Smurfit touts Ryder Cup as ‘biggest ever’ event

Smurfit also warned that there is going to be a mad scramble for tickets.
“I think it’s fair to say there won’t be a golfer, male or female, north or south, who won’t want to be there,” he said. “And I fully expect a larger than usual American contingent particularly from those of Irish ancestry. We have to control the numbers in the interest of safety and the integrity of the event. There is going to be a huge demand and I can see us only being able to meet the expectations of at best one in five, more like one in 10 who want tickets. In Brookline houses on the course for the week were going for $500,000. That was back then. You can imagine if you owned a house at the K Club what you would get for your house that particular week.”

LEINSTER SAYS CROKER TOO DEAR
The eighty corporate box holders in Croke Park will not be happy with the Leinster GAA Council next Summer. Leinster say it’s too expensive to stage their senior hurling semifinals at Croker and the semifinal between Wexford and Offaly will be staged at Nowlan Park, Kilkenny on June 9. And Nowlan Park will also stage the other semifinal 24 hours earlier if Dublin get through the qualifying rounds to meet Kilkenny.
The last time they met in the Leinster championship Kilkenny traveled to play the Dubs in Parnell Park, so this time it’s Dublin’s turn to travel.
Leinster Council Secretary Michael Delaney said: “Unless we get a minimum crowd of 40,000 it doesn’t make economic sense to use Croke Park for a game. We would be expecting a crowd in the region of 20,000 for the Offaly versus Wexford game and the capacity of Nowlan Park would be adequate for that.”
Earlier this year the Leinster Council were forced to play their semifinals in Thurles as Croke Park was not ready. However, next year’s Leinster hurling final will be played at Croke Park on July 6.

HAYES HEADS UP GALWAY HURLERS
Conor Hayes, the last man to captain the Galway hurlers to All-Ireland success in 1988, is the new county hurling manager. Hayes, who has no intercounty managerial experience, was the clear winner in a vote at the County Board meeting last week and takes over from Noel Lane, who had intimated that he was willing to continue for a third year.
Hayes, who is Galway’s fifth manager in 10 years, has already named his selectors, Pearce Piggott from Gort and Athenry’s Gerry Dempsey.
With Lane defeated the way is now clear for Mike McNamara, one of his selectors, to move to Offaly. The Clareman has been tipped to get the Offaly job, but obviously he would have stayed on with Galway if Lane had been re-appointed.

CORK UNEASE
There is still unease in the Cork camp between the players and the County Board with a replacement for Bertie Og Murphy yet to be confirmed. The problem in Cork is that a manager is not allowed to name his own selectors, they are nominated by the clubs.
Team trainer Teddy Owens has also quit, but three of the four selectors from last year — Pat McDonnell, P.J. Murphy and John Meyler — have opted to serve the second year of their two-year term.
The fourth selector last year was Frank Murphy from the Blackrock club and as county champions Blackrock are expected to nominate Murphy again for the coming year.
Among the names mentioned as a likely replacement for Bertie Og Murphy as manager include: Bernie O’Connor, Gerald McCarthy, Donal O’Grady, John Considine and Seanie O’Leary.
Better news for Cork football where Larry Tompkins is to continue as football manager for what will be his seventh season. Larry, who has led Cork to two Munster titles and one National League, remains adamant that there is an All-Ireland football title in The Rebels.

GAA GOES SOUTH
It has been a long, arduous summer for the country’s top GAA players, but soon the leading intercounty stars will be heading off for a well-deserved break in the sun.
South Africa is becoming a popular winter holiday location for football and hurling teams and All-Ireland hurling champions Kilkenny plus the Dublin and Kerry footballers are all heading south this winter.
All-Ireland football champions Armagh intend to bring a party of 30 and their partners to the island of Mauritius as a ‘thank you’ for a great year.
Sligo footballers, who had a relatively good year, will be rewarded with a holiday in Spain, while the Waterford hurlers, who won the Munster title for the first time since 1963, are heading for Morocco in January.
And the Cork footballers are sure of the sun as they have opted for the Canaries. In addition the hurling and football All-Stars will enjoy a short break in San Diego, compliments of sponsors Vodafone.

HORSE HANGS UP HAT
Rock of Gibraltar, who is co-owned by Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson is being retired to stud. The horse, who won a record seven successive Group One races this year, will stand at Coolmore Stud in County Tipperary where his covering fee is expected to be around 100,000 euro.
The three year-old colt, trained by Aidan O’Brien, made history when he won the Prix du Moulin at Longchamp in September to overtake the great Mill Reef’s record of six victories at the highest level. The horse’s winning run came to a slightly controversial end when he was beaten by Domedriver at Arlington last month.

JORDAN TEAM BLOW
Eddie Jordan’s plans for 2003 have suffered a blow with the news that Deutsche Post are withdrawing their sponsorship from the Jordan team. Deutsche Post’s decision to split with Jordan, has been rumored for some time and the speculation is that they will switch to Swiss team Sauber, who have two German drivers.
But typically Eddie Jordan was upbeat when the news broke.
“We have known about Deutsche Post’s decision on a strictly confidential basis for some time and therefore, as you would expect, we are in negotiations with new sponsors,” said Jordan.

NEW CLUB NEAR CROKER?
The newly revamped Croke Park is a beautiful stadium which can accommodate
80,000 supporters and it’s a mecca for all GAA fans, yet there is no GAA club situated near the famous ground. The stadium, which is only a few minutes’ walk from Dublin’s O’Connell Street, is located in what is known as ‘the north inner city,’ between Ballybough and Lower Drumcondra.
The nearest club to Croker is O’Connell Boys, who are ex-pupils of O’Connell Schools on the North Circular Road. Then you have St Vincent’s in Marino, Rosmini Boys on the Drumcondra side and Na Fianna just up the road in Glasnevin. But if you move southwards towards the Liffey you won’t find another GAA club until you come to Ringsend.
Now Croke Park personnel and local residents are hoping to form a new club to cater for the young population in the
immediate vicinity of Croker. Most GAA clubs have their roots in primary schools and the group are working with Cumann na mBunscoil to try and get a new club started.
No hint of a name so far for the club, but how about ‘Ballybough Crokes,’ ‘Hill 16 Blues,’ or maybe ‘Jones Road Gaels.’ However, the new club are unlikely to play their home games in Croke Park. It would too expensive to open it for a club game.

GIMME BACK MY DVDS
It’s no secret that Jason McAteer and Roy Keane have not been the best of friends since the World Cup finals. Keane was sent off in a Premiership game between Sunderland and Manchester United in September when he appeared to elbow McAteer.
Now McAteer says he wants his DVDs back. Apparently while they were in Saipan, McAteer loaned some of his DVD collection to Keane and rather than ask his former captain for them back, McAteer has been talking to the press instead.
“Roy still has them, but I don’t dare ask him. Maybe I will send round my uncle Pat, who is a boxer to collect them,” joked Jason.

HARTE HEADS TYRONE
Mickey Harte is the new Tyrone senior football manager. Harte, who takes over from joint managers Art McRory and Eugene McKenna, is expected to name his selectors this week and one of them is likely to be Fr. Gerard McAleer, who has worked with Harte on Tyrone minor and under 21 teams. Harte, a former county player, is currently manager of Tyrone club side Errigal Ciaran.

ROY: I’LL PLAY FOR IRELAND
Roy Keane says he will probably play for the Republic again. Keane has been to Cork and Dublin in recent weeks for book signing sessions, but he has not spoken to the press and refused an opportunity to appear on the RTE Late Late Show.
However, journalists are a intrepid lot and in Dublin one their female members posed as a fan queuing to get Roy’s autograph in Eason’s. The “fan” asked Roy how his hip was after his recent operation.
“It’s coming on nicely, thank you,” he said. Then in answer to the question
“Do you want to play for Ireland again,” Keane said, “Yeah, I hope so.”
Meanwhile, Manchester United hope that Keane will be fit to resume in their second game in the Champions League second phase, that’s Trafford against Deportivo La Coruna at Old Trafford on Dec. 11.

WOOD STILL OUT
Irish hooker Keith Wood is still troubled with a neck injury and has no hope of playing against Argentina at Lansdowne Road on Saturday. Irish coach Eddie O’Sullivan says that the target for Wood is next year’s World Cup.
“It would be a bonus if we have Keith for the Six Nations Championship,” O’Sullivan said last week.

NORTH VS. FINLAND
Northern Ireland have lined up a friendly international for February. Sammy McIlroy’s team will play Finland at Windsor Park on Feb. 12 which will be an ideal warmup for the European Championship games against Armenia and Greece at the end of March.