Mikey Stafford
You know it is a big game for the club when an outside speaker is drafted in to give a speech. Sometime before the fateful day you will all gather to be addressed by an inspirational figure, usually from the world of sport. It may be a club legend, someone you all know and respect. It […]
10 years ago
Wexford corner-back James Breen has been released from hospital after a bout of viral meningitis. Between first coming down with the flu-like symptoms and being admitted to University Waterford Hospital, the Adamstown clubman starred in an All-Ireland Hurling Championship qualifier against Cork. Breen excelled in his marking job on Cork danger man Alan Cadogan – his […]
10 years ago
Clare senior hurling manager Davy Fitzgerald was admitted to a Dublin hospital on Wednesday morning. The 2013 All-Ireland winning manager presented himself at a Galway clinic on Tuesday night but was transferred to the capital on Wednesday. He is undergoing tests on a health concern, according to RTÉ. The former goalkeeper underwent minor heart surgery […]
10 years ago
“You can break my nose, but you’ll never take my Freedom.” This may or may not be what Kerry footballer Peter Crowley shouted after he ran into team-mate Johnny Buckley’s “hard forehead”. The training ground collision left Crowley with a badly broken nose and meant he played no part in the Kingdom’s Munster final saunter past […]
10 years ago
Galway are waking up this morning as Connacht football champions. That grinding noise you can hear is the gnashing of teeth from their neighbours to the north. Mayo had pretty much made the Nestor Cup their personal drinking vessel this decade – winning every Provincial championship between 2011 and 2015. On Sunday the Tribesmen regained the […]
10 years ago
The voice coming over the speakers was convincing nobody. As this All-Ireland qualifier ground to its inevitable conclusion the public announcer kept reminding the spectators that they were to stay off the pitch as it was being preserved for Sunday’s Connacht SFC final replay. He might as well have been saying: “Please stay off the grass […]
10 years ago
We are getting close to throw-in on the final football qualifier of the evening. Kildare will be looking to make it a clean sweep of away wins after victories for Derry, Clare and Longford. However they face a tough task in Castlebar against a Mayo side desperately seeking the performance that will kick-start their first […]
10 years ago
The Dublin panel could handle one loss but the second was hard to take. They knew Anthony Daly would not stay on for ever. Six years had delivered a first Leinster title in 52 years and only a third Allianz League title and in late 2014 he stood down as manager. A couple of months […]
10 years ago
We’re not quite in Ernie Els territory here but it is close. Club hackers around the world were wincing as they watched the big South African take six putts from inside three feet at Augusta back in April. It is never easy to watch a pro golfer suffer with the yips and there was much sympathy […]
10 years ago
Whole new ball game
10 years ago
The future of Cork GAA will be up for discussion on Friday morning when Kevin O’Donovan meets the county chairman to discuss his controversial 25-point plan discussion document. Coaching officer O’Donovan created headlines when he distributed his blueprint at a county board meeting on Tuesday evening, however county chairman Ger Lane has accused him of passing off […]
10 years ago
Fans of John McBride’s Gaelic football club are a lucky bunch. In the past few years the Chicago Gaels have been spoiled with intercounty stars like Colm Begley, Paul Mannion and Kevin Cassidy. But it has stepped up a notch this summer with the recruitment of a 26-year-old three-time All-Ireland winner. Dublin full-back Rory O’Carroll is taking an indefinite break from […]
10 years ago
As Colin Montgomerie tonight sets his alarm clock for ungodly o’clock, will Shane Lowry’s words be playing on his mind? Monty, who has famously never won a major, will be teeing off tomorrow morning at 6.35am as part of the first grouping at this year’s Open in Royal Troon. Montgomerie and his playing partners, Luke Donald and […]
10 years ago
This Munster final was already filed under ‘foregone conclusion’ when Seamus Kennedy left a pass behind his intended target. A loose ball in the middle third, the sort of thing Waterford have been thriving on for two seasons, was there for the taking. But like a flash Tipperary substitute Aidan McCormack scooped to pick the […]
10 years ago
The kid has got some serious skills. You could also argue he was lucky to still be on the field after escaping pulling Bonner Maher’s helmet but, unless you’re a Tipperary fan, you want Austin Gleeson on the field. The Mount Sion phenomenon hit not one, but two, sensational sideline cuts in the first half […]
10 years ago
This Sunday the Gaelic Grounds will play host to the 129th edition of the Munster hurling final. No fixture is more storied, more hyped or more treasured in the Irish sporting calendar. It is a day when legends are born, icons are toppled and dogs are removed from the field of play. Tipperary are going […]
10 years ago
Mixed news from the south on two of the country’s finest forwards. Colm Cooper has a fighting chance of being fit for Kerry’s All-Ireland quarter-final on July 31st, but Cork’s Brian Hurley is almost certainly out of the remainder of the Championship after partially tearing his hamstring from the bone. The Irish Examiner are reporting positive news […]
10 years ago
The champions may get top billing but it is Jose Mourinho under lights that really catches the eye. Sky Sports have announced their first two months of matches for the 2016-17 Premier League season. Champions Leicester City start their defence away to Hull City with the lunchtime kick-off in five short weeks. Every club features […]
10 years ago
A versus B is no competition whatsoever
10 years ago
Kieran McGeeney is the first manager in intercounty Gaelic football history to lose three Championship matches in the one summer. If you thought he was going to slink meekly into the shadows… well, then you don’t know Geezer very well. ‘The Sunday Game’ did not even wait for full-time of the first of those Armagh defeats, […]
10 years ago
Michael Fennelly is a beast of man. Ten minutes into the second half of Sunday’s Leinster SHC final victory Kilkenny were in danger of seeing their Richie Hogan-inspired comeback halted by a Galway score. Davy Glennon emerged with a hard-won ball around the Kilkenny half-forward line and laid it back to an unmarked team-mate. From nowhere […]
10 years ago
It is a familiar old stick with which to beat Jose Mourinho. He is a chequebook manager, he buys titles, he never has a long-term vision, he ignores the young players he inherits as he flits from club to club. At his unveiling as Manchester United boss at Old Trafford on Tuesday, Mourinho – looking […]
10 years ago
Full-time joy is out, half-time mini-matches okay
10 years ago
We’ll hold judgement until we see whether Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick are paired in a one-pace midfield, but already it seems Jose Mourinho is learning from the mistakes of Louis Van Gaal. Mourinho’s predecessor as Manchester United manager became engaged in a long-running, ultimately destructive running battle with a phalanx of former United players-turned-pundits, led […]
10 years ago
No six-day turnaround for Podge. Podge would LOVE the kind of six-day turnaround the Louth footballers were so unhappy about last week. Podge Collins, Clare dual star, is eyeing up a 17-hour turnaround between his county’s Round 2 hurling qualifier with Limerick and the deferred football qualifier against Laois. Davy Fitzgerald’s league champions were drawn against local rivals Limerick in […]
10 years ago
You can’t buy a Gareth Bale, but you can do your best to help the next generation flourish. Wales face Portugal in the first Euro 2016 semi-final in Lyon on Wednesday night but, win, lose or draw, these championships have already been a financial boon for football in the principality. Chris Coleman’s side have already […]
10 years ago
There was a point during Tyrone’s facile opening round win when it seemed like Derry might have struck a route back into the game. The route was Route 1 as, with the game in Celtic Park all but over at half-time, Damian Barton introduced Ryan Bell and Eoghan Brown and Derry started pumping balls in on top […]
10 years ago
Fair play to Meath, who restricted Dublin to a measly 0-21 points – their second lowest scoring total in the Leinster SFC under Jim Gavin. The title for smallest score conceded goes to Westmeath, who restricted Gavin’s Dubs to 2-13 in last year’s provincial final. They will get a chance to beat their own record on […]
10 years ago
Leaping, tracksuited into the technical area sky, one hand clenched in triumph, Martin O’Neill looked every inch the ambitious young manager who made Filbert Street a fortress. It’s two decades since he started at Leicester City, where he properly launched a career that took him to Glasgow, Birmingham and the North East of England. Hot […]
10 years ago
Stadion Rajko Mitic, Belgrade, September 5th. That is where it will all begin again. We are not sure how many of Martin O’Neill’s old warriors will make themselves available for the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign, but it seems likely that some, if not all, of the elder statesmen such as Shay Given, Robbie Keane, […]
10 years ago
Robbie Brady and Jeff Hendrick came into Euro 2016 as employees of Norwich City and Derby County – that may not be the case for long. The childhood friends were the stars of the Republic of Ireland’s run to the second round of the tournament, forming a formidable midfield three alongside James McCarthy in the final two matches […]
10 years ago
Sardonic or sympathetic, the chants of France fans in Lyon’s main train station could only raise a smile. “Stand up for the boys in green,” they sang as we drifted up the escalators towards our TGV back to Paris. The French fans would have to stand up for them because, by the end of Sunday’s […]
10 years ago
In front of 50,000 partisan fans, France were a goal down without touching the ball. After a false start at kick-off, the Republic of Ireland worked the ball up the left and when Paul Pogba leaned into Shane Long, Nicola Rizzoli did not hesitate to point to the spot. Robbie Brady dispatched the penalty with […]
10 years ago
One man’s dirge is another man’s disco, but this obsession has to stop. ‘The Fields of Athenry’ is a miserable lament of a song and has no business geeing up fans before a game at the European Championships. Because it doesn’t work. Think about the most famous renditions of that song. Anfield in 1995 following […]
10 years ago
Pocket dynamos
10 years ago
Kevin Sheedy, Ray Houghton, Andy Townsend, Tony Cascarino, Dave O’Leary. Robbie Keane, Matt Holland, David Connolly, Kevin Kilbane, Steve Finnan. The 10 men who have stepped up to the mark for the Republic of Ireland in the two penalty shootouts in the country’s major tournament history. The first delivered a glorious victory over Romania at Italia ’90, the second […]
10 years ago
“You can’t change what’s gone on in the past”
10 years ago
In the early hours of Thursday morning, basking in the afterglow of the 1-0 win over Italy, a familiar image flashed up on the television. It was tuned to L’Equipe 21, the sports newspaper’s TV channel, and the studio full of pundits and journalists were discussing France’s next opponents. The topic was the Republic of Ireland and […]
10 years ago
There have to be advantages to being the hosts of a tournament, but perhaps France are getting too much of a leg-up on Sunday. Didier Deschamps side travel to Lyon to take on the Republic of Ireland in the last-16 of Euro 2016. A team packed with pearls of European football such Paul Pogba, Antoine Griezmann and […]
10 years ago
The times of their lives
10 years ago
He didn’t get into his cot until after 5am, so we will forgive Martin O’Neill for being given the run around by an arachnid. The Republic of Ireland manager gave an incredibly relaxed press conference at the squad’s training base in Versailles, Stade de Montbauron. While the players, also late to bed, were given the […]
10 years ago
It is a good thing Italy will never let Gianluigi Buffon retire because football will be a darker, more mean-spirited place without him. In the immediate aftermath of the Republic of Ireland’s dramatic 1-0 win, the 2006 World Cup-winning goalkeeper made a beeline for Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane to congratulate the Irish management team on […]
10 years ago
Wes Hoolahan trains everyday with Robbie Brady, which is why his headed goal came as a bit of a surprise. The Norwich team-mates combined for the 85th-minute goal that beat Italy, sent the Republic of Ireland into the second round and sent the nation into raptures. Hoolahan made amends for his miss a minute earlier by […]
10 years ago
Shane Duffy admits he was a bag of nerves in the early stages of Wednesday’s historic 1-0 win over Italy. It showed during the first half when a horribly misplaced pass back to goalkeeper Darren Randolph went out for a corner. But the big Derryman settled into the game, going on to turn in a […]
10 years ago
Seamus Coleman came of age as the Republic of Ireland captain in Lille on Wednesday night. He won the toss and elected to play into the Italian end in the first half, fully expecting the Irish fans to “suck the ball in” during the second half. He was a picture of snarling aggression and inspirational motivation […]
10 years ago
Spare a thought for Hamilton Academical, who will quite likely lose their goalkeeper on the back of Tuesday night. The Scottish Premiership side avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth and would have been proud that goalkeeper Michael McGovern was heading off to the European Championships. However with no agreement reached on a new deal they […]
10 years ago
Vive la compromise. A result to cheer both sides of the border as Martin McGuinness watched on from the stands. Another Martin, also from Derry, will be delighted that Northern Ireland did not claim the point that would have potentially precluded his Republic of Ireland from qualifying for the last-16 as one of the four best third-place finishers. […]
10 years ago
It was fitting that after another England draw in this storied little stadium the talk should turn to penalties. Eighteen years ago Michael Owen electrified a World Cup last-16 tie against Argentina only for that familiar English 12-yard failing to rear its ugly head. How the huge number of England fans who travelled south to this rather humdrum town in the […]
10 years ago
The fans’ furious beating of the steel railings told you all you needed to know about this England performance. For the second time in three matches Roy Hodgson’s side huffed and puffed against a side showing limited endeavour. At least against Russia England managed a goal – two less than Wales put past them on Monday […]
10 years ago
