Bad day for Drom/Broadford, Good Day for Me.

Bad day for Dromcollgher/Broadford. Good day for me. I spot Joe Kernan and pounce. Any chance of a word Joe?

"Sure, no problem at all". He'd been so close to his car and had almost gotten away scot free. I'm sure he was raging at being nabbed but he couldn't have been nicer about it.

A brilliant performance from Crossmaglen, what's the secret? I venture, trying to catch him out. It was no use.

"The gulf in experience told today. We got off to a good start and that's what Dromcollogher wanted. After that our boys grew in confidence and the goal after half time, finished them off. Any team that beats Nemo Rangers, you always respect them but Crossmaglen showed their power today."

The pace and movement from the Armagh men was efficient, effective and clinical. Is that a style, they've intentionally developed?

"Not really. Nothing beats hitting in a long early ball but we can play it short or play it long and the lads are versatile enough to do that. The bottom line is whoever is free gets the ball. Let him be twenty yards away or fifty yards away, that's the way it's played."

Wise words indeed and Joe Kernan should know. He was manager of Crossmaglen when they won their County Final in 10 years in 1996,they've won all 13 since. Then of course there was the small matter of masterminding Armagh´s first All-Ireland in 2002.

"Matches in training are very competitive. Everybody is fighting to get into the team and the way they do that is to do it in training. I presume whoever does it in training will be starting the next day. It's just sheer competitiveness the whole way through the panel." It sounds like a good recipe for success.

Oisin McConville. Great. I thought there might have been a chance of Crossmaglen underestimating Drom/Broadford but it didn't happen.

"We made that mistake last year. We've been beaten in two All-Ireland semi finals and we've come back and won All-Irelands and that's what it's all about in Cross."

They call him the gambler. After the damage he inflicted on Saturday, they'll be calling him a lot worse around Drom/Broadford.

Focus. Crossmaglen are very focused but surely there is a danger they're going into the final now having not being tested. "There is definitely a danger of that and that is something we are going to have to guard against. We're going in against a very strong Kilmacud team and you can be sure they'll be held bent on beating us but we can't worry about that, we can only worry about ourselves".

If they do and come up with a similar performance on St. Stephens day, it will be hard to see them being stopped.

Next up was the Drom/Broadford manager John Brouder. He was exhausted and desperately disappointed. He'll reflect on it being a good year, a great year even but it didn't feel like that in the tunnel after the game "It's just all about today's match today and it was a very bad defeat. We met an awesome team playing to their full potential and we just didn´t get any of the breaks and we didn't play anywhere near where we think we should be at."

There was a lot to learn from facing Cross though "They were the best team we've played and the biggest aspect of today was their power and their pace. They just blew us away in the tackle and they were very strong in holding possession."

Power and pace. Crossmaglen were on another level. "The lads will have to go back and think about what they can do to reach that level. Cross probably have ten years of gym work behind them. That's something we haven't looked at too seriously for the last few years because maybe you don't need that in Limerick football but if we're going to compete outside that, it's something we're going to have to take more seriously."

It has been a great year for Drom/Broadford and John Brouder acknowledged that but late that Saturday afternoon, that didn't really matter to him. He was downhearted, disappointed, determined they would learn from defeat and bounce back.

As Oisin McConville said, "we never like to lose but defeats are ok as long as you learn from them".

Crossmaglen have come back from defeats. That challenge is Drom/Broadford's now.

By the angst of my own lovely Lee

For anyone who lives outside of Cork the current hurlers strike has become overplayed. It's everywhere. GAA followers from the rest of the country are tired of it and it's fair to say have lost sympathy for both sides involved in the dispute but for the people of Cork it is a tail with more twists and turns then a Hollywood blockbuster for those of you not particularly familiar with the situation I would liken to the film Star Wars.


Let me explain, The force is hurling and it is strong in Cork and has been for decades, there has been balance and happiness coming from All-Ireland victories and provincial success but this balance was disrupted when an Emperor (Frank Murphy) came to power and looked to control the force all for himself he commands a loyal but ultimately powerless group of storm troopers made up of county board delegates who enforce his orders but the most power was given to his favourite apprentice Darth Vader (Gerald Mc Carthy) whose job it was to control the unruly rebels and ensure continued success of the empire. All of this is overseen by the Emperor from the impenetrable Death Star (Parc Ui Chaoimh).

This was fine for a number of years until recently when the unruly rebels finally rose up against Darth Vader led by the fresh faced young Jedi Luke Skywalker (John Gardiner) who was shown his true potential for disruption by the wise Donal Obi Wan Cusack, Luke and Obi wan formed an alliance with a hot shot cocky pilot Han Solo (Sean Og O Hailpin) and his sidekick Chewbacca (Diarmuid O Sullivan) and 2 droids C3PO ( Tom Kenny) and R2D2 (Joe Deane), I know there was a princess in the original but it’s not exactly like the film is it?

So this small group of rebels attacked the death star to bring down the evil emperor and Darth Vader. They did this by showing the good people of Cork that they don’t have to settle for the emperors way any more that maybe if they all group together in a sign of strength the emperor and Vader will give up and retire and power will be given back to the rebels but this emperor is mad with power and will not release his vice like grip on the empire.

In the film the empire did eventually fall after sustained attacks from the rebels but they also needed Darth Vader who having seen the error of his ways eventually sacrificed himself to overthrow the emperor. Obviously this is all fantasy except for the last part, if this is to be brought to an end Gerald Mc Carthy will have to sacrifice himself which will give power back to the rebels.

Seriously according to the players, for this dispute to end Gerald McCarthy will have to step down as manager then the 2008 hurling panel will return and everyone will live happily ever after. That’s not going to happen. What manager will be happy to take over a team that has shown themselves to be unmanageable, that would rather talk to the media then each other, that have become so unified that it would be almost impossible to exert your authority over them. Also if a new manager is to be picked, both the players and the county board will want someone they can influence which is just installing a puppet who has no real control.

The alternative is a player manager working in conjunction with a team manager but again this will not run smoothly. I can foresee a falling out over who gets the best seat on the team bus or who gets to wear the bainesteoir jacket.

Allegedly the players proposed there should be a team of almost 20 who manage the squad, I say allegedly because in this dispute no one is giving any straight comments, It was proposed that to succeed an inter county team would need a manager, selectors, player liaisons, analysts, fitness coaches, Life coaches, personal groomers and a psychic. Alright the last few are made up but are they on to something. The modern game has evolved to such an extent that its almost as intense as many professional team sports. On the other hand is this further proof that this dispute has descended into farce.

This dispute will be resolved at some stage by either side giving in, be it the rebel alliance retiring or Emperor Murphy resigning. I have no sympathy for either side involved it has been reduced to a battle over who’s pride will get damaged the least. The only people who will really lose out will be the Cork GAA fans, they deserve better than this. The players blame the county board, the manager blames the players. It’s a vicious circle it reminds me of a saying “A bad workman blames his tools”. Well, this dispute is full of Tools.

Is Hiddink the Cure at Chelsea?- I don't think so.

The sacking of Luis felipe Scolari as Chelsea manager was as unsurprising as it was premature. I think he had lost interest long before the snow. Scolari came into Chelsea with a big reputation based mainly on his success with Brazil in the 2002 World Cup. The achievement of being a World Cup winning manager should not be underestimated if only because there are so few of them and it is the games most testing and prestigious competition. He subsequently took the fading embers of Portugal's Golden Generation together with Ronaldo to the final of Euro 2004 (as hosts), the semi final in Germany '06 and while they didn't do so well at Euro 2008, by then it didn't really matter because he had already signed up to become the fourth manager of the Abramovich era at Chelsea.

He had already turned down England because of media intrusions in his rather banal private life but the lure of Chelsea was impossible to resist. If he hadn't done so already, his contract with Chelsea would secure his family for generations to come. As a man from humble beginnings, the magnitude of £6.5 million a year for two years can't have been lost on Scolari.

Scolari, I'm sure was a wealthy man anyway but I wonder what exactly it is a manager does to command this kind of a salary. The longevity of Alex Ferguson and the England's improvement (however tentative) under Capello shows that they must do something but it's difficult to capture the essence of it. Whatever it is, Scolari didn't seem to have it at Chelsea. Capello's cause was helped by taking over England at a very low ebb. Even Alex Ferguson has been given a lot of money to spend over the years and more importantly the time to allow his teams to gel.

Scolari didn't have these luxuries. Chelsea were widely tipped to win back the Premier League this season having come so close to securing the double last year. At the time the feeling was that the players were there but not the manager. Scolari apparently held the key.

Unfortunately for Scolari, he was denied any real cash to spend during the summer. Deco is a great player but Chelsea already have too many central midfield players and the impact of Bosingwa as a full back was always going to be limited. Petr Cech, Drogba and Ballack have laboured this season and look like players "in need of a fresh challenge". Chelsea lack width and they are an ageing side. It was always going to be a difficult job for Scolari and an impossible one perhaps in the absence of a fully fit Drogba, Essien and Joe Cole.

One indictment on Scolari's short reign is that he didn't try hard enough to get the most out of the players. He made up for the lack of width by pushing the full back's forward even though this left them vulnerable at the back. When he tightened up the defence again, they simply didn't look like scoring. He seemed determined to play Ballack, Lampard and Deco together no matter what, yet refused to play two strikers even when Drogba and Anelka were in good form.

There is no doubt that individually these players are good enough to mount a title challenge but Scolari failed to mould them into a cohesive unit. It always looked like he was trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. It could be that he was under orders to play certain players and it's clear he had little control over transfers.

The wages are as good a reason as any why Scolari would have accepted these terms but if that was the case it was always destined to fail.

Is Hiddink any more likely to succeed? I don't think so. He has been reasonably successful at international level though I think his approach in the Euro 2008 semi final against Spain cost Russia the game. The linesman cheated Italy in 2002 and I wouldn't attach too much weight to the achievement of qualifying with Australia. I do think he is a very good manager, I just don't think he is a miracle worker.

His appointment isn't going to right the fundamental wrongs at Chelsea. The squad is unbalanced, key players are injured or unfit, no money is available to improve the squad and there would appear to be a lot of interference at boardroom level. I expect there to be an initial improvement as there always is with a new manager (for some reason the investigation of which is worthy of a post of it's own) but it won't be long before their faults start to cause trouble again.

Guus won't mind, the money and the prestige will take his mind off the teams failings. In the summer one of two things will happen, Mourinho will return if Abramovich stumps up the cash to take the club forward or Hiddink will stay to oversee the dismantling of the club and pave the way for Abramovich's exit.

It's all Good for Guus.

Michael Phelps- You're still the man.

The first thing I want to know is who took the picture? What kind of a person would do that? I mean there you are, at a party and you see Michael Phelps with his buddies. He has just won eight gold medals at the Olympic Games and is by all accounts a good guy. What is the next thing that goes through your head?

"I want to destroy his career. Please let him do something controversial. Please. Please." Did the person get down on their knees and pray for his demise. Was there a voodoo doll involved? Whatever happened, Phelps smoked some cannabis from a bong. Not the greatest crime ever committed by a college student, there are some who would say it would have been a bigger offence to have refused it or certainly a breach of etiquette.

The individual involved, the true criminal shall we say or the cell phone paparazzi to give him his proper title caught Phelps in the act and had to presence of mind to capture the incident on tape. They then took the recording and I guess, tried to sell it to a newspaper. What did the media man think when informed of this offer? Did he think that he was quite possibly talking to the most evil man since Hitler?

They didn't catch Phelps cheating. There is no suggestion in all of this that cannabis is a performance enhancing drug. If anything, I would have thought it would have the opposite effect. We were always told growing up to avoid alcohol and drugs in the lead up to a big championship game. Nobody ever specified if the drugs to be avoided were recreational or performance enhancing but I just assumed they were all included. Recreational would make you worse, performance enhancing is just cheating.

Michael Phelps was caught taking some down time in the off season by some oppertunistic fungus out to make a quick buck. Phelps at least made his bucks through hard work and making the most of his talents. Phelps is a hero the world over but he is also a normal 23 year old and shouldn't be treated so harshly if he steps out of line once in a while.

I can't blame Kellogs for pulling their sponsorship. I wouldn't expect anything less from such a company. They use whatever means necessary to make a profit and if they think there is more money to be made from dropping Phelps, they will do that. Their relationship with Phelps is purely buisness, whatever they might otherwise have said.

Phelps still has had to suffer incredible embarrassment and harassment, from this incident including the humiliation of being banned from swimming. I don't blame Phelps for the error of judgement, I blame the guy who exploited the oppertunity. He can't have a lot of friends.

Phelps will be alright. He will bounce back in the same way he did when he was caught drunk driving shortly after winning a pocket full of gold in Athens in 2004. Those two incidents almost 5 years apart linked by such extraordinary Olympic success suggest to me only that Phelps has struck a healthy life/work balance.

He should not have been banned from swimming and that person should not have exploited the champ with his guard down. Michael Phelps is still an inspiration and just because there's money to be made by the media and the high brow-bottom line companies in getting him down, he is still number one.

Stay at home if you're going to boo

I couldn't believe the Irish team were booed off at half time on Wednesday night against Georgia. Surely the people who did so would have been better staying at home. It may be that it sounded worse on the television than it actually was at the game but either way it was uncalled for, unreasonable and quite simply beyond belief that it happened at all.

Let's first recall the circumstances leading up to the half time reception, just so you'll know where I'm coming from. Georgia got a very lucky goal in the first minute to go a goal up. For the next 45 minutes, Ireland huffed and puffed without much success in trying to break down the ten man Georgian defence. Ireland had, what I would consider to have been a perfectly good goal disallowed meaning that they were actually going to have to score three times to win the game. Kevin Doyle had a reasonably good call for a penalty waved away and all in all, managed as they are by one of the best defensive coaches in the world in Hector Cuper, Georgia were proving to be a difficult team to break down.

That I think is the story of the first half which led to the team being booed off at half time. There is no question of a lack of effort or professionalism on the parts of any of the players. It was a difficult game but it is fair to say that they were trying their best and as my mother always says, "all you can do is your best".

I don't pay any heed to the argument that you have paid your money and are therefore entitled to vent your anger (although considering the number of tickets being given away for last Wednesday's game, you'd wonder just how many people did pay their money). It wasn't as if Georgia were laying siege to the Irish goal for the first half or that the players weren't pressing, tracking back, tackling and doing all the other things that supporters in these parts like to see.

There is a perception out there that playing for Ireland somehow means less to the Irish soccer team than it does to the rugby team, that the players are overpaid, overhyped and don't try as hard. The first thing is that players don't get paid for playing for Ireland. They get paid by their clubs and are released to play international football. Joey O'Brien thinks playing for Ireland can harm your chances at club level while Stephen Ireland is reaping the benefits of retiring from the set up completely.

It is clear to me at least after Wednesday night that playing for Ireland means an awful lot to the players who lined out that night. That was clear in their celebrations and in the post match interviews. Whether they will continue to feel this way with the treatment they get in the media and from certain sections of the supporters, I'm not so sure. Even Andy Reid, who has every reason to feel gilted and bitter over his treatment has this week re-stated his desire to be selected and publicly wished the team well. The commitment and professionalism of the players is not in doubt. They are honoured to represent Ireland and we should be honoured to have them representing us, not booing them off the field half way through a game.

Even if it was just a couple of eejits the other night, it is still a rare occurance for the team to be treated like that by the supporters and it is not a culture which should be encouraged. We shouldn't take the commitment of the players for granted. The pride in the jersey is all well and good but if the players are being abused for their efforts, more and more will probably follow the paths of Ireland and Andy O'Brien and just stop coming over. I can't say I'd blame them either.

Don't mention the R

The only thing more fashionable than giving out about the Recession is giving out about the people who give out about the recession, if that makes sense? You see from what I’ve found over the past couple of months people of certain age seem to take some kind satisfaction in delivering bad news on jobs, money, houses e.t.c, I’ve stopped listening to these people also not watching the news helps as well because its time to inject some positives into our lives, for one thing I’m going to stop saying “Recession” from now on its “The R”, every time I do say that word I’m putting €2 into a jar so already this piece has cost €6.


The next step is the positives, you’ll have noticed I’ve gone through the first paragraph without any mention of sport that’s because sport is the positive to counter act “The R”, its this time that the sporting year really kicks off.


Last week in the six nations we were treated to one of the finest displays of any Irish team in recent memory we now have a real chance to win the championship we have a team that seems to finally be able to transmit the provincial success of Munster and Leinster to the International stage, Brian O’Driscoll rediscovered his scoring touch and to see Gordon D’Arcy return to the Irish team and score the winning try was the icing on the cake, if you want a prime example of coming back from the brink that’s it , Gordon had been out for over a year with a complicated broken arm that needed surgery on multiple occasions but to return in this manner is almost straight out of the movies and it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.


This win sets us up nicely for a great 6 nations campaign and certainly gives the fans a few more days out to look forward to.


Also at Croke park during the week we had the Irish soccer team get the qualification for the World cup firmly on track, It wasn’t a complete performance and we are still short of a few dominating midfielders but we have got the results we’re level on points with the Italians and a home game with Bulgaria is still to come, historically speaking during recession times (€8) Ireland have done well in football competitions, Stuttgart ’88 and Italia ’90 for example, If we do qualify for South Africa at least the funny wig makers, inflatable hammer sellers and publicans can look forward to making a few extra euros that may very well kick start the economy!

What about at a county level we have the National league which only started a week or two ago, the league sometimes doesn’t get the credit it deserves its seen as the championships poor cousin or if your from Cork it’s a chance for the players and county board to publicly denounce each other, either way its unfair to slate it, the chance to watch a hurling or football match under floodlights on a Friday evening is a fantastic outlet. For 10 or 15 euro you can be entertained by some of the top sport stars in the country, you can forget the woes of “The R” for 70 minutes. The league serves as a perfect appetiser to the championship it allows managers to blood new players and find future stars I always enjoy seeing new or relatively unknown players staking a claim for a spot in the championship team. Counties do seem to be taking the league more seriously now with the likes of Tipp and Waterford in the hurling recently fielding almost full strength teams which gave us a highly competitive game and a much needed lift for the dark month of February. The same could be said of the highly competitive football opener between Dublin and Tyrone.

Outside of these main events that are currently entertaining us at a domestic level, across the water we have the final stages of champion league and not least the premiership which comes into its own at this time of year the managerial merry go round is in full swing and with Liverpool and Arsenal in freefall, Aston Villa and Everton in the ascendancy we have a great finish to look forward to.

Which brings me back to my point we’re in a recession “€10” that’s a fact but it doesn’t mean we should focus on the negatives that surround it, if we did that we’d never leave the house. As sports fans we should consider ourselves lucky to be witnessing these Irish success stories I’ve only touched on a couple of events happening over the coming months there’s still more to come and for a country of our size to have all of these outlets is outstanding.
So to all of the pessimists who are constantly talking about “The R” my advice is to shut up and catch a game every once and a while it’ll do ya the world of good.

What do you want Donal Og Bin Laden?

The worst thing about having an enemy like Al Qaeda is that nobody really seems to know to what they want. While the destruction of the Western World is all very well in theory, dogma and dictats, it is still a bit short on specifics. The problem with Al Qaeda is that there is no starting point for negotiations. They want everything and nothing as their penchant for suicide bombing attests. I think they would be far more successful in their efforts if they set out a list of their demands in plain English (or Arabic, I'm sure someone could be found to translate), deliver them to the enemy (whoever they are, America presumably) and then try to negotiate a settlement.

Bin Laden with an Afghan Hurley-You can't get good ash over there.

The Cork hurlers are a little bit like Al Qaeda though admittedly it would be stretching it to compare Donal Og Cusack to Osama Bin Laden. For the second year in succession, the Cork hurlers have downed tools and while it is obvious that they are unhappy, nobody seems to know for sure why it is that the clouds still hang on them.

It is clear that they want to get rid of Gerald McCarthy but would that really bring the matter to an end? I don't think so because if having banished McCarthy, the County Board again brought in their own man then the dispute would surely begin all over again.

Last years dispute was pathetic in so many ways. A good old Irish dick measuring competition involving as in the only way it can the Labour Relations Commission, the intervention of "Kieran Mulvey from the Labour Relations Commission"- they should send him to Israel, talks til dawn, Paschal Sheehy putting in an all nighter and finally a botched settlement at the last minute which suited no one but was nonetheless proceeded by plenty of backslapping.

When was the last time a beard ever solved anything, Donal?

You know it's all for show when a highly paid Civil Servant is brought in to mediate in a dispute between amateur sportsmen. Mulvey it's true, was the perfect man to negotiate this nonsense of a settlment being such a key figure as he was in the brokering the public partnership deals which now have the country well and truly on it's knees. He was the man whose determinations the Government feared but he didn't scare the Cork County Board.

If only Bin Laden and his crew were as gullible as the Cork hurlers, all the wars could have finished up long ago. Let's briefly dissect the terms of that settlement for a moment. The Cork hurlers agreed never to go on strike again, I'm not sure if that only bounded the current crop or whether it also applied to future generations. I mean, come on now the Cork hurlers are not a Nation or a State. You become one based on your form for your club whether it's Bride Rovers or Sarsfields, it's not a birthright.

Honouring this agreement the present status of the players is that they have just stopped hurling for Cork as opposed to it being some form of industrial action- I'm sure Mulvey will be pleased that his agreement is working so well but also disappointed because I'm sure he loves nothing more than a good strike.

The selection committee seemed to be the deal-making stroke of genius. Such an invention could only have been concieved in a dispute between GAA officials being mediated by a Civil Service Trade Unionist- it's almost like the perfect storm of incompetency.

The selection committee would consist of 7 members made up of 5 County Board representatives and 2 players representatives. At the end of a manager's term, the selection committee would gather for a couple of all expenses paid junkets, I mean, meetings to discuss the appointment of a new manager.

Now I'm no mathematician but it looks to me as though the County Board officials have a pretty decent majority on that committee and that they would comfortably win any vote even if that decision involved doing something likesay reappointing Gerald McCarthy, which the players and their Representatives disagreed with. I cannot understand why the players agreed to this committee. Maybe the Civil Servant fella looked at his watch, saw that it was approaching 5 o'clock in the morning, which was late enough for an agreement to be reached without losing face and he just recommended whatever was on the table.

The Cork players thinking Mulvey was some sort of an expert who was on their side agreed to it on the basis that there was no way the LRC would lead them astray. I mean just look at what they did for teachers, nurses, gardai and everyone else in this country with two houses and a villa in Spain.

The Cork County Board are not the Government though. They are more like the Politburo. I'm just not sure whether Frank Murphy is Erich Honeker or Stalin. I'm leaning towards Honeker. The Cork Hurlers have complained that they were not listened to on the re-appointment of McCarthy, that their views were not taken into account. If they wanted a consensus then they should have looked for a committee with equal representation.

For some reason the Cork County Board are convinced Gerald McCarthy is the right man for the job and they have the votes on the committee which was agreed to by the Cork players to appoint him. They can debate it all they want but at the end of the day it comes down to who has the most votes.


Erich Honeker- The Inspiration for the Cork County Secretary?
Perhaps the DDR was not in vein after all.

That's another thing which baffles me about this whole crisis. The panel seem terribly united for starters. I suppose organised would be another way of putting it. It's like they are a union more than that they just happen to be the thirty best hurlers in Cork which is in essence their only real connection. You don't choose to play for Cork, you get selected if you're good enough or at least that used to be the way. There is no job security. I would think that the reality is that the panel are united behind the stance Donal Og, Gardiner, Sean Og and a couple more of the senior players are taking but since their demands are so vague to begin with, it's more likely that the players are just backing the personalities rather than the principles.

The County Board are worse. In spite of all the claims that they are a democracy, democratically elected and so on, these so-called debates they have seem to be very one sided. The re-appointment of McCarthy has been incredibly divisive and controversial. It is clear that the public support the players and that the players are revered (and rightly so) all over Cork, yet McCarthy's appointment by the County Board was ratified by an overwhelming majority in a vote of county board officials. All I'm saying is that it is similiar to what used to happen in the USSR or still happens in China where the Communist Party members rubber stamp decisions made by the Politburo (tip hat and wink at Frank) by means of a "vote".

A meeting of the Cork County Board?

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, I'm just saying it's similar that's all. Oh and undemocratic as well. I'm all for strong central Government so long as that is what it actually is and it appears to me that that is simply not the case in Cork.

Here is what I think should happen. There is a saying that families who fight together should stay together. I think the players should make themselves available to play for Cork, turn up to training, play the matches but they should continue to make their grievences known through the media and directly to the officials in charge of the team. Hurling is hurling. You've got to play as much as you can, while you can. This will either result in change, the players being dropped or indifference. It will put pressure on the County Board. At the moment the ball is in the player's court and all the attention is focussed on them. Frank Murphy's name hardly even gets a mention.

I can't believe the dispute simply comes down to poor training sessions. Every coach and player will differ on training methods all the time anyway. When it goes wrong, there was a lack of intensity, when you win the manager helped the players relax. Players should focus on their own game, make sure they are right and hope it comes together. Unless you are the manager that's all you can do. Otherwise you'd have anarchy.

I remember Roy Keane gave the Cork Hurlers a talk a few years ago, I think it was while they were going for three in a row. The players seemed to be effected by it as many people are when they are addressed by Keane. Roy told the players to forget three in a row, that they should be trying to win five or six in a row. He said that playing is all about winning and that you should only reflect on your success when you have retired.

The Cork hurlers have hardly won a game since let alone an All-Ireland. They have however strived to introduce new levels of professionalism and have appeared even more determined than ever to win. Like Keane they focus on every little detail and constantly seek improvement and development in training just to get that extra one per cent.

Unfortunately this team is on the wane, age is catching up with them and they will never beat the Kilkenny. It could be that it is this frustration and impossible need for success which is fueling the current impasse as much as their genuine grievences with the County Board, grievences which echo through time since the dawn of hierarchies and society.

The GAA need to reform the structure of the County Board, it is unfair, unworkable and undemocratc but equally the players should get off their high horse and play for Cork, either that or they should follow Roy Keane and ride off into the sunset.

2009 Six nations we should be optimistic.

Like every other person on this damp cold little Island, I hate January, it’s the longest most depressing month and it follows the Christmas month of December like a hangover follows a great night out. As soon as the 1st of February arrives things get a little bit better, the weather improves (slightly) the days get longer and best of all it’s the start of the greatest rugby competition in the northern hemisphere, the six nations!

Every year this competition offers a much-needed lift in spirits after a dismal winter, in recent years the irish rugby teams support has swelled due to our successes not least winning 3 triple crowns since 2004 and regularly beating England which is as good as winning the championship itself but no matter how well we have done the grand slam still eludes us which is a little hard to understand seen as this squad has often been referred to as the golden generation of Irish rugby since the early 2000’s when the likes of Brian O’Driscoll, Ronan O’Gara and Co. first appeared on the international scene. In the following years this squad went to Paris beat France and also won the 3 triple crowns so is there a grand slam on the horizon? Have we reason to be more optimistic this year then other years? Simply No, we’ll do well this year and we will hold our own we have the best irish rugby coach around in the form of Declan Kidney, we have the unstoppable force of the O’Driscoll, Kearney, Fitzgerald back line, the immovable object that is the Munster front 5 and the O’leary, O’gara axis that brings them together. So on paper all we have to do is turn up to the five games and the grand slam is ours, Again No France and Wales will have something to say about that.

Our first game is at home to France on the 7th, this is probably the best game for us to start the championship the French are notoriously slow starters to any championship be it Rugby or Soccer so if we are to catch them on the hop our best chance is to do it early on, then on Valentines weekend its off to Rome to beat the Italians which we should do but they are a progressive team and have shown consistent improvement over the last few years their forwards will put it up to us for 30 or 40 minutes but we’ll prevail in the end, anyway can you think of anything more romantic than being in Rome and watching 30 lads pummelling the shite out of each other for 80 minutes!

Then its England in Croke Park, the fact that its at home and England under Martin Johnson have failed to settle means we should expect to win this one but having had a disappointing Autumn series the England team will be out to redeem themselves, their biggest problem in recent years has been getting the team to gel they have no first choice out half or scrum half so if Martin Johnson can find his best starting 15 they could be dangerous.

We then have Scotland in Murrayfield. No matter how well Ireland seem to be doing this is always a game we find hard to win, Scottish rugby has been in a poor state of health for the past 3 or 4 years but regardless they always pull off one surprise performance in the championship such as beating England last year, still they should be battling with Italy to avoid the wooden spoon again this year.

The final game then is Wales in Cardiff, whether we can win the championship or triple crown will come down to this game, Wales under Warren Gatland is a rejuvenated side that play a slick passing style of rugby that is a joy to watch they have the current world player of the year in Shane Williams who put us to the sword last year but this game will come down to a battle between our two packs where Ireland should have the edge and win it by a whisker.

So we should be optimistic going into this year’s championship Lord knows the way the country is now we need it if the team can gel and find the form of a few years ago another triple crown is very possible, a grand slam not likely but how I would love to be proved wrong

Damn and Blast You Rafa

How dare you? How dare you? How dare you treat Robbie Keane like that you Spanish prick? Now he thinks they are going to be as strong in the run as they were before Christmas, "we've got Kuyt, Babel, N'gog and some other reserve fella no one has ever heard of". He says Yossi can play off the main striker which might be true if he still played for West Ham but Yossi isn't going to win you a Premier League title. The fact is that Liverpool have an extra eight points this season than they did at the same stage last year. Torres has been injured for much of the season and as far as I could see Robbie was playing his part. It wasn't all down to Albert Reira, that's for sure.

The little bearded one did not give Robbie a fair crack at the whip. By way of contrast look at how Alex Ferguson has nurtured and tolerated the form of Dimitar Berbatov. He has scored fewer league goals than Robbie Keane and at times has looked lazy to the point of sloth. In one game for Bulgaria earlier this year he only ran 1.5 Km over the 90 minutes. Ferguson has been patient with Berbatov putting him in the team ahead of players like Tevez who might have showed better form at times.

He also kept him in the team during games where he didn't even look like he was trying let alone have any interest. Ferguson has stuck with Berbatov and there has been no suggestion over him leaving the club. Signs on Ferguson is getting his reward and United are two clear at the top of the table with a game in hand.

Berbatov's finest moment in a United shirt to my mind was the goal against Bolton at the Reebok. With the game completely passing him by and United looking like dropping another two points, he popped up in the 87th minute to score the winner for United and take all the plaudits.

Had Liverpool been in that situation (and they have been situation some 9 times already this season) Robbie Keane wouldn't even have been on the pitch to have scored such a late winner. Benetiz consistently and pointlessly replaced Keane after an hour every time he started. I've seen a lot of those games, Robbie looked no worse than the other Liverpool players; Babel, Benayoun and Kuyt certainly haven't looked any better. In most Premier League games all the action happens in the last half hour. That's when the big players step up to win the crunch games (like FT last Sunday) and Robbie Keane is a big player.

He scored a brilliant goal against Arsenal but was again taken off after an hour in a game Liverpool had to win with Arsenal down to 10 men and looking second best to Liverpool in every department.

Benetiz said that Robbie didn't settle and that sometimes good players find it difficult to settle at a big club but he was never given a chance. The writing was on the wall for Robbie as soon the early substitutions became a regular occurrence. Strikers thrive on confidence and Benetiz drained Robbie of his in every game by bringing him off before the game entered the influential closing stages i.e. the time you want your big players on the pitch. The message was loud and clear.

Then there were the humiliations at Ewood Park and the Stoke games, when he didn't even get a run with Liverpool desperate for a goal. Benetiz would instead bring on the charlatan Lucas Leiva to shore up midfield when a goal was needed. Most recently against Wigan, Keane was brought on after 83 minutes with Stephen Gerrard going off, again when Liverpool needed a goal. It is unfair to ask a player to win you a game in seven minutes and it's insane to substitute a player like Gerrard with 7 minutes to go when you need a goal.

The worst of all to my mind is after Keane scored three times in games over Christmas, Benetiz then dropped him from the squad to play Newcastle at St. James' Park in Liverpool's easiest victory of the season. Keane did play the following week against Preston in the Cup (badly), but the damage had already been done. All three goals were scored under the hour mark.

As it happens I think Keane did a good job at Liverpool in so far as he was allowed to work at all. Robbie is an intelligent player who doesn't give the ball away very much. This takes pressure off the defence in that they know that when they clear the ball out of defence, it won't be coming straight back to them. He gave Liverpool a different attacking option in that he was more mobile than Crouch and just better than Bellamy. I think Keane's general play made Liverpool better and more cohesive as a unit but I don't think Rafa saw it that way.

There is no doubt that Keane returning to Spurs is a step backwards. He has swapped a title challenge (what's left of it) for a relegation battle and make no mistake, Spurs are in trouble. Whether he is bothered either way, I'm not so sure. He pockets a couple of million, still gets well paid and will play every week in front of 36,000 adoring fans. The only difference is the colour of the shirt.

Is it true that Keane is the victim of a power struggle at Anfield and that he was never Benetiz's signing. If that is the case then he should never have made the move to Liverpool. It does seem strange however that Rick Parry would spend £20 million on a player Benetiz didn't want and stranger still that Benetiz would have accepted it. I guess we'll never or at least not until the autobiographies come during the summer anyway.