Conan Doherty
He doesn’t do it in the big games. He’s selfish, he wants to be the match-winner, he wants the glory. He whinges when his team loses or when he’s not passed the ball. He celebrates when he scores. The audacity. Over in France, hundreds of journalists sat working in the Lille media centre before the Ireland-Italy […]
10 years ago
The Jose Mourinho effect. Whatever you think of Manchester United’s new manager, however much you don’t like him or think he’ll lose the plot or ignore youth players, one thing is absolutely certain with Mourinho: he will put a good team on the pitch. He will put a league-winning team on the pitch. Already, Eric […]
10 years ago
Bloody hell, this world. It’s been a crazy day here on planet earth. First up, Oscar Pistorius was sentenced to six years in jail for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp. Oscar Pistorius avoids expected 15-year sentence for murdering Reeva Steenkamp https://t.co/OKEGdaAjcf — SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) July 6, 2016 Then Lionel Messi was convicted of three counts […]
10 years ago
What it takes and what it means. John Murphy knows. Dermot Keely knows. Stephen O’Donnell knows. If you’re a captain, you have a responsibility. If you’re a winner, you have expectation. Footballers should thrive off that. Leaders should manage that. This Dundalk team is relentless. It seems to know no bounds. It seems to know […]
10 years ago
Passion, courage, heart overrides any kind of logic. This Wales team are already immortals. The players’ names will be etched in the annals of history. The moments from France 2016, never forgotten. They’ll talk about these memories forever until they pass into legend. On Wednesday night, the men from a little country on the west […]
10 years ago
It’s a hard MacLife. Chris van Heerden’s ego seemed to be bruised and he lashed out. But he has since apologised. The former IBO and IBF welterweight boxing champion took exception to Conor McGregor’s alleged editing of a video that showed the pair sparring ahead of the Dubliner’s rematch with Nate Diaz in August. The […]
10 years ago
Two tribes…
10 years ago
Finally. A seal of approval from the oracle of Old Trafford. Alex Ferguson deserves his stature at Manchester United. He’s earned his stature in football. We don’t need to go into it. But with Jose Mourinho leaving Real Madrid at the same time the Scot retired from the game, it seemed made for the self-appointed […]
10 years ago
Jack Byrne hasn’t made it yet. The 20-year-old has the whole country excited and there’s substance behind the hype. He has Blackburn fans champing at the bit for a taste of his attacking midfield creativity and he has Manchester City reluctant to let him go anywhere. He still has a long way to go. No-one […]
10 years ago
You know what they say about big hands, not big enough gloves. Brock Lesnar is preparing for his ninth UFC fight on Saturday night and, somewhere along the way, his hands must’ve grown. The heavyweight (5-3) faces off with big-hitting Mark Hunt at UFC 200 but, in the latest Embedded vlog, he has encountered some […]
10 years ago
Wednesday 22 June. Brian O’Driscoll was just like the rest of us, an Irish man. He watched from the edge of his seat, roaring at the television, as his country engaged in battle with the Italians. He watched a do-or-die clash unfold in Lille and, eventually, he watched Robbie Brady join the list of Irish […]
10 years ago
Eir Sport have entered the world of broadcasting with a bang. The new sports channel has acquired the exclusive Irish rights for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. The telecommunications company, which acquired Setanta Sports Ireland before rebranding the channel eir Sport, has secured all of the Republic of Ireland rights for the upcoming […]
10 years ago
That’s one way of trying to make sure Shane Long stays. A very, very unconvincing way, granted, but, if Shane Long is as big a fan of nice jerseys as we are, his head could yet be turned back. That is if his head is even turned away of course… Listen, what we’re trying to […]
10 years ago
It’s a wonderful thing, the GAA. It’s a unique thing. From grassroots to grandparents, from club to county all over Ireland, there’s a distinction and a bond that makes the GAA truly special. Most of the time, a picture tells you everything you need to know and here are some of our favourites that show […]
10 years ago
Everyone was fuming
10 years ago
Neil Collins has been ruled out for the Connacht Senior Football Championship final. The Roscommon full back is potentially facing the rest of the season on the sideline after suffering a hamstring tear that will require surgery. The man who plays his football in Dublin with St. Brigid’s Castleknock, has been huge for the county […]
10 years ago
Character. You don’t represent your county at Castlebar without it. You don’t deny Galway a fifth provincial title on the trot with none of it. You don’t play on for 50 minutes with a broken hand without character. Mayo ladies had enough of waiting. They had enough of second best and, with women like Martha […]
10 years ago
There was a moment in the first half of Tyrone’s hammering of Cavan on Sunday that showed things would be in no way similar to two weeks previous. The Red Hand county were undone by Terry Hyland’s cosmic threat in the first outing of the Ulster semi-final and those high balls were all that kept […]
10 years ago
Brought to you by AIB GAA. It was a quiet opening spell in Clones for Peter Harte. By his own soaring standards, the classy half back/half forward/full forward/whatever the hell you want him to be wasn’t dominating the Ulster semi-final with Cavan with the same sort of unforgivable authority that he’s held on football fields […]
10 years ago
There were two kids running through Orly airport in Paris on Monday morning causing their parents an absolute headache. They were wrestling and tripping, throwing their football on the ground and tackling one another until they’d be told off again and, then, when enough time had passed and they thought they could get away with […]
10 years ago
Seamus Coleman doesn’t accept second best. He doesn’t understand the concept of being bettered and his DNA doesn’t allow him to see how anyone could let another man beat them twice. Coleman isn’t perfect. He’s sold himself once or twice in this tournament, he’s lost the ball, he’s lost his marker but it is that […]
10 years ago
It doesn’t matter that Shane Duffy got sent off. It doesn’t matter that he got sucked out of position for France’s second goal. It doesn’t matter. The Blackburn defender has a mistake in him yet. He’s young and learning and only after enjoying his first real run of a full season. Ciaran Clark and John […]
10 years ago
The country is proud. Ireland brought France to its knees. In the end, the hosts advanced 2-1 but it was a gallant display by the Irish who ended with 10 men. Here’s how they rated. Darren Randolph 9 Took a number of big catches as usual, fantastic diving stop to deny Matuidi. Seemed to stroll […]
10 years ago
No changes. Immortality beckons. No Ireland team has ever won two games in a major tournament. None of Jack’s or Mick’s teams. Certainly not Trapattoni’s team. The Republic take on France on Sunday at 2pm (Irish time) and Martin O’Neill and his boys have a chance to make history. Not only have they managed to secure the […]
10 years ago
What would your team be?
10 years ago
They’re not going to sit back
10 years ago
They’ve even called us British
10 years ago
There was a crowd of Monaghan lads running around Paris this week. You can go anywhere in the world, you can leave it all behind indefinitely to go watch a soccer tournament for the summer but you’ll never escape the GAA. You wouldn’t want to, would you? They’re sitting there eating pub grub, drinking beer, […]
10 years ago
What are the better options?
10 years ago
Leading by example
10 years ago
Keano wants to take the game to the French
10 years ago
Walters looking good
10 years ago
Talk about being outnumbered
10 years ago
Of the 25,000 plus Irish fans that squeezed themselves into the Stade Pierre-Mauroy on Wednesday night, if you had given any of them the chance to get onto that pitch, every single one would’ve done exactly what James McClean did. They would’ve tried to at least. They would’ve sprinted faster than they ever thought they […]
10 years ago
James McCarthy had a bad day and the torches and pitch forks were out. It was a man hunt. People wanted blood, they wanted a head on a stick and they wanted answers for the dismantling on Saturday. They wanted a scapegoat. The Everton midfielder was responsible for two goals against Belgium – by his […]
10 years ago
Robbie Brady put the ball in the Italian net. A moment to last a lifetime. Ireland have made history and qualified for the second round of the European Championship with a monumental goal in the 85th minute. On a night that Ireland needed to win, Martin O’Neill got his tactics spot on. The Derry man […]
10 years ago
It’s do or die for Ireland. One game stands between Martin O’Neill’s charges and the second round of Euro 2016. The brief is simple: win. A win ensures qualification for Ireland out of Group E and play France on Sunday. Anything less ensures an early flight home for the boys in green. In their way […]
10 years ago
Cabin fever
10 years ago
Nine changes and you’d barely even notice. Antonio Conte is going to make a host of changes to his side ahead of Ireland’s crunch game on Wednesday night. The game means nothing to Italy who have already topped the group. It means everything to Ireland who must win or they’re going home. That goal for Croatia […]
10 years ago
It didn’t look like Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane knew they were being recorded. After the pre-match press conference on Tuesday night, the pair made their way to the much-maligned Stade Pierre Mauroy pitch along with Seamus Coleman and the cameras picked up their every move. Just 10 minutes previous, the Ireland boss appeared with […]
10 years ago
Ireland are through to the second round of Euro 2016* (*If they beat Italy) Granted, it’s a very bloody big chunk of terms and conditions but nobody likes reading small print. A win on Wednesday would guarantee the Republic at least third place in Group E. And those four points would take them through to […]
10 years ago
Sums him up perfectly
10 years ago
Just the matter of winning a game now…
10 years ago
Sit back and and ingest the main man on what it takes to be a footballer
10 years ago
There’s a term in sports psychology they call quicksand. Everyone’s had it, everyone’s ballsed up at one point or another and everyone has seen a top-level athlete choking on the biggest stage. Sometimes, there’s no real explanation for it. One thing goes wrong, and then another follows it before a whole series of mishaps and […]
10 years ago
They actually have a pretty good shot
10 years ago
The midfielder is demanding his team to keep the ball better
10 years ago
Well that was bloody dreadful. If all the talk in Belgium was unrest, if all the talk in Ireland was spirit, both ideas will have to be questioned now. Martin O’Neill’s men were well and truly beaten out the Bordeaux gates on Saturday afternoon as Marc Wilmots earned some vindication for now and enjoyed a […]
10 years ago
Two games remaining, Ireland will need a win in one of them. Martin O’Neill’s men take for the Stade de Bordeaux on Saturday (kick-off 2pm Irish time) to face off with Belgium and the atmosphere is electric. With teams taking points off one another in other groups, it is looking likely that three points won’t […]
10 years ago
