Ireland’s U19 Men’s and U19 Women’s teams have had their upcoming qualifiers cancelled after UEFA’s Executive Committee took the decision to call-off the 2021 UEFA Women’s and Men’s Under-19 Championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The UEFA Executive Committee took into account Government restrictions currently in place across Europe and their effect on the transportation of teams and staging of mini-tournaments.
The cancellation impacts Tom Mohan’s Republic of Ireland U19s and Dave Connell’s Republic of Ireland WU19s who had been scheduled to play at the end of March and in early April respectively.
The U19 Men’s team were set to take on Estonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Poland in Longford next month with the WU19s preparing to face England, Greece and Kosovo in Greece in early April.
FAI Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Hill said: “This is disappointing but not unexpected news for Tom Mohan, Dave Connell and their players who have been planning and looking forward to these games for so long now. We respect the UEFA decision and we will work closely with UEFA and Government now to facilitate a return for our underage international teams as soon as it is feasible.”
In a statement UEFA said: “Although it is unfortunate that no youth competitions can take place in the current season, the health and safety of young athletes must be prioritized in the current circumstances.”
These latest cancellations follow a decision taken by UEFA last December to call-off both the Men’s and Women’s 2021 European Under-17 Championship Qualifiers. Colin O’Brien’s U17 Men’s team were due to host three qualifiers in Ireland before the tournament was cancelled while James Scott’s WU17 were also in line to host Portugal, Macedonia and Wales.
Several of our top performers from the 2019 edition of this championships return in 2021, including medallists Mark English and Ciara Mageean, along with semi-finalist Phil Healy, while there are several performers who can additionally target a final or better, most notably 800m record breakers Siofra Cleirigh Buttner and Nadia Power, along with Andrew Coscoran, Sean Tobin and John Travers.
Cian McPhillips and Israel Olatunde are stars of the future and will earn valuable senior championship experience, and they are joined by senior championship debutants John Fitzsimons, Luke McCann, Georgie Hartigan and Darragh McElhinney.
Athletics Ireland High Performance Director Paul McNamara said:
“It has been a remarkable indoor season so far in 2021, for many reasons, and this is reflected in both the size and quality of the team travelling to Poland. Despite higher qualification standards and fewer opportunities to compete, Irish athletes nailed their opportunity when it presented itself, most notably this past weekend at the Irish Life Health Elite Micro-Meet, and we now have an unprecedented 24 athletes who have earned selection for the 2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships, with many more who have posted qualification standards missing out due to the 3-athlete-per-event limit”.
Full European Indoor Athletics Championships Team:
Here’s how Chelsea vs Atlético Madrid & Bayern Munich vs Lazio played out.
The Champions League round of 16 continued tonight after it’s commencement last week which seen a number of surprise results, no less than PSG’s impressive 4-1 victory over Barcelona.
Tonight’s fixtures seen Chelsea and Atlético Madrid meet in the neutral venue of the National Arena in Romania, Lazio were in a more familiar setting as they faced current Champions League champions Bayern Munich in Stadio Olimpico.
Here’s how the fixtures played out.
Atlético Madrid vs. Chelsea
Despite their less than impressive early season form, Chelsea look a rejuvenated side under the management of Thomas Tuchel.
Before their draw against Southampton at the weekend, they won their previous 5 games in all competitions.
Atlético Madrid, though, were going to be no pushovers. Despite normally finding themselves in the shadow of their competition Real Madrid and Barcelona, Atlético have shown this season that they’re a force to be reckoned with, currently sitting 1st in La Liga.
Despite being played in a neutral venue in Romania, Chelsea were seen as the away side meaning they would have the advantage of away goals.
In truth, it wasn’t a match of many opportunities and it always looked likely that a moment of magic would separate the two sides.
That moment was provided by Olivier Giroud. He scored a spectacular bicycle kick from the penalty spot after a slight mix up in the box. Initially, the goal was disallowed but after some consultation with VAR, the decision was overturned and the goal stood.
Crucially, Giroud’s strike also counted as a Chelsea away goal which would be crucial going into the second leg at Stamford Bridge.
Giroud’s strike made the difference in the end as the match finished 1-0 to Chelsea.
Lazio vs. Bayern Munich
Current Bundesliga and Champions League title holders Bayern Munich travelled to Rome in tonight’s other fixture to take on Lazio.
Bayern unusually failed to pick up a win in their last two Bundesliga games, drawing 3-3 with Arminia and losing 2-1 to Eintracht Frankfurt at the weekend. Despite this, they were still seen as favourites for the tie given the strength of their side.
It didn’t take long for them to show why they were favourites going into the game.
Current FIFA Player of the Year Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring just before the 10 minute mark. The goal came as a result of a poor back pass from a Lazio defender which fell straight to Lewandowski’s feet who rounded the keeper and slotted into the net with ease.
17-year-old English underage international Jamal Musiala was a surprise inclusion in the first XI but he proved he was worth his place in the squad by doubling Bayern’s advantage in the 23rd minute. He finished low into the net from the edge of the area after a flowing Bayern build-up.
Leroy Sané scored his side’s 3rd just before half time with a tap-in from a rebound.
Bayern started the second half much as they finished the first.
They launched a counter attack from a Lazio corner shortly after the second half commenced before Leroy Sané’s low cross was diverted into the net by Lazio defender, Francesco Acerbi.
However, Lazio did get one back just minutes afterwards. Joaquin Correa received the ball just outside the box before dribbling past a couple of challenges and finishing low into the net.
No further goals followed as the match finished as a convincing 4-1 victory to Bayern Munich which will likely take them through to the next round.
If you find yourself out on the water daily or fanaticizing about being out on the water when you are stuck inside at your desk job, you might be wondering if it is time to open up your own water sports business. If you work for yourself in the environment that you want to be in, you can be out on the water as much as you would like to while still earning the living you need to survive in your new life.
It is an undertaking to startup any business, but as long as you know the work that you need to put into it, you are already setup for better success. Here are some tips that we have found on getting your business up and running.
Check out Locations
Maybe you already live by a body of water, but you might not. You really need to have your business in the right location if you are hoping to continue to do business. What kinds of water sports are local to you now? Is there water skiing? Is there diving? You need to look around at what is available near you to know what sort of business that you can really support.
It would be horrible to try to setup a wakeboarding business only to find out that the sport is prohibited in the area that you are in. Through research, you will ensure that you are setting up the right kinds of activities and perhaps even find out what people in the area like to do.
Have the Right Equipment
Another tip is that you should make sure that you have the right equipment for the story. For example, if you are promoting wake riding, you will want to have some high-performance wake shapers around for your customers to try out. Some of this will require a lot of research to ensure that you are getting the items that will match the clientele that you are going to receive. Do not go out and spend a lot of money on guessing what your clients will want either. You need to research in the community what people are looking for from a water sports business.
What is the Economy Like?
Are you trying to start a water sports business in an area that has been hit hard by economical struggles? If you are, this attempt might just fall flat onto deaf ears. If the people around you do not have enough money to participate in the sports, your business is going to flop.
Watch the market in the area. Look to see where tourists might go if there are any. What kinds of restaurants are around? If you have a better idea about the demographic situation, you will know where you should put your business,
Make your Business Plan
Even if you did not go to business school, you will want to have a business plan. A business plan is a way to get all of your ideas down on paper and to help keep you organized through the process. If you are just in the planning phase, you will want to use all of the research that you gathered from the previous tip and organize it into your plan.
Business plans need to have goals, strategies, cost analysis, your marketing strategy, mission statement, and your vision of the progression of the business. Having everything written down on paper will make the entire process seem more possible than it might have otherwise.
Get to it
Once your plan is all laid out, it will be time to get on getting the business off of the ground. This means that you should be looking for investors to help you get the business up and running. You will also need a location to conduct the business.
Ideally, you would bring a partner in with you before your start the business to help back you financially as well as with the overall running of your business. A partner will make everything seem more doable as the burden will not be squarely on your shoulders.
Starting a business is a touch job, but with good preparation, you should be able to do it easily.
James McClean spoke out after receiving similar abuse just last week.
Shane Duffy is the latest Irish footballer to receive online abuse after a handful of his compatriots received similar insults in recent months.
Duffy received a string of abusive messages on Instagram, most of which was sectarian, however the last message targeted Duffy more personally.
“Haha, your dad’s dead” was sent to Duffy in a vile personal attack. His father, Brian Duffy, sadly passed away just last year at the age of 53.
Duffy responded by putting up an Instagram story with the caption “There’s abuse which is fine but surely there’s a limit?”. The sender is believed to come from Northern Ireland.
Duffy is not the only Irish player to receive abuse in recent times. James McClean was of course targeted last week – and his whole career in fact – in a sectarian/xenophobic attack which launched a wave of support in his direction.
Ireland u21 international Jonathan Afolabi was targeted in recent months, also on Instagram, based on the colour of his skin.
It begs a question as to what Instagram are doing to prevent this abuse? Unlike many other social media sites, users are capable of sending messages to anyone, regardless of whether they’re verified or not. Clearly this is a unique selling point of the site, however it appears to be having negative ramifications on the receivers of said messages.
Instagram are now understood to be investigating the abuse sent to Duffy.
Football results are extremely important for all football fans. Whenever it is not possible to watch a match, for whatever reason, people at least would like to get a glimpse on what finally happened in that event by reviewing its respective results. There are many webpages dedicated to latest football results. However, there is one particular place that has attracted people from all over the world.
This place is called Azscore, and has tons of features that have attracted a lot of people during recent years, such as:
● Past scores and live results
● Future fixtures and schedules
● Tables and statistics from dozens of leagues
● Links to live streamings if available
Probably the most important bit of information that anybody would like to know about this website, is that it is absolutely free, meaning that there is no need to pay for any kind of subscription in order to enjoy the services offered by this place. Also, it should be mentioned that this website is absolutely compatible with mobile devices, meaning that users can enjoy the entirety of these football latest results, as well as the other features, from any place and at any time.
Exploring the La Liga table at Azscore
The Spanish La Liga is one of the tournaments with the largest number of followers from all places around the world, not only Spain. The most famous teams at this place are FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. However, there are tons of other teams to that contribute to the incredible excitement that this competition is capable to provide. Right now users can visit Azscore to review the La Liga table, as well as many other interesting bits of information and facts from this exciting championship.
To review the table, or any other interesting data from this tournament, people must visit the Azscore portal from their mobile gadgets or desktop computers. From there, they will be able to use the extremely easy navigation menu to find the Spanish La Liga. When visiting the section dedicated to this competition, users will find matches that are taking place at that moment.
If no matches are being played at that very moment, users will be greeted with the table La Liga, which will show things such as total points, games played, games won, goals scored, and much more. Visitors can also click in any team featured at the table, in order to review even more detailed statistics that can help them to better understand the performance of that squad.
Tipped as the favourites for the league at this stage of the season, Manchester City travelled to North London this evening to face an Arsenal side on a mixed run of form.
With a win today, Manchester City would extend their lead to 10 points ahead of 2nd place Leicester City.
However, Arsenal also had plenty to play for. Despite a substandard season to date, the Gunners are still very much in competition for a Europa League spot. They sat 10th in the table prior to the game but could jump two places to 8th with a win, however unlikely that seemed.
FIRST HALF
Manchester City wasted no time in establishing their dominance as they attacked from the off. Their intensity almost immediately paid off as they hit the net with just over a minute on the clock.
Riyad Mahrez received the ball on the right flank and released a pinpoint floated cross into the box which was met by Raheem Sterling who scored a rare headed goal.
🎙 | “It’s a brutal start from Manchester City!”
Raheem Sterling nods in the opener after less than 2 minutes – what a start! ⏰
As Man City often do, they looked – and succeeded – to control possession thereafter.
Otherwise, there wasn’t anymore clear cut chances in the first half as both teams had to settle for half chances – more sporadically so for Arsenal.
The first half ended with Manchester City well in control and leading 1-0.
SECOND HALF
After what was a less than exciting first half, the second wasn’t much better.
João Cancelo arguably had the best chance of the half near the end of the match. The Portuguese full-back received the ball inside the box from a cutback but still had plenty to do with defenders right in front of him.
He quickly adjusted his feet to evade a defender in close proximity before attempting an outside the foot shot which went narrowly wide of the post.
Manchester City managed to hold onto their early lead to win the game 1-0.
They now sit 10 points ahead of their nearest rivals, Leicester, in the Premier League table.
A first-half brace of tries from Alex Wootton sent Connacht well on their way to their first home win since early December. The home side had been struggling to find their rhythm prior to his first searing score. However, after that they never looked back. He added a second three minutes later as a shellshocked Cardiff side went into the the dressing room at half time wondering how they were suddenly ten points in arrears. Cardiff did cut that gap to three points just after the hour mark. However, an immediate reposte from captain Jarrad Butler dispelled any notions the visitors had of a comeback. Abraham Papali’i bonus point try near the death was the icing on the cake for Andy Friend’s men.
Pre-match news
Dai Young was forced into late changes to his Cardiff side. 18-year-old Mason Grady had been named to make his first start for the club in yesterday’s team announcement. However, an uncertain COVID test return meant that both Grady and Ben Thomas were unable to travel. Harri Millard came in to the staring line-up, while Max Llewellyn and Dan Fish joined the replacements.
Connacht won the toss and chose to play from the college road end, towards the Bohermore end in the first-half. The strong southerly breeze was coming across the pitch and not particularly favouring either side.
Early action
Cardiff drove over for the games first try on 11 minutes. Rhys Carre was on the end of drive off the back of line out. Jason Tovey added the extras. Connacht responded four minutes later with three points from Jack Carty from an offside penalty.The gap was reduced to a single point on 22 minutes, when Carty sent over a penalty from 18 yards straight in front of the posts.
Just before the half hour Jason Tovey re-established a four point lead for the Blues after Connacht were pinged for not rolling away.
Four minutes before the break Alex Wootton lit up the game. He found a gap in midfield after Ultan Dillane had made a powerful initial break. Wootton turned on the afterburners to carve trough the Cardiff reargaurd. He took an arcing run past the cover to speed in untouched for his ninth try of the season. Carty added a fine conversion from the lefthand side.
Wotton repeated the trick just three minutes later. This time on the opposite side of the field. Jack Carty cleverly fed Wootton and once again he eased tru a gap to race clear over the cover from just outside the Cardiff 22. The conversion from Carty gave Andy Friend’s side a ten point lead at the interval.
Half-time: Connacht 20 Cardiff 10.
Jason Tovey saw his penalty rebound off the post six minutes into the second-half. Cardiff had been awarded that after Bundee Aki was adjudged to be off his feet at the breakdown. Cardiff did add to their tally on 63 minutes when after a slick looped move off a line-out they recycled the ball from close in a mauled over for the score. Dan Fish who replaced Tovey five minutes earlier added the conversion to bring Cardiff back within three.
Connacht responded to the Cardiff score within three minutes. A maul off a five yard lineout saw captain Jarrad Butler drive over. Carty failed to add the extra’s into the teeth of the wind. Substitute Abraham Papali’i rounded off a great night for the Homeside when he powered over for the bonus point score. Which came off a 5m scrum that was awarded when Reynold Lee-Lo carried the ball over his own line as he slid to gather a kick downfield from Connacht’s Tom Daly.Carty’s conversion brought his personal tally to 12 points for the night.
Pro14 standings
Munster still lead the way in Conference B. Their win away to fifth placed Edinburgh sees them top the table on 46 points. Connacht consolidate second place in the group as they move up to 37 points, while Scarlets leapfrog their Welsh neighbours Cardiff and climb to third after their 41-17 win over Treviso earlier today.
Teams
Connacht: 15. John Porch, 14. Alex Wootton, 13. Tom Daly, 12. Bundee Aki, 11. Matt Healy, 10. Jack Carty, 9. Caolin Blade, 1. Jordan Duggan, 2. Dave Heffernan, 3. Finlay Bealham, 4. Ultan Dillane, 5. Gavin Thornbury, 6. Eoghan Masterson, 7. Jarrad Butler, 8. Paul Boyle. Replacements: Shane Delahunt for Heffernan 57’, Denis Buckley for Duggan 47’, Jack Angier for Bealham 57’, Oisin Dowling for Thornbury 47’, Abraham Papali’i for Boyle 72’, Kieran Marmion for Blade 57’, Sean J O’Brein,Tiernan O’Halloran for Porch 65’.
Cardiff: 15. Matthew Morgan, 14.Owen Lane, 13. Harri Millard, 12. Reynold Lee-Lo, 11. Aled Summerhill, 10. Jason Tovey, 9. Lloyd Williams, 1. Rhys Carre, 2. Liam Belcher, 3. Dimitri Arhip, 4. Seb Davies, 5. Rory Thornton, 6. Shane Lewis-Hughes, 7. Ellis Jenkins, 8.Josh Turnbull. Replacements: Kirby Myhill for Belcher 55’, Corey Domachowski for Carre 55’, Kieron Assiratti for Arhip 58’, Ben Murphy for Davies 65’, Gwilym Bradley, Jamie Hill, Max Llewellyn for Millard 55’, Dan Fish for Tovey 58’.
The Irish international put in a strong performance against Wolfsberger AC yesterday.
Matt Doherty’s performance against Wolfsberger AC in the Europa League round of 32 has earned himself a place in the team of the week. The Spurs right-back put in a solid performance as his team ran out 4-1 winners, assisting a goal in the process.
Up to now, Doherty has struggled for game time in the Premier League with Tottenham, instead being forced to settle for appearances in cup competitions.
Although the quality of opposition yesterday certainly wasn’t Premier League standard, Doherty’s performance will no doubt have impressed José Mourinho. Will it be enough to make the right-back spot his own, though?
The only other natural right-back at Spurs is Serge Aurier. However, his defensive inconsistency has casted doubts about his ability to firmly establish himself as a regular starter.
Japhet Tanganga is another option in the position. However, he primarily plays as a centre-back and also has very little experience at Premier League level.
Doherty could also do with a run of games to cement his position in the Ireland set-up. He struggled to find a place in the team when he was playing regularly – and very well – for Wolves, so his prospects of starting at the minute look slim, especially with Séamus Coleman fit and playing football.
Ireland begin their World Cup qualification campaign on the 24th of March against Serbia. European giants Portugal are also included in Ireland’s group.
Irish horseracing will feature on TG4 for seven consecutive weekends as the channel today announced a significant increase in its racing coverage for 2021.
TG4 have covered the annual Listowel Festival for the past 16 years and broke new ground with a live broadcast from Punchestown last Sunday.
Beginning at Leopardstown on Sunday, March 7, TG4 will cover racing each weekend through to the middle of April, taking in fixtures from eight different racecourses in that time, including the first action of the 2021 Flat season from the Curragh on Sunday, March 21.
The programmes will be hosted by Seán Bán Breathnach and Mánus Ó Conghaile and they will be joined by reporter Daragh Ó Conchúir who will get all the reaction and interviews with jockeys and trainers outside the parade ring.
Rónán Ó Coisdealbha, Head of Sport at TG4, said: “Building on the back of the success of our coverage from Punchestown, we are delighted to roll out increased coverage of Irish horseracing in the coming weeks. The coverage will be extensive to say the least, we will show six races live from Leopardstown to begin with and on days with two race meetings, we have pencilled in live races from both fixtures. We are particularly excited about the start of the new Flat season at the Curragh on Sunday, March 21 and our coverage on Saturday, April 3 brings in the first day of the Easter Festivals from both Fairyhouse and Cork. The Derby and Guineas trials will be central to the programme from Leopardstown on Sunday, April 11.”
TG4 will provide live coverage from the following meetings in March and April:
Leopardstown – Sunday March 7
Limerick & Naas – Sunday March 14
Curragh – Sunday March 21
Limerick & Naas – Sunday March 28
Fairyhouse & Cork – Saturday April 3
Leopardstown – Sunday April 11
Tramore & Dundalk – Sunday April 18
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