Dion Fanning
Before Ireland played Poland at the Aviva last March, Liam Brady entered the debate about Wes Hoolahan in a manner which reflected a commonly held view at the time. “Another big call concerns Wes Hoolahan,” Brady wrote in his Irish Examiner column. “I would like to see him given a chance against Poland, either as […]
10 years ago
Bless his cussedness
10 years ago
Martin O’Neill has had stranger weeks as Ireland’s manager and he will have more important ones. Sometimes the fuss has come because of speculation surrounding his assistant Roy Keane. Keane’s dismissive reaction to the idea that he had become a distraction became, well, a distraction on one occasion as well. When his comments about WAGs were […]
10 years ago
For a game where there was less than nothing at stake, there was a lot to play for at the Aviva. Ireland beat Switzerland, but that didn’t really matter. What mattered was that a player broke out from the crowd and this time it was Shane Duffy. Martin O’Neill had stressed all week that there […]
10 years ago
The thing about John Giles is that he is almost always right. He might be wrong about some details and, increasingly, it might have appeared that there were gaps in his knowledge or his grasp of facts that would be plugged by an expert on social media, but he is rarely wrong on the deeper […]
10 years ago
When Jack Byrne appeared at Ireland’s training session at Abbotstown on Wednesday morning, it looked as if the future had arrived a little earlier than anticipated. Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane have been clear in the past few weeks that the European Championships would come too soon for Byrne. He would train with the senior squad but […]
10 years ago
During the era of Arsene Wenger exceptionalism, Arsenal’s supporters had a disdainful chant for all of those who failed to follow the purity of their methods. It wasn’t as much a chant as the dismissive swat in the direction of an annoying fly. “Hoof!” they would roar when an opponent sent a ball long towards their defence. […]
10 years ago