February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Mark Jones
DUBLIN — The Republic of Ireland’s teenage soccer sensation, Robbie Keane, is on his way from Wolves to the English Premiership club Aston Villa for $8 million. Aston Villa manager, John Gregory, is hopeful of completing the deal today (Wednesday) before his squad leaves for a four team tournament in New York.
The 19-year-old Keane has been the subject of a great deal of transfer
speculation in recent months and Villa have moved quickly this week after
learning that one of their strikers, Dion Dublin, will miss the start of the
season with a knee injury.
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U21 ruggers lose
Ireland lost their opening game in the Under 21 rugby World Cup in Buenos
Aires when they were beaten by France, 24-19. It was a bitterly disappointing
result for the promising Irish youngsters who squandered three try scoring
chances by knocking the ball on over their opponents’ line.
Having led by 10-8 at the interval, the Irish also gave away a couple of
unnecessary penalties to allow the French to scrape home. Favorites New
Zealand and Argentina are also in Ireland’s group.
Commericail row to victory
The Commercial club scooped all five women’s titles at the Irish National
Rowing championships at Inniscarra, Cork last weekend. Meanwhile, Neptune
won the men’s senior eight title for the fifth year in a row when they edged
out Garda in the final.