Tipperary GAA is on the move across Ireland in a massive weekend of games
Tipperary’s senior footballers and Celtic Challenge teams are in action this weekend
Tipperary teams will be travelling to the far flung corners of Ireland this weekend in a big few days for the Gaelic Games in the Premier County.
While the disappointment of the senior hurling and U20 hurlers losses in recent weeks has coloured the mood in the county in a certain grey tinge, there are still plenty of teams donning the blue and gold in the coming weeks for supporters to get behind.
CELTIC CHALLENGE – DIVISION 1 HURLING FINAL – TIPPERARY BLUE VS KILKENNY, SATURDAY, JUNE 6 IN NGDC ABBOTSTOWN, DUBLIN @ 3PM
First up this weekend is the Tipperary Blue Celtic Challenge team who will travel up the M7 to face Kilkenny in the second tier national minor hurling competition in the National Games Development Centre in Abbotstown.
The youngsters have continued to good recent record in this competition, and the management team headed by Noel McKelvey will be eager to make up for the final defeat at the hands of Cork in last year’s decider.
So far this year, the Tipperary Blue team have improved as the competition has gone on, recording narrow wins over Clare Gold and Cork Red in the group stages, before losing heavily to this weekend’s final opposition in the final game.
Already qualified at that stage, the Blue team went on to the quarter-final, edging a tight battle with Wexford by two points, before producing their best performance of the year so far in hammering Clare Gold in the semi-final last week.
While the loss to Saturday’s opposition would concern most onlookers of a Premier persuasion, the Tipperary players have been spread across two teams this year, for the most part, playing against a full Kilkenny side in contrast, and they will be hoping to reverse the recent result and give a mighty boost to the minor hurlers ahead of their All-Ireland semi-final clash against Cork in the coming weeks.
TAILTEANN CUP ROUND 3 – TIPPERARY VS WICKLOW, SATURDAY, JUNE 6 IN ECHELON PARK, AUGHRIM @ 5PM
The Tipperary senior footballers have well and truly drawn the short straw in the draws of the 2026 Tailteann Cup, with another long trip east to face Wicklow in round 3 coming this Saturday.
Having put in a brilliant performance after the trip to Sligo in round 1, the draw was unkind to Niall Fitzgerald’s side, who were wary in their efforts the following weekend in Belfast in the loss to Antrim.
Back to back weekends of long haul bus travel can be difficult to overcome, and the round 3 draw continued an unlucky sequence of outcomes for the footballers, who face into a must-win game in Aughrim to keep their Tailteann Cup, and their season going this Saturday.
This will be a tough game for Niall Fitzgerald and his team. The teams met in the same venue in the second last round of the National Football League back in March, and Tipperary came away after suffering a mauling at the hands of their hosts, losing comprehensively on a 3-19 to 0-13 scoreling.
The two counties finished on eight points in the wind up, but it is fair to say that there has been steady improvement since the league in terms of performances from the team, so there will be hopes of a far better showing this time around in Aughrim.
Wicklow are a tough nut to crack in that home venue, having ran Dublin very close in their Leinster Championship game last month and after they shrugged off the opening round Tailteann loss to Laois in the first round, they managed to bounce back with a big win over Limerick to get to this stage.
This is a young Tipperary team who are going to take time to develop, but a last eight qualification would be worth its weight in gold for their progress. The inconsistency of performance has been an issue all year, but considering the turnover and journeys between the Sligo and Antrim game, you could really give some allowance for the effort in round 2.
The task is not insurmountable, and if Tipperary can get to their best performance, they will be in with a chance on Saturday.