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Six Nations: Italy v England looks set to be cancelled

Italy v England will either be played behind closed doors at the Stadio Olimpico or cancelled due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Italy has been hit dreadfully with the disease. The news comes after the Italian government announced on Wednesday that all sporting events in the country will not be open to the public till April 3rd. This of course is in an attempt to stop the spread of Covid 19.

RTE Sport that the Italian rugby federation and Italian Olympic Committee have already confirmed to PA news agency that the Italy v England will be played at a later date. However, this will likely be confirmed on Thursday when Six Nations organisers will meet both unions (Italian and English) to discuss the fate of the game.

The game will be difficult to reschedule owing to the hectic rugby fixture calendar. However the Italian rugby board will not want to see the game called off altogether. This would be due to potential revenue it would bring in. Furthermore, Ireland are set to meet France also on March 14th. This could potentially called off due to the amount of Covid 19 cases in France. Their game with Italy this weekend due to take place in the Aviva is already postponed.

A statement released by the Italian government said, “There will be no sporting events with the presence of the public in order to prevent further contagion opportunities.”  Some big events that will be affected included the Serie A fixtures. Napoli and Inter Milan in the Coppa Italia semi-final was postponed on Wednesday. Juventus’ Champions League tie with Lyon set to be played in Turin will also know be played behind closed doors. The coronavirus has seen Italy suffer with 3,000 cases so far. This includes over 100 deaths. At the moment 11 regions in Italy are on lockdown. The government of Ireland are also saying to Irish people not to travel to these regions.

Kerry crowned Munster U20 Football Champions

Kerry were crowned Munster U20 Football Champions on Wednesday after a 0-17 to 1-09, five point win, over Cork at Austin Stack Park.

John Sugrue’s side were full value for that five point win as they blew the Rebels away with a super second half performance. In fact Kerry outscored the Munster holders by 0-12 to 0-03 in the second period alone. They will now play the winners of the Connacht Final on St Patrick’s Day. This will be either Galway or Roscommon.

It took 5 minutes for the first score to be registered through man of the match O’Beaglaoich from a free. Patrick Darcy and Killian Falvey nudged Kerry 0-03 to 0-01 ahead but Mark Cronin and Blake Murphy replied. Kerry should have a goal before that though. O’Beaglaoich racing through before hand passing the ball across the square to Darcy who hesitated and saw his shot stopped on the line by Cork defenders.

It should have been a goal. It was 0-04 each now. Aodhan O’Luasa then slipped Blake Murphy through for a Cork goal. Murphy had a lot of work to do but he did well and finished past Marc Kelliher in the Kerry goal. He would add two points to give Cork a 1-06 to 0-05 lead at the break. Kerry had kicked five wides in the opening half but luckily for them they didn’t regret it in the second period.

Kerry took control in the second half. Darragh Lyne and Paul Walsh kicked early scores. Mark Cronin kicked a superb long range point to keep Cork in the lead. Kerry began to dominate in midfield though. They were working harder than their opponents and this told. O’Beaglaoich knocked over another free. The teams were level when Paul O’Shea and Sean Horan pointed. O’Beaglaoich then knocked over two scores, one of these from a mark. Sean Quilter pushed the Kingdom three ahead with a tidy score, 0-14 to 1-08.

Blake Murphy kicked a Cork score but Kerry weren’t going to be denied. Sean Keane and O’Beaglaoich (2) gave Kerry a deserving 5 point win in the end. We tipped up Kerry earlier today to win and they did just that as they were crowned Munster U20 Football Champions.

Kerry: Marc Kelliher, Owen Fitzgerald, James McCarthy, Dan McCarthy, Luke Brosnan, Dylan Casey, Sean O’Brien, Darragh Lyne 0-01, Michael O’Gara, Paul Walsh 0-03 (frees), Patrick Darcy 0-02, Killian Falvey 0-01, Paul O’Shea 0-01, Sean Horan 0-01, Ruaidhri O Beaglaoich 0-05 (0-02f, 0-01m).

Subs: Eddie Horan for O Fitzgerald (ht), Sean Keane 0-01 for P Walsh (44), Sean Quilter 0-02 (0-01f) for K Falvey (46), Sean O’Connell for S Horan (49), Dylan Geaney for P Darcy (54).

Cork: Cian O’Leary, Colm O’Shea, Daniel O’Mahony, Diarmuid Phelan, David Buckley, Billy Foley, Eanna O’Hanlon, Jack Lawton, Daniel O’Connell, Jack Murphy 0-01, Aodhan Ó Luasa, Brian Hayes, Mark Cronin 0-04 (0-01f), Fionn Herlihy 0-01, Blake Murphy 1-03.

Subs: Brian Lynch for D Phelan (29), Conor Corbett for A Ó Luasa (ht), Bill Curtin for J Lawton (38), Darragh Hayes for B Hayes (52), Conor Russell for F Herlihy (59).

Galway v Tipperary: Preview, Team News and live score updates

Galway v Tipperary takes place on Sunday at 2pm. The game is on in Pearse Stadium. We have live score updates of the game so be sure to follow them from the below link.

Click here for LIVE GAA SCORE UPDATES

Preview 

Galway and Tipperary meet on Sunday in this refixed game at Pearse Stadium. Storm Dennis caused the game to be cancelled last month. This is a winners take all game with the side that wins progressing to the quarter final stages where they will play either Kilkenny or Wexford.

Shane O’Neill’s side have 2 wins and 2 losses from the four games. Galway triumphed over Westmeath easily, while also beating Cork last weekend. They lost out to Limerick and Tipperary in previous rounds. Galway will look to players like Jason Flynn, Conor Whelan and Brian Concannon in attack. Players like Shane Cooney, Gearoid McInerney and Cathal Mannion will also be key.

Tipperary have also 2 wins from four games. Liam Sheedy will be looking for a big performance from his side here. They haven’t yet hit the heights of the All-Ireland win in 2019 but they have the players that can really hurt Galway here that’s for sure. Players like Seamus Callanan, Dillion Quirke and John McGrath will likely be key here. Padraic Maher will once again be pivotal in the heart of the defence.

Team News

Galway (HL1 v Tipperary): James Skehill; Darren Morrissey, Gearoid McInerney, Sean Loftus; Padraic Mannion, Shane Cooney, Fintan Burke; Adrian Tuohy, Aidan Harte; Cathal Mannion, Niall Burke, Jason Flynn; Conor Cooney, Conor Whelan, Brian Concannon

Tipperary (HL1 v Galway): Brian Hogan; Paul Maher, Barry Heffernan, Alan Flynn; Seamus Kennedy, Padraic Maher, Ronan Maher; Noel McGrath, Ger Browne; Jason Forde, John McGrath, Dillon Quirke; John O’Dwyer, Seamus Callanan, Cian Darcy.

Betting

Tipperary are 10/11 to win this game, while Galway are 11/10. Not much to separate the sides. Tipperary will want an extra game that’s for sure and I suspect when push comes to shove in this game they will get a narrow win. Galway v Tipperary is live on TG4 at 2pm.

Limerick v Waterford: Preview, Team News and live score updates

Limerick v Waterford takes place at 7pm on Saturday. The game takes place in the Gaelic Grounds. We have live score updates of the game. These can be followed from the below link.

Click here LIVE GAA SCORE UPDATES 

Preview

This game is a refixture due to Storm Dennis. Both sides are all but guaranteed places in the quarter-finals at least but they will want to win this as the winner will top the division an go straight to the semi-finals. The losers will face either Kilkenny or Wexford in the quarter-finals.

Limerick sit on 8 points, meaning they have won 4 games from 4 played. They have a good score difference of +21 also. John Kiely’s side have played some good hurling in beating Tipperary, Cork, Westmeath and Galway on the way. Kiely will likely start a strong side here. Cian Lynch, Graeme Mulcahy and Declan Hannon will all be key players for them here.

Waterford come into the game on the back of a 2 point loss to Tipperary last weekend. Liam Cahill would have been disappointed not to come away with something from that game. He will also be disappointed that Kevin Moran will miss the game due to picking up a red card. They have talent all over the field though with Pauric Mahony, Austin Gleeson, Dessie Hutchinson and Stephen Bennett in their ranks. Jamie Barron is also a real leader in midfield.

Team News

Limerick: TBA

Waterford: TBA

Betting

Limerick are 1/3 favourites here, while Waterford are 11/4. For me it has to be a Limerick win. Backing Limerick to be leading at half time at 8/15 would be the selection. Limerick v Waterford is live on Eir Sport.

GAA announce Club Hurling Team of the Year

The GAA have announced the club hurling team of the year. Kilkenny and All-Ireland champions Ballyhale Shamrocks and Munster champions Borris Ileigh have 10 players between them on the team.

Ballyhale in fact beat Borris Ileigh in the club final earlier this year at Croke Park. The Kilkenny side have players like TJ Reid, Colin Fennelly, Evan Shefflin, Joey Holden and Darren Mullen on the team. The Tipperary champions Borris-Ileigh have goalkeeper James McCormack on the side, as well as defenders Paddy Stapleton, Brendan Maher and Dan McCormack. Jerry Kelly who had a super year is also named in the forwards.

Chrissy McKaigue from the Slaughtneil club in Derry is named in midfield. He is joined by Brendan Rogers who is named at wing forward. Rogers also picked up an award in 2018. Shane Cooney of the St Thomas’ club in Galway is named at wing back, while Dessie Hutchinson of Ballygunner is in the full forward line along with Carlow ace attacker and St Mullins club man Marty Kavanagh.

The awards will be presented to the players at a banquet on Friday night. The football equivalent of the awards were announced yesterday and these will also be presented.The club hurler and footballer of the year will also be announced. TJ Reid and Evan Shefflin are up for the award from Ballyhale, with Brendan Maher of Borris-Ileigh the other representative.

Club Team of the Year

1 James McCormack (Borris-Ileigh)
2 Paddy Stapleton (Borris-Ileigh)
3 Joseph Holden (Ballyhale Shamrocks)
4 Darren Mullen (Ballyhale Shamrocks)
5 Evan Shefflin (Ballyhale Shamrocks)
6 Brendan Maher (Borris-Ileigh)
7 Shane Cooney (St Thomas)
8 Dan McCormack (Borris-Ileigh)
9 Christopher McKaigue (Slaughtneil)
10 Brendan Rogers (Slaughtneil)
11 TJ Reid (Ballyhale Shamrocks)
12 Jerry Kelly (Borris-Ileigh)
13 Dessie Hutchinson (Ballygunner)
14 Colin Fennelly (Ballyhale Shamrocks)
15 Martin Kavanagh (St Mullins)

CLUB HURLER OF THE YEAR NOMINEES

TJ Reid (Ballyhale Shamrocks)
Evan Shefflin (Ballyhale Shamrocks)
Brendan Maher (Borris-Ileigh)

Munster U20 Final, Kerry v Cork: Betting, Team News and live score updates

Kerry v Cork will meet in the Munster U20 football final on Wednesday. The game throws in at 7.30pm in Austin Stack Park in Tralee. We have betting and news below. We will have live score updates of the game also that is live on TG4.

Preview

Kerry come into this game on the back of beating Limerick 0-14 to 0-07 in the Munster semi-final last week. Kerry are now managed by John Sugrue who had a stint in charge of the Laois senior footballers. This will obviously be a tougher game for the Kingdom but if players like Killian Falvey, Sean Horan and Dylan Casey perform they will be tough to beat.

Cork played Clare in the other semi-final and they were narrow winners. The Rebels winning 1-12 to 2-07 in Miltown Malbay. Keith Ricken has kept faith with the same team so he obviously believes the 15 are good enough to beat Kerry. Players like Blake Murphy, Mark Cronin and Daniel O’Connell are key players.

Team News

Kerry: 1. Marc Kelliher (Glenflesk),2. Owen Fitzgerald (Gneeveguilla),3. James McCarthy (Kenmare Shamrocks),4. Dan McCarthy (Kenmare Shamrocks),5. Luka Brosnan (Castleisland Desmonds),6. Dylan Casey (Austin Stacks),7. Sean O’Brien (Beaufort),8. Darragh Lyne (Killarney Legion),9. Michael O’Gara (Austin Stacks),10. Paul Walsh (Brosna), 11. Patrick Darcy (Glenflesk),12. Killian Falvey (Annascaul),13. Paul O’Shea (Kilcummin),14. Seán Horan (Scartaglen), 15. Ruaidhrí Ó Beaglaoich (An Ghaeltacht)

Cork: 1. Josh O’Keeffe (Newmarket), 2. Colm O’Shea (Kilshannig), 3. Daniel O’Mahony (Knocknagree),4. Diarmaid Phelan (Aghada)5. David Buckley (Newcestown), 6. Bill Foley (Bantry Blues),7. Brian Lynch (Douglas), 8. Jack Lawton (Argideen Rangers),9. Daniel O’Connell (Kanturk),10. Jack Murphy (Éire Óg),11. Aodhán Ó Luasa (Naomh Aban),12. Brian Hayes (St Finbarr’s),13. Mark Cronin (Nemo Rangers – joint captain),14. Fionn Herlihy (Dohenys), 15. Blake Murphy (St Vincent’s – joint captain)

Betting

Not much to separate the sides in terms of betting. Kerry are 5/4 with Cork priced at 5/6. I fancy Kerry to win and also to be winning the game at half time. Kerry to be winning at half time is priced at 6/5.

Verdict: Kerry

Quinn hails Volunteers with 100 days to UEFA EURO 2020

FAI Interim Deputy CEO Niall Quinn joined former Republic of Ireland Women’s international Olivia O’Toole, UEFA EURO 2020 volunteers and tournament mascot Skillzy to mark the ‘100 Days To Go’ milestone in Dublin today.

Dublin will host three matches from Group E and one Round of 16 clash in June, in the world’s third largest sporting event. UEFA EURO 2020 is expected to reach in excess of 5 billion broadcast viewers in this, its 60th year.

With Poland and Sweden already booked into Dublin for the group stages, the final Group E team will be confirmed following the conclusion of the play-offs later this month with the Republic of Ireland vying for the final coveted place alongside Bosnia, Northern Ireland and Slovakia.

Over 110,000 supporters are set to visit Ireland this summer for Euro 2020 and Quinn believes that they will play a major part in showcasing the best of Ireland to the world.

Speaking in Dublin, FAI Interim Deputy CEO Niall Quinn said: “UEFA EURO 2020 will be an incredible showcase for Irish football, Irish sport and indeed the Irish nation and we are hugely excited to reach this significant milestone with 100 days to go.

“There’s a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes as Dublin joins the 11 other cities in hosting matches. The four matches to be held in the Dublin Arena will leave a lasting legacy for our game across Ireland.

“With over 1,400 volunteers already signed up by the UEFA EURO 2020 team and our partners in Dublin City Council, spanning more than 70 nationalities, it is especially fitting that we celebrate their involvement today. If you are interested in being a part of this exciting summer of football, there are still some places available so do get in touch with the Volunteer team.

“Volunteerism is at the core of our wonderful sport and their engagement and participation will greatly enhance the match-day experience for the tens of thousands of supporters who will descend on Dublin in June.”

Joining Quinn on the landmark day was fellow Dubliner Olivia O’Toole who is one of the Republic of Ireland’s most decorated international footballers and who scored 54 goals in a hugely successful 18-year career, from 1991-2009.

UEFA EURO 2020 will open on Friday, 12 June in Rome and will conclude with the final on Sunday, 12 July in London.

To be a part of the EURO 2020 City Volunteer Team visit: https://euro2020.fai.ie/2020/02/27/be-part-of-euro-2020-city-volunteer-team/

Dublin’s UEFA EURO 2020 Fixtures:

Monday, 15 June: Poland v Play-Off Winner B (5pm)
Friday, 19 June: Sweden v Play-Off Winner B (2pm)
Wednesday, 24 June: Sweden v Poland (5pm)
Tuesday, 30 June: Winner Group D v Second Place Group F (5pm)

‘He wants to prove there is still fight in him’ – Solskjaer

During this morning press conference talked about Wayne Rooney and gave an injury update on Paul Pogba.

Speaking about former Manchester United striker and team-mate Wayne Rooney, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, joked: “Wazza (Rooney) gave absolutely everything for this club [Man Utd] and every goal he scores against us will be chalked off his goal tally!

“He is a threat – set plays in and around the box and Wayne will show what he can do,” United manager Solskjaer added.

“He wants to prove there is still fight in an old dog!

“We have got to be on our toes and not give him any space in the box or in midfield.”

Paul Pogba injury update

“Paul’s still working with the physios outside,” says Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, on midfielder Paul Pogba’s injury rehab porgress.

“He won’t be training with the first-team until next week, so then let’s see how long that will take. But he’ll need some time to train, to get his call it football fitness back.”

Massive financial loss for Aston Villa

It appears Aston Villa made a loss £68.3m in the 2018/19 season, a £30m increase from the previous year a record for a Championship side.

Promotion & Aston Villa Loss

Excluding promotion & other one off costs & income, Aston Villa made an operating loss of £84 million in 2018/19, it made £36m profit from the sale of Villa Park, £14.5m in HS2 compensation, £10.6m from player sale profits, paid £16m bonuses on promotion & paid £30m to Randy Lerner on being promoted. Turnover – down 20% to £51.4m as a direct result of £18.07m reduction in TV income (via reduction in parachute payment)

Cashflow

In terms of cash flow, the accounts show that Villa had £21.9m cash in the bank a substantial increase on the £2.4m recorded in 2018.

Turnover was down from £68.6m to £54.3m due to a reduction in TV revenue from parachute payments.

Sustainability rules

In a statement in the accounts, Villa’s chief executive Christian Purslow confirmed that the club had remained compliant with the EFL’s profitability and sustainability rules and remained confident they would pass the Premier League’s threshold.

 

Groupings and Fixtures for 2020-21 Nations Cup Football

The draw for the groups in the 2020-21 Nations Cup Football was straightforward because of the way the leagues and pots happened. There were no instances where teams who need to be kept apart – which sometimes happens for political or other reasons – can be drawn against each other.

League A for 2020-21 Nations Cup Football


Republic of Ireland will face Wales Bulgaria and Finlan

England drew Belgium, Denmark and Iceland

Scotland drew Israel, Slovakia and Czech Republic

Northern Ireland face Austria, Romania and Norway

When are the games?

Ireland’s fixtures
Thurs Sep 3: Bulgaria v Ireland
Sun Sep 6: Ireland v Finland
Sat Oct 10: Ireland v Wales
Tues Oct 13: Finland v Ireland
Fri Nov 13: Wales v Ireland
Mon Nov 16: Ireland v Bulgaria

Matchday 1: 3-5 September 2020

Matchday 2: 6-8 September 2020

Matchday 3: 8-10 October 2020

Matchday 4: 11-13 October 2020

Matchday 5: 12-14 November 2020

Matchday 6: 15-17 November 2020

Finals: 2, 3, 6 June 2021

League C relegation and World Cup 2022 play-offs: 24, 25, 28, 29 March 2022*

*in the unlikely event one of the teams who finish bottom in a League C group also qualify for the World Cup play-offs, the relegation play-offs will be cancelled and the two teams with the fewest points relegated instead

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