Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Mark Travers has joined Stoke City on a season-long loan from Bournemouth. The Maynooth, Co. Kildare, native joins the Championship side after making only 12 appearances in the EPL for the Cherries last season. Travers, who is 24, started last season a Bournemouth’s first choice ‘keeper, but was dropped after a 9-0 defeat to Liverpool in August and was replaced by Brazilian Neto. The club changed managers around that time and the new man preferred the Brazilian. Travers, who has won three Irish caps, said: “This is a great opportunity to test myself in the Championship again and I am pleased to have had the interest from Stoke City.’’ Stoke’s technical director Ricky Martin described the Irish keeper as a standout talent. Martin said: ‘‘Mark has featured in international football, played in the EPL and perhaps most importantly was a standout performer when Bournemouth got promoted from the Championship a couple of seasons back. There was of course keen interest in Mark from other clubs, so we are delighted that he has chosen to come to Stoke.’’
Regular squad member Travers is currently considered the Republic's third-choice goalie behind Southampton's Gavin Bazunu and Caoimhin Kelleher of Liverpool. But this could change if the latter players fail to get sufficient game time with their clubs and the Kildare man impresses with Stoke.
MCGRATH LEAVES,
MCCLEAN STAYS
Irish international Jamie McGrath last week left Wigan Athletic after deciding to terminate his contract with the League One club. In a statement the club said that the 26-year-old made the decision due to “repeated contractual breaches under the previous ownership.” The Latics made several efforts to try to keep the Meath-born midfielder at the club, who signed in January 2022, but he now leaves as a free agent. Fellow Irish international James McClean is staying with Wigan, who were relegated from the Championship last April.
DOHERTY PLAYING
AGAIN FOR WOLVES
Irish defender Matt Doherty made an instant impact off the bench as Wolves came from behind to earn a draw against Celtic in a pre-season friendly at the Aviva on Saturday. Kyogo Furuhashi put the Hoops in front with a fifth minute strike, but Doherty a second half sub, won a late penalty which Matheus Cunha converted. It was the Dubliner’s first game back with Wolves after three seasons with Spurs and most of last season with Atletico Madrid in Spain.
DERRY VS. PATS
IN FAI CUP
The meeting of Derry City and St Patrick’s Athletic at the Brandywell is the stand game after the draw was made last week for the second round of the FAI Cup. Derry beat Shelbourne in last season’s final, while the Saints won the Cup in 2021 for only the fourth time in their history when beating Bohemians. It’s the only all-Premier Division clash in the last 16, which has also thrown up a Munster derby between Cork and Waterford at Turner’s Cross.
U-21 GAMES FOR CORK
The Republic of Ireland under 21 team will play their first two games in the Euro 2025 qualifying campaign in Turner’ Cross, Cork. Jim Crawford’s team will play Turkey on Sept. 8 and San Marino on Sept.12 at The Cross. Under 21 football returned to Leeside for the first time in 14 years last March when crowd of over 6,000 saw the Irish team beat Iceland 2-1 in a friendly at The Cross. In recent years most of our home under 21 games have been played in Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. Italy, Norway and Latvia are the other countries in our under 21 group for Euro 2025, but no decision has yet been taken on the home venue for those games.
HOOPS WITH
LITTLE HOPE
Shamrock Rovers hopes of progressing to the next round of the Conference League seem to be gone after a 4-0 defeat to Ferncvaros in Hungary last week. Just the same as last season Rovers suffered a heavy 4-0 defeat in Budapest. It was another bad night for the Hoops away from home with Rovers without a win in their last six competitive games and having lost their last four European games. The second leg is in Tallaght tomorrow night.
Also Robbie Keane’s first European game in charge of Maccabi Tel Aviv ended in a win, beating Petrocub Hincesti from Moldova 3-0 in the second qualifying round of Conference League. Keane’s first competitive game in charge of the Israeli club came the previous week, a 6-1 win over Hapoel Be’er Sheva in Israel’s equivalent of the League Cup.
ANFIELD NEW STAND
IN PHASED REOPENING
Liverpool will operate a phased reopening of the £80 million Anfield Road stand redevelopment as it will not be completed in time for their first home game against Bournemouth. The club had already requested to play the first match of the season away from home to give contractors as much time as possible to complete the two-year project but the visit of the Cherries on Aug. 19 will not see the stadium at its new 61,000 capacity. Only the refurbished lower tier will be open with the new top tier being opened in stages with it expected to be fully operational after the international break in October.
BARCA IN THE CLEAR
Barcelona have been provisionally cleared to play in the 2023-24 Champions League amid a UEFA investigation into allegations that the club made payments to a referees’ chief. In March, European football’s governing body confirmed it was looking into claims of payments made by Barcelona for favourable refereeing decisions. Barcelona have denied any wrongdoing. While Barcelona have been allowed in Europe, UEFA reserved the right to punish the club in the future. The UEFA investigation came after a criminal investigation was brought by the Barcelona public prosecutor’s office on March 10.
Meanwhile Juventus will not play in Europe next season after being banned over breaches of UEFA’s Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play rules, while Chelsea will pay €10million for submitting incomplete financial information. The UEFA Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) opened a formal investigation into Juventus in December, months after the Italian side was among eight clubs that reached a settlement with UEFA for failing to comply with break-even requirements.
CHRIS BART-WILLIAMS, 49
The death occurred last week of former Sheffield Wednesday and Notts Forest midfielder Chris Bart-Williams at the age of 49. The former England under 21 international died in the U.S., where he had been working as a coach and mentor. Born in Sierra Leone, Bart-Williams began his career as a trainee at Leyton Orient, and later made over 150 appearances for Wednesday, for whom he played in the EPL as a teenager, before earning a move to Forest in July 1995. He played 248 games for Forest and later had spells with Charlton and Ipswich before moving into coaching in the US where he was appointed a coach of Florida-based Dade County in 2022.
