February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Sean Creedon
A doctor has appealed to every barman in England not to serve George Best an alcoholic drink.
The plea came from Professor Roger Williams, who treated Best for a serious liver condition earlier this year.
The 54 year-old Belfast-born star fell off the wagon on Thursday when, after a disagreement with his wife, Alex, he had his first drink in 18 weeks. Best went on a binge and was found asleep in the London park bench on Friday morning.
Best, who was due to return the Cromwell Private Hospital in London this week, flew off to Spain for a short break with Alex on Sunday.
Coleman’s parting shot
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Eamonn Coleman, who resigned as manager of the Derry footballers on Sunday, took a parting shot at GAA President Sean McCague.
Coleman, who admits that he was annoyed about the severity of his touchline ban, said that McCague should look at some Monaghan videos before he starts dishing out suspensions.
"Sean was manager of Monaghan in 1985 and he should have a look at videos of some of those games before he sits on judgment on other people,” said a clearly enraged Coleman.
Ruggers for Rome
The Irish Rugby team’s first game in the 2001 Six Nations campaign will be against Italy in Rome on Feb. 2. Although we have played Italy away before, this will be our first-ever rugby international in the Eternal City.
This will be Italy’s second season in the Championship. Last March at Lansdowne Road, Ireland won 60-13, with Ronan O’Gara scoring 30 points.
Ireland’s other games in the Six Nations championship are as follows: Feb. 17 vs. France, Dublin; March 3 vs. Wales, Cardiff; March 24 vs. England, Dublin; April 7 vs. Scotland, Murrayfield.
Derry Croker debut
The Derry senior hurlers will be making their first-ever appearance at Croke Park on Sunday when they play Offaly in the All-Ireland quarterfinal. Derry caused a shock when they beat Antrim to win the Ulster title for the third time.
Their previous Ulster final victories were in 1902 and 1908. In 1902, they lost the All-Ireland semifinal to Dublin in Drogheda, while six years later it was the Ulster beaten finalist Cavan who represented the province as the semifinal was delayed.
So this will be a first for Derry’s hurlers on Sunday, who will probably find Offaly too much of a handful.
The other semifinal, between Galway and Tipperary, will be much closer. It’s a repeat of the National League Final when Galway came out on top. I fancy a similar result on Sunday.
Leitrim’s Regan out
Leitrim’s Colin Regan is out of the Connacht football final against Galway on July 30. Regan received a three-month ban after the GAA accepted video evidence of an incident in Leitrim’s semifinal victory over Roscommon. In the video, Regan was seen to strike Roscommon’s Francie Grehan from behind.
Wait ‘Til 2012
Newly appointed FIFA vice president Des Casey is advising the Celtic nations that they should be aiming at the 2012 instead of the 2008 to host the European Championship. The plan is for the FAI, IFA, Scottish and Welsh FA’s to jointly host the tournament in 2008.
"Austria and Hungary, who put in a strong bid for the 2004 tournament, will be back again in 2008," he said. "The four Scandinavian countries will also be making a bid, while Croatia and Spain could also enter the equation. I think we would be better waiting until 2012.”
Certainly by then we should have either Eircom Park or Stadium Ireland built, while the North should have upgraded Windsor Park. The 2004 tournament has already been awarded to Portugal.
Shelbourne looking good
Shelbourne have a great chance of progressing to the next round of the Champions League playoff when they meet Macedonian side Sloga Jugomagnat at Tolka Park this evening, July 19. The Reds traveled to Skopje last week and won 1-0, the first away win by a League of Ireland club in European competition in 18 years. If the Dublin club win, they face much stiffer opposition in the next round Rosenborg of Norway.
Irwin testimonial
Former Irish international Denis Irwin could get a record crowd for his testimonial game on Aug. 16 when Manchester United play Manchester City at Old Trafford. If work is completed on a new extension stand at Old Trafford it would mean a record crowd of 64,000 for a testimonial game, which should guarantee a nice payoff for the Corkman.
Townsend retires
Former Irish international Andy Townsend last week announced his retirement as a player. Townsend won the last of his 70 Irish caps against Belgium in November 1997, but continued to play club football in England. However, Townsend was recently released by West Bromwich Albion and the man who qualified for the Republic through his Kerry-born grandmother now hopes to move into management.
GAA update
Val Andrews is to continue as manager of the Cavan senior footballers.
Waterford are trying to get Gerald McCarthy to change his mind about quitting the Deise hurlers.
Meanwhile, the clubs are not happy in Wexford, where the future of former Offaly star Joachim Kelly is in doubt. Last week, a County Board delegate said that Kelly had been " a last resort" for the job after over 40 Wexford-born players turned down the opportunity to replace Rory Kinsella. Kelly is apparently willing to stay on for another year, but the County Board want a three-year commitment.
Open-draw plans nixed
The GAA has abandoned proposals to stage a special open-draw competition to celebrate the millennium. The idea was raised by Director General Liam Mulvihill in his annual report, but the problem was finding dates for the games in an already overcrowded calendar.
Williams named
Australian Matt Williams is the new director of Rugby Leinster. He succeeds Mike Ruddock, who has joined Welsh club Ebbw Vale.
Cregan to continue
Eamon Cregan is set to continue as manager of the Limerick senior hurlers. Cregan was the only nomination put forward by the executive to the Limerick County Board meeting last week. There had been speculation that former Limerick manager Tom Ryan might be nominated, but that didn’t happen. Ryan made not secret of his wish to return, but obviously the executive of the Limerick County Board don’t want him back.