Irish Sports Desk Football playoff berths still up for grabs

By Sean Creedon

Sunday sees the seventh and final round of games in the Church and General National Football League. But, amazingly, at this stage none of the 32 counties are guaranteed a place in the playoff stages.

The top three teams in Divs. 1A and 1B will claim quarterfinal slots, along with the top teams in Divs. 2A and 2B.

All-Ireland champions Galway, who are currently fifth in Div. 1A, could still make the playoffs, but in reality they will be happy to avoid relegation. The top spots in this division are likely to go to Dublin and Tyrone.

In Div. 1B, Kildare are the current leaders. The Lilywhites’ unbeaten run was ended by Monaghan last time out., and they face a difficult away game against Meath in Navan. Mayo are likely to get the second spot. Kerry, the Div. 2A leaders, should get a playoff place at the expense of Wicklow, while Sligo are the likely qualifiers from Div. 2B.

A full round of hurling League games were fixed for next Saturday but most counties have opted for Sunday games instead. It seems that in the GAA, traditions are slow to change.

Ref remembers

Remember the replay of the 1996 All-Ireland senior football final when a melee broke out early in the game between Mayo and Meath? Mayo supporters will never forgive Monaghan referee Eugene McEnaney for singling out their star, Liam McHale, and sending him off. Now two and a half years after the incident, McEnaney says he should have sent off a few more.

"Looking back, I should have sent off at least one more player from each side," McEneney said. "An incident of that magnitude warranted at least two more sendings off but it could so easily have been six."

McEnaney is back refereeing after breaking his leg playing club football and he would love to referee another All-Ireland final.

"I want another crack at one before I retire and maybe the memory of what happened three years ago can be laid to rest once and for all," he said.

Soccer legend’s death

The death occurred last week of Irish soccer legend Peter Farrell. Capped 28 times for the Republic and seven times for Northern Ireland, Farrell had the distinction of captaining Ireland on his debut against Portugal in 1946. And he was one of Ireland’s scorers in the historic 2-0 win over England at Goodison Park in 1949. He won two FAI Cup medals with Shamrock Rovers before joining Everton. He later managed Tranmere Rovers and returned home to take charge of Sligo Rovers. He later took a job in insurance and worked as a freelance reporter for RTE Radio.

Also, the death occurred last week of former GAA President Alf Murray. Another former Gael who died after a long illness was former Kerry forward Dan McAuliffe.

Leeds relent

After earlier refusing to release their players, Leeds United now say that they will allow Stephen McPhail and Damien Lynch join the Irish Under-20 squad for the World Cup Finals in Nigeria next month. It’s expected that Everton and Wolverhampton Wanderers will also allow their players to link up with Brian Kerr’s squad, who depart for Lagos on Monday next, March 29.

Leany makes history

Kilmacud Crokes defender Robbie Leahy made history recently by lining out for Tipperary’s senior footballers. Leahy is the first Dublin-born player to declare for Tipp under the GAA’s parental rule. Leitrim was the first county to benefit from the rule when Peter Ward from the St. Brigid’s club in Dublin lined out for the county of his parents.

Bad day for the Irish

Although Ireland had five winners at Cheltenham last week, it wasn’t a great festival for Irish punters. Istabraq retained the Champion Hurdle, but overall it was an expensive three days for any Irish punters who could only see through green-tinted glasses.

Star novice chaser Nick Dundee had a bad fall and may never race again. His future now lies in the hands of the same surgeon, who saved the career of controversial English soccer player Paul Gascoigne. Florida Pearl and Dorans Pride, both faired badly in the big one, The Gold Cup. But the good news was that Wexford-born jockey Mick Fitzgerald rode See More Business, the Gold Cup winner. A few years back when Mick won the Grand National he said that wining was better than sex. This time Fitzgerald didn’t make any rash comments and he ended up as the top jockey at the festival with four winners.

Tunnel incident probe

The GAA’s Administration Committee will meet again tomorrow night as part of their ongoing investigation in the Mullingar tunnel incident on Feb. 28. At halftime in the League game between Westmeath and Wicklow, the Westmeath goalkeeper Dermot Ryan had his jaw broken. Ryan was unable to attend the first meeting last week because of a family bereavement. Players from both sides, selectors, county board officials and stewards have been called to give evidence.

United vs. Juventus

After overcoming Inter Milan at the quarterfinal stage, Manchester United now have to face Juventus, another Italian club, at the semifinal stage of the European Cup. If United are to bring the Cup to Old Trafford for the first time since 1968 they will certainly have to do it the hard way, as Juventus were regarded as the toughest of their likely semifinal opponents. United are home in the first leg on April 7, with the second leg in Turin two weeks later. The other semifinal pairing is Bayern Munich vs. Dynamo Kiev. Meanwhile, Chelsea are through to the semifinal of the Cup Winners’ Cup where they will play Real Mallorca from Spain over two legs.