vicinity on Sunday will be treated to some excellent rounders!

7 November

On 7 November we swap the football boots for high heels and the jerseys for tuxedos and the Osprey Hotel in Naas will be the place to be for our GAA Rounders All Stars night. With 240 Rounders players and fans ready to party, we cannot wait for the brightest night in our calendar when 30 All Star winners will be revealed and when our prestigious Club of the Year will be announced. Tickets are limited and can be purchased at  GAA Rounders All-Stars Night 2026 – Universe

15 November

Our last big event of the year will be our AGM or Annual Congress, held this year in Breaffy Resort in Castlebar, Co. Mayo. Our constitution stipulates that the AGM should move between provinces each year and 2026 is Connacht’s turn. Nominations for Ard Chomhairle positions have been received – more on that next week – and motions from clubs have been written and will be considered by the Motions Committee next week. The AGM booklet and documents will be circulated to all clubs at the end of October and we would urge all clubs to exercise their voting rights and to send two delegates to the AGM which will commence at 2pm on 15 November.

That’s some amount of Rounders excitement for the off-season and long may it continue – it’s just brilliant to see our game being extended beyond the traditional summer season and players getting to enjoy our sport into the autumn and winter months.

Best of luck to anyone playing this weekend – bainigí sult as na cluichí!

 

GAA Rounders All-Star Nominations Round Up

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So, after a week of anticipation, excitement and surprise we now have our 112 nominations for our 30 awards. All the winners will be revealed at the Osprey Hotel on 7 November at our Black Tie All Stars Event and the countdown to that event starts in earnest now.

We will also crown Senior, Intermediate and Junior Teams of the Year, four Provincial Clubs of the Year and our prestigious overall Club of the Year award and we will be in contact with clubs early next week to let you know how to vote for those awards. We’re also still keeping an eye on socials to see what clubs are continuing to produce fresh, exciting content for our PRO Award and our final award of the evening will be the highly anticipated President’s Award so there’s still lots to come and plenty more to think about over the next few weeks.

For now, let’s just collate all the nomination information in one place so you can see at a glance who has been nominated, what clubs will have the best representation on the night and how the figures look across all grades and clubs.

Breaffy, Mayo – 18

Senior Men

Pitcher – Colin Cannon

Short Stop – Mark Jennings

Left Outfield – Colm Jordan

Centre Outfield – Victor del Rosal

Right Outfield – Nathan McHale

Senior Women

Pitcher – Michelle Hopkins

Catcher – Katie Groonell

First Base – Margaret Fitzgibbon

Second Base – Michelle Grover

Short Stop – Gráinne Gavin

Left Outfield – Katie Jordan

Right Outfield – Aileen Gavin

Roaming – Helen Gallagher

Senior Mixed – Male

Colin Cannon

Victor del Rosal

Colm Jordan

Senior Mixed – Female

Katie Groonell

Michelle Hopkins

 

Galway City Rapparees – 17

Senior Men

Second Base – Cathal Creaven

Third Base – Tomás Kenny

Right Outfield – Ajay Kumar

Roaming – Vishal Pathare

Intermediate Women

Sorcha Dowd

Katie Jessop

Clodagh Naughton

Intermediate Mixed – Male

Cathal Creaven

Ryan Dennis

Tomás Kenny

Intermediate Mixed – Female

Clodagh Naughton

Jessie Pereira

Alex Stewart

Junior Mixed – Male

Séamus Keegan

Greg Mannion

Junior Mixed – Female

Caitríona Carty

Sorcha Dowd

 

Carrickmacross Emmets, Monaghan – 12

Senior Men

Pitcher – Barry Lambe

Catcher – Colm Kiernan

First Base – Frank Duffy

Second Base – Ronan Kiernan

Third Base – Justin Burns

Short Stop – Patrick Bermingham

Left Outfield – Declan Finnegan

Centre Outfield – Oran Kiernan

Senior Women

Second Base – Aisling Ginnitty

Third Base – Fiona Fox

Right Outfield – Ciara Crosby

Senior Mixed – Female

Laura Hughes

 

Limekiln, Dublin – 12

Senior Men

Short Stop – Eddie Healy

Roaming – Ciarán Weldon

Senior Women

Pitcher – Serena Costelloe

First Base – Amanda Kealy

Third Base – Marion Hughes

Short Stop – Erica Meslin

Left Outfield – Yvonne Healy

Centre Outfield – Colette McCaul

Right Outfield – Emma Hudson

Roaming – Yvonne Healy and Merilin Neiland

Senior Mixed – Male

Chris Hughes

 

Erne Eagles, Cavan – 10

Senior Men

Pitcher – Darryl Dolan

Catcher – Paul Mollaghan

First Base – Shane Sheridan

Second Base – Gerard Clerkin

Left Outfield – Owen Roe O’Reilly

Right Outfield – Nathan Loughnane

Senior Women

First Base – Rachel Reilly

Third Base – Maggie Brady

Short Stop – Sarah Galligan

Intermediate Mixed – Female

Geraldine Goldrick

 

Glynn Barntown, Wexford – 9

Senior Men

First Base – Daithí White

Third Base – Paul Delaney

Centre Outfield – Ian White

Senior Women

Catcher – Michelle Malone

Centre Outfield – Kiera Donnelly

Senior Mixed – Male

Paul Cooper

Garry Jordan

Senior Mixed – Female

Chloe Doyle

Emma Reddy

 

Cúchulainn, Carlow – 6

Senior Men

Catcher – Glenn Sheir

Senior Women

Catcher – Leah Mullins

Second Base – Marian Sheir

Left Outfield – Amy Moloney

Centre Outfield – Amy Kelly

Senior Mixed – Female

Caroline Waters

 

Kilmore, Roscommon – 6

Junior Mixed – Male

Oisín Boland

Aidan Carr

Mark Harrington

Junior Mixed – Female

Nicola Craughwell

Ruth McElhone

Clodagh Sheerin

 

St. Senan’s, Limerick – 6

Intermediate Men

Dean Hogan

JP Mulvihill

Niall Sheehy

Junior Women

Dorothy Cullagh

Louise Kelly

Dympna O’Brien

 

Emo, Laois – 3

Intermediate Mixed – Male

Liam Horgan

Dan White

Intermediate Mixed – Female

Niamh Horgan

 

Myshall, Carlow – 3

Junior Men

PJ Lalor

Eoin Rea

Matthew Roberts

 

Elphin, Roscommon – 2 

Intermediate Women

Avril Coyne

Áine McDermott

 

St. Clare’s, Cavan – 2

Intermediate Men

Jason Cawley

Wayne Gerber

 

St. Kieran’s, Limerick – 2

Junior Women

Deirdre Ambrose

Sandra Walsh

 

Gusserane, Wexford – 2

Junior Men

Matthew Flynn

Carel van der Merwe

 

The Heath, Laois – 1

Senior Female

Pitcher – Danielle Keane

 

Comhghairdeas libh go léir!

Further updates and information to come over the next few weeks but make sure to get your tickets here, GAA Rounders All-Stars Night 2026 – Universe, book your hotel and sort out your tux…only 29 sleeps to go 😉

 

GAA Rounders Junior All-Star Nominees 2026

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It’s All-Stars Nominations week and we’re starting today with our Junior Nominees. As we did in 2025, we have four Junior All-Stars, with five nominees for each award.
For Junior, and Intermediate, statistics were taken for all knock-out games so quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals for Mixed and Women and semi-finals and finals for Men. All our nominees come from All-Ireland finalist clubs so let’s meet them now. All lists are in alphabetical order so no trying to guess what the order might mean!

Junior Women

With three from All-Ireland runners up St. Senan’s and two from winners St. Kieran’s, this award will definitely be headed to Limerick! Two Pitchers, a Catcher, a Short Stop and a Centre Outfielder make up our shortlist.

Deirdre Ambrose

Deirdre Ambrose

Club – St. Kieran’s, Limerick

Position – Pitcher

Dorothy Cullagh

Club – St. Senan’s, Limerick

Position – Back Catcher

Louise Kelly

Louise Kelly

Club – St. Senan’s, Limerick

Position – Pitcher

Dympna O’Brien

Dympna O’Brien

Club – St. Senan’s, Limerick

Position – Short Stop

Sandra Walsh

Sandra Walsh

Club – St. Kieran’s, Limerick

Position – Centre Outfield

Junior Men

Once again three nominees are from the runners-up, Myshall, with two from the winners, Gusserane. Both teams’ Pitchers and Catchers are joined by a Short Stop for a fully infield line up.

Matthew Flynn

Matthew Flynn

Club – Gusserane, Wexford

Position – Back Catcher

PJ Lalor

PJ Lalor

Club – Myshall, Carlow

Position – Pitcher

Eoin Rea

Eoin Rea

Club – Myshall, Carlow

Position – Short Stop

Matthew Roberts

Matthew Roberts

Club – Myshall, Carlow

Position – Back Catcher

Carel van der Merwe

Carel van der Merwe

Club – Gusserane, Wexford

Position – Pitcher

Junior Mixed – Female

A Catcher and Baseminders from all three Bases topped the points in Junior Mixed female with three from Kilmore and two from Galway City Rapparees.

Caitríona Carty

Caitríona Carty

Club – Galway City Rapparees, Galway

Position – Third Base

Nicola Craughwell

Nicola Craughwell

Club – Kilmore, Roscommon

Position – Second Base

Sorcha Dowd

Sorcha Dowd

Club – Galway City Rapparees, Galway

Position – Back Catcher

Ruth McElhone

Ruth McElhone

Club – Kilmore, Roscommon

Position – Third Base

Clodagh Sheerin

Clodagh Sheerin

Club – Kilmore, Roscommon

Position – Second Base

Junior Mixed – Male

Three of the nominees are from All-Ireland winners Kilmore and two from runners-up Galway City Rapparees. The final five are both teams’ Pitchers, both Short Stops and a Centre Outfielder.

Oisín Boland

Oisín Boland

Club – Kilmore, Roscommon

Position – Centre Outfield

Aidan Carr

Aidan Carr

Club – Kilmore, Roscommon

Position – Pitcher

Mark Harrington

Mark Harrington

Club – Kilmore, Roscommon

Position – Short Stop

Séamus Keegan

Séamus Keegan

Club – Galway City Rapparees, Galway

Position – Pitcher

Greg Mannion

Greg Mannion

Club – Galway City Rapparees, Galway

Position – Short Stop

All Stars Night

All winners will be revealed on All Stars night, 7 November, in the Osprey Hotel, Naas, Co. Kildare. Tickets are available from GAA Rounders All-Stars Night 2026 – Universe

Last year’s All Stars was a night not to be missed. Make sure you get your tickets early so you get to experience all the fun and excitement this year. Tickets cost €70 or a table of ten is €650. The event is Black Tie – where will you find a better excuse to dress up, talk Rounders, have a delicious meal and dance the night away with the best bunch of people you could meet?!

Our Intermediate All Stars nominees will be revealed on Tuesday night – followed on Wednesday by our Senior Mixed and Thursday by our Senior Single Gender lists – so make sure you come back for those!

GAA Rounders InterProvincial Tournament – 27 September 2026

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Barely two weeks after completing our third consecutive weekend of All-Ireland Finals, we’re all back on the road this Sunday and converging on the middle of the country and Athlone GAA for our InterProvincial Tournament. It’s been three and a half years since our last InterProvincial Tournament in Abbotstown – that was a Mixed event and the shield was won by Leinster. This time around we’ve mixed things up and are having two competitions – one for Men and the other for Women so both winners will be inaugural InterProvincial Champions – and that’s not something you get to be every day!

A quick explanation of the rules before we start previewing! What the InterPros Committee set out to achieve was to have squads as balanced as they could be. We wanted players from as many clubs as possible, playing at all three grades, to be given the opportunity to represent their province.

  • Each squad can be made up of 15 players, three each from Senior, Intermediate and Junior
  • No club was to have more than five representatives over the 15-player panel
  • Each starting team must be made up of three players from each grade and substitutions are to be like grade for like e.g. a Junior player can only be substituted for another Junior player
  • Player grades are based on the highest grade they played in 2025

As we go through the panels, you’ll see that we did bend these rules in a few cases where the required number of players weren’t available because, ultimately, we all want these games played and the rules were mainly to ensure that one panel wasn’t made up of 15 senior players and another of 15 junior players!

The semi-finals line-ups for both are Connacht vs Munster and Leinster vs Ulster and we’re staggering times so that each province’s teams are playing at opposite times. Let’s take a look at the panels, the players and what we can expect from the day.

Where? Athlone GAA, N37 PW42

When? 12pm Connacht vs Munster Women

              12.15pm Leinster vs Ulster Men

              2pm Leinster vs Ulster Women

              2.30pm Men’s Final

              4pm Women’s Final

Cost?   Free

Women’s Competition

Connacht vs Munster – 12pm

Connacht, the squad with the biggest Management Panel, also has a whole lot of All-Ireland finalists from Senior, Intermediate and Junior and, at first glance, is a very well-rounded, talented bunch of women (and Craig!).

Managed by three Galway City Rapparees players – Craig Davis, Jenna O’Brien and Gwen Redmond – and Kilmeena’s Caitríona Cox, this squad pulls from six Connacht clubs with a number of very experienced players set to line out.

Senior players are Breaffy’s Helen Gallagher and Kilmeena’s Noleen Coghlan and Irene Kaye. Intermediate Representatives are Elphin’s Gretta Davis (who played in 2025 with Intermediate side Michael Glavey’s), Athenry’s Assumpta Feeney, Lisa Guilfoyle and Tara Reapy and Galway City Rapparees Hazel Kilduff, Clodagh Naughton, Jessie Pereira (two extra Intermediate players allowed as there are only three Seniors). Connacht Women’s Junior representatives are Elphin’s Ciara Butler and Avril Coyne and Kilmore’s Nicola Craughwell and Clodagh Sheerin.

Connacht Women’s Squad

While a number of players on the eight original squads in March weren’t available for the rescheduled game in September, a special mention to Kilmore’s Ana Carr who misses out on her place following her injury incurred in the Junior Women’s Semi-final in August. We have no doubt that Ana will be on the next Connacht InterPros team!

Co-captains are Clodagh Sheerin and Hazel Kilduff.

Munster Rounders has no Senior teams and the only Intermediate players are the ladies who line out for St. Senan’s Mixed team, so special allowances had to be made for their squad. The revised date meant a lot of the original players were now unavailable so the new squad is made up of Knockainey player Jacki Hehir; St. Senan’s Back Catcher Dorothy Cullagh; Na Piarsaigh Back Catcher Sarah Stanley and nine of the St. Kieran’s ladies who played in last month’s Junior Women’s All-Ireland. They are Linda Clifford, Stephanie Downes, Gráinne Enright, Siobhán Halligan, Caitríona Hough, Majella O’Connor, Ashling O’Sullivan, Ashley Redmond and Sandra Walsh.

Munster is managed by St. Kieran’s Michael Sheahan and their Captain is Linda Clifford with Dorothy Cullagh as Vice Captain.

So, do we predict a winner?!! Connacht has a lot of talent all over the field. With multiple great batters, their fielding ability is pretty impressive too. Gretta Davis is an excellent pitcher, the Managers are spoiled for choice for a Short Stop with Avril Coyne, Clodagh Naughton and Irene Kaye all exceptional in the position. Helen Gallagher, Noleen Coghlan, Nicola Craughwell and Clodagh Sheerin are all super base minders and both Hazel Kilduff and Jessie Pereira are safe hands outfield. Both Lisa Guilfoyle and Ciara Butler are great Back Catchers and with a panel of 14 there will be plenty of fresh legs for substitutions.

On the other hand, ten of Munster’s panel of twelve have played in an All-Ireland final less than a month ago, nine of them on the winning side, so it’s hard to imagine they’ll be suffering from a lack of confidence in their abilities. With a full selection of infielders and outfielders and multiple Back Catchers from which to choose, Michael Sheahan’s only dilemma will be who to start as Pitcher with the unavailability of Deirdre Ambrose or Louise Kelly. But no doubt one of the panel has a hidden pitching talent we’re unaware of just yet.

So no, we don’t predict any winners, for any of these games. Mostly because it’s practically impossible but also because, like the All-Ireland finals, these games are so special and it’s such an honour and a source of pride to be chosen to represent your province that all we want for these men and women is to go out there, give it their all, enjoy the match(es) and take away very special memories of their achievement. Win or lose, there aren’t many of us can say we played Rounders for our province!

Leinster vs Ulster – 2pm

Our second Women’s semi-final will be between Leinster and Ulster. Leinster’s panel brings together 15 players from six clubs spread over four counties and is made up of Senior and Intermediate players from Glynn Barntown – Pamela Brennan, Liz Fitzgerald, Stephanie Kelly, Sheena King (Captain) and Alisha Reddy; Senior Cúchulainn ladies Amy Kelly, Leah Mullins and Amy Moloney, fellow Carlow Junior players Jen Kelly, Tracey McNally (Vice Captain) and Louise Riddell from Leighlinbridge and Wexford Junior women Deborah Roche and Christine Stone from St. Martin’s. Representing north Leinster are Dublin Metropolitans’ Laura Cuddihy and Skryne’s Karen Lynch.

Managed by The Heath’s Grace Salmon and Serena Lewis, Leinster’s Senior and Intermediate players are a seriously accomplished bunch and with baseminders and infielders from Glynn Barntown and Catchers and Outfielders from Cúchulainn they will form a strong core team. The three Leighlinbridge women all played their part in their team’s path to the Junior Women’s semi-finals this summer while Karen Lynch can pitch and play outfield and Laura Cuddihy is a strong batter and fielder. Again, this is a powerful batting team so opposing outfielders will need to be ready!

But this Ulster team is more than a match for anything the Leinster squad can fire at them. Outfielders like Lisa Flood, Lindsey O’Reilly, Louise McAndrew and Marie Whelan are excellent at catching and getting the ball back infield quickly and strong baseminders like Sharon Ivers, Carol McKeown and Arleen Ramsey will do damage with any ball thrown to them. Manager Shane Dolan will have multiple Pitcher and Catcher options with Louise Byrne, Áine Cahill, Catherine Deery and Lisa Lynch all capable and confident while Laura Hughes at Short Stop would have to be one of Ulster’s strongest assets.

Captained by Erne Eagles’ Lisa Flood, with Carrickmacross Emmets’ Louise Byrne as Vice-Captain, the Ulster squad is also made up of Carrickmacross Emmets Senior, Intermediate and Junior players Aoife Byrne, Laura Hughes, Aisling McDermott and Marie Whelan; fellow Monaghan side Inniskeen Grattans’ players Catherine Deery and Carol McKeown; Cavan ladies Áine Cahill, Sharon Ivers, Lisa Lynch and Louise McAndrew from St. Clare’s and Lindsey O’Reilly of Erne Eagles while Arleen Ramsey of Belfast side Wolfe Tones takes the final Junior slot on the team.

Both sides are very evenly balanced mixes of experienced senior players, capable Intermediate fielders and strong Juniors but will the depth of the Ulster squad, and the expertise of the skilled tactician that is their manager (I promise he didn’t pay me to say that 😉) give them the edge over the multi All-Ireland and All-Star winning, one extra player strong Leinster side? Sunday afternoon will reveal all!

Men’s Competition

And so we move on to the Men’s Competition. Where, unfortunately, we only have one semi-final, as Munster are unable to field a team and have given a walkover to Connacht who go straight into the final. So let’s have a look at the semi-final at 12.15pm where Leinster will take on Ulster.

Leinster vs Ulster – 12.15pm

Ulster come into this game with 10 of their 14 players the proud owners of shiny new gold All-Ireland medals this month. And even though the rumour is that they’ve spent most of the three weeks since 6 September celebrating, they’re still a fairly solid crew of talented and skilled players. Captained by Erne Eagles’ Justin Perrin, with Inniskeen Grattans’ Seán O’Connor filling the Vice Captain role, they are joined by Eagles Gerard Clerkin, Karl Dolan, Paul Mollaghan and Owen Roe O’Reilly, St. Clare’s men Wayne Gerber, Ciarán Gray, PJ Kelly, Chaz Solomons and Barry Walsh and Junior players from Inniskeen Grattans, Trevor Hilliard, and Wolfe Tones, David Mallon and Matthew Mallon.

Managing this team are two legends of the game – Erne Eagles’ Darryl Dolan and Shane Sheridan – so the experience and knowledge is both on the pitch and the sideline. With multiple talented players for every position, it won’t be an easy decision to pick a starting nine, but we have every confidence that these two will work it out!

Their Leinster opponents are managed by Cúchulainn ladies Carmel Moloney and Caroline Waters and their full squad of 15 has players from seven different teams across the province. Junior players are Myshall’s Shane Coburn, PJ Lalor, James Nolan and Eoin Rea as well as Gusserane’s Conor Murphy. Their Intermediate representatives are Dublin Metropolitan’s Carley brothers, Asa and Beau, Raheen’s Eunan Furlong and Emo stars Austin O’Meara and JP Tynan (Vice Captain). The Senior big guns are from both Glynn Barntown – Paul Cooper (Captain), Garry Jordan and Ian White – and Cúchulainn – Pierce Ryan and Peadar Waters. Some talent in that squad and quite a few lads not long off an All-Ireland final pitch either.

While both teams have undeniably strong Senior players, it may well come down to the depth of Intermediate and Junior talent available. As the bigger province, Leinster has a larger pool from which to draw and with both Junior Men’s All-Ireland finalists coming from the province, all five men had notable involvement in the recent final. Ulster has fewer Junior players and they bowed out of the All-Ireland Championship at an earlier stage. However, Ulster’s Intermediate men are all St. Clare’s players and all five of them played a blinder in their recent All Ireland final making it another very evenly balanced contest.

Men’s Final – 2.30pm

And then we’ll have the Final, which will definitely feature Connacht men, so let’s have a look at them and how they might fare. Managed by Mayo men Martin Hoban of Kilmeena and Aidan Lynskey of Breaffy, with Kilmeena’s Stephen Cox acting as Selector, this panel of 15 has a full complement of players from each grade. With Senior men from Breaffy – Mark Jennings, Jamie Murphy and Victor del Rosal;  Kilmeena – Tommy Hoban (Captain) and Michael Glavey’s – Oliver Conway, the top tier of players is very strong and has key positions both infield and outfield covered. Add to this their Intermediate men of Jay Hall, Tomás Kenny, Ajay Kumar, Rory McGarvey and Cathal Creaven (Vice Captain) – all from Galway City Rapparees and the depth of the panel goes up several notches. All of the Rapparees have been playing Senior Men this season and all except Ajay were part of the Intermediate Mixed team which recently won the All-Ireland final. Then we can include the Junior part of the squad which includes more All-Ireland winners Kilmore – represented by Aidan Carr, Breian Carroll, James Jamieson and Mark Harrington and Garrymore’s Fintan Hession and I think we can safely say that we have a balanced, strong and super impressive side.

Connacht Men’s Managers Aidan Lynskey & Martin Hoban

Kind of glad I’m not predicting any of these games as they’re all fairly hard to call. And isn’t that exactly what we’d hoped for from our InterProvincial Tournament? The best of the best from each province – from all grades – fighting it out to be crowned with one of the highest honours in our sport.

Our Referees on Sunday will be The Heath’s Danielle Keane and Michael Dowling and Limekiln’s Áine McLaughlin. A huge thanks to Joe Higgins of Galway City Rapparees for marking the pitches, to Kilmore’s Ana Carr for all her amazing work in designing our social media videos for the team reveals and to Athlone GAA for hosting our event.

Our InterProvincials Tournament couldn’t happen without the hard work and commitment of a lot of people and, while many of them have already been mentioned above, humour me while I thank them here again.

Ulster – Team Managers Darryl Dolan, Shane Dolan & Shane Sheridan, St. Clare’s Louise McAndrew for sorting pitches for training, Carrickmacross Emmets Ronan Kiernan for organising the Men’s team in March for the original date and Ulster Representative Arleen Ramsey for liaising with Ulster GAA to source kits for all players.

Connacht – Team Managers and Selectors Craig Davis, Jenna O’Brien, Gwen Redmond, Caitríona Cox, Martin Hoban, Aidan Lynskey and Stephen Cox and Galway City Rapparees Joe Naughton for arranging pitches for training and for sorting the team to play Connacht Men in their warm-up game.

Leinster – Grace Salmon, Serena Lewis, Carmel Moloney and Caroline Waters for managing teams but especially to Peadar Waters and PJ Lalor for organising, training, selecting, managing and playing!

Munster – Michael Sheahan who coordinated it all from start to finish and Ian Sheehy who worked tirelessly to get a Munster Men’s team sorted.

Ard Chomhairle for their support but especially to the Committee of Paula Doherty, Mark Jennings and Shirley Lennon

And most importantly, to the players. Without these men and women stepping up, coming to InterProvincial trainings sessions and making themselves available for Sunday, we would have no competition so míle buíochas agus buladh bos mór to you all.

The action starts at 12pm and we look forward to seeing you all there!

One final thing – don’t forget the next date in our calendar – Saturday 7 November is our annual All Stars awards night in the Osprey Hotel in Naas. If last year’s event is anything to go by, this won’t be a night to miss! Tickets on sale now from GAA Rounders All-Stars Night 2026 – Universe

GAA Rounders President Paula Doherty with Breaffy’s Mark Jennings and Jamie Murphy at the 2025 All-Stars Night

 

 

 

 

 

GAA Rounders Mixed All-Ireland Finals Previews – 13 September 2026

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We’ve made it lads! We’re at the last of our three weekends of Finals and there’s every chance the best has been saved for last. That’s a lot of pressure!

Both our Women’s and Men’s Days were amazing in every way – close games, excellent catches, fantastic batting and decent enough weather! – but as our USP, our code that marks us apart from any other Gaelic game at adult level and the GAA’s most inclusive sport, our Mixed finals will be a very special day in our calendar. The first year all three Mixed finals have been played on the same day in the same venue, this promises to be a thrilling, fast-paced and excitement-packed day for players, officials and spectators alike.

Moving out of Leinster, our venue for Sunday will be Mallow GAA and we’re very much looking forward to playing in their excellent facilities. With use of the main pitch, with a covered stand and terrace, we’re anticipating some amazing Rounders all day.

Junior Final: Galway City Rapparees vs Kilmore

I really should have told someone in March so you could believe how impressive my future telling skills are, but this was the Junior Mixed final I had hoped to see from before the 2026 season started! Two über-skilled squads with talent to burn on both sides, both highly entertaining to watch and both made up of some of the nicest people you could meet. Having watched, and refereed, both throughout the season, they have only improved as the year went on and are, without a doubt, our two best Junior Mixed sides from the 22 teams which started the year in May.

GAA Rounders President Paula Doherty with Jamie Sharkey and Nicola Craughwell of Kilmore and Mel Mannion and Ajay Kumar of Galway City Rapparees

Kilmore, from Roscommon, topped Mixed Group B winning all six of their games….without needing to ever play five innings. Hitting the knockout stages at the end of July, their quarter-final was against Carlow side Myshall who had also impressed all season. Tight until the fourth innings, Kilmore then found another gear and pulled ahead, going on to win the game 30-12 with a bat in hand.

Kilmore Junior Mixed

This led to a semi-final match-up against Na Piarsaigh of Limerick who had impressed in their quarter-final against Carrickmacross Emmets, winning by the tightest of margins. Having lost their Women’s semi-final to eventual winners St. Kieran’s of Limerick that morning – and having also lost their First Base minder, Ana Carr, to a broken leg and dislocated ankle that morning – the Roscommon side were fired up to ensure that this result went their way. And went their way it did, running out winners on a 16-1 scoreline. On fire that day, Oisín Boland missed nothing and was responsible for six outs from clean catches. A few others helped him out on the day but safe to say Oisín was Player of that Match!

Galway City Rapparees played less matches to get to the knockout stages – their Mixed Group A only had four teams but with three wins in the bag, they were quarter-final bound and met Emo of Laois in Tymon Park. In a fairly clinical display of both batting and fielding skill, they won that game 15-3 with standout performances from Ajay Kumar, Greg Mannion and Cat Carty. Their semi-final pairing was against Monaghan side Inniskeen Grattans who had overcome Leighlinbridge in an exciting and fast-paced quarter-final. Once again, Rapparees hit the ground running and cruised to an 18-7 win with a bat in hand.

Galway City Rapparees Junior Mixed

And now, here we are, with the two top teams facing off in the ultimate challenge to see who is the top Junior Mixed team in Rounders for 2026.

We’re really looking forward to seeing the skill, ability, tactics, game awareness and speed of these players. We can’t wait for the catches – from infielders and outfielders alike. We know we’ll be bowled over (see what I did there!) by the pitchers and the quick reflexes of the back catchers. And we’re expecting top class batting, speedy running and a bit of base stealing! But most of all, we know this will be a display of sportsmanship of the highest level because as well as talent in abundance, these two sides have displayed all year just how sporting and respectful they are – to Referees and their opponents. And win, lose or draw, that’s one of the most important things we could have in an All-Ireland final.

I can’t tell you how excited and honoured I am to be Referee for this game and I’m delighted to be joined by local umpires, St. Kieran’s Michael Sheahan, St. Senan’s Ian Sheehy and Kildimo Pallaskenry’s Hazel Hartigan.

Ádh mór oraibh go léir

Intermediate Final: Emo vs Galway City Rapparees

Nope, not a typo, those Galway City Rapparees will be back again at 1pm in yet another final – three in one year, not too shabby! This time their Intermediate Mixed team will be hoping to take the leap to join their Men in the Senior Ranks in 2027. And standing in their way will be last year’s Intermediate Mixed beaten finalists, Laois’ finest, Emo.

GAA Rounders president Paula Doherty with Intermediate Mixed finalists Tomás Kenny, left, and Alex Stewart of Galway City Rapparees and John Paul Tynan and Claire Hyland of Emo

Since losing out last year, by just one run, to Erne Eagles, Emo have spent this year honing their skills, practicing hard, recruiting a few new players – The Heath’s Austin O’Meara and Aaron Keane – and just doubling down on the great play that got them to last year’s final.

With two geographically split groups in Intermediate Mixed, Emo were drawn against Dublin Metropolitans, Glynn Barntown, Gusserane and Raheen and won all four of their games by at least five runs, setting them up for a semi-final rematch of last year’s final against Erne Eagles. On that August morning in Galway, Emo showed their grit and resilience by winning 17-10 and marching on into the final.

Emo Intermediate Mixed

And what of the Galway Rapparees and their path to the final? In Intermediate Mixed Group B, consisting of Connacht, Munster and Ulster teams they also won all four of their games – against Erne Eagles, Michael Glavey’s, St. Clare’s and St. Senan’s – comprehensively in some cases, and got themselves to a semi-final against Dublin Metropolitans. Another decisive victory (28-6) saw them move one step closer to another title and set up a final against Emo.

Having met last year at the semi-final stages, a game which Emo won by one run, Rapparees will be anxious to overturn that result and take the win and the title. Both sides show excellent game knowledge and we can expect to see clever play, smart batting and some base stealing if infielders are slow.

One of the interesting things about this game is that both teams have very different styles and come at the sport from different angles, but it still has the makings of a very close contest and of being a fine example of how spectacular our game is when played well.

Galway Rapparees Intermediate Mixed

As with the Junior Mixed final, this Intermediate decider will be contested by the top two teams in the country at this level which, on paper, means that we’ll see the best of the best battle it out for the title. In reality what we’ll hopefully see is two teams that really want to play senior next year, 18 players, and substitutes, that want to give their all for their club to take the cup and the honours, and two clubs who have spent an entire year preparing for and working towards this moment showing us just how ready to be part of our 2027 Senior Championship they are.

Ádh mór gach duine…bainigí taitneamh as an cluiche!

Our Intermediate final Referee will be PJ Lalor of Myshall, and he will be assisted by umpires Hazel Hartigan, Michael Sheahan and Niall Sheehy.

And for the final time in these articles I need to recognise and acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the five Club Secretaries of the teams involved in Sunday’s finals for their help and assistance all year. Anyone who hasn’t held the title of Club Secretary really can’t understand the number of hours, the commitment, the patience and tenacity and the sheer determination that keeps them going through an entire season of organising, emailing, WhatsApping, chasing, writing, replying and sometimes just annoying people until they get a response. You – and the 62 other Club Secretaries of our 2026 affiliated clubs  – are the backbone of our organisation and I’m in awe of the amount of work you all do voluntarily, for no other reason than that you love Rounders. But today, my special thanks are extended to Joe, Ruth, Claire, Ciara and Aileen – superstars every one of you!

Senior Mixed Final: Breaffy vs Glynn Barntown

Our Final game of the day, and of the Championship season, will be our Senior Mixed final and the honour of lifting the Dympna Reilly Cup will fall to either the defending Champions, Breaffy of Mayo, or Glynn Barntown of Wexford.

As a wise man once said “you don’t just accidentally show up in the finals”! And he’s right – it takes a lot of hard work and dedication – winter leagues, pre-season strength and conditioning, training all season long, hours of travelling, the highs and lows of winning and losing, injuries, arguments, difficult decisions and a lot of jersey washing! And these teams have seen all that, and more, since April when we started back for 2026.

GAA Rounders president Paula Doherty with Senior Mixed finalists Victor del Rosal and Michelle Hopkins of Breaffy and Aileen Kelly of Glynn Barntown

The year started with seven Senior Mixed teams – from Breaffy in the north west to Glynn Barntown in the south east, Limekiln on the east coast to Kilmeena on the west coast, Carrickmacross Emmets, and Erne Eagles in Ulster and Cúchulainn in south Leinster. With everyone playing everyone else, a lot of miles were driven and 21 games played over three and a half months.

Our semi-finals took place on 23 August in Monaghan GAA Centre of Excellence with the first match being contested by Breaffy and Carrickmacross Emmets.

Unbeaten all year, Breaffy won all their league games. With the exception of their May encounters with Cúchulainn and Glynn Barntown, both of which had tight scorelines, they won by multiple runs and often with a bat or more in hand. Their ability to punish mistakes, spot opportunities and work together as a team is why they are going for their third Senior Mixed title in a row. Champions don’t stay Champions unless they put in the work, continue to develop their skills, develop their squads and show up continuously.

Breaffy Senior Mixed

The Breaffy team who won their semi-final against Carrickmacross Emmets was a tried and tested formula of players who know what to do and how to do it, who can anticipate each other’s moves and know how to win games. Leading from the first innings and adding to their score in each successive at bat they kept Carrickmacross bringing home no more than two runners in any innings and scoreless for the final two. While most of the outs were from clean catches – Colin Cannon, Colm Jordan, Michelle Hopkins, Katie Groonell, Victor del Rosal and John Gibbons all getting in on the action – there were also outs on base – from Mark Jennings and Gráinne Gavin – showing their speed at getting the ball to base.

Glynn Barntown’s route to final was similarly impressive with only their defeat to Breaffy marring their perfect record. Their final scores were mostly tighter but a win is a win! Their semi-final was against Carlow side Cúchulainn and it was a cracker, as we knew it would be. Although the Wexford team lead from the first innings, it was one of those games that always had the potential to turn around and every innings was hard fought, by both sides. Glynn Barntown set down a marker in the first with three up, three out which is the start every team wants. But Cúchulainn made them work for their victory with some spectacular catches and outs on base of their own. At their seventh time to bat, Cúchulainn needed five to draw but with two catches and an out on base Glynn Barntown closed that down within the first four batters and booked their place in Sunday’s final against Breaffy.

Glynn Barntown Senior Mixed

As we’ve seen for the past two Sundays in our Senior Finals, coming into a final as defending Champion brings its own level of pressure and Breaffy will be aware of this. They will also want to complete this three in a row while Glynn Barntown will be anxious to take the title – which they last won in 2019 – back to Wexford.

We know that both teams can produce the goods – we’ve seen how skilful and strategic they can be, we know they can catch balls from the sky, hit sliotars 80m, run fast and throw long, we know they both support their fellow players through good and bad and we’re really looking forward to seeing all that, and more, from 3.30pm on Sunday in Mallow.

Beirigí bua gach duine!

A special final deserves a legendary Referee and we’ve kept the best til last and asked our Vice President Michael Dowling to officiate for this game. Keeping it in The Heath family, his umpires will be Danielle Keane, Serena Lewis and Grace Salmon.

Just a reminder for those of you unable to attend that all three finals will be live streamed on TG4 Sport’s YouTube channel with live commentary for all matches. Coverage will start at 10.50am.

For anyone who can attend, tickets are required and can be purchased at the following link

GAA Rounders Mixed All-Ireland Finals 2026 – Universe

For the last time this year, the very best of luck to all five clubs involved in Sunday’s finals. One last day of top-quality Rounders, one final Championship Sunday of standing pitchside, one last day of sandwiches and coffee in a tent in the wind and rain…what are we all going to do on 20 September?!! Luckily, we have the InterPros to look forward to on 27 September😉

But first, let’s enjoy our day in The Rebel County and all the excitement and thrills of our Mixed All-Ireland Finals Day. For players and managers alike, what we hope for you for Sunday is that you have a great game, that you do yourselves proud, that you leave it all on the pitch and that you show the entire world watching – in person and online – what a great game Rounders is when it’s played by passionate, talented, committed players.

And the last word goes to Babe Ruth – “Never allow the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game”.

GAA Rounders Men’s Finals Day – 6 September 2026 – Review

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Our Women’s Finals Day on 30 August was amazing – so many firsts, three great games, excellent rounders, nail-biting finishes. And I’m sure many people thought there was no way our Men’s Finals Day could equal, let alone surpass, it. Controversial though this might be, I think it just might have!

We always knew our Senior Final would be a showcase game but for the second week in a row, the Junior and Intermediate Finals which preceded them were equally skilful, hard fought and tight.

While Offaly GAA Centre of Excellence isn’t as well-known to Rounders players and fans as NGDC Abbotstown is, it certainly didn’t disappoint as a Finals’ venue. Excellent clubhouse and dressing rooms, use of the main pitch with a stand, ample carparking and a coffee truck onsite!

With all three finals once again being live streamed by TG4 Sport, the day started early to get cameras set up, the sound and PA system in place, mats down and signs up. Even from 9am it was clear that the weather, while dry, was going to cause some difficulties for fielders and batters with a very strong wind blowing in gusts and changing direction during the morning. But at least it wasn’t raining 😉

Junior Final: Gusserane vs Myshall

Our first Men’s team to take to the pitch in Kilcormac was Gusserane from Wexford and they came on in style to Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club! The run-on was lined with children from both teams waving flags and captain Conor Murphy proudly led his side onto the grass, followed minutes later by Shane Coburn and Myshall to the sounds of Sandstorm by Darude. Following team photographs and the coin toss by Referee Mark Jennings, the game started with Myshall fielding.

Gusserane Captain Conor Murphy and Myshall Captain Shane Coburn

Gusserane took the first innings to settle with none of their first five batters getting any further than second base. Myshall managed to get two home in their first batting but two great catches from Morgan Nash Colfer and John Flynn set the tone for the Gusserane outfield for the rest of the game.

Back in to bat for the second time, Gusserane got on the scoresheet with Matthew Flynn and Carel van der Merwe both hitting home base. Myshall answered with another five home, although two super catches from Niall Molloy and Conor Murphy kept the total low and the score at 7-2 to Myshall heading into the third.

Gusserane got three home in this innings, keeping Myshall to the same number of runs. Both pitchers fouled batters out while there were excellent catches from James Nolan, John Michael Nolan, Matthew Flynn and Niall Molloy.

Top of the fourth and Gusserane came to bat with a renewed determination and a plan of attack! With some smart batting, aware base running and lightening speed, they brought eight home. They followed that up with excellent fielding, keeping Myshall scoreless for the first time to head into the final innings with the score 14-10 in the Wexford men’s favour. Only Ned Molloy made it home in the final innings so Gusserane needed to keep Myshall from scoring four, or more.

Pitcher Carel van der Merwe caught the first batter, John Michael Nolan, out but the next two batters got safely on base. Morgan Nash Colfer caught Kevin Farrell out but his hit brought Matthew Roberts home. James Nolan came to bat with two out and hit a perfectly placed ball outfield, bringing Eoin Rea home and getting himself to third base. Shane Roberts’ groundball brought James home, leaving the score 14-13 with a runner on first and PJ Lalor up to bat. With PJ safely moving everyone on, Vice Captain Eolann McDonald came up knowing that getting the two base runners home would secure victory for the Carlow men. Hitting the last good ball short, it was easily picked up by John Flynn and thrown to Kevin Whelan for an out on first, then confidently lobbed back to Matthew Flynn for a cool one-handed catch to ensure no more runs were scored and the victory was Gusserane’s.

To have been ahead and to lose by the narrowest of margins, it would take a heart of stone not to feel for Myshall and how much it hurt that they didn’t get it over the line but with talent like theirs and a squad as strong as they have, we have no doubt that they’ll be back next year and quite likely in another final next season. Standout players for the Carlow side were Eoin Rea at Short Stop, Matthews Roberts at Back Catcher and John Michael Nolan and James Nolan for expert batting.

But Gusserane! Many of these lads knew Myshall’s pain from having been in the same situation after the 2025 Junior Mixed final which they lost to St. Senan’s and the hard work and commitment that they put into their 2026 campaign showed in their resilience and never say die attitude in this final. Congratulations to them on a most deserved win and we really look forward to seeing them joining the ranks of our Intermediate Men’s Championship in 2027. Bualadh bos also to their Managers Mary Power and Keith Molyneux for their skill and time with this team.

Once again our Referees were all provided with a live microphone feed which helped spectators and those watching the live feed to keep up with calls and outs. Referee Mark Jennings was assisted by Michael Slevin and JP Tynan of Emo and Gretta Davis of Elphin as base umpires. The match officials’ pick for Player of the Match was Gusserane pitcher Carel van der Merwe, who had a fantastic day pitching in very difficult conditions. He was also responsible for a great out from a catch and got home twice.

Intermediate Final: St. Clare’s vs St. Senan’s

If the opening game of the day was a cracker, we were all ready for this game to really keep us on the edge of our seats. Last year’s Junior Men’s winners, and with only one season at Intermediate under their belts, St. Senan’s, taking on the mighty St. Clare’s from Cavan with their years of experience and multiple All-Stars gained over a lifetime of playing Rounders.

Jason Cawley of St. Clare’s and Kevin Doody of St. Senan’s

Winning the toss, St. Clare’s elected to field and, in a slight change from normal service, PJ Kelly headed out to Second Base, leaving his usual Back Catcher position to Jason Cawley. So far, so unusual but we put faith in Managers Shane Dolan and Louise McAndrew and the process!

Declan Rattigan came up to bat first for St. Senan’s and in a display of very smart fielding, pitcher Darragh Johnston got the ball to Steve Deyarmin on First to get the first out of the game and the start that St. Clare’s were looking for. With the next two batters making it to base, St. Senan’s Captain Kevin Doody came to bat and hit the ball straight into the hands of Chaz Solomon, thereby stopping any advancement of the runners on base. Next up was Niall Sheehy whose hit went to Short Stop Wayne Gerber and with another fast throw to Steve Daryarmin, secured the third out and no runs scored.

St. Clare’s came to bat meaning business. Two excellent catches from Dean Hogan outfield and one from Ian Sheehy on Third showed St. Senan’s ability to field but the Cavan men batted smart and got nine runs home in that first innings leaving the score 9-0 going into the second.

More excellent fielding with clean catches from Jason Cawley and Wayne Gerber as well as an out on second (still trusting the process!) led to the Limerick lads being contained to one run home. St. Senan’s fielding was excellent in this innings with only Barry Walsh and Bryan Dolan getting home.

The third and fourth innings saw St. Senan’s get more home than St. Clare’s each time and, heading into the final innings the score was 19-12. Needing to get at least seven home the pressure was on St. Senan’s for their final turn at bat. Batter one, Kevin Doody, made it to base but Batter two, Niall Sheehy was out on second. There followed four runs home but then John Hanlon’s ball to left outfield was expertly caught by Ciarán Gray. The following two batters made it on base and JP Mulvihill came to bat knowing that getting himself around the bases would level the score. Unfortunately for him, his hit didn’t go far enough and was thrown back to Catcher Jason Cawley who tagged the base and prevented another run being scored.

While St. Senan’s were visibly disappointed with the outcome of the game, they should take heart from the fact that getting to a final in any team’s first year at a division is difficult and should not be underestimated for the amount of time, hard work and talent is required to achieve that. We have no doubt that they will have learned from their first year and will hit the ground running in typical St. Senan’s determined fashion and we look forward to seeing them back in 2027.

St. Senan’s Intermediate Men’s Team

To Shane and Louise…sorry for ever doubting the process! Clearly that’s a magic formula and was the way to go. Let’s be honest, experienced talented players like PJ and Jason can move around infield and play anywhere and make a difference and St. Clare’s has players like that in abundance. Chaz Solomons on Third Base is a workhorse while Steve Deyarmin had multiple outs on First. Outfield, both Bryan Dolan and Ciarán Gray had a great day while Player of the Match, Wayne Gerber, was responsible for outs and got home three times. And let’s not forget the hardest job on the pitch on a breezy day like yesterday – Pitcher Darragh Johnston played a blinder and was a hugely important part of the success of the team.

St. Clare’s following the Intermediate Men’s Final Win

St. Clare’s have been keen to get back to Senior Rounders for some time now and it’s been lovely watching their journey to that place over this season. We look forward to seeing how they get on in 2027 and wish them well!

Referee for this game was The Heath’s Philip Keane and his umpires—also from The Heath—were Danielle Keane, Serena Lewis, and Grace Salmon.

Senior Final: Carrickmacross Emmets vs Erne Eagles

Our final, highly anticipated, game of the day was our Senior Final between reigning Champions Carrickmacross Emmets of Monaghan and Cavan side Erne Eagles. A rematch of the 2025 Senior Men’s Final, Erne Eagles had taken the title in 2024 and we were expecting a dogfight to see who would come out on top for 2026.

Erne Eagles Senior Men

Winning the toss, Erne Eagles elected to field and first batter up, Colm Kiernan, was out on first base following a quick throw from Short Stop Mick Cullen to Shane Sheridan on First Base. Second batter up, Declan Finnegan, made it to base but Oran Kiernan behind him fouled out while Ronan Kiernan’s hit was caught by Justin Perrin outfield and fired back to Damien McArdle to prevent Declan Finnegan’s run in. After an almost textbook perfect first innings at field, Eagles came to bat and managed to get two home. Excellent catches from Colm Kiernan and Oran Kiernan as well as an out on base on Third showed just how dangerous the Monaghan men can be when they’re fielding well.

The second innings saw no change to the scoreline but there were some more impressive catches for outs from Mick Cullen, Shane Sheridan, Justin Perrin, Colm Kiernan and Declan Finnegan as well as an out on First Base for Frank Duffy.

Things started to get a bit more exciting in Innings Three as Carrick got six home to be followed by Eagles pulling away more by getting nine home. The fourth was low scoring with some great fielding from both sides – outfield catches, a foul-out and Tag by Darryl Dolan, a super back catch from Damien McArdle and a great catch from Gerard Clerkin.

Into the fifth and Carrick got nobody home while Eagles cranked it up a gear at bat bringing 12 home, before Barry Lambe caught a pop-up from Mick Cullen to bring the innings to a close.

In the sixth, Carrickmacross got Dillon Carolan and Frank Duffy home but elected to bat on into the seventh. Batters two, three and four were all caught or fouled out and the game ended 24(6)-10(7) to Erne Eagles.

While the scoreline shows a gap, the actual game was tight enough for most of the innings and doesn’t accurately reflect the excellent fielding and batting we observed on the day. Justin Burns on Third for Carrick literally put his body on the line multiple times to block balls while Colm Kiernan had two split second reflexes back catches for outs. Carrickmacross should be proud of their performance – it’s never easy to defend a title, it’s even harder when you’re facing an opponent like Erne Eagles with the depth of squad and number of excellent players they have to call on. This year, the victory was deservedly theirs – who knows where the Corn Aodh Rua will be headed in September 2027?

For Eagles, the stars on the day were multiple – the statistics reflect that every player except one contributed to an out or a run. That is something that the Cavan men should be very proud of and the very definition of how a team should work. A special mention to the amazing pitcher/catcher duo of Darryl Dolan and Damien McArdle who make that level of skill, talent and game knowledge look easy. We all know that’s not always the case and their performances yesterday were phenomenal when weather conditions and the pressure of an All-Ireland final are taken into account.

Referee Danielle Keane (The Heath) took control of a very well-run and amicable game. Her umpires were Philip Keane, Serena Lewis and Grace Salmon of The Heath. Their pick for Player of the Match was Damien McArdle, who had some outstanding catches at Back Catcher as well as assisting outs on base and getting home four times. The final anthem of the day was sung by Niamh Duffy.

Special Guests & Thanks

In the stand were supporters of all six finals teams. It was lovely to see the St. Clare’s lads stick around to support their fellow County team, Erne Eagles. We were also joined by future stars from both Carrickmacross Emmets and Erne Eagles as well as Clontuskert in Galway who took part in Go Games demonstration games before the Senior game started. We hope they enjoyed their time in Kilcormac and we’re very grateful to them and their parents for making the journey to be with us.

We were delighted to welcome GAA Handball President Kevin Cooke and we hope he had an enjoyable day watching Rounders.

GAA Rounders President Paula Doherty with GAA Handball President Kevin Cooke

All three games were live streamed on TG4 Sport’s YouTube Channel by Click Zoom with commentary from Aidan Carr and Shirley Lennon. Brady Sound & Lighting supplied the excellent background music as well as the PA system to allow our Referees to be heard and our MC – the always excellent Craig Davis – to introduce our teams and keep spectators updated on the score. Karl Gormley was on hand to photograph the day and none of it would have been possible without the assistance of the Offaly GAA Centre of Excellence manager Christy Todd.

Huge thanks to the following who made sure the day went off without a hitch; Ana Carr, Craig Davis, Gretta Davis, Paula Doherty, Michael Dowling, Mag Doyle, Mark Jennings, Séamus Keegan, and Shirley Lennon.

Up Next: Mixed Finals Day!

We have one more amazing Sunday of Rounders Finals to come and it will take place on Sunday 13 September in Mallow GAA, Cork.

Schedule for Sunday:

  • 11am (Junior Mixed Final): Galway City Rapparees vs Kilmore (Roscommon)
  • 1pm (Intermediate Mixed Final): Emo (Laois) vs Galway City Rapparees
  • 3.30pm (Senior Mixed Final): Breaffy (Mayo) vs Glynn Barntown (Wexford)

Previews for all three matches will be on our website later in the week.

Two spectacular weekends done but is the best yet to come? One thing is certain – we’ll all be suffering from Rounders Withdrawal Symptoms on Monday 14 September so the advice is to get yourselves to Mallow to make the most of the last day of our 2026 Championship!

Link to buy tickets for Mixed Finals Day GAA Rounders Mixed All-Ireland Finals 2026 – Universe

For anyone unable to make it to Mallow, all three games will be live streamed on TG4 Sport’s YouTube channel at the following links

Junior Cluiche Corr | Cluiche Ceannais Measctha Sóisir – Galway City Rapparees v Kilmore

Intermediate Cluiche Corr | Cluiche Ceannais Measctha Idirmheánach – Emo v Galway City Rapparees

Senior Cluiche Corr | Cluiche Ceannais Measctha Sinsir – Breaffy v Glynn Barntown

 

GAA Rounders Men’s All-Ireland Previews – 6 September 2026

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As we approach the middle weekend of our trio of Finals for 2026, the excitement and nerves are peaking – the bar has been raised pretty high after our Women’s Finals Day, the expectation is for three great games, a day of brilliant Rounders accompanied by an amazing atmosphere and some outstanding play and we know our Men’s finalists won’t disappoint.

We’re moving venues this weekend to Offaly – a county that is this year, for the first time, hosting two prestigious days of Rounders. On 9 August our Junior Semi-finals took place in Edenderry GAA and this Sunday Offaly GAA Centre of Excellence, Kilcormac will host our most important day of the year in Men’s Rounders – our Junior, Intermediate and Senior All-Ireland Finals.

Our semi-finals and finals this year are moving around the country to give all our clubs the chance to experience a Finals Day near them and we hope that lots of our players and supporters use the opportunity to travel to a midlands venue to experience a Finals Day that promises to showcase our Men’s game at all three levels.

Junior Final: Gusserane vs Myshall – 11am

Our Junior Women’s final was all-Munster, our Intermediate Women and Junior Mixed finals both feature two Connacht teams, our Senior Men will be all-Ulster and, keeping things provincially equal, our Junior Men’s game is contested by two south Leinster teams.

GAA Rounders President Paula Doherty with Junior Men’s finalists PJ Lalor of Myshall, Carlow, and Mark Molloy of Gusserane, Wexford

Wexford side Gusserane have been impressive all season, only losing one league match – to Myshall. Their other three games were won with a bat in hand and, as the group runners-up, they qualified for a quarter-final against Inniskeen Grattans of Monaghan on 25 July in Tymon Park. In a very hard fought, close contest they didn’t have it all their own way. Gusserane were winning after the second innings, but Inniskeen had a great run in the third to pull two ahead. The Wexford men brought seven home in the final two innings and kept Inniskeen runs to only three more. Impressive Gusserane play from Conor Murphy, Matthew Flynn, Morgan Nash Colfer and Carel van der Merwe meant they emerged 31-29 winners and set up a semi-final contest against Galway City Rapparees in Edenderry.

Unbeaten all year, Rapparees were favourites to win this game but smart fielding from Ned Molloy, John Flynn and Matthew Flynn, and impressive batting from Niall Molloy, Conor Flynn, Morgan Nash Colfer and Matthew Flynn saw Gusserane lead from the first innings and open the gap further with each time at bat. The final score was 25(4)-11(5).

Myshall’s path since the league games has been shorter. As group leaders, they qualified straight to semi-finals and met Dublin side Na Gaeil Nua in Edenderry. Again, leading from the start, the Carlow men impressed with excellent fielding from Shane Coburn on Second Base and Catcher Matthew Roberts and super base running from Matthew Roberts, James Nolan, PJ Lalor and Eolann McDonald meant that they took the game 29-18 with a bat in hand.

Our final will be contested by two very well-matched sides with talent across the pitch – outfielders, baseminders and pitchers are all strong and tactical. However, what’s very exciting is how well both teams can bat and base run. And if the two Back Catchers – both called Matthew and both extremely good at what they do – bring their A game on Sunday, we can expect to see lots of outs at home base and on first.

Our Junior Men’s final will be refereed by Breaffy’s Mark Jennings and his umpires will be Gretta Davis (Elphin) and Emo’s Michael Slevin and JP Tynan.

We know that our two Junior Men’s Finalists can give us an entertaining, close, hard-fought battle and we look forward to them showing the supporters and those watching on our TG4 Sport Live Stream just how skilled our Junior Men are and just how exciting our sport is when played at this level.

Ádh mór oraibh go léir

Intermediate Final: St. Clare’s vs St. Senan’s – 1pm

Junior title decided, it will be time for our Intermediate finalists to take it up a notch and show us why they deserve to play in our Senior Championship next year.

GAA Rounders president Paula Doherty with Intermediate Men’s finalists Barry Walsh of St Clare’s, Cavan, left, and Kevin Doody of St Senan’s, Limerick

St. Senan’s won the Junior All-Ireland Men’s final in 2025 and only twelve months later are contesting an Intermediate final, which just shows the level of hard work and dedication these Limerick men have put in since that win. St. Clare’s made it to an All-Ireland semi-final in 2025, losing out to eventual winners Galway City Rapparees, and have taken it one step further this year and made the final. Both teams have worked hard this year and want to win – but only one can take home the trophy and the title of Intermediate Men’s All-Ireland winners 2026.

St. Clare’s topped the table with four wins from six, only losing to Kilmore and St. Senan’s in the group stages. Their semi-final against Kilmore saw them rack up 11 runs in the second innings, leaving them 15-4 ahead going into the third. A scoreless third and a good fourth innings for Kilmore meant it was 16-11 at the top of the final innings. St. Clare’s batted first and only got one home, but their defensive play was good with excellent catches for outs by Ciarán Gray and Antonio Larrochia and an out on First Base to leave the final score 16-12 and a place in the final booked.

St. Senan’s league campaign had mixed results with two wins – over Kilmore and St. Clare’s – a draw – with Emo – and two losses – to Kilmeena and Dublin Metropolitans. Their semi-final in Galway against Laois side, Emo, with whom they had drawn the previous month, meant that it was hard to predict which way this semi would go. With no more than one run in it until the fourth innings – and the lead switching between the two teams – St. Senan’s managed to bring four home to open their lead to 15-11. In an exciting fifth innings, Emo matched this score and St. Senan’s came in to bat for the final time, needing just one run to book their spot in the final. Declan Rattigan was first up and got safely on base. The next two batters were caught out leaving it very tense when John Hanlon came to bat. He made it safely to base as well, leaving Senol Yamac all to do to get a runner home. His hit was caught by JP Tynan but it gave enough time for Declan Rattigan to safely run home and secure the victory.

St. Senan’s Intermediate Men

Both finalists met during the group stages and, while St. Senan’s came out on top that day in May (wining in Tymon Park by two runs), a lot has happened since then and a lot of games have been played, training sessions have been had and lessons have been learned. St. Clare’s have three very skilled and experienced players in PJ Kelly, Bryan Dolan and Jason Cawley as well as lots of talent in their squad with outfielders like Ciarán Gray and Barry Walsh and infielders such as Chaz Solomons and Darragh Johnston. St. Senan’s also boasts a mix of experience – Ian and Niall Sheehy, John Hanlon and Stephen Lynch – and new talent like Euan Sheehy and Declan Rattigan as well as excellent fielders and batters like Kevin Doody, JP Mulvihill, Dean Hogan and Dean McCarthy. If both teams can play their best Rounders, keep calm and composed and take their scores and their outs, this will be an excellent game between two very well-matched, on the cusp of being Senior, teams and we look forward to a great display of our sport from 1pm on Sunday.

Ádh mór gach duine…bainigí taitneamh as an cluiche!

Our Intermediate final Referee will be Philip Keane of The Heath, ably assisted by fellow The Heath players Danielle Keane, Serena Lewis and Grace Salmon as his umpires.

Once again, I can’t write this without thanking all six teams’ Club Secretaries for their help and assistance all year – and especially while I’ve been annoying them 24/7 over the past two weeks! Míle buíochas Mairéad, Anita, Louise, Ian, Lindsey and Ronan!

Senior Final: Carrickmacross Emmets vs Erne Eagles – 3.30pm

And, in the final game of the day in Offaly, and a rematch of the 2025 Senior Men’s All-Ireland Final, two Ulster teams will take to the pitch to battle it out for the Corn Aodh Rua. Resident in Monaghan for the past twelve months, and in Cavan for the year before that, this cup is getting very comfortable living in Ulster – but which of the Drumlin counties will be taking it home on Sunday evening?

GAA Rounders president Paula Doherty with Senior Men’s finalists Damien McArdle of Erne Eagles, Cavan, left, and Oran Kiernan of Carrickmacross Emmets, Monaghan

Unbeaten all year, Erne Eagles have won every game by at least five runs – and often with a bat or more in hand – making their cruise to the final look effortless. But this would fail to take into account the amount of hard work, effort and dedication these Cavan men have put into their 2026 campaign and their desire to avenge last year’s final which they lost by one run to Carrickmacross Emmets. Having Darryl Dolan back as pitcher has undoubtedly made a big difference to the Mullahoran side but everyone on the squad has played their part in ensuring that this year’s wins were achieved. Baseminders such as Shane Sheridan, Gerard Clerkin and Karl Dolan are accurate and composed, catchers Paul Mollaghan and Damien McArdle quick and exact, outfielders Owen Roe O’Reilly, Nathan Loughnane, Justin Perrin and Dylan McKeever secure outs and throw to base with consistency and skill. And the whole team works together to ensure constant communication and working towards a common goal.

Erne Eagles Senior Men

One of the best places to be on any pitch is as a base umpire. None of the pressure of being a Referee and the best seat in the house to observe play and the interactions between fielders. I had the pleasure of umpiring the Erne Eagles vs Galway City Rapparees semi-final on 16 August and it was clear that these lads are a unit, they work for each other and the good of the team and, unless it was all a really good act, they seem to like each other and get on well too! I also umpired the Erne Eagles vs Breaffy Women’s semi-final that same day and got the exact same vibe so I’m going to say it’s part of the ethos of the club which filters through to every team from underage right up to senior.

Carrickmacross Emmets come into this game as reigning Champions and that brings its own level of pressure. However, these lads are well used to that sort of pressure and it’s unlikely to cause them many sleepless nights this week. With only two games lost at league stages – to Breaffy and Erne Eagles – Carrickmacross improved as the season progressed and finished the league with a 25(3)-12(5) win over Glynn Barntown in Wexford, ensuring that confidence was high for their semi-final against Mayo side Breaffy. Turning the result of their earlier encounter on its head, the Monaghan men took the win 12(7)-4(7) with some excellent batting from Colm Kiernan, Barry Lambe and Frank Duffy. Fielding stars that day included Ronan Kiernan – with three catches for outs and involvement in a further two outs on base, Short Stop Paddy Bermingham, Frank Duffy on First Base with six outs and Justin Burns on Third Base involved in five outs. The Carrick team is a tried and tested formula of players who know their positions, the game and each other. They play seamlessly and well and can be relied upon to produce excellent displays at just the right time.

Not unlike Erne Eagles, the support from within the entire Carrickmacross Club – from Club Chairman Colm Birdy down to the small flag wavers who will cheer the players onto the pitch – is remarkable and shows just how much of a community Rounders creates within towns and villages across the country. Irrespective of which team takes the Corn Aodh Rua on Sunday, the win will mean everything to people across the entire club, and this is one of the special things about the GAA in general, but Rounders in particular. We saw it last week with St. Kieran’s, Galway City Rapparees and Limekiln‘s wins and the joy it brought to supporters and family members as much as to the players on the pitch. And we’ll see it again this weekend…and this is why we all spend wet Sundays and muddy midweek evenings playing and training and driving the country to compete in and watch this addictive game that we all love.

Beirigí bua a bhuachaillí!

The honour of refereeing this Senior Final will go to The Heath’s Danielle Keane and her umpires will be her brother Philip Keane (returning the umpiring favour!) and fellow The Heath players Serena Lewis and Grace Salmon.

Just a reminder for those of you unable to attend that all three finals will be live streamed on TG4 Sport’s YouTube channel with live commentary for all matches. Coverage will start at 10.50am.

For anyone who can attend, tickets are required and can be purchased at the following link GAA Rounders Men’s All-Ireland Finals 2026 – Universe

Finally, the very best of luck to all six clubs involved in Sunday’s finals. Bígí fíor as bhur ghnóthachtáil and enjoy the day! We can’t wait for another day of top-quality Rounders and the excitement of a September All-Ireland Finals Sunday – remember them?!! 😉

See you all in Offaly!

 

GAA Rounders All-Ireland Women’s Final Review – 30 August 2026

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Sunday 30 August was a remarkable for GAA Rounders in many ways. It was our first ever Women’s All-Ireland Finals Day: one Senior team was going for a record-matching five-in-a-row; one Senior team barely made the closing date for entering; two years ago both Intermediate finalists were playing Junior rounders; and one of our Junior finalists was newly formed for this season.

Added to that, our Women’s final presentations were being made by our first ever female GAA Rounders President. And added again was the first time all nine of our finals would be live streamed on TG4 Sport with full commentary. The build-up to the day was fantastic, the media coverage – social, print, and radio – was more than ever seen before, and the excitement was evident in the days leading up to the finals.

Although weather forecasts had predicted a wet, miserable day with rain threatening to make playing conditions poor, the day started bright and sunny. While the sun disappeared early enough, the rain held off for large portions of the day, which was very welcome! With players sporting their green GAA Rounders 2026 wristbands, a full guestlist of invited guests, and over 200 tickets sold, the day promised to be colourful, loud, and full of excitement.

Junior Final: St. Kieran’s vs St. Senan’s

At 10.40am, with children from both clubs involved in the Junior Final lining the entrance to the pitch waving their sides’ flags, and to the strains of Limerick’s finest—The Cranberries’ Dreams – Emma Galvin led her St. Kieran’s team onto Pitch 1 Abbotstown. Followed shortly afterwards by Kyra Hogan and St. Senan’s – to Free From Desire by Gala—the noise level went up a notch and stayed that way for the rest of the day’s proceedings. After team photographs were taken, the anthem was sung by Máire Dineen of St. Kieran’s and proceedings got underway.

Junior Women’s Captains Kyra Hogan (St. Senan’s) and Emma Galvin (St. Kieran’s)

Winning the toss, St. Kieran’s elected to field, and the first innings for both teams was a settling period where nerves got the better of players a few times and catches or outs that would never have been missed in training were fumbled. That said, both teams got through their full batting order and scored four runs each.

In to bat for the second time, St. Senan’s managed to get another four runs on the board, while excellent fielding meant that they held St. Kieran’s scoreless, going into the third with a four-run lead. However, the St. Kieran’s ladies doubled down on their fielding and got three of the first four batters out, then stormed into bat and brought six home, leaving the score 10-8 in their favour.

In their penultimate batting innings, St. Senan’s were once again held scoreless, returning the favour to St. Kieran’s at bat, meaning that St. Senan’s went into their final bat needing at least two to draw the game. It wasn’t to be, with only pitcher Louise Kelly managing to get home before the third out, leaving the final score 10-9 to St. Kieran’s.

Junior Final Referee Jay Hall presents the match ball to Player of the Match Sandra Walsh of St. Kieran’s

The game was refereed – for the first time with a live microphone feed which helped spectators follow along with the ball calls and outs – by Galway City Rapparees’ Jay Hall, with umpires Áine McLaughlin and Ciarán Weldon of Limekiln and Justin Perrin of Erne Eagles. The match officials’ pick for Player of the Match was St. Kieran’s Centre Outfielder Sandra Walsh, who had some fantastic catches and got home twice.

Intermediate Final: Elphin vs Galway City Rapparees

At 1pm, and with a change of direction on the pitch to protect the grass, it was time for our Intermediate Final. After just one season at the grade, last year’s Junior Final runners-up Elphin took on Galway City Rapparees.

Elphin Intermediate Women run onto the pitch before the Intermediate Final

Batting first, Elphin, in a great display of base-running bravery, got one runner – Avril Coyne – home.  Rapparees went one better and got two on the scoreboard in their first innings. What followed for the next three innings was the highly unusual situation where neither side got anyone home, and we went into the final innings with the same score as we had at the bottom of the first: 2-1 to Rapparees.

With some smart batting and tactical running, Elphin got two runners home, leaving Rapparees needing one to force the game to extra innings or two to win. With bases loaded, Jessie Pereira stepped up to bat and sent the ball out over first base to bring two home and win the game for the Galway side.

Galway City Rapparees Intermediate Women

Referee for this game was Erne Eagles’ Darryl Dolan and his umpires – also from Erne Eagles – were Shane Sheridan, Gerard Clerkin, and Paul Mollaghan. Darryl’s Player of the Match, for her excellent double out with a clean catch and throw to second to get an out on base, was Caitríona Carty. Our Intermediate Final Anthem singer was Galway City Rapparees’ Jay Hall.

Senior Final: Breaffy vs Limekiln

Our final game of the day was our Senior Final between reigning Champions Breaffy of Mayo and Dublin side Limekiln. Breaffy have won the CJ Haughey trophy for the past four years in a row and were aiming for a record-breaking five-in-a-row to match Castlebar and Rathdowney. Limekiln, meanwhile, weren’t even sure they had a team for this year’s Championship until the closing date! Both sides had good league campaigns, with Breaffy winning all their games while Limekiln’s only loss was to Breaffy (they also drew with Erne Eagles).

Senior Final Referee AnnMarie Brennan with Michelle Hopkins of Breaffy and Emma Hudson of Limekiln

Captains Emma Hudson and Michelle Hopkins led their teams onto the pitch to great support and colour, and having won the toss, Breaffy elected to field first. They took an early 5-2 lead with a strong performance in the first innings, both batting and fielding. Both sides scored two in the second innings and, in a repeat of the Intermediate game’s third innings, no runs were scored due to some tight fielding from both sides.

The fourth innings was where the gap started to close, with Breaffy only managing to get Short Stop Gráinne Gavin home while Limekiln’s three former Kevin’s players – Serena Costelloe, Erica Meslin, and Merilin Neiland – all sprinted home to leave the scores level at 10 all going into the fifth.

While Breaffy scored two runs in the fifth, Limekiln only got one home, and so Breaffy went into the sixth innings again with a slight lead. However, the sixth was the innings that made all the difference for Limekiln, bringing five home, to Breaffy’s two, and giving them a four-run lead. Breaffy’s Helen Gallagher and Michelle Hopkins both managed to get home in the seventh before the third out, but it was too little and Limekiln took the win and the title of All-Ireland Senior Women’s Champions 2026.

Referee AnnMarie Brennan (Cúchulainn) officiated with her umpires PJ Lalor of Myshall, Justin Perrin of Erne Eagles, and Leah Mullins of Cúchulainn. Their pick for Player of the Match was Emma Johnson of Limekiln, who had some outstanding catches at Left Outfield. The final anthem of the day was sung by Dearbhla Lennon.

Limekiln -All Ireland Senior Women’s Champions 2026

Special Guests & Thanks

In the stand were supporters of all six finals teams, players from Nobber Rounders in Meath (who won the Facebook competition for tickets to attend the Finals), and our invited guests:

  • Camogie Association President Brian Molloy and Ard Stiúrthóir Karen Dessain-Gelinet
  • LGFA President Trina Murray and CEO Lyn Savage
  • Active Disability Ireland CEO Brenda O’Donnell
  • Author and Podcast Host Sarah McDevitt
  • Nora Stapleton, Director with Sport Ireland
  • Former President of the Camogie Association, Phyllis Breslin
  • Former Ard Stiúrthóir of the Camogie Association, Sheila Wallace

GAA Rounders President Paula Doherty with Camogie Association President Brian Molloy and LGFA President Trina Murray

All three games were live streamed on TG4 Sport’s YouTube Channel by Click Zoom with commentary from Eddie Healy, Emma Perrin, and Shirley Lennon. Brady Sound & Lighting supplied the excellent background music as well as the PA system to allow our Referees to be heard and our MC to introduce our teams and keep spectators updated on the score. Karl Gormley was on hand to photograph every moment, and we look forward to seeing his record of the day.

Huge thanks to the following Ard Chomhairle, Juvenile Committee, and club members, without whose help the day would not have run as smoothly as it did: Aidan Carr, Craig Davis, Paula Doherty, Michael Dowling, Mag Doyle, Séamus Keegan, PJ Lalor, Shirley Lennon, and Carmel Moloney.

Up Next: Men’s Finals Day!

And the best bit is that we get to do it all over again next Sunday, when our Men’s All-Ireland Finals take place in Offaly GAA Centre of Excellence, Kilcormac from 11am!

Schedule for Sunday:
  • 11am (Junior Men’s Final): Gusserane (Wexford) vs Myshall (Carlow)
  • 1pm (Intermediate Men’s Final): St. Clare’s (Cavan) vs St. Senan’s (Limerick)
  • 3.30pm (Senior Men’s Final): Carrickmacross Emmets (Monaghan) vs Erne Eagles (Cavan)

Previews for all three matches will be on our website later in the week – but one thing is for sure, the lads have a lot to live up to in order to match the spectacular Rounders, the brilliant atmosphere, and the amazing day we all had in Abbotstown on Sunday!

Link to buy tickets for Men’s Finals Day GAA Rounders Men’s All-Ireland Finals 2026 – Universe

Link to buy tickets for Mixed Finals Day GAA Rounders Mixed All-Ireland Finals 2026 – Universe

 

Historic First for GAA Rounders – Croke Park Championship Launch

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GAA Rounders Championship Launch – 26 August 2026

In a historic first, GAA Rounders launched our All-Ireland Championship at Croke Park on Wednesday 26 August 2026. After a successful season which commenced on 19 April and has run all summer, the 103 teams who entered the Championship have been whittled down to the final 18 who will contest All-Ireland finals over the next three Sundays.

 

Players from all 18 finalist clubs were in attendance as were Uachtarán CLG Jarlath Burns and Uachtarán GAA Rounders Paula Doherty.

This marks the start of another first where we will have three weekends of finals starting on Sunday 30 August in NGDC Abbotstown with our three Women’s finals – Junior, Intermediate and Senior – followed on Sunday 6 September by our three Men’s finals in Offaly GAA Centre of Excellence, Kilcormac and finishing on 13 September with our three Mixed finals in Mallow GAA, Cork

In another landmark event for our organisation, all nine finals will be live streamed on TG4 Sport’s YouTube channel, with live commentary. All finals will be available on GAA Rounders YouTube channel after the matches.

 

Key Fixtures Include:

Sunday 30 August, NGDC Abbotstown, Dublin 15

  • Junior Women’s Final (11am): St. Kieran’s (Limerick) vs St. Senan’s (Limerick)
  • Intermediate Women’s Final (1pm): Elphin (Roscommon) vs Galway City Rapparees (Galway)
  • Senior Women’s Final (3.30pm): Breaffy (Mayo) vs Limekiln (Dublin)

    • GAA Rounders president Paula Doherty with Senior Women’s finalists Emma Hudson of Limekiln, Dublin, left, and Michelle Hopkins of Breaffy, Mayo

     

    Sunday 6 September, Offaly GAA Centre of Excellence, Offaly

  • Junior Men’s Final (11am): Gusserane (Wexford) vs Myshall (Carlow)
  • Intermediate Men’s Final (1pm): St. Clare’s (Cavan) vs St. Senan’s (Limerick)
  • Senior Men’s Final (3.30pm): Carrickmacross Emmets (Monaghan) vs Erne Eagles (Cavan)

  • GAA Rounders president Paula Doherty with Senior Men’s finalists Damien McArdle of Erne Eagles, Cavan, left, and Oran Kiernan of Carrickmacross Emmets, Monaghan

Sunday 13 September, Mallow GAA, Cork

  • Junior Mixed Final (11am): Galway City Rapparees (Galway) vs Kilmore (Roscommon)
  • Intermediate Mixed Final (1pm): Emo (Laois) vs Galway City Rapparees (Galway)
  • Senior Mixed Final (3.30pm): Breaffy (Mayo) vs Glynn Barntown (Wexford)

GAA Rounders president Paula Doherty with Senior Mixed finalists, from left, Victor del Rosal of Breaffy, Mayo, Aileen Kelly of Glynn Barntown, Wexford, and Michelle Hopkins of Breaffy, Mayo

“Today’s launch in Croke Park marks the beginning of one of the most exciting periods in the GAA Rounders calendar said Paula Doherty, Uachtarán GAA Rounders. It is a wonderful opportunity to bring together players, volunteers, officials and the wider Gaelic Games family as we look ahead to three exciting weekends of All-Ireland Finals competition.

Reaching an All-Ireland Final is a significant achievement, and I want to congratulate every club, team and volunteer who has helped make this stage of the season possible. We look forward to welcoming supporters to what promises to be three outstanding weekends of competition and celebration.”

GAA Rounders president Paula Doherty and Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael Jarlath Burns with Women finalists, back row, from left, Emma Hudson of Limekiln, Dublin, Linda Clifford of St Kieran’s, Limerick, and front row, from, left, Clodagh Naughton of Galway City Rapparees, Galway, Georgina McDermott of Elphin, Roscommon, and Kyra Hogan of St Senan’s, Limerick.

Uachtarán CLG Jarlath Burns said: “The growth in the numbers playing GAA Rounders is a really exciting development for the sport. It is not only a brilliant, skilful game to play and watch, but an opportunity for our clubs to really embrace the manifesto of a GAA Where We All Belong and champion inclusivity. For more than 25 years TG4 have done so much for the development of Gaelic games through their exceptional coverage, and I am delighted that they will add these 2026 Rounders All-Ireland Finals to their schedule and look forward to the enhanced promotion this will bring. Go n-eirí an tadh libh go leir.”

GAA Rounders president Paula Doherty with players from Galway City Rapparees, Galway, back row, Tomás Kenny, left, and Alex Stewart, right and front row, from left, Ajay Kumar, Mel Mannion, and Clodagh Naughton

Tickets for all finals days are available now via Universe

Women’s Finals – 30 August 2026

https://www.universe.com/events/gaa-rounders-womens-all-ireland-finals-2026-tickets-GP4DRF

Men’s Finals – 6 September 2026

https://www.universe.com/events/gaa-rounders-mens-all-ireland-finals-2026-tickets-3KJS9B

Mixed Finals – 13 September 2026

https://www.universe.com/events/gaa-rounders-mixed-all-ireland-finals-2026-tickets-9S8MP1

Broadcast coverage begins at 10.50am on all three dates.

GAA Rounders – Meet the Referees – Men’s All-Ireland Finals

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With our three Women’s Finals Referees revealed on Tuesday, today focus turns to Kilcormac, Co. Offaly where our Men’s Finals will take place on Sunday 6 September. With matches at 11am, 1pm and 3.30pm, this will be an action-packed day of Rounders in the midlands.

Junior Men

Our Junior Men’s final is a south Leinster clash between Wexford’s Gusserane and Carlow’s Myshall and will be refereed by Mayo man and Breaffy stalwart Mark Jennings.

Mark Jennings

After taking a break from refereeing in 2025, Mark has taken back up his Ref Book this year and covered games in Connacht and Limerick. No stranger to All-Ireland Finals -with two wins in Mixed Finals over the past two years – Mark will take on refereeing his first All-Ireland final this year.

Fun Fact: Mark is the creative talent behind our GAA Rounders branded batting, pitching and base mats. Thanks to Mark and his stencil and spray paint can, Rounders mats have never looked so uniform and fancy!

Intermediate Men

In the clash of the Saints, our Intermediate Men’s final is between Cavan’s St. Clare’s and Limerick’s St. Senan’s and the man in charge of this decider will be The Heath’s Philip Keane.

Philip Keane

One of our most experienced and Senior Referees, Philip has taken charge of numerous finals at all grades and competitions. Not playing this year, but training underage players in his Laois club, Philip has travelled all over this season to referee Rounders games.

Fun Fact: Currently Chairperson of GAA Rounders Hearings Committee, Philip knows our Rule Book better than most, so any teams hoping to get away with breaking a rule or sneaking through on a technicality might want to think twice 😉

Senior Men

A rematch of the 2025 All-Ireland Senior Men’s Final between Carrickmacross Emmets and Erne Eagles, this senior game deserves a Senior Referee and will get one in the form of Danielle Keane.

Danielle Keane

Having most recently won her own All-Ireland medal in the 2025 Intermediate Women’s Final, playing for The Heath, Danielle has balanced refereeing with playing Senior Women this year. With no end of refereeing experience, and an excellent knowledge of our rules and our sport, Danielle will manage this game with skill and control…and multi-coloured pens!

Fun Fact: Not many sports can boast having two consecutive All-Ireland finals refereed by siblings but that is just what we will have on 6 September when Danielle follows her brother Philip onto the pitch after his Intermediate final finishes.

With top-tier officiating locked in across Junior, Intermediate, and Senior grades, Kilcormac is set for an unforgettable day of championship deciders. Our final article on Thursday will reveal the three Referees who have been appointed for our Mixed games in Mallow GAA on 13 September.