Messages

Keane, Irwin, Duff, O'Shea and Gillespie (if Norn Iron allowed  )

Would Jeff Kenna (Blackburn) be the other one?

Just a suggestion, but do any of ye think that if the county championships were up and running (or even regular league games) would these lads be as quick to head off.As it is they can feck off for 2 months in the middle of summer to the states, and arrive back in time to play in the semi - finals of the championship in mid August.(presuming the Gaels & Mullahoran get that far).
The County Board are as big a culprits in this as the players are,and Keoghan should have held his whist,some management.

At least there's a chance these players will be available in the future (Gunner could/but unlikely change his mind about retiring).What if Cian Mackey takes up Cork City's invitation to train with them and is successful, chances are he may not play for the County again.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Well from what im told he is putting an awful lot of time into it and all he is getting is abuse at the weekends in the imperial.

Makes a change, it's normally him thats giving the abuse.


On the subject of Eddie Reilly, well if Mulvey can get a place on the team, then surely Eddie or any other half decent player should be given a chance.As for forwards I'm surprised no one has mentioned Gaffney from Drumalee,one of the top scorers in the club game for the last few years,surely worth a go.

Ballyhaiseman,
Whats the story on Cullivan heard there was another no show last night,third game this year, is this orders from county management or what?

Report from FAI website



Republic of Ireland 1 – 1 Ecuador.
Kevin Doyle 44

The Republic of Ireland recovered in brilliant style to draw level with Ecuador with a spectacular goal from Kevin Doyle in the 44th minute of an open and entertaining friendly match at the Giants Stadium, New Jersey on Wednesday night.

The outstanding Kevin Doyle provided the most spectacular moment of a lively contest when he threw himself full-length to meet a flashing left-wing cross from Daryl Murphy and beat the goalkeeper with a header from six yards.

The goal confirmed the advances being made by Ireland's rising young stars and they took encouragement from it to adopt a much more assertive approach in the second half.

They were quicker into the tackle, calm and assured in possession and they maintained the pace of the game by investing their work with a pleasing level of enthusiasm and drive.

This in spite of the fact that the quality of the surface left something to be desired. A new grass pitch had been laid on the synthetic playing surface just 24 hours earlier and the pitch was heavy and lacking in bounce.

Both sides applied themselves with a will in spite of that and an entertaining contest resulted with Ireland continuing to maintain a high level of performance and good balance, despite the introduction of six substitutes in the second half.

The number of new internationals was brought up to eleven, as a result, and manager Stephen Staunton will look back upon the match and describe it as a worthwhile exercise, one which gave Ireland's new generation invaluable experience and an opportunity to build team spirit.

There were some edgy moments in the opening half-hour, however, as Ireland's lack of experience was exposed several times by a sharp and inventive Ecuador strike force that had, in centre-forward Benitez a player of marvellous skill and lots of pace.

The Irish defensive line of four contained three new caps and they were close to being embarrassed several times as they attempted to contain the swift Ecuador strike force by utilising the offside trap.

Ecuador's goal, in the 13th minute illustrated the risk involved in maintaining a high defensive line for Ireland were caught hopelessly square as Benitez raced clear onto a through pass. He drove a left-foot shot from the edge of the six yard box between the legs of the advancing goalkeeper, Colin Doyle, and into the net.

But Ireland showed plenty of ideas and initiative themselves in attack. In the 9th minute left-back Stephen O'Halloran disco-danced his way past a couple of tackles outside the penalty area and then beautifully disguised a through ball to Kevin Doyle.

Doyle, in his usual fashion, never hesitated as he drew first-time on the ball with his left foot to beat the goalkeeper, but he was disappointed as the shot struck the upright and bounced wide.

Daryl Murphy flashed a header narrowly over from Kevin Doyle's speeding left-wing cross in the 16th minute but Alex Bruce was again out-foxed by Benitez in the 39th minute but this time the striker dragged his left-foot shot across goalkeeper Colin Doyle and wide of the far upright.

Then came Kevin Doyle's cracking goal – his third goal for Ireland in his 8th appearance – and the half-time whistle arrived just as the hard-working Andy Keogh had a shot taken off the goal-line following Kevin Hunt's left-wing corner with the goalkeeper beaten.

Darren Potter was a very influential figure in central midfield for Ireland while Daryl Murphy and Kevin Doyle troubled the Ecuador defence with their vigorous and hard-working style.

Ireland had more of the play in the second half and were close to going in front in the 68th minute when centre-back Alan Bennett challenged forcefully to reach a corner kick from Kevin Hunt and his strong, downward header extended the goalkeeper.

Ireland's defence ensured that the Ecuador strike force was seldom given a clear view of Colin Doyle's goal and despite the many changes, Ireland remained positive and ambitious in their approach.

The flow of scoring chances petered out, however, and the closing minutes were notable for the introduction of an amateur player, Joe Lapira, into the Irish team and the sending off in added time of Ecuador centre-back Carlos Castro.

Lapira was last season's top player at university level with the Notre Dame University and has resisted so far several offers from MLS clubs in America. He was invited to join the Irish squad this week by Stephen Staunton and the manager took the opportunity of giving him ten minutes of football. He qualifies for Ireland as his mother came from Dublin.

Castro was shown a yellow card when he body-checked Kevin Doyle in the 58th minute and he earned a second yellow and a red, of course, when penalised for a foul on Joe Gamble in the 93rd minute.
Republic of Ireland:

Colin Doyle (Birmingham City);
Stephen Kelly (Birmingham City), Alex Bruce (Ipswich Town), Alan Bennett (Reading), Stephen O'Halloran (Aston Villa) (Joe O'Cearuill Arsenal 73);
Andy Keogh (Wolves) (Joe Gamble, Cork City 69), Darren Potter (Wolves), Kevin Kilbane (Wigan Athletic) (Stephen Gleeson, Wolves 79), Stephen Hunt (Reading) (Anthony Stokes, Sunderland 69);
Kevin Doyle (Reading)(Shane Long, Reading 60), Daryl Murphy (Sunderland) (Joe Lapira Notre Dame Uni 85).

[American-born student Joe Lapira, who had only met Staunton and the squad when they arrived in New York at the weekend,]

Reading's Shane Long gets up above Ecuador's Luis Caicedo
Kevin Doyle earned a makeshift Republic of Ireland side a draw against Ecuador in New York on Wednesday.
Doyle's diving header a minute before half-time cancelled out Ecuador's 13th minute opener from Christian Benitez in front of 20,823 fans at Giants Stadium.

Reading striker Doyle also hit the post for the Republic, who handed international debuts to 11 players.

Wigan's Kevin Kilbane captained the side, but the rest of the starting line-up had only 13 caps between them.

Up to 25 players had withdrawn or were unavailable for the tour of America, leaving Staunton with only nine capped players in a 21-man squad.

American-born student Joe Lapira, who had only met Staunton and the squad when they arrived in New York at the weekend, became the 11th debutant of the night and the first non-professional international since 1964.

Staunton said: "This was very, very pleasing. There were some excellent individual performances and overall it was a good team performance."

Wha?

A case of have boots will play!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From BBC website


Uefa blames Reds fans for chaos 

Liverpool fans with tickets were turned away from the stadium
Uefa has blamed Liverpool fans for the problems before Wednesday's Champions League final against AC Milan.
Riot police in Athens used tear gas and batons outside the Olympic Stadium as fans were turned away because they were told the stadium was already full.

Uefa spokesman William Gaillard said: "The behaviour of the Liverpool fans is in the end responsible for the problems that took place before the game."

The British Embassy in Athens vowed to take up the matter.


Interview: Uefa spokesman William Gaillard

606: DEBATE
Who was to blame for the problems? 

The game ended in a 2-1 defeat for Liverpool at the hands of Italian side AC Milan, but many Liverpool fans with tickets did not get to see the game.

Disorder broke out before kick-off when fans were held back because of congestion outside the ground.

Police told fans going through the penultimate checkpoint to slow down or even stop moving, then riot police formed a line to stop other fans joining queues to move through the checkpoint.

The Milan supporters didn't face the same problems because they didn't behave in the same way

Uefa spokesman William Gaillard

They were then told they would not be allowed in as the ground was full because fans with forged tickets, or without tickets at all, had managed to get past security.

Gaillard told BBC Radio Five Live: "The behaviour of the supporters before the game made it extremely difficult for the police who didn't want to use brutal methods and they have to be praised for that.

"To control the fact that so many fake tickets were around as we warned but this was all done in Britain."

Former Conservative leader Michael Howard was at the game and he said: "I didn't think the match should have been held at the stadium.

"It's not a football stadium and is not equipped to cope with that number of people.

"Ticket checks were a joke. Many people with valid tickets were not allowed in.

"That is not acceptable and Uefa really need to look at their procedures and make sure everything is all in order.

"As far as I'm aware no-one was hurt, and that's a mercy, but it's no thanks to the Greek authorities, and I'm afraid there was a large measure of incompetence."

But Gaillard responded: "It is very easy to say it is not a suitable stadium, coming from the man that invented the poll tax.

"The Milan supporters didn't face the same problems because they didn't behave in the same way.

"The kind of pushing that was going on and the attempts to jump over barriers - imagine if we had turnstiles, we could have had a tragedy.

"More than three hours before the game there were incidents at the Liverpool end with people trying to get in either with fake tickets or jumping over the barriers.

"It is obvious that at one point the police felt overwhelmed and it is much to their credit there were no dangerous incidents.

"I am very sorry for what happened to fans who had regular tickets but at the same time there is a collective responsibility in terms of behaviour.

"This area was all for Liverpool fans and the bulk were obviously extremely honest people who had got tickets in the right way and observed the rules.

"But unfortunately because of a minority who did not they found themselves in a very uncomfortable and unpleasant position."

Gaillard defended Uefa against any responsibility for the problems, adding: "The only responsibility we could have is that we did not choose a stadium with 250,000 seats, but unfortunately they do not exist."

3 well 4 (but one is injured) members of our panel are going to the US in June,to play ball in Boston for the whole summer.

I presume this would be to play with the Wolfe Tones club,who are currently managed by a former legendary haiseman, would this be right?

Just an aside from the McCann case,and as we're in the championship season, should the parents who lose their children at GAA matches also be prosecuted? and maybe have social services take any other children they have into care?

Well I think they are right dropping Johnson instead of Jason. Jason didn't scroe from play but he was the only player in the FF line who looked like beating his man when the ball was in hand. When Jayo does that there is a chance of goals, and goals win games. Seanie Johnson showed well at times but his finishing was poor. He hasn't been taking players on and beating them either. Pierson hasn't been beating players either but all Pierson needs is a half yard and he can kick them over if he is on form. Johnstone can count himself unlucky but I think it was the right decision.

You've got that spot on there Myles,last Sunday Jason was the only one of them which tried to take on his man.Johnston was out in front and won a lot of ball but wasn't capable of beating his man,done more twisting and turning than was a holy terror and going nowwhere at the same time.

McKeever will be used to play in front of Coulter.
As for Cullivan he has being one of our better players all year (even in Croker),and was unlucky to be subbed when he was on Sunday,there were one or two others who could've being taken off before him (even McKeever).Also he only turned 18 last Nov and has plenty of time for improvement which I've no doubt he will and will eventually end up playing either CHF or FF.
Its time now for Galligan to show us what hes worth, hopefully he willl.Reckon Gunner must be injured for Keoghan not to start him.

And, unlike many of the men he has marked, Francie has never tried to get anyone booked or sent off by going down in a heap.

I'd say Pierce McKenna would have his own views on this.

[offside]

Have no pity whatsoever for the club, and I don't think many people do.

They'll be nobody looking for pity especially from an avid watcher of Neighbours,and a supporter of the team which has the following on it's website today

04 May 2003
United were champions after Arsenal lost 3-2 at home to Leeds. Arsenal had to win, but Mark Viduka's late, offside goal sent the Red hordes watching on TV into ecstacy.

From BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/leeds_united/6625751.stm

Seems as suspicions were right all along, a Bates company to buy the club.

Administration

[urlhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6624731.stm][/url]