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The France Squad for the Euros was announced yesterday. Benzema back after a 6 year absence

GK: Hugo Lloris, (Tottenham Hotspur)
GK: Steve Mandanda, (Marseille)
GK: Mike Maignan, (Lille)

DF: Raphaël Varane, (Real Madrid)
DF: Jules Kounde, (Sevilla)
DF: Lucas Digne, (Everton)
DF: Benjamin Pavard, (Bayern Munich)
DF: Lucas Hernandez, (Bayern Munich)
DF: Presnel Kimpembe, (Paris Saint-Germain)
DF: Clement Lenglet, (Barcelona)
DF: Kurt Zouma, (Chelsea)
DF: Leo Dubois, (Lyon)

MF: Paul Pogba, (Manchester United)
MF: Moussa Sissoko, (Tottenham Hotspur)
MF: N'Golo Kanté, (Chelsea)
MF: Adrien Rabiot, (Juventus)
MF: Corentin Tolisso (Bayern Munich)

FW: Olivier Giroud, (Chelsea)
FW: Antoine Griezmann, (Barcelona)
FW: Kylian Mbappé, (Paris Saint-Germain)
FW: Kingsley Coman, (Bayern Munich)
FW: Thomas Lemar, (Atletico Madrid)
FW: Ousmane Dembele, (Barcelona)
FW: Wissam Ben Yedder, (Monaco)
FW: Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
FW: Marcus Thuram (Borussia Monchengladbach)

Billy Gilmour in the Scotland Squad
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/19692/12310732/scotland-euro-2020-squad-steve-clarke-names-billy-gilmour-david-turnbull-nathan-patterson-in-26-man-squad

Belgium

GK: Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid)
GK: Simon Mignolet (Club Brugge)
GK: Mats Selz (Strasbourg)

DF: Jan Vertonghen (Benfica)
DF: Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham Hotspur)
DF: Thomas Vermaelen (Vissel Kobe)
DF: Dedryck Boyata (Hertha Berlin)
DF: Jason Denayer (Lyon)

MF: Leander Dendoncker (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
MF: Timothy Castagne (Leicester City)
MF: Thomas Meunier (Borussia Dortmund)
MF: Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)
MF: Nacer Chadli (Istanbul Basaksehir)
MF: Yannick Carrasco (Atletico Madrid)
MF: Youri Tielemans (Leicester City)
MF: Thorgan Hazard (Borussia Dortmund)
MF Axel Witsel (Borussia Dortmund)
MF: Dennis Praet (Leicester City)
MF: Hans Vanaken (Club Brugge)

FW: Dries Mertens (Napoli)
FW: Romelu Lukaku (Internazionale)
FW: Christian Benteke (Crystal Palace)
FW: Michy Batshuayi (Crystal Palace)
FW: Eden Hazard (Real Madrid)
FW: Jeremy Doku (Rennes)
FW: Leandro Trossard (Brighton & Hove Albion)

I see a few players have opted out of County football for 2020.

Gary Brennan - Clare
Jamie Malone  also of Clare
Kieran Martin Westmeath
Michael Quinlivan Tipperary
Ben Mccormack Kildare
Dara Mcveety Cavan
Conor McAliskey - Tyrone

Many others?

It's a good listen each week. Wooly a good presenter

https://t.co/fk25WcFK9i

Navan O Mahoneys play in Pairc Tailtean
Enniskillen Gaels play in Brewster Park
Pearse OG play in the Atlectic grounds
St Endas Omagh play in Healy Park
Roscommon Gaels play in Hyde Park
St Marys play Pairc Sean

Any others ? Lots of Counties have alternative county grounds, but those are used as the main ground

Surely Clubs should have their own ground. How do the Cb expect a good quality surface if its constantly being used. Dr Hyde is a mess

FIFPro World XI:  Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich); Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Thiago Silva (Paris Saint-Germain), Dani Alves (Barcelona); Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Xavi (Barcelona), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich); Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germaint.co/vjKW0FZj8H

6 La Liga players : How Barca had more players then Bayern is comical after the hammering they received in the Cl
3 Bundesliga
2 Ligue 1
0 Premier League
0 Serie A.

Would expect Ronaldo to get player of the year tonight

http://t.co/o3cCu0zzF2

Sligo finally got a manager before Christmass... Surprised he was let go by Westmeath

Flanagan is new Sligo manager
25 November 2013


Westmeath manager Pat Flanagan. Sligo's five-month search for a new football manager has ended with the appointment of former Westmeath boss Pat Flanagan.

The Offaly man was installed as Kevin Walsh's successor at a county board meeting tonight. It is the last inter-county football managerial position to be filled ahead of the 2014 season.

Flanagan spent four years in charge of Westmeath, leading them to Division 1 of the Allianz League for next season. In spite of this, the Lake County opted to replace him with Paul Bealin in September.

A statement issued by the Sligo county board tonight read: "Sligo County Board has tonight ratified the appointment of Pat Flanagan as Sligo Senior Football Manager for the coming year. Pat brings a wealth of experience having previously managed at inter-county level with Westmeath, bringing them from Division 3 to Division 1 of the National League.

"He also has managed both Clara of Offaly and Tyrrellspass of Westmeath to county successes. He has been appointed for a one-year term which will be reviewed at the end of the season. He will be meeting the players this week in addition to finalising a backroom team shortly which forms part of the management of the Sligo under 21 Team."

Good article on gaa. ie


Niall McNamee: Two Years, one day at a time

Thursday, November 14, 2013



Offaly football captain Niall McNamee placed his last bet two years ago this week. He wrote about his battle with gambling addiction in a blog on Wednesday. You can read the piece below. The original piece was published here.



For 5 years I gambled the majority of my weeks wages. It was just a mad, insane way to live life. But I didn't know how to stop. I remember in winter 2009 going to see my father and breaking down in tears telling him how I couldn't stop gambling and that there must be something wrong with me.



***

November 13, 2011, 2 years ago on this day I placed my last bet. I have no idea what horse I backed or where it ran but what I do know is that it lost. It had got to a stage that I was no longer able to leave a bookies unless all of my money was gone or the nice lady behind the counter was turning off the TV because they were closing. If I was "lucky" enough to have left with some money in my pocket it didn't matter, I knew I would be back the next day to give it all back.

That night, the following morning, my entire day in work, my head would be consumed with thoughts of doubling, trebling, quadrupling my winnings from the day before. Whatever debts or troubles I had would be wiped out if I could just have that one big win to get me back on track. And I had done it before. There were times when I would have turned the smallest amount of money into a huge sum in the space of a couple of hours. That was the problem for me, no matter how much I had lost I still had the belief that I could win it all back. But things were different now, I owed a lot of money and the desperation within me made me make very bad decisions. I convinced myself that Gambling, the thing that got me into this mess, was going to get me out of it.

In August of 2011 I sold my car for half what it was worth. my plan was to use the money to go Gambling and clear off all my debts. I lost it within a week. I was living in a 4 bed house on my own paying 600 euros per month and I couldn't even afford a loaf of bread. But that didn't matter, I wanted to put on a show for my family and friends that I was doing well in life when the truth of the matter was I hated myself. I hated the person Gambling had made me. I would drive to my mothers house when she wasn't there, let myself in and take food and bring it back to my house to cook it myself and my mind was telling me that this was normal behaviour. Many mornings I woke up in that house and was terrified to face the world so the easiest option for me was to jump out the top window. Thank God I never did but that seemed to be the only way to stop the torture that was going on in my head.

I was carrying a lot of guilt and shame around inside me. On the outside I would put on a face for people around me and pretend everything was OK but inside I was falling apart. I had a lot of things going for me and to be 26 and have no direction on where my life was going was hard to live with. I considered myself to be a failure. I became so unreliable in a lot of areas of my life, let it be work, relationships or football. At the time I convinced myself that I was doing fine but looking back now I was fooling myself. But all the while in the midst of all the madness that was going on in my life I was still able to find time to go to the bookies. It had taken away so much of my life but in a strange way it was the place where I felt I was safe. No matter what was going on in my life this was the place where I could hide away from the world hoping that all my problems would disappear. They never did.

As the debts got bigger so too did the lies. I would have to duck and dive from people and banks, borrow money from this person to give to another while saving some of it for the bookies. For 5 years I gambled the majority of my weeks wages. It was just a mad, insane way to live life. But I didn't know how to stop. I remember in winter 2009 going to see my father and breaking down in tears telling him how I couldn't stop gambling and that there must be something wrong with me. He was thrilled. He knew something was up but didn't know exactly what and that admittance from me would bring an end to it. And it did for a couple of months but I never spoke to anyone in a similar situation and never went to a meeting to speak about it so it was inevitable that I was going to go back gambling and I didn't disappoint.



It is such a horrible place to be when you can't see any way out. Gambling is such a secretive thing in many ways and is so accessible nowadays as well which makes it harder for addicts like myself to get away from it. For a brief spell in 2007 I gambled on line and can remember winning €8,000 in three days. This was the easiest thing in the world to do, I wasn't even handling money so it had no value to me, I was just keying numbers into a computer, simple. I lost that €8,000 in one day. The buzz and the ease at which I could win money simply took over my thoughts and as a result it was impossible for me to live a normal life with a normal way of thinking. Bear in mind this was 2007 so I still had 4 more years before the walls came in around me and I had to accept defeat.

The hardest thing for me to do was to admit to someone the trouble I was after getting myself into, financially but more important morally. I had done a lot of things I wasn't proud of and this was eroding away my soul and my spirit. I knew I was a good person but somewhere along the way I lost sight of the important things in life like my family and friends. When I eventually told my father what was going on and explained the trouble I was in it was like the biggest weight imaginable was lifted off me. For the first time in a long time I was being open and honest with someone and it felt great. His reaction was one of concern and relief which was a great comfort to me. I didn't want to tell anyone or ask for help because a part of me was afraid of a negative reaction but all everyone wanted to do was help. I feel now that a great sign of strength from someone is to speak up and ask for help when they are feeling down because everyone feels a bit shit every now and again but that's OK as long as you talk about it.

I went to my first gamblers anonymous meeting the day after telling my father on the 14th of November 2011 and have made a lot of friends there. These people understand the pain and torture that I went through because they have been there themselves. I get great identification from them. Before I thought I was the only person on the planet with this problem but I know now I'm not alone and by talking and sharing our feelings we can all stay free from a bet.

I picked up a lot of great advice along the way and things such as not watching racing, reading newspapers or associating with people who gamble have helped me greatly. Obviously it's impossible to avoid it altogether but I do the best I can, if the racing results come on the radio I just switch the station. It might sound ridiculous but it keeps me safe and as long as I don't gamble I can be happy and live a normal life because for years I was in hell and I don't ever want to go back there.

It is two years since I have had a bet and for that I am very proud and grateful. I will thank God tonight for keeping me safe today and will ask him to do the same tomorrow. I will go into into this a lot more in later blogs but as a start I hope this helps. I know one person it has definitely helped, me.

 For some banter, came across this on balls.ie, who was better
http://t.co/YmZV8XbRSx

Super Larry all the way I think

I was hoping they would have been headline act for Slane this year. Be worth heading over to see them live anyways
http://t.co/mygNOO0dXb

New website by the Gaa and GPA. Great idea. http://www.gaa.ie/gaa-news-and-videos/daily-news/1/2602131202-gaa-and-gpa-launch-gaelicbootscom/

Here is the site

http://t.co/gM01PhNhMj

How many more can he win..

http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z7917478527&z=1600249438

New Centre of excellence being open tomorrow in Mayo. Does Leinster and Munster have something similar? Meath have a great training base, think that is just their County training grounds and nothng else.

Tyrone are developing one at the minute ,not sure if that is being used for both Tyone and the rest of Ulster. Great idea for under - age development Squads etc.

http://www.hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=182194