Leopardstown Racecourse has announced that solicitors Patrick Ward & Company have renewed their support of the Grade 1 Irish Arkle Novice Chase. The race will be run on day 1 of the Dublin Racing Festival, Saturday 5 February 2022.
Patrick Ward & Company Solicitors have a long association with Leopardstown and the Irish Arkle. The Ward family name graced the Irish Arkle for the first time in 2010.
That season victory went to the Henry de Bromhead-trained An Cathaoir Mor, and subsequent years have seen winners such as Flemenstar, Â Un De Sceaux, Douvan and Energumene.
One of the feature events on the opening day of the Dublin Racing Festival, the Patrick Ward & Company Solicitors Irish Arkle Novice Chase was first run as a Grade 1 event in 2002. Subsequent Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Kicking King was successful on that occasion for trainer Tom Taaffe and Barry Geraghty. He went on to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup two years later.
Tim Husbands CEO of Leopardstown welcomed the announcement, stating:
âWe are delighted that Patrick is to continue this partnership with Leopardstown, the Ward family have sponsored the Irish Arkle for a number of years and have been part of and supported Dublin Racing Festival since its inception. The Patrick Ward & Company Irish Arkle Novice Chase has attracted a superb entry, from all the leading yards and if the recent performance of last yearâs winner of the race; Energumene, are anything to go by, this will be another exciting renewal!”
Cathal Forde follows in the footsteps of Eric Elwood by starting at fly-half for Connacht, both players attended Galway City school Colaiste Iognaid (The Jes).
Forde who only recently signed a pro contract with the western province will make his first start for Connacht against Glasgow on Saturday. He will hope to have a career like Elwood who played for Connacht 168 times and Ireland on 35 occasions and is still working with the province.
Below you can listen to Cathal chat about his rugby career, this was filmed last May.
Tiernan OâHalloran will become the fourth Connacht player to reach 200 caps the Clifden native made his Connacht debut in October 2009 at the age of just 18 and has been a mainstay in the squad ever since. He joins John Muldoon, Michael Swift and Denis Buckley as the only players to reach the historic milestone.
Buckley meanwhile will make a welcome return from a serious knee injury, with the prop among the replacements for what is due to be his first appearance of the season.
Jordan Duggan and Greg McGrath retain their places as starting props, with hooker Dave Heffernan alongside them in the front row. Thereâs a new look second row of Ultan Dillane and Leva Fifita, while Eoghan Masterson and Paul Boyle also come into the side in the back row. Jarrad Butler captains the team from openside flanker.
The centre partnership is unchanged with Sammy Arnold alongside Tom Farrell, and thereâs a start on the wing for another Academy graduate Diarmuid Kilgallen. Alex Wootton completes the side from the opposite wing.
Commenting on the team selection, Head Coach Andy Friend says:
“Tiernanâs 200th cap is a huge achievement for him. To play 200 times for one club is a testament to his loyalty to Connacht, his dedication to the game, and his ability as a footballer. The fact that heâs reached the milestone for his home province, having come through the ranks at Connemara RFC and Garbally College, only adds to the achievement.
Tomorrowâs game is a really important one in the context of the URC standings. We donât have many home games left so itâs crucial we pick up as many points as possible in these fixtures. The results of the last two weeks were disappointing so itâs up to all of us to ensure we do enough for 80 minutes to get the win.”
CONNACHT RUGBY MATCHDAY 23 VS GLASGOW WARRIORS
Saturday 29th January, 14:55 @ The Sportsground
The autumn internationals have a habit of setting the mood for any upcoming Six Nations campaign. Indeed, the November tests either increase expectation for a particular country if they enjoy a string of positive results or on the contrary and as Iâm sure youâve guessed, if the end-of-year campaign turns into a nightmare, everyone watches the Six Nations season opener from behind the couch.
In Irelandâs case, you would have to say that the autumn internationals couldnât have gone any better after the men in green recorded a one hundred per cent win ratio. Notably, one of the three tests they played was against New Zealand that ended up in a remarkable 29-20 win at the Aviva Stadium.Â
Japan and Argentina were the other nations that Ireland put to the sword in November, which you might argue was always going to happen, but both teams have shown they’re far from minnows anymore. In addition to that, Ireland were able to rack up over 50 points in both games which was another indicator that this team is primed for a Six Nations campaign that concludes with them as the overall champions. Can it happen?
Itâs impossible to say for certain, but a favourable home draw against Wales on the 5th of February suggests Ireland can get off to a winning start at the Aviva Stadium. In many ways, a strong start dictates how a team fares in the early rounds, and whilst you canât win the Six Nations in February, you can definitely lose it.Â
Another point to consider when weighing up Ireland’s chances of becoming eventual champions of the 2022 Six Nations is that, as we can tell from the past, any Six Nations winning campaign depends on earning bonus points against the smaller nations.
So if we go back to Irelandâs form in the autumn internationals for a second, we can tell that they’re crossing the whitewash with ease which suggests that they will score more than four or more tries when they come up against Italy who tend to be on the receiving end of some hefty defeats in the Six Nations. Indeed, Aidan Perkins reflects here on the top five highest ever score in Six Nations matches revealingly, Italy were involved in three of them. This means that Irelandâs Six Nation hopes could rest on their clash against the Italians at the Aviva Stadium on the 27th of February and ultimately how many times they go over for a try.Â
Ireland continue their unbeaten start to their 2018 Six Nations campaign đđŞ
Of course, thereâs also the small matter of beating England, Scotland, and then France in Paris.
As briefly alluded to, itâs impossible to say for certain if Ireland will win the Six Nations and when you read back that last sentence, you do feel the wind being taken out of your sails. However, a nation can only start as they mean to go and Ireland have found impressive momentum in 2021 that they will use to try to win this competition for the first time since 2018.
When Andy Farrell included Joey Carberry in Ireland’s Six Nations squad last week, it was a surprise to many.
The Munster Fly-half has been injured for the last couple of months and wasn’t expected to be fully fit for the start of the Six Nations, but now it seems he might be ready to go. During the press launch for the Six Nations, Andy Farrell updated everyone on Carberry’s fitness level.
Andy Farrell on Joey Carberry: “He is fit as a fiddle and involved in all the ball drills, he is just waiting for the all clear to participate in contact drills” Looks like Joey is not far from being good to go.
When asked about Connachtâs Jack Carty returned to the wider Ireland squad âHeâs done very well, certainly this season, obviously Connacht are playing really well as a team. I think whatâs helped Jack along the way as well is the captaincy, the ownership of the captaincy has been new to him and I think some people sink or swim with that responsibility.”
Andy Farrell on Joey Carberry:
"He is fit as a fiddle and involved in all the ball drills, he is just waiting for the all clear to participate in contact drills"
Looks like Joey is not far from being good to go. #SixNations
Andy Farrell on Jack Carty "âHeâs done very well, certainly this season, obviously Connacht are playing really well as a team. Whatâs helped Jack is the captaincy. The ownership of the captaincy has been new to him and some people sink or swim with that responsibility." #rugby
Racing TV is delighted to announce its sponsorship of the âŹ125,000 Grade 1 Racing TV ââŹ12 per Month This Weekend Onlyâ Juvenile Hurdle on the opening day of the showpiece Dublin Racing Festival on February 5.
The race is one of the most significant juvenile contests run in the UK and Ireland and was won last year by Quilixios, who went on to glory in the JCB Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.
The leading horseracing channel will also be marking the occasion by offering Irish residents the golden opportunity to join for the best-ever price of âŹ12 per month (normally âŹ31) in Republic of Ireland and ÂŁ10 per month (normally ÂŁ24.98) in Northern Ireland for 12 months.
Leopardstown will host Racing TV cameras at the weekend, not only for the racing, but also for its flagship programmes, The Friday Club, Road to Cheltenham (after racing on Saturday) and Luck on Sunday, which will all be filmed live.
Martin Stevenson, CEO of Racecourse Media Group, parent company of Racing TV, said: âThe team at Horse Racing Ireland and Leopardstown have done an exceptional job in establishing the Dublin Racing Festival as an undoubted highlight of the Jumps season in such a short period of time.
âThe prizemoney over the two-day festival is exceptional and the consistently high-quality fields reflects that. We are delighted to be putting our name to the âŹ125,000 Racing TV ââŹ12 per Month This Weekend Onlyâ Juvenile Hurdle.
âRacing TV is proud to show 90% of all Graded and Group races in UK and Ireland and feel honoured to tell the storylines from both sides of the Irish Sea, which are so inextricably linked. The Dublin Racing Festival is a real jewel in the crown for us and we will be applying the very highest production and presentation values to the weekend, including hosting flagship programmes at Leopardstown Racecourse to get viewers in the mood for a mouth-watering two days of racing.â
Tim Husbands MBE, Chief Executive, Leopardstown, âRacing TV extending their partnership with Leopardstown by sponsoring the Grade 1 Spring Juvenile Hurdle demonstrates their commitment to Irish Racing and we are very grateful. Their exclusive offer to avail of the excellent coverage of UK and Irish Racing on their channel for only âŹ12 per month is fantastic and we hope it will be received well by our audience. The Racing TV ââŹ12 per Month This Weekend Onlyâ Juvenile Hurdle is a quality race and it is shaping up to be an exciting renewal.â
Gary OâBrien heads the team for the live racing output, and is joined by Nick Luck, Ruby Walsh, Fran Berry, and Donn McClean over the course of the two days.
The Racing TV âŹ12 / ÂŁ10 offer is for 12 months and only available from 9am Saturday February 5 until 9pm on Sunday February 6, to new and reinstating Racing TV members. Details will be available at www.racingtv.com/drf.
The official team announcement for Team Ireland in Beijing 2022 is due to be on the 24 January, and the team announcement will be released from the Pre-Games holding camp in Innsbruck, Austria. At least six people are guaranteed to be on the team across Alpine Skiing, Snowboarding, Freestyle Skiing, Cross Country Skiing and Luge, with allocation places set to be confirmed for Skeleton early next week. Short Track Skater Liam OâBrien missed out by one spot when the qualification period closed before Christmas.
The Beijing Games is spread across three distinct villages and zones â Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou. Speaking ahead of travelling to the Games, Team Ireland Chef de Mission for Beijing 2022, Nancy Chillingworth outlined the challenging journey of the athletes, and what to expect.
âAt the moment Team Ireland will definitely be present in Yanqing and Zhangjiakou and there is still an outside possibility of an athlete in Beijing. This qualification has been extremely challenging for all athletes as they have struggled to qualify against a background of increased covid restrictions and competition cancellations. They have shown immense resilience in the face of these setbacks, and we are looking forward to supporting them to perform to their best in Beijing.
Â
âAlthough the final team will not be known until qualification and selection concludes next week, we do know that there will be a mix of experienced Olympians and athletes making their Olympic debut which will be exciting, and we are looking forward to the team having an opportunity to get to know each other and build a sense of the Team Ireland culture in the pre-games camp.
Â
âBeijing 2022 will be implementing very strict covid countermeasures, many of which are similar to those experienced in Tokyo 2020 but with some added layers around the strictness of the closed loop, daily pcr testing, monitoring of FFP2 mask wearing, health tracking in advance of travel etc. As Team Ireland we are prepared for this and have run a number of webinars with the prospective team to ensure everyone knows what is expected.â
The team will be training in Innsbruck from the 20 January before they travel to Beijing on the 26 January, and photography of Team Ireland will be available to the media alongside the team announcement and a media guidebook.
Later this month the Road to Beijing challenge will be officially launched. The OFI Dare to Believe schools challenge will bring the Winter Olympic Games to school children right around Ireland, and will be based on the Road to Tokyo which saw 55,000 children participate. As part of the reveal of the official poster, the Road to Beijing Colouring Competition is underway, with the closing date for entries on the 17th January.
The schedule for Team Ireland in Beijing 2022 is as follows:
Sport
Name
Event
Competition Date
Ceremony
All
Opening Ceremony
04-Feb
Alpine Skiing
Jack Gower
Downhill
06-Feb
Crossâcountry skiing
Thomas Westgard
15km
06-Feb
Alpine Skiing
Tess Arbez
Giant Slalom Run
07-Feb
Luge
Elsa Desmond
Run 1 & 2
07-Feb
Alpine Skiing
Jack Gower
Super G
08-Feb
Crossâcountry skiing
Thomas Westgard
Sprint
08-Feb
Luge
Elsa Desmond
Run 3 & 4
08-Feb
Alpine Skiing
Tess Arbez
Slalom Run #2
09-Feb
Snowboard
Seamus O’Connor
Halfpipe Q
09-Feb
Alpine Skiing
Tess Arbez
Slalom Run #1
09-Feb
Alpine Skiing
Jack Gower
Alpine Combined
10-Feb
Snowboard
Seamus O’Connor
Halfpipe Final (1,2, 3)
11-Feb
Alpine Skiing
Tess Arbez
Super G
11-Feb
Crossâcountry skiing
Thomas Westgard
15km Classic
11-Feb
Alpine Skiing
Jack Gower
Giant Slalom
13-Feb
Freestyle skiing
Brendan Newby
Halfpipe Qualifying
17-Feb
Freestyle skiing
Brendan Newby
Halfpipe Final (1. 2 & 3)
19-Feb
Crossâcountry skiing
Thomas Westgard
50km
19-Feb
Ceremony
All
Closing Ceremony
20-Feb
Today Bubba Newby who competes in the Freestyle Halfpipe Skiing events will be doing a takeover on our Instagram account.
Profiles of athletes to date who have been targeting qualification:
In order to provide the test cricketers with a much-needed break in play, the umpire will call an end to the first session and the lunch break will commence. This interval lasts for 40 minutes and is designed to help the players refocus. After having relaxed, recharged, and taken on ample protein, the players are then better prepared for the challenges that lay ahead in the rest of the test match/series.
As beneficial as the traditional lunch break may be for your cricketing heroes, it can leave you with a 40-minute hole in your day. This is a long time to go without any sporting action, especially when you are fully immersed in the action that you have already witnessed.
Are you determined to beat the lunch break blues? If so, youâve most certainly come to the right place. Here are three things you can do to keep yourself entertained during this interval:
Play casino games
The 40-minute lunch break will seem like a lifetime if you donât find yourself a pastime that actively distracts you from your boredom. There are plenty of different activities that you can perform during the break in play, one of the most engaging being to play casino games. This is a highly intuitive and immersive form of gaming, simply because it will take you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions each and every time. Whether you opt to play poker, blackjack, or roulette, whenever you indulge in a spot of casino gaming, you will be sure to experience a plethora of different sensations.
Of course, 40 minutes wonât provide you with enough time to visit your local casino. Fear not, however, as the Internet is at hand to provide some much-needed assistance in this instance. When you access a reputable casino online Ireland, such as Lucky Nugget, you will be able to enjoy the thrills and spills of traditional casino gaming from the comfort of your own home.
Take part in a short cricket match
Unlike the halftime interval in football, the test cricket lunch break actually provides a relatively substantial downtime period. Forty minutes might not provide you with enough time to head to your local casino ⌠but it should be long enough to allow you to play a short game of cricket with your friends. If the weather outside is good enough, you and your mates can keep yourselves entertained by bowling and batting alongside one another.
Listen to the in-studio analysts
Over the course of the lunch break, the in-studio analysts will provide their expert opinion on the cricketing action that has already taken place. If youâve really got nothing better to do, you could always listen to what they have to say. You never know; they might actually end up having a mildly interesting discussion!
Are you determined to banish boredom from your overall test cricket viewing experience? If so, be sure to keep yourself entertained during the lunch break period by putting the above advice into practice.
Ah, Roy Keane, now there’s a name that divides opinion. Some still haven’t forgiven him for his fallout with Mick McCarthy in Saipan back in 2002 which led to him being sent home from the Ireland squad weeks before the World Cup.
Nowadays though, the hardman from Cork has settled nicely into his role as a highly-strung pundit with opinions that cut like glass. So when you turn on your T.V. and see him delve into a five-minute rant aimed at some nimble-footed player with fluorescent boots, it’s easy to forget that Keane used to actually walk the walk to back up all the talk.
Here then is a quick look at two of his greatest games out on the soccer pitch.
Manchester City 2 â 3 Manchester United (93/94)
Having just joined Manchester United from Nottingham Forest in the summer of 1993 for a then British transfer record of ÂŁ3.75million, this is the game that made everyone begin to realise that United had bagged themselves a bargain. City went two-nil up in the first half and the fans decked out in sky blue at Maine Road started to dream about their first derby win of the decade.
Yet Sir Alex Ferguson, then just a humble Alex Ferguson, gave his players the full wrath of his now legendary hairdryer half-time team talks and sent the players back out with their tails up. From the whistle, Keane started flying into tackles and taking the fight to the City team. Suddenly they looked nervous and mistakes started creeping into their game. Eric Cantona took advantage and managed to bag two goals to bring the game level going into the closing stages.
With Eric Cantona playing so well, he must have been wearing his lucky socks. In 2020, United’s old kit man Albert Morgan revealed on a podcast that Cantona had to have the same pair of socks to wear at every game to feel he could play to his best. Wearing the same clothes is a common superstition across many sports with football and poker being the most prominent.Â
It was Keane though who had started the comeback by taking the game by the scruff of its neck and it was he who would decide it, when he stormed onto the end of a Dennis Irwin ball into the box and smashed home the winner.Â
Juventus 2 â 3 Manchester United (98/99)
Another magical and courageous comeback with the same scoreline as the previous example, this match is commonly regarded as Keane’s magnum opus and is the greatest portrayal of the dogged and driven personality that the man possesses. It was a hot and sweaty night in Turin during the Spring of 1999 and Manchester United had a lot of work to do to make it to their first European Cup final in 31 years.
The first leg of the tie held at Old Trafford a few weeks before had ended in a 1-1 draw, and had Juventus feeling that progression to the final was all but guaranteed. That feeling was solidified within eleven minutes of the second leg when professional goal-hanger Filippo Inzaghi netted twice to leave United on the edge of elimination. Yet Keane refused to lie down and let the game wither out and instead pulled his socks up and put in one of the greatest performances in soccer history.
By getting stuck in with hard but fair tackles and breaking up numerous Juventus attacks, he began to re-build the confidence amongst the United players. Then on the 24th minute, Beckham whipped a corner in and Keane made a darting run into the box and timed his jump to perfection to glance a header past Angelo Peruzzi and into the net. Game on.Â
However, disaster for Keane struck, as minutes later the ball bobbled in midfield to the greatest player in the world at the time Zinedine Zidane. Zidane took the ball and set off on one of his glided runs at an out of position United defense, leaving Keane with little option but to scythe the Frenchman down. The ref rightly brandished a yellow card for the tackle and this now meant that if United progressed to the final, Keane would be suspended and unable to play.Â
Lesser men would have shrunk into themselves. Keane though still managed to place the team on his back and inspired the victory, with goals coming from Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole, to take United to the final in Barcelona and complete an incredible treble. A showing of real tenacity.
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Tiernan OâHalloran will become the fourth Connacht player to reach 200 caps the Clifden native made his Connacht debut in October 2009 at the age of just 18 and has been a mainstay in the squad ever since. He joins John Muldoon, Michael Swift and Denis Buckley as the only players to reach the historic milestone.
