FAI...New Manager is Heimir Hallgrimsson

[naka]

Shitty enough comments by Michael O'Neill that Céadach O'Neill doesn't have a bloodline to represent Ireland (Republic team). I'd say he won't be voting for a United Ireland when the day comes.

Crass comments
Really poor from O Neill

[Milltown Row2]

Micheal's family is steeped in GAA, himself played intercounty Juvenile before switching to soccer, his father was clubman of my club and played intercounty hurling at senior level for many years (patient of mine before his passing)

I'd say his Irishness is fine, I'd say he's pretty annoyed as any manager would be that a player would take all the benefits and leave to another employer, same goes for the lads that switched codes to the English set up, there was and to an extent some gurning still continuing

Some response though on taking the soup and de fenianising to his fanbase is a bit hilarious as he's nothing to prove to his fanbase, taking them to a tournament will do that

Hopefully the lad does what he feels best for him, Michael's choice of words would be correct for some of the castle catholics in the south

[marty34]

Doesn't surprise me one bit. So called nationalists who say 'northern ireland' and 'the province' won't vote for a UI that's for sure.

And, unfortunately, they're a good few of them about.

[Red10]

I'm sure himself and his family will feel right at home standing to GSTK, the Union Jacks and anti Gaa posters. Just don't know how anyone who calls themselves Irish does it.

Because he is far more likely to get 50 caps for the north than Ireland

Principles should mean a bit more than the worthless caps. They mean nothing to the community he is from.

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/2026/09/16/fintan-drury-ireland-are-set-to-play-israel-which-means-we-have-already-lost/
Those who argue that politics has no place in sport are delusional. Politics is part of every aspect of life. Sport is no exception. Those who argue there are precedents are ignorant of the facts. Never, in my lifetime, has a genocide been sponsored by western powers, as is the case with Israel's onslaught on Palestine.

There are some who argue the genocide case is as yet unproven but it's not about a legal process that, correctly, takes years to complete. We must act in the meantime on the basis of known facts and the evidence of Israel's purposeful campaign of terror meets the genocide charge.

When organisations face decisions of real substance it is for those in charge to fully inform themselves before making a choice. Genocide is considered the most serious international crime so it would seem reasonable as a matter of principle to refuse – point blank – to engage with any nation viewed as guilty of such a horror. The idea of playing football against Israel should be so repugnant that it would register as inconceivable.

Last November the FAI board agreed. It formally asked Uefa to ban Israel. One assumes the board believed then that no nation, no group of players, should be asked to fulfil a fixture against Israel as long as its State-backed barbarism continued. It was rightly applauded for taking this stand, for putting principle ahead of any other consideration.

That was then; from the moment Ireland were drawn to play Israel the principle involved was put away.
That was then; from the moment Ireland were drawn to play Israel the principle involved was put away.

[Milltown Row2]

When will the Irish team play the Israelis

[seafoid]

When will the Irish team play the Israelis

I think it's the 27th and the 8th

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/2026/09/17/ciaran-murphy-trump-in-doonbeg-is-a-walk-in-the-park-compared-to-weeks-ahead-for-football/And yet, I still feel like last Sunday will go down as a walk in the park compared to the next three weeks for the Republic of Ireland team. John Martin, the FAI's director of football, said this week that he'd rather the games against Israel didn't go ahead, but the fixtures had to be fulfilled for the benefit of Irish football.

It was reported by the 42 this week that RTÉ will limit their coverage of the two Israel games. They will have no commentators or analysis teams at the games, and match footage will be taken from the Uefa world feed. Nothing about this will be ordinary.

The mere suggestion that Ireland would consider not playing Israel drew a sharp rebuke on Twitter from the late Lindsey Graham, former US Senator for South Carolina, who threatened Ireland with economic sanctions.

Ireland would have a lot to lose from such a decision, and it might well go beyond the world of football, but last week the UK banned trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law. They were subsequently joined by France, Canada and nine other countries. Israel reacted with a predictable fury, but the reaction of the US has thus far been fairly mute. Perhaps Ireland has more economic cover than we have been led to believe.

[ Ireland are set to play Israel – which means we have already lostOpens in new window ]

A boycott has consequences, it always does. But looked at through a purely footballing lens, we won't get relegated from Nations League B if we finish bottom of the table having forfeit the six points on offer against Israel, we'd be in a promotion/relegation playoff against a team from Nations League C.

Compared to welcoming Donald Trump – the man who supplies arms to the IDF, or playing Israel – a country which stands accused of genocide by the UN, the International Court of Justice, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Médecins Sans Frontières, the GAA's ongoing sponsorship deal with Allianz seems almost quaint in comparison. But speaking as a GAA person, I believe the Allianz sponsorship is something we can affect. And we should be willing to face the consequences, whatever they may be, of standing up for what we believe is right.


The Ed Sheeran-Macklemore debacle this week has been a lesson in that regard. As Sheeran has learned, staying avowedly 'neutral' is as much a political decision as speaking out. Irish artists Aaron Rowe and Beoga, who had been on tour with Sheeran, decided they would pass up the biggest opportunity of their careers because they refused to bow to the censorship of billionaires, choosing instead to have the courage of their convictions. They had far more to lose than the FAI or the Irish golf industry. Rowe and Beoga can't know when, or if, the chance to play to hundreds of thousands of people will ever come again. But for their principles, it was a price worth paying.

[Baile Brigín 2]

I'm sure himself and his family will feel right at home standing to GSTK, the Union Jacks and anti Gaa posters. Just don't know how anyone who calls themselves Irish does it.

Because he is far more likely to get 50 caps for the north than Ireland

Principles should mean a bit more than the worthless caps. They mean nothing to the community he is from.

His choice. And he made it, move on.

[weareros]

Brolly doesn't have an issue with it either. It's the "New North" "I can't think of anything worse than playing with the Free State".
I thought GAA Gerry Armstrong only went to schools in Derry to tell them not to play with Republic. Must have got to Joe too.

[Red10]

I'm sure himself and his family will feel right at home standing to GSTK, the Union Jacks and anti Gaa posters. Just don't know how anyone who calls themselves Irish does it.

Because he is far more likely to get 50 caps for the north than Ireland

Principles should mean a bit more than the worthless caps. They mean nothing to the community he is from.

His choice. And he made it, move on.

I suppose some can move on from their principles and identify. For others it means something.

[JoG2]

I'm sure himself and his family will feel right at home standing to GSTK, the Union Jacks and anti Gaa posters. Just don't know how anyone who calls themselves Irish does it.

Because he is far more likely to get 50 caps for the north than Ireland

Principles should mean a bit more than the worthless caps. They mean nothing to the community he is from.

His choice. And he made it, move on.

I suppose some can move on from their principles and identify. For others it means something.

His community had the pitch forks out the last time Celtic manager Martin O'Neill tried to return to the homestead

[Baile Brigín 2]

I'm sure himself and his family will feel right at home standing to GSTK, the Union Jacks and anti Gaa posters. Just don't know how anyone who calls themselves Irish does it.

Because he is far more likely to get 50 caps for the north than Ireland

Principles should mean a bit more than the worthless caps. They mean nothing to the community he is from.

His choice. And he made it, move on.

I suppose some can move on from their principles and identify. For others it means something.

You have no idea what his principles and identity are.

[Wildweasel74]

That lad lived only a couple hundred  metres from me. Wouldnt know him, not sure if he played for Kilrea underage, presume he did. I think his father played for the Derry minors 1 year.

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/2026/09/18/gavin-cooney-why-i-wont-be-joining-media-boycott-of-irelands-games-against-israel/

Newstalk's Off the Ball holds the live radio rights for the games, but it is choosing not to do live commentary of either Israel game. Like RTÉ, it is sending a reporter to both games for news purposes, and does not intend to provide on-air updates during the match.
These Israel games should not be happening. The Israeli FA is in clear breach of Fifa and Uefa statutes by organising matches on occupied territory in the West Bank, and Fifa has ruled that the Israeli FA has repeatedly failed to adequately punish incidents of racism and anti-Arab discrimination. These are clear grounds to suspend Israel from competition, but the game's governing bodies have failed to implement their own rules.
The inaction of Uefa and Fifa has placed the FAI in a deeply invidious position. Nonetheless, the FAI's warnings as to the financial costs of boycotting the games are based on opaque figures and its concerns around the sporting ramifications are at best vague and at worst dubious, given Ireland are co-hosting Euro 2028 and can finish bottom of this group and still avoid relegation via a new play-off. The FAI doesn't know the full cost of a potential boycott, but it sure as hell doesn't want to find out the answer to that question.
Israel's participation in these games is a more significant win than anything they will achieve on the field against Ireland, as it sends a message that global organisations of the importance and visibility of Uefa and Fifa will continue to tolerate all that is done in the country's name, which in this instance is, in the opinion of an independent UN panel, a genocide in Gaza.
The staging of these games is wrong but there is nothing additional to be gained by the media refusing to cover them. It is the media's obligation to remind everyone that sport and politics mix all of the time, and that this is a particularly wretched example.