Gaelic Games

Niall Keenan
BBC Sport NI contributor

Image source, Inpho

Erne Gaels Belleek dug deep in extra time to claim a 3-15 to 1-16 victory over Kingscourt Stars in their Ulster Senior Club Football Championship quarter-final at Breffni Park.

The Fermanagh flagbearers rallied in the added period and outscored their hosts seven points to two.

Cian Shekleton inspired a Kingscourt comeback in the second half of normal time after goals from Odhran Johnston, Ultan Kelm and Jack McCann gave Erne Gaels a commanding 3-4 to 0-3 lead at the break.

A goal from Cormac Yore and a mammoth Jordan Morris two-pointer helped force extra time for the Cavan champions, but it was Belleek who ultimately prevailed to book a spot in the final four.

A first-half goal glut gave the back-to-back Fermanagh champions firm control of the contest as they looked to make up for last season's heavy defeat in Ulster to Scotstown.

It took eight minutes for either side to register a score but when Aogan Kelm clipped over to open Belleek's account, the Kingscourt floodgates soon opened.

Johnston stole in to finish to the net after Oisin Kelm's two-point effort came back down from the post.

Ultan Kelm added a point and then burst through the Kingscourt rearguard and powered past Tom Martin.

Cian Shekleton replied for Stars on a rare foray forward in the opening half an hour, practically played in their own half.

Leading by seven, Belleek sought to further assert their dominance against the Cavan kingpins, who were without county man Padraig Faulkner.

With 20 minutes elapsed, a third goal came when Jack McCann arrived in the square to flick on Oisin Kelm's hanging two-point attempt.

But a stellar shooting display from Cian Shekleton who struck 11 points through normal time, kept Kingscourt in the hunt after the interval.

A trio of Shekleton scores followed Yore's goal before Jordan Morris landed a huge two-pointer to bring the sides level.

Erne Gaels had the wind again in the first period of extra-time and produced four points in the final three minutes to open up a 3-13 to 1-15 advantage.

Things could well have been different if Odhran Cunningham's effort hadn't crashed off the bar and away to safety at the other end with the sides locked at 1-15 to 3-9.

Instead, Oisin Kelm lumped over from beyond the arc, followed by white flags from Shane Rooney and Ryan Lyons.

Morris cancelled a Dan McCann effort in the second half to keep Kingscourt's arrears at four.

A vital intervention from Belleek's Brian Mullin then denied what looked like a certain goal and the Fermanagh champions advanced as Rooney slotted over a free to finish the scoring.

Image source, Getty Images

Kerry star David Clifford says it is "still a special feeling when you get an award like this" after he was named GAA-GPA Footballer of the Year for the third time in four years on Friday night.

The 26-year-old played a pivotal role in helping the Kingdom secure the National League title, the Munster SFC crown and the Sam Maguire Cup in 2025, including notching nine points in his side's All-Ireland final win over Donegal at Croke Park in July.

His points total for the Championship in the summer was 8-62.

"I suppose it's the fact that it's voted on by the players that makes it a bit extra special," Clifford told BBC Sport NI's Thomas Niblock after collecting the prize and the sixth All-Star of his career.

Kerry team-mate Joe O'Connor and Donegal's Michael Murphy were also nominated for the Player of the Year accolade.

"When you're going up against one of your own players and one of your good friends it doesn't make it awkward but you'd love it if you could both win it.

"That's maybe a bit the way I feel about it this year. Joe had an unbelievable year for us and I think everyone in the group has massive respect for him.

"He wouldn't be a footballer when he was 18 or 18, he barely played the sport, so to get from there to where he is now it must be special for him."

Clifford explained that he has been enjoying some "downtime" before his thoughts turn to the forthcoming season.

"As your career goes on you start to understand what you need. For me it's to throw myself fully into the club season and then to throw myself fully out of football for about a month or so and do what every 25 or 26-year-old does.

"Then there comes a time in December or January when you say to yourself, 'I'm sick of that now, I need to go back training'.

"That's generally how it works for me. The looking forward to next year probably hasn't happened for me yet but it will come shortly down the road."

Image source, Getty Images

Michael Murphy has told BBC Sport NI that he intends to play for Donegal again in 2026 after helping his county win this year's Ulster title and reach the All-Ireland final on his return to inter-county football after a two-year sabbatical.

Murphy's stellar contribution during the season was reflected in him collecting a fourth All-Star award on Friday night and being one of three players nominated for the Footballer of the Year accolade.

"That's the plan [to continue playing]," the 36-year-old told Thomas Niblock shortly after receiving his award.

"We'll go back to the drawing board, starting with the National League again, and just try and see where I can go.

"We'll be in Division One in the league and we'll all be mad to compete in the Ulster Championship again, mad to play in it."

Murphy, who announced his unexpected retirement in November 2022 before reversing his decision in 2024 following the announcement of Jim McGuinness' return as manager, said Donegal were disappointed with how they played in their All-Ireland defeat by Kerry in July.

"We didn't perform in the final the way we wanted to perform," he added.

"Do you ever park it? Even the ones you win, you always wonder could you have done something better.

"With time you reflect though that it's been a decent year and you have to get back at it, put the head down.

"I was happy to give what I could give to the team but it still wasn't enough at the end of the day.

"From a personal point of view I was lucky. The expectations I had were fairly low, could I do two, three, five minutes for the team, but it gradually built and built throughout the year."

Odhran Crumley
BBC Sport NI Journalist

Image source, Inpho

Scotstown manager David McCague is hoping his side can make home advantage count in the quarter-final of the Ulster Club Football Championship.

The Monaghan champions are set to welcome Donegal winners Naomh Conaill to Clones on Sunday, 9 November (13:30 GMT), a venue that has become a second home to the Scotstown men in recent years.

"The home advantage I think is an advantage in this competition, but you have to make it so," McCague told BBC Sport NI.

"The only way you make it so is through your performance, and I suppose that'll be the challenge for us to get ourselves ready for another performance."

Scotstown picked up their third consecutive county title with an extra-time win over Inniskeen, and McCague believes the manner of the victory will stand to his side heading into the provincial arena.

"There was an awful lot of similarities in the county final with what our experience in the Ulster Championship has been over the last few years in terms of the conditions, the physicality of it, the collisions, the intensity of it," McCague admitted.

"I suppose it hung on moments, and thankfully those moments fell our way, but it could have been so different. In the grand scheme of things, it has given us a really good test and challenge, which we knew it would."

'Hard work at youth level can bring senior success'

A few lesser known names will make the step into the provincial arena, after Loughmacrory and Madden won their first ever titles in Tyrone and Armagh respectively, while Dunloy claimed the Antrim championship for the first time in 89 years.

However, Scotstown are one of the more seasoned campaigners heading into this years Ulster campaign having competed in the last 13 Monaghan finals, winning 10 of those, and McCague has acknowledged a potential changing of the guard.

"I think that clubs are beginning to realise that if you put in the work and the effort at grassroots, in terms of coaching structures, that these rewards are there," McCague said.

"Loughmacrory are a case in point, they've got a fantastic coaching culture within the club, and that's borne out over a long number of years, and they're finding the reward for it now.

"Again, that's been our experience as well. We went 20 years without winning a championship until we redoubled our efforts in our coaching structures, and we're still reaping the rewards. There's lessons there for every club, that these titles are on offer if you sow the seed."

Odhran Crumley
BBC Sport NI Journalist

Image source, Inpho

Kilcoo manager Martin Corey believes "any team can win" the Ulster Club Football Championship ahead of Saturday's quarter-final with Loughmacrory.

The Magpies will enter into the provincial arena for the 13th time in 14 years, after they beat Carryduff to win a seventh Down title in a row.

"They probably are the most experienced team in it, and you can't hide away from that, but it's not something that comes into conversations and not something that we would talk about," Corey admitted to BBC Sport NI.

"As I say to everybody, we just focus on the next training session, the next game and that will always be our approach."

The Down champions have featured in four of the last five Ulster finals, winning two, but will hope to make amends for last year's decider when they lost to Tyrone champions Errigal Ciaran after extra-time.

"They're just a different bunch, they're just so hungry. It's something that you never understand until you're actually involved with them," Corey added.

"They are very workmanlike, their workmanship on the field at training is just incredible and that then follows through into the game."

Kilcoo's run provides a stark contrast to their opponents, who picked up the Tyrone title for the first time in their history by beating Trillick by a single point at Healy Park.

"To never win a senior championship and to do what they've done, it's just incredible and to take out a quality team like Trillick, they really turned heads," said Corey, who watched the game from the stands.

"Both teams were tactically very well set up, but it was just that quality and energy they had and that was probably the difference."

Monaghan native Corey leads a club into the Ulster club arena for the first time, but is well aware of the size of challenge that awaits his charges.

"I always find Ulster football, county and club at a different level. It's just so intense.

"To me it is at a different level. That's not saying that it's a better standard of football or anything. It's just any team can win it and every team wants to win."