When Dublin play Tipperary in the second of the All-Ireland semifinals on Sunday next it will be the Dubs first semifinal appearance since 1948 when veteran broadcaster Sean Og O'Cellachain was in their forward line. Sixty-three years ago Dublin beat Antrim in the semifinal and went on to lose the final to Waterford. Dublin have contested two All-Ireland finals since then, in 1952 when they lost to Cork and 1961 when they were beaten by Tipperary. In 1952 there was only one semifinal where Cork beat Galway and in 1961 the Dubs again went straight through the final as Leinster champions. So Sunday should be me a memorable day as the majority of Dublin supporters will never have seen their team in an All-Ireland semifinal. But will it really be a game to remember if Tipperary continue where they left off against Waterford in the Munster final when they struck seven goals without reply.
Up to the quarterfinal against Limerick Dublin had scored only three goals in the Leinster championship and then their Tipperary-born forward Ryan O'Dwyer got a hat-trick. The last time the counties met in the hurling championship in 2007 O'Dwyer was playing for Tipperary, but surprisingly he failed to score in the nine point win for Tipp at Parnell Park.
After equaling Christy Ring's long-standing record of 65 championship appearances in the Munster final, Tipp goalkeeper Brendan Cummins will set a new record of 66 appearances on Sunday. And Cummins should make it 67 in the final this year as I expect Tipp to be much too strong for Dublin this time round.
TRAP'S BOYS TACKLE CROATIA
Giovanni Trapattoni will get his last chance to look at his squad prior to the European championship game against Slovakia on Sept. 2 when the Republic play Croatia in a friendly at the Aviva Stadium this evening. Trapp was in forgiving mood last month when he gave another chance to players like Wigan's James McCarthy who missed the end of season games. The exciting McCarthy survived the cull and made the final 25, but had to pull out Monday because of an ankle injury picked up in a preseason friendly against Villareal and he might miss his club's opening Premiership game against Norwich. Everton's Shane Coleman also picked up an injury against the traveling Villareal.
Trap has excused Liam Lawrence and Kevin Kilbane for club commitments, while John O'Shea, Aiden McGeady, Paul McShane, Keith Fahey Marc Wilson, Damien Delaney, Jonathan Walters and Kevin Foley are all carrying injuries and have also been excused.
Meanwhile there will be much attention this evening on the visit of the Faroe Islands (Republic foes in the 2014 World Cup) to Windsor Park, Belfast. Brian Kerr's Faroes held Northern Ireland to a 1-1 draw in Torshavn last October.
BACK TO BACK AGAINST FRENCH
Ireland will play France on back-to-back Saturdays over the next two weekends as coach Declan Kidney continues his Rugby World Cup warm up. The away game will be in Bordeaux, while France visit the Aviva Stadium on Aug 20. Captain Brian O'Driscoll is expected to miss the away game against France. Two days later on Aug. 22 Kidney will name is 30-man squad and our final warm-up game is against England at the Aviva on Aug. 27. Ireland's first game at the finals will be against the US in New Plymouth, New Zealand, on September 11 and Kidney is hoping that injured pair Gordon D'Arcy and Stephen Ferris will be fit for the World Cup opener against the U.S. on 9/11. Ireland beat Scotland in a warm-up game on Saturday. For more see Page 31.
DARBY PRAISES KERRY GOAL
Darran O'Sullivan's back-heeled goal for Kerry against Limerick in the All-Ireland football quarterfinal is one the great football goals of all time. Who says so? Well the praise comes from former Offaly star Seamus Darby, who scored a memorable goal himself in 1982 that ended Kerry's hopes of five in-a-row. Darby said: ''It was a great goal. Darran knew what he was doing. He tricked all the Limerick backs with just one flick of the ball. It's certainly on of the great goals scored in Croke Park. Corner forwards of the older style just wouldn't have thought of doing what Darran did.''
HOOPS DROP, GET 2ND BITE
The European adventure is over for Sligo Rovers and St. Patrick's Athletic, but Shamrock Rovers will keep the Irish flag flying in the Europa Cup. The Hoops were beaten 2-0 by FC Copenhagen in Tallaght last week (3-0 on agg) in the fourth round of the Champions League qualifying round, but The Hoops now get a second chance in the Europa League, where they have been paired with Partizan Belgrade. The first leg is in Tallaght on Tuesday next (Aug. 16).
Meanwhile Sligo Rovers were beaten 2-0 at the Showgrounds by Ukrainian side Vorskla Poltova on Thursday (2-0 on agg), while St Pat's went down 3-1 (5-1 on agg) to another Ukrainian side Karpaty Lviv at Tallaght Stadium. For a while it looked like Pat's game would not go ahead as the players threatened to withdraw their services in a row over payments to compensate the part-time players who had to take time off work for the away European games.
CLUB NETS WINNING GOAL
FC Porto has chosen an unusual way to celebrate winning the Europa Cup Final at Dublin's Aviva Stadium last May. The Portuguese club has purchased the goalposts from the Lansdowne Road end of the ground where their striker Falcao, scored the only goal of the game to beat fellow Portuguese club Braga. The goalposts will feature in a new museum being developed by Porto and arrangements are being made to sip the goalposts from Dublin to Portugal. That reminds me of 1977 when Scottish fans dug up chunks of grass and tore down one of the goalposts at the old Wembley Stadium after a rare win over England at the venue.
