OLDEST IRISH AMERICAN NEWSPAPER IN USA, ESTABLISHED IN 1928
Category: Archive

Irish Sports Desk Club finals a highlight of St. Patrick’s holiday

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

By Sean Creedon

Visitors to Ireland for today’s big Dublin parade will probably be busy "drowning the shamrock," but some could make it to Croke Park in time for the All-Ireland club finals, which get under way at 2 p.m. The club finals have now firmly taken over from the Railway Cup as the traditional Croke Park fare on the national holiday and it’s the first time for the corporate boxes to open their doors.

It’s anticipated that this year’s finals will attract a new record of 40,000 spectators. The hurling final, between Clare’s St. Joseph’s Doora-Barefield and Rathnure of Wexford, is first on the program, followed by the football final between Crossmaglen Rangers, winners in 1997, and Ballina Stephenites. The Mayo club have never won the title, but they have towering midfielder and basketball international Liam McHale in their side.

If you cannot make it to Croke Park why not tune into RTE Radio where the prince of commentators Michael O Muircheartaigh will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of his broadcasting debut.

Manchester connection

It probably all goes back to the Munich crash of 1958, but for whatever reason, there’s a huge Irish following for Manchester United. Over the years several Irish players have worn the famous red shirt, while the other Manchester club, City, never had much of an Irish connection. Ten years after the Munich crash in which eight of the Busby Babes lost their lives, United won the European Cup. But since then they have been unable to take the top club prize in Europe. This year United are looking good and beat Inter Milan 2-0 at Old Trafford in the quarterfinal first leg.

Never miss an issue of The Irish Echo

Subscribe to one of our great value packages.

However, it will be a different story in Milan tonight when Ronaldo who missed the first leg through injury, is expected to play. Italian clubs rarely lose at home and they will probably win, but it’s unlikely that they will win by three clear goals. Irish interest is kept up with the inclusion of Roy Keane and Denis Irwin. The Corkmen will have to wait until late tonight to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

Track row not resolved

The row that spilled on to the track at the Atlanta Olympics between BLE and the Irish Olympic Council is still not sorted as we begin to look ahead to the Sydney Olympics.

Three years ago, Sonia O’Sullivan had to make a last-minute change from Reebok to the official BLE Asics strip. BLE President Nick Davis, who was team manager to the Irish track and field competitors at Atlanta, says that he expects the Irish athletes will again wear the Asics brand.

"As far as we in BLE are concerned, nothing has changed since Atlanta regarding the gear situation and the only way things may change will be at the IAAF Congress this summer," Davis said. "This time Adidas will be the official sponsors and OCI President Pat Hickey says there should not be a row. If there are any problems to be addressed, then I can guarantee that they will be sorted out here in Ireland, long before the Olympics."

Galway to meet Finn Harps

Galway, shock winners over St. Patrick’s Athletic at the quarterfinal stage, have got another home draw in the Cup semifinals. They will play Finn Harps, who got a walkover after Kilkenny City failed to travel to Ballybofey last week for the quarterfinal replay. Shelbourne, now the Cup favorites are also at home but they must wait and hope that a second replay sorts out Bray Wanderers and Sligo Rovers. The semifinals will be played over the Easter weekend.

As for Kilkenny, they claimed they hadn’t enough fit players to field a team, but the FAI awarded

the game to Harps and fined Kilkenny £2,500.

"We weren’t looking for any favors, just a bit of decency," said club

secretary, Jim Rhattigan. "We didn’t travel because we didn’t have enoughfit players and what this amounts to is a small club being punished for going through a bad spell with injuries."

Disgruntled Rabbitte

GAA players are rebelling and some are obviously fed up with their neighbors getting huge wages while they preserve their amateur status. Galway hurler Joe Rabbitte says all he has after 10 years playing for Galway is a loan of injuries. Rabbitte has denied that there’s a rift in the Galway camp and says he may return to the hurling panel after a few weeks’ break. Rabbitte, a farmer in Galway, says that one of his neighbors is getting £30,000 a year for playing rugby.

"The GAA had a perfect opportunity to introduce a reward scheme for players when the backdoor system was introduced," Rabbitte said. "Who is going to look after my cows and sheep if I get injured? Not the GAA."

However, it’s known that Rabbitte was very disappointed after Athenry’s All-Ireland club semifinal defeat and maybe he will return after a few weeks break.

Pro boxing returns

Professional boxing returns to Dublin’s National Stadium on April 17 when WBU light welterweight champion Jimmy "Shea" Neary defends his title against American challenger Mike Griffith. The undercard will feature Irish boxers Michael Carrruth, Cathal O’Grady, Jim Rock and Paschal Collins, brother of Steve.

Home Farm deal over

Home Farm’s four-year deal with English club Everton will come to an end at the end of this season. The contract is up at the end of the season and the English premiership club are not renewing. The Dublin amateurs will miss Everton’s financial commitment, but Richard Dunne was the only player to move from the famous Dublin nursery over the past four years. And his transfer had already been agreed before the link-up.

Other Articles You Might Like

Sign up to our Daily Newsletter

Click to access the login or register cheese