Owen Signing Sticks the Boot Further into Liverpool

The last thing that Alex Ferguson's signing of Michael Owen is is a gamble. He was out of contract with a relegated club for the love of God. Owen has shown himself to be something of a mercenary over the years and he was always going to be available to either the highest bidder or the lure of major trophies. Ferguson has gotten him cheap and he won't break United even if he never plays so it's no skin off Fergie's neck one way or the other.

For Mickey Owen the only other suitors were Hull City and Stoke City, who it turns out Michael wouldn't play for all the money in the world. The poor guy hasn't looked fit since about 1998 and it really has been a shame to see a player who burst onto the scene with such a swagger to fade away as he has done these past few years. It happens to a lot of great strikers. They suffer an injury or two and they're never really the same player again. It happened to Robbie Fowler and there is a real danger of it happening to Fernando Torres.

The one thing Ferguson does know is that if he gets Owen fit, he will score goals. He always has. It certainly won't do him any harm being out of the arctic North of England where players seem to spend more time injured than fit. One thing that is certain is that the Michael Owen of yore is no more. He will no longer terrorise defences and if he plays like he did for Newcastle last season he'll be lucky if he even gets to tear it up with the reserves.

Nevertheless the signing of Owen represents a massive coup for Ferguson if only because it once again gives him the opportunity to stick the boot into Liverpool. It wouldn't surprise me if that was the only reason he signed him Owen. After all only a week ago the general consensus was that he was finished.

There escaping the impression that Liverpool have been caught napping on this one. It might well be that Rafa didn't want Owen back because of the circumstances in which he left in the summer of 2004. How's that for loyalty? The Liverpool fans being as gullible as they are still idolise the man and there can be no doubt that Owen signing for Man U will be a blow to their morale going into the new season.

On the other hand, it is just the good news story United fans want to hear after the sale of Ronaldo. He's obviously no replacement but it is always nice to have such an exceptional goalscorer join your ranks. Liverpool could certainly use one.

Conversely had Owen signed for Liverpool, they would have gotten the boost while United fans were still down on their luck. It wouldn't have cost Rafa anything in the scheme of things because I'm sure that commercially Owen would have paid for himself plus like Fowler's return in 2006, a sentimental Owen would surely have jumped at the chance especially on the cusp of a mounting a real title challenge next season.

Every time Owen scores for Man U next season will be a double blow for Liverpool fans who will see it as both a betrayal and a goal lost. Owen is still one of the few natural goalscorers in the Premier League (Defoe possibly the only other) and surely Ferguson won't try to do an Alan Smith on him.

Liverpool fans will be reeling from the shock of this move while for United it just offers further proof that they are the smarter club and the better team. It's not the first time Liverpool have been found wanting in the transfer market and it's a lethargy which they've displayed since the early 90's losing out to United commercially, in trophies and now the signing of Owen is just the salt in the wounds.

Let the psychological warfare begin. Latest Score: Ferguson 1 Benitez 0.

Limerick vs Cork Munster Football Final Min by Min

Ian Ryan: Playing out of his skin so far.

It's all over. Cork are Munster Champions. Another glorious defeat for Limerick. I'm disgusted and I'm off to bed. Can't believe it.

Final Score: Cork 2-6 Limerick 0-11

72 min: Free for Cork on their own endline. Good run by Eoin Hogan but he just ran out of field.

71min: Cork win a free in midfield. They are in no rush to take it.

69 min: Limerick are battling hard but they are just falling short. There are two minutes of added time to go. Limerick need to get the ball back and try to work an opening.

67 min: Cork 2-6 Lim 0-11They say 2 points is the most dangerous lead in GAA. Well it's one point now. Stephen Kelly has just put over a point.

65 min: Limerick still seem to be matching Cork, they just can't seem to get the scores up. They are noticeably starting to tire. One last effort maybe?

63 min: Limerick have at least rattled Cork and all 3 Nemo players were taken off for Cork. Billy Morgan won't like that.

62 min: Cork have taken their chances and Limerick failed to take theirs in the first half, they will really need a goal to win this game. It was always going to that way though. A bad wide there from Ger Collins.

60 min: Why does Sport have to be so cruel? How can a team play so well and come so close and still be 2 points down. Paul O'Flynn comes in for Kerrigan.

59 min: Cork 2-6 Lim 0-10: Foul by Mark Riordan on 45. Free to Cork, Donncha O'Connor stands over it and he splits the posts.

57 min: Lim 0-10 Cork 2-5: Cork seem to have the upper hand now. Almighty score from Colm O'Neill from 45 metres out. Aidan Walsh is in for Ger Spillane.

55 min: Lim 0-10 Cork 2-4: Equaliser for Limerick by Stephen Lavin. Sniff of a goal but he made the right decision.

53 min: Cork 2-4 Lim 0-9: Ger Collins hits a free into the Keepers hands. The wind is very much against them. Another point for Goulding and Cork are in the lead. Colm O'Neill is making a big difference for Cork.

51 min: Goulding is in here. He must score but it's an outstanding save from Sean Kiely and he just about tips it over the bar. Great chance for Cork. Now, he's done it. The ball is back in and Goulding makes no mistake this time. Top class finish. It was coming in a way. We are level going into the final quarter.

49 min: Still only 1 score in the 2nd half. Both teams are finding it tough going. Limerick look fairly solid in defence. Colm O'Neill is on for the largely ineffective James Masters. Maybe the lads were right and he is just a 1 trick pony- always turns on to his left. Sure he's like myself.

47 min: The referee is a disgrace. He overruled his linesman for that Line ball even though it was clearly a Limerick ball and the resulting Cork 45 was definitely a wide ball after Paul Kelly knocked it wide.

45 min: Line ball from Cork falls in around the square. Confusion in the Limerick full back line and ball somehow goes out for a 45. Wide again from Goulding.

42 min: Now Cork have a 45 even though the ball obviously went out off Graham Canty, justice is done as the kick goes well wide but all 50/50 going Cork's way.....no surprises there.

41 min: A wide from Daniel Goulding under pressure. Cork are starting to feel it now but there's still a long way to go.

40 min: Stephen Lavin bursts out of defence to set up a Limerick attack but he is tackled late by a Cork defender. No free is given. That's the 2nd time that's happened in 5 minutes. Limerick just look a quicker team at the minute.

37 min: Cork's 2nd wide of the match, Nicholas Murphy hits a free wide from about midfield. A bit ambitious maybe but they do have the wind.

35 min: Lim 9 Cork 1-2: Great start to the 2nd half for Limerick. 1st score of the game for Ger Collins to put Limerick 4 ahead.

Cork are coming back out on to the pitch, they still have Michael Cussen on the bench and he's the kind of player who could make a difference if he's comes on though Counihan might see as last throw of the dice stuff.

Limerick are back out to a massive roar from the smallish crowd. 35 minutes to go for an historic win.

Half Time Report: It's Limerick's to lose now at this stage. They have absolutely destroyed Cork in the first half. Cork will be thankful for the very lucky penalty which has them in touch at all while Limerick will rue more than a few missed chances but Limerick will still feel they are a stronger team than Cork anyway. One note of caution might be that Limerick played with the wind in the first half. It's hard to know how much of a factor that will be but you'd have to think that Cork will make some sort of a comeback in the second half.

35 min: A wide from Kerrigan for Cork under pressure from Pa Ranahan and the referee blows for half time. Half Time Score: Limerick 0-8 Cork 1-2

34 min: Lim 0-8 Cork 1-2: Seanie Buckley picks up a pass from Ian Ryan and bangs over his third point from play.

33 min: Kieran O Callaghan is in for Limerick in place of Cormac Joyce-Power. Possible injury for Joyce-Power although Michael Shields seemed to have the better of him.

31 min: Conditions look good if a bit slippy. Sun is out now after a bit of rain earlier.

29 min: 6 min to half time. Limerick have missed a lot of chances but still look much the stronger side. Joyce-Power wastes another shot, giving Cork the ball when a score was very much there for the taking. Luckily Cork overcarry and it's a free now for Limerick from midfield.

27 min: Stephen Kelly wins the ball on the 21. He passes inside to Stephen Lavin who made the forward run. It's a great goal chance but he kicks it wide. Limerick will seriously regret these chances if they don't win the game.

26 min: It's a cracking Munster Final in Pairc Ui Chaoimh. Conor Counihane is worried and is bringing on Paudie Kissane for Brian O' Regan who was himself a late replacement. Limerick's forward's are well on top.

24 min: Lim 0-7 Cork 1-2: Another point for Ian Ryan. That's 4 from play from Ryan.

23 min: Donnacha O'Connor catches the ball over Full Back Shane Gallagher's head. He is through on goal but is brilliantly dispossessed by Mark O'Riordan. Lucky escape.

22 min: Masters opened the scoring for Cork before Ian Ryan, Seanie Buckley and Stephen Kelly put Limerick ahead.

19 min: This is as good a chance Limerick are ever going to have to win a Munster final and they've started very brightly. Cork have three scores from as many attacks. The Cork penalty was very harsh but Limerick really have start making this possession count.

18 min Lim 0-6 Cork 1-2: Great point from Ian Ryan. Finds himself in a lot of space on the left and knocks over a great point.

17 min: Cork are understrength losing Miskella, Noel O'Leary and Anthony Lynch before the match.

16 min: Lim 0-5 Cork 1-2: A free for Cork from Donncha O' Connor from 40 metres. It's blocked out and Daniel Goulding picks it up and puts up another point for Cork

15 min: Lim 0-5 Cork 1-1: Seanie Buckley kicks his second point of the match, great score from 40 yards. Limerick still well on top and should be further ahead

13 min: Lim 0-4 Cork 1-1: Donncha O' Connor takes it and cooly sends the keeper the wrong way

12 min: It's a penalty for Cork. Daniel Goulding fouled. Looked very harsh

11 min: Lim 0-4 Cork 0-1: Point for Limerick by Pa Ranahan, takes a pass from Stephen Kelly to slot it over. Limerick are well on top and I've just gotten the computer

Doyle The Right Man For Wolves

Reading might have fallen short this season in the Championship, Kevin Doyle will be playing in the Premier League next season. His record signing for Wolves yesterday shouldn't come as any major surprise as Mick McCarthy recently proclaimed Doyler the best player in the football league in Four Four Two. This was high praise indeed especially with Mick's own centre forward Slyvian Ebanks-Blake finishing so far ahead of Doyle in the scoring charts.

Doyle only scored 1 goal since Christmas but there is no doubting his class. The biggest worry is whether he can stay injury free. Playing in the Premier League will help him because if nothing else there will be fewer games. I think Doyle found his second season in the Championship difficult simply because there was so little time between games. He is on record as saying he was exhausted from playing twice a week. It's not that Doyler isn't up to it, it just means that injuries aren't given time to heal and because of the pressure of getting back into the Premier League he was always thrown back in too soon.

Trapatonni took Doyle off for Ireland against Italy in Bari because he was flagging and he suffered an injury for Reading soon afterwards which finished his season. Doyle is an all-action centre forward and he is noticeably off-colour when hampered by injury. The thing about centre forwards though is that they are judged on goals and Doyle took more than his share of criticism for Reading's relegation in 2008. Again Doyle was injured for much of this season and he rarely looked fit on his comeback.

Steve Coppell took to playing him on the right wing that season as well which didn't help and Reading struggled badly as a team leaving their strikers with fewer chances.

Wolves have gotten themselves a quality player though. He has scored some brilliant goals for Ireland and been excellent in a team which has often looked to have less Premier League quality than Wolves.

It is great for Ireland's World Cup prospects that Doyle will have a season in the Premier League behind him if we qualify for South Africa. At least it won't come as a shock to him. While the present Wolves team have the look of a new Reading, you would have to assume they will struggle next season. Playing fancy football didn't get West Brom anywhere and if Wolves take the Stoke approach then I don't think Doyle is going to see much action. He'd probably end up back at Reading again a la Dave Kitson.

Hull were a bit of a disaster themselves and I don't even know what strikers they used after Christmas. I know Marlon King was gone and our boy Caleb didn't play much but beyond that they didn't do much attacking. That's the problem with promoted teams in the Premier League. It's all 4-5-1 and lone attackers ploughing a lone furrow. Doyle mightn't get a kick much less a game if Mick resorts to these tactics. He might have to if they are to survive.

I would have preferred if Doyle had moved to the continent where he might have played for a more established top flight club. The continent can be more open and I'm sure he would score a bag of goals in La Liga, Ligue 1, the Ere Divise, Serie A or the Bundesliga.

I did in fact write to all Serie A, Bundesliga and La Liga clubs in December telling them to sign Doyle. I didn't get any responses. Doyle would have been more than good enough for a top European Club but in many ways he had no choice but to sign for Wolves.

They showed real and genuine interest in Doyle which he was surely impressed by. Mick McCarthy's presence would have been a factor as well. He understands the Irish players well and if any Premier League manager is going to give Doyle a fair crack at the whip, it will be McCarthy.

Wolves have also made him their record signing and Reading's record sale. Other Premier League clubs have had ample opportunity to sign it but they've instead seen fit to sign Bobby Zamora, Emile Heskey, Pavlyuchenko, Amir Zaki, Alfonso Alaves, Daniel Cousin, El Zhar, Bojinov and all sorts of other rubbish. So why would he wait for any of those clubs to come in for him.

Wolves were quick off the mark and they have been very upfront with Doyle. They are a Premier League club with the right set up and an exciting young team. If Doyle does stay fit, you can be sure he will have a good season and Wolves will stay up.

If that happens, Doyle to Wolves will have been the best business done all summer.