Mikey Stafford
Presumably in a bid to drive tourism to this unlovely corner of the Rhones Alps region, Saint-Etienne has been declared a creative city by UNESCO due to “the relationship between art and industry”. If that sounds like a nice way of saying it is a city packed with industrial estates it might be because it is. […]
10 years ago
The English FA chairman Greg Dyke’s comments on Sunday were not massively helpful to Roy Hodgson and his England team. Ahead of their final Group B fixture with Slovakia on Monday, Dyke discussed manager Roy Hodgson’s prospects of a new contract quite openly on BBC Radio 5 Live. The 68-year-old’s contract is up at the end […]
10 years ago
Suitably smug
10 years ago
So it turns out the second best team in the world are actually pretty good at football. The Republic of Ireland head to Lille on Wednesday needing to beat Italy to escape from Group E following a chastening 3-0 defeat to Belgium here in Bordeaux. Martin O’Neill’s men were completely outclassed by their opponents, who dominated from the first […]
10 years ago
Unlike four years ago, the Republic of Ireland will go into their final group game at these European Championships with hope. Like four years ago it will be against Italy who, unlike England, Belgium, Colombia, and a host of other nations who always loiter around the top of the spurious FIFA rankings, seem to hit their […]
10 years ago
Martin O’Neill got the bad news out of the way early on here in Bordeaux. Jon Walters is definitely out, but, we already knew that. He has his concerns about the pitch on which the Republic of Ireland will face Belgium on Saturday afternoon and he had no comment on the rumours of divisions in the […]
10 years ago
If Roy Keane has noticed some ‘Spursy’ qualities in Belgium he is not about to point them out and give Saturday’s opponents something to get geed up about. After all, the Republic of Ireland assistant manager is more likely to provoke his own players than the opposition and, besides, injecting some fire in Marc Wilmots’ talented […]
10 years ago
Ciaran Clark did not sleep well in the Trianon Palace on Monday night. All the comfort and luxury that Versailles’ finest hostelry had to offer could not make the defender’s slumber any more restful. The 26-year-old could not help but play the pivotal moment of that evening’s Group E opener over in his head. With Ireland […]
10 years ago
Roy Keane was before the media in Stade de Montbauron on Thursday. He confirmed Jon Walters did not train again as he rehabs his Achilles problem, and is all but certainly out of Saturday’s clash with Belgium in Bordeaux. He assuaged fears about Wes Hoolahan, saying the calf tightness that saw him replaced in the 1-1 draw with […]
10 years ago
You get the impression Roy Keane is enjoying tournament football. This is the Corkman’s first experience of a major international finals in 22 years, since he was a 22 year-old central midfielder in the Republic of Ireland team that reached the second round of USA ’94. That was half a lifetime ago and, you get the […]
10 years ago
Hurler, cricketer, sixth member of Westlife… is there an end to Brendan Maher’s talents? Conor McManus, arguably the most in-form Gaelic footballer in the country, joined the Tipperary captain in the new Peugeot 308 for a bit of a singsong as they were driven around Dublin city centre by SportsJOE. Monaghan captain McManus, a huge […]
10 years ago
Having enjoyed a rest day it was back to work for the Republic of Ireland squad on Wednesday, but the memories of the Stade de France were still fresh. For 70 minutes it looked like Ireland might claim their first win at the European Championships since Ray Houghton put the ball in the English net 28 years […]
10 years ago
Given what occurred in Marseille over the opening weekend of the tournament, you would think people would avoid stoking the flames of regional hatred. But then, when it comes to England and Wales, those flames take a fair bit of stoking. Gareth Bale and Jack Wilshere have done their best, but when two nations combine to […]
10 years ago
We would love a Zlatan, or a Romelu, but you have to cut your cloth accordingly. With a squad devoid of an Ibrahimovic, a Lukaku or a Chiellini, Martin O’Neill has been tasked with moulding a team from a constellation without a star. As the players spoke to the media after the game, a few […]
10 years ago
Jon Walters battled as Jon Walters always battled but, speaking to RTÉ after the game, he sounded like a beaten man. The 32-year-old who top scored in qualifying failed to impose himself against Sweden and, any Irish fan with eyes in their head at Stade de France could tell the Stoke attacker wasn’t right. It now looks […]
10 years ago
(He’s underneath there somewhere)
10 years ago
Is this enough to topple Zlatan and Co? It’s getting very tense now. The rumours swirling around Paris where that Shane Duffy and Stephen Quinn were going to come into the Republic of Ireland team to take on Sweden as the Euro 2016 campaign gets underway here in Saint-Denis. But O’Neill has gone with Ciaran […]
10 years ago
We’re not ones to put much stock in omens – we’ll happily walk under a ladder while smashing a mirror and petting a black cat that has crossed our path. But, if nothing else, Brazil’s exit from the Copa America on Sunday night is a timely reminder that injustice does not discriminate – it will strike down a five-time world […]
10 years ago
Martin O’Neill’s pre-match press conference was pretty low-key, apart from one topic. A topic that had nothing whatsoever to do with the Republic of Ireland, Sweden or Group E. The Irish boss was scathing in his criticism of the violence in Marseille before, during and after England’s 1-1 draw with Russia. Uefa have warned both […]
10 years ago
The heavens opened as the Republic of Ireland went through their paces at a dull Stade de France but the sight of Jon Walters training was a definite bright spot. The Stoke attacker had not trained with the squad in almost two weeks, since injuring his Achilles at Fota Island on the day after the 2-1 […]
10 years ago
Eyes down, speaking quietly, Zlatan Ibrahimovic can still command a room. He has been commanding every room he walked into for at least half of his 34 years. Entering his last major tournament (barring a mooted trip to Rio for the Olympics) the thought of a Zlatanless Sweden must be terrifying. You would nearly wonder if […]
10 years ago
It took touching down in Paris Orly for the first rendition of ‘Will Grigg’s on Fire’ to emanate from the back of the plane. Up to that point the sizeable Northern Irish contingent on our Saturday morning flight out of Dublin had busied themselves drinking the plane dry of Heineken, moving on to the scotch and coke and […]
10 years ago
Time to face facts: There will be one truly world class player on the field tomorrow and he will not be wearing the green of the Republic of Ireland. He may be 34, and currently without a club, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic remains a phenomenal talent – with individual gifts far beyond anyone else who will […]
10 years ago
Richie Hogan may be missing for the All-Ireland champions on Saturday night but a less glamorous addition at the back should soften the blow. Paul Murphy’s return will be vital to the defending Leinster and All-Ireland champions Kilkenny overcoming Dublin in O’Moore Park. The four-time All-Star corner-back was missing for the Allianz League semi-final defeat to […]
10 years ago
Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney faced the media on Thursday night knowing what would be the main topic of conversation. No, not Armagh’s upcoming qualifier clash with Laois. Rather the views of a pundit, whose attacks in print and on screen against the former All-Ireland winning captain provoked the Armagh county board into issuing a response on RTE […]
10 years ago
Light a candle
10 years ago
Peace in our time
10 years ago
The Republic of Ireland arrived at their base in Versailles Wednesday evening and, after what we hope was a restful night in the Trianon Palace, got down to work on Thursday morning. Martin O’Neill and his squad were granted a heroes’ welcome at Stade de Montbauron as they began preparations for Monday’s Group E opener against Sweden […]
10 years ago
Shockingly it is a defender
10 years ago
Loves to laugh
10 years ago
Splashing the cash
10 years ago
In a shocking turn of events, the team who thought they had won a final are not so keen on replaying it. In fairness to the hurlers of Meath, their position is very, very understandable. They were rank outsiders to beat Antrim in Saturday’s Christy Ring Cup final, so when they were told they did, […]
10 years ago
Six weeks ago Martin O’Neill was in no rush to commit himself to the FAI. Back in April the Republic of Ireland manager was happy to make a decision on his future once the Republic of Ireland’s involvement in Euro 2016 was over. “I’m just too long in this game to know that you can’t make […]
10 years ago
It was always going to end this way. In so much as it has not ended. The Christy Ring Cup that Meath celebrated lustily has not been won. It must be replayed, it was decided on Tuesday afternoon. The replay will take place in Newry at 7pm on June 11th. The GAA had already ruled out promoting […]
10 years ago
How long does it take to stop a nose bleeding? No one is denying Laois centre-forward John O’Loughlin gave Michael Darragh Macauley an almighty dunt in the schnozz, but did it warrant 35 minutes of treatment? In the 28th minute of Saturday evening’s Leinster SFC quarter-final in Nowlan Park, O’Loughlin was red carded for an off-the-ball incident with […]
10 years ago
They were taking no chances in a muggy Marble City on Saturday evening. One edgy steward in particular seemed to be at DEFCON 2 on the Maor emergency scale. He wasn’t happy with photos being taken near his post, and he was willing to get the thin blue line of the law involved. “This is a security […]
10 years ago
“They will take some beating!”
10 years ago
Just too good
10 years ago
Will this be the weekend the Championship gets the battle it so desperately needs? Both the provincial hurling and football championships have been dominated by dominant displays thus far, without a proper contest yet to get the heart pumping. Because, in the GAA, when the heart isn’t pumping, the lips are flapping as sideshows, opinions […]
10 years ago
The GAA’s decision to fix Dublin’s first Championship match outside Croke Park for Kilkenny appears to have backfired with thousands of tickets going unsold in Laois. Fans from the Midlands county are upset with the choice of venue, feeling Dublin – whose last summer trip outside Croker resulted in a nervy two-point win over Longford – […]
10 years ago
Where once they were cozy together on the Sunday Game panel, Donal Óg Cusack has now made a clear break from his former punditry brethren. On Sunday the Clare team he assists Davy Fitzgerald in managing takes on Waterford in the third instalment of an early season epic that has left many hurling traditionalists cold. […]
10 years ago
Only 10 more sleeps until the Sweden game. Euro 2016 fever is sweeping the nation as Martin O’Neill’s Republic of Ireland side prepare for the European Championships in France. Are you wildly excited? Looking forward to the football getting going? Enjoying all the pre-tournament buzz? Nervous as hell about how the tournament is going to […]
10 years ago
Kieran Kingston, sign him up. Cork hurling is going through something of an existential crisis at the moment, with many thinking there are not the players in the county for the ‘Blood and Bandages’ to compete at the highest level. Well, Ireland’s record goal-scorer is hurling up a storm in Fota Isalnd right now, for what […]
10 years ago
Jim McGuinness clearly misses the buzz of management. The man who led Donegal to All-Ireland glory in 2012 (and came within a ropy kick-out of repeating the trick in his last match in charge in 2014) talks as if he yearns to be patrolling the sideline in Ballybofey when Donegal host Fermanagh on June 12th. His […]
10 years ago
Garry Monk is the new Leeds United manager. Good for you, Gazza. The 11th man through the door at Elland Road in four years, there is more chance of Massimo Cellino being recognised by the League Managers’ Association than the former Swansea boss making it to Christmas at “The Damned United” The volatile Italian goes through managers […]
10 years ago
Will that number 14 shirt even fit little Eunan O’Kane? No, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. But hearing that one of Ireland’s key men, the current international player of the year, is sitting out training 11 days out from the Euro 2016 opener against Sweden is worrying news indeed. Jonathan Walters not training with the rest […]
10 years ago
The sport of golf has a complicated relationship with Donald Trump. On the one hand the presumptive Republican candidate for the US Presidential Election has done an awful lot to support the game. On the other hand, he is a giant, ridiculous-haired embarrassment who keeps saying terrible things about Mexicans and Muslims. An incredibly wealthy, conservative […]
10 years ago
The world’s 100 most valuable players were named earlier and there was not an Irishman in sight. Not so long ago the CIES Football Observatory list would have surely featured Roy Keane and maybe even a young Robbie Keane, go back further and you would’ve had room for Paul McGrath, Liam Brady and Johnny Giles […]
10 years ago
