[caption id="attachment_68934" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Dublin's Eoghan O'Gara, center, battles with Shane Supple and Sean Murray of Dubs Stars at Thomas Davies GAA Club on New Year’s Day. Dublin won 3-10 to 3-8."]
After a two month ban on collective training, GAA intercounty action resumes this weekend with subsidiary football competitions getting under way in all four provinces. A record 92 football games are scheduled for the month of January. There was a time when you would struggle to find the fixtures in the national papers for the subsidiary provincial competitions, but nowadays the majority of them are sponsored and they are seen as ideal preparation for the National Hurling and Football Leagues which get under way next month.
Most focus this weekend will be on All-Ireland football champions Dublin, who travel to Dr. Cullen Park to play Carlow in the O’Byrne Cup, which is being sponsored by Bord na Mona for the first time. Dublin manager Pat Gilroy will probably introduce a few new players in this competition, but The Dubs should be too strong for Carlow where Luke Dempsey has been retained as manager.
Elsewhere, Kerry has decided not to play in the McGrath Cup in Munster and London will take part in the FBD Connacht League for the first time. The action gets under way in Connacht tonight with Sligo playing NUIG and Galway playing Sligo IT. To cut down on travel London will play two games every weekend they travel to Ireland. On Friday they play Sligo IT and on Sunday they play the Sligo intercounty team. The “home” FBD final is schedule for Jan. 29 with the winners playing New York in Gaelic Park on Oct. 7. It will be an emotional weekend for the closely knit Tyrone team, who play Queen’s University in the Dr. McKenna Cup in Omagh on Sunday. Next Tuesday is Michaela Harte’s first anniversary; the daughter of Tyrone manager Mickey Harte was killed by intruders while on honeymoon in Mauritius last year.
CITY START FAVORITES IN CUP DERBY
This is traditionally the big weekend for the FA Cup, the 3rd round, with the Premier League clubs making their entrance, including holders Manchester City. They will open their defense against Manchester United meet at the City of Manchester Stadium on Sunday next. City beat United in the FA Cup semifinal at Wembley last season and last October they went to Old Trafford and won 6-1 in the League. There is no love lost between the clubs and United who can accommodate 75,000 spectators at Old Trafford, gave City only 2,500 tickets for their League game in October. Now City, who can accommodate 48,000 at their Etihad Stadium, are refusing to give United their full allocation for Sunday’s game and will only make only 5,000 tickets available for United supporters. City, thanks to their big win at Old Trafford earlier this season, will probably start as favorites, but as an English newspaper old sub editor once famously wrote “shocks expected in the Cup.” From an Irish point of view there is interesting game at St Andrew’s where Birmingham City, managed by Chris Hughton, play Wolvehampton Wanderers, who are managed by Mick McCarthy. Both men were defenders in the Republic of Ireland’s three games in the European Championships campaign in 1988.
The mid-season transfer window opens in England this week and we could see a few Irish internationals change clubs. Midfielder Keith Andrews, who has been on loan from Blackburn Rovers to Ipswich Town, picked up a hamstring injury over Christmas and that could hamper his hopes of a quick move. The Dubliner says he does not want to go back to Blackburn after the manner in which they treated him last summer. Also there has been speculation that Damien Duff might be on his way out of Fulham. Duff has not been able to command a regular first team place under manager Martin Jol at Craven Cottage and already there is talk of the 32 year-old winger joining Aston Villa.
O’NEILL GETS NORTH JOB
Michael O’Neill, who quit Shamrock Rovers last month, has been confirmed as the new manager of Northern Ireland. The 42 year-old replaces Nigel Worthington, who quit after the Euro 2012 campaign. O’Neill has been given a two-year contract and will start work with his new employers on Feb. 1. His first game in charge will be a friendly against Norway at Windsor Park on Feb. 29. O’Neill faces a difficult task as the North don’t have many talented players coming through and he also needs to stem the flow of players declaring for The Republic. O’Neill, who won 33 caps for the North, said: ‘‘My primary objective is to restore a sense of belief and pride in what it means to represent Northern Ireland so our players will want only to play for their country. That is how it should be.’’
Meanwhile Stephen Kenny has left Derry City to take over as manager of Shamrock Rovers. It’s a dream move for 40 year-old Kenny, who grew up in Tallaght where Rovers now play, in fact Tallaght Stadium now sits on what was Kenny’s old school pitch. Rovers are paying compensation to Derry who was under contract to the Candystripes. Kenny isn’t the only big name to leave the Brandywell. Eamon Zayed, the top scorer in the League of Ireland premier division last season with 23 goals, has signed for Iranian club Persepolis Tehran on a short-term contract. Born in Dublin, Zayed qualifies to play for Libya.
ROLLAND CAN EXPECT ROASTING
Irish rugby referee Alain Rolland can expect a red hot reception when he takes charge of the Heineken Cup game between Llanelli Scarlets and Northampton Saints on Saturday week. It will be Rolland’s visit to Wales since he red carded Welsh captain Sam Warburton very early in Wales’ World Cup semifinal defeat to France in New Zealand. Rolland was technically correct to send the player off, but Welsh fans may think otherwise.
MCILROY STANDS BY HIS MAN
Among the 55 Northern Ireland people honored by Queen Elizabeth in the New Year’s list were golfers Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke. McIlroy, at 22 the youngest person to be honored, was made an MBE and 42 year-old Clarke was awarded an OBE.
Meanwhile, McIlroy said he is going to stand by regular caddie J.P. Fitzgerald this year. Fitzgerald came in for criticism following McElroy’s meltdown during the final round of the Masters in Augusta last year. But the young Irishman bounced back to win the US Open less than eight weeks later with Fitzgerald by his side. McIlroy said: ‘‘We sat down after Augusta and realised where we both went wrong. We didn’t communicate like we usually do, everything went very quiet, and everything went way too serious. JP has been on my bag since the middle of 2008 when I was 200th in the world. I’m now third. He is a guy who has been with me through all of my five wins on tour and has become one of my closest friends over the past three years. It’s a combination I think is working very well.
LONGFORD SHOULD MOVE WEST: OFFICIAL
Longford County Board chairman Pat Cahill believes the county would benefit from a move into the Connacht football championship on an experimental basis. Cahill’s comments come after both GAA president Christy Cooney and Dublin secretary John Costello said the idea of realigning the four provinces into four groups of eight should be considered. Cahill said: ‘‘I’m speaking personally here, but I wouldn’t be averse to change, if only as an experiment. We are neighbors with Roscommon and would see ourselves as being on a par with them, but look at how many Connacht finals they have won since Longford won our only Leinster one in 1968. And look at how many Connacht finals Roscommon have been in. The same goes for Sligo and Leitrim. If the four provinces had the same number of counties everyone would be in the same boat. It’s something I think should be closely examined.’’ Part of the suggested re-alignment plan would also see Donegal play in the Western region and Wexford in the southern region. However, the current provincial set up is very strong and I cannot see it being changed in the near future. It looks like we will have to stick with the provincial set up we have had since the Norman invasion when the number of provinces were reduced from five to four. Long term we are more likely to see a Champions League type format for the All-Ireland football and hurling championship.
BRADLEYS SHOULD BE BACK
The Bradley brothers Paddy and Eoin, who both suffered serious knee injuries last year, should be back with the Derry football team this year. The Bradleys father Liam, who had his own playing career ended by a knee injury in the 1980’s, said he expects Paddy to be back for McKenna Cup later this month, while Eoin should fit by the end of the National League in April.
