The latest communications mishap surrounding the Irish football team should have us all clamouring for the return of Liam Brady to the management. The pundit is renowned for talking sense on RTE’s soccer panel and there’s nothing sensible about some of the talk coming from the Irish camp in recent days.
Stephen Kelly and Giovanni Trapattoni are playing out a nasty tit-for-tat row in the full glare of the media spotlight after the defender stated he was ‘shocked and disgusted’ with the manager’s comments about him this week.
Once upon a time in Dublin, getting a score from Old Wes meant something entirely different, but it was shift of a different kind at another south Dublin venue that has Irish football fans all hot and bothered. Wes Hoolahan’s cameo against Poland has put a pep in the step of the Irish soccer team and its under-fire manager.
James McClean and fellow members of the Irish football squad, Kevin Doyle, Glenn Whelan, Stephen Ward, Keiren Westwood, Paul McShane and Shane Long took on Today FM’s Shave or Dye charity challenge ahead of the friendly with Poland at the Aviva Stadium
The day after he turned 21, all eyes at Wembley will be on Brazil’s latest superstar Neymar but the followers of the Selecao will also be hailing the return of another hero, the grinning teeth and smiling feet of the one they call Ronaldinho Gaúcho.
David Meyler and Robbie Brady have signed for Hull City after successful loans spells at the Championship high-flyers. Steve Bruce moved to secure the signings of the players, who both made their international débuts in 2012, as the Tigers seek to maintain their promotion push.
In a year when the national team performed dismally at a European Championship, there’s a lot of reflecting going on amongst the Irish football team and fans alike but for Seamus Coleman at least, the end of 2012 marked some notable highs.
Does Ireland have the world’s coolest footballing-loving President?
“Something collective is happening and the people of the country will be behind them” – His words should be as true today as they were last summer.