Tag: Andy Farrell
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Beware the pride of wounded lions
IRELAND…42 ENGLAND…21 If the forthcoming production was in relation to association football, one would automatically assume it was an England team to whom reference was being made. Given that they have three of the members of the feline family as the crest on their jersey. Now read on… But no, the wounded Lions in this…
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O’Brien shines brightest as dull Ireland stumble to win
IRELAND… 41 JAPAN… 10 It might be something to do with the lunchtime kick off. Because it certainly tends to be the case in souccer that, the lunchtime kick off in the Premier League tends to have faded from memory by the time Match Of The Day comes on a Saturday night. I’m not sure…
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Whatever you’re having yourself
BRITISH & IRISH LIONS…29 AUSTRALIA…26 We’ve all seen television adverts over the years which stay in the consciousness long after it has outrun its commercial relevance. For me, the Bord Na Mona ad in which John Sheehan’s Marino Waltz featured will forever top any such list. But there are plenty of others. Like the Budweiser…
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The West’s Awake but there’s strife in the deep south
“When all beside a vigil keep, the west’s asleep, the west’s asleep/but hark me boys, like thunder spake, the west’s awake, the west’s awake”. It’s not all that long ago the the brain-less trust were advocating the abolishment of of Connacht altogether. As a rugby team, not literally. With the idea being that players deemed…
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Calculated gamble or demonstration of riches?
I made my confirmation in April 1994. On the same night, Dermot Morgan was finishing a run of shows at the Olympia Theatre. The old VHS tape thereof remains one of the best pieces of comedy the senses here have ever encountered. There are so many comedic gems therein it’s hard to nail down a…
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Few surprises as the Easterby era kicks off
Well, it doesn’t actually kick off for a couple of weeks yet, but you get my drift. Simon Easterby has officially taken charge of the Irish men’s senior team with Andy Farrell having jumped ship – temporarily at least – to scout for talent for the British And Irish Lions team he will take on…
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Patchy performance won’t cover all the cracks
IRELAND…22 ARGENTINA…19 Dermot Morgan – Live At The Olympia – April 16th 1994: “People’s walks tell an awful lot about them. At Lansdowne Road, the main sports stadium in the country after the Gaelic football and hurling headquarters at Croke Park, you have two different types of walks as both the soccer and rugby internationals…
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Rowntree’s shock departure leaves a sour taste
A deceased Irish rugby legend once said to yours truly in a tent at the Punchestown Festival “Rugby, my friend, is a game for thugs played by gentlemen, whereas soccer is a game for gentlemen played by roughens”. Whether you agree with the actual nuts and bolts of his views or not is immaterial. At…
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The troops may change but the ethos remains the same
France… 17 Ireland… 38 Not all that long ago, while longingly looking at clubs like Kilmacud Crokes and Kilcoo and Ballygunnar and bemoaning the fact that one’s own entity are not at a similar plateau. “Culture” explained a friend of mine with experience of playing and coaching in both GAA. “With them, it’s an in-built…
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Big Pete’s procrastination threatens to ruin the time of his life
Some people cannot equate the situation whereby a person can be an animal lover and still enjoy hunting and/or fishing. Yet for a huge number of people – including some very close to home – the two facts co-exist without so much as a whim. On foot of same, I ended up being in a…