[caption id="attachment_71789" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Darren O'Dea and James McClean pictured during Republic of Ireland squad training in Malahide, Co. Dublin, last week."]
The FAI are calling next Saturday’s soccer friendly against Bosnia Herzegovina at the Aviva “The Big Send Off,” the final home game before the Boys in Green head off to a training camp in Italy prior to the Euro 2012 finals in Poland and Ukraine. Giovanni Trapattoni was the first manager of the 16 Euro finalists to name his squad; indeed the Italian could probably have named 22 of the 23 players on New Year’s Day. The only question was whether Trap would reward the excellent form shown by Derry’s James McClean for Sunderland this season. McClean saw 11 minutes of international action in the 1-1 draw with the Czech Republic last February and it will be interesting to see if the 23-year-old Derry man features on Saturday afternoon.
After a long, hard English season, where all but one of the Irish squad ply their trade, the players will probably be taking it easy on Saturday and trying to ensure that they won’t pick up any injuries. However, fringe players like McClean, midfielder Keith Fahey and strikers Jonathan Walters and Simon Cox will be trying to impress the manager if they get some game time. John O’Shea, who injured his calf in Sunderland’s last league game of the season against Manchester United is fit to travel, but may be rested on Saturday. This will be our first-ever meeting with Bosnia Herzegovina, who finished runners-up to France in their qualifying group and then lost 6-2 on aggregate to Portugal in the play-offs.
Meanwhile the FAI has confirmed that the UEFA has granted permission for the Irish players to wear black armbands against Italy on June 18 to commemorate the 18th anniversary of the 1994 massacare in Loughlinisland. The game against Italy in Poznan falls exactly 18 years to the day when six Catholics were shot by the UVF in a the County Down pub while watching the Republic’s game against Italy at Giants’ Stadium at the 1994 World Cup.
TIPP DOUBLE-HEADER
The Munster GAA has made a good call by putting on a double header at Semple Stadium on Sunday next. Normally a football game between Tipperary and Kerry in Thurles would not attract a huge crowd, but pair it with a Munster hurling game between Tipperary and Limerick and you then have a mouth-watering double
header. Kerry had a slight blip in their preparations with coach Donie
Buckley stepping down, he is now replaced in the backroom team by Eamon Fitzmaurice.
In Kerry, where supporters concentrate more on the playing personnel, the backroom changes are not seen as hugely important. This will be the third year in-a-row that Tipp and Kerry meet at the quarterfinal stage in Munster; Kerry won by 11 points in Killarney last year and by 12 points in Thurles in 2010. When Declan Browne played for Tipp he really caused problems for the Kerry defence, but since his retirement the Kingdom have had it easy and with many of Jack O’Connor’s young players playing for their places on Sunday they are unlikely to slip up. The hurling game in Thurles should be much closer. Lar Corbett is back for Tipp, but he has not played a competitive game since lining out for his club Thurles Sarsfields last October. It’s good news for Tipp that Corbett is back and while Lar definitely won’t start I wouldn’t rule out a late appearance as a sub if Tipp are struggling in attack. There is no love lost between Tipp and Limerick when it comes to hurling and while Limerick will travel to Semple as underdogs they certainly won’t be overawed by the opposition. Limerick had a blip in their preparations with selector Ciaran Carey quitting after complaining about the team’s training methods. I fancy Tipp to win.
MEATH SHOULD WIN
VS. IMPROVED WICKLOW
A big game also in Dr. Cullen Park, Carlow. where Meath take on Wicklow. Seamus McEneaney just about survived as Meath manager last month and the Monaghan man will be hoping for a good performance from his team on Sunday. Mick O’Dwyer had some great days in charge of Wicklow, but new Wicklow manager Harry Murphy has done something O’Dwyer failed to do, get the Garden County out of division four. Not only did Wicklow win promotion, they beat a fancied Fermanagh side in the division 4 final. This is real championship stuff, two counties with great football traditions playing in the compact Dr. Cullen Park. It will be tight, but Meath should progress.
ANTRIM CAN
CAUSE UPSET
Clones is another great GAA summer venue and on Sunday Monaghan take on Antrim at their own St Tiernach’s Park. Antrim finished mid-table in division three, while Monaghan were relegated from division two. I fancy Antrim to cause a mild upset here.
GUNNER RICE TO RETIRE
Pat Rice is retiring as assistant manager of Arsenal at the end of this season. Rice, who was born in Belfast, grew up in London and joined the Gunners as an apprentice in1964. Apart from four years with Watford between 1980 and 1984, He spent his entire playing and coaching career with Arsenal. For long spells in the 1970s the Arsenal 1-2-3 was all Northern Irish: Jennings, Rice and Nelson. And then, O’Leary and Brady from the Republic made it majority Irish at times (such as when the day they won the 1979 F.A. Cup). Rice, who was 63 on St Patrick’s Day, is quitting due to chronic knee problems. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger paid a glowing tribute to his former assistant and confirmed that another former Arsenal star Steve Bould will replace him.
ALL STARS
HEAD FOR APPLE
New York will be the destination for this year’s All Stars football tour later this year. Last year the All Star hurlers visited San Francisco, but there were fears that this year’s football trip would not go ahead after Vodafone ended their sponsorship. Gaelic Players CEO Dessie Farrell said: ‘‘The tour will be reviewed on a year-by-year basis but, to be fair, Opel has been a great sponsor. I think they are in it for the long haul.’’
PLAYERS TO STUDY
STATE OF THE GAME
New GAA president Liam O'Neill has turned to former Offaly manager Eugene McGee to try and analyze the current state of Gaelic football. McGee in turn has formed his own group of former intercounty players who will watch various games over the summer months and submit a report on the state of the game by October. The eight former players in the working group are: Killian Burns (Kerry), Declan Darcy (Leitrim and Dublin), Paul Early (Roscommon), Kevin Griffin (Mayo), Tim Healy (Wicklow), Ciaran McBride (Tyrone), Tony Scullin (Derry) and John Tobin (Galway).
