Wednesday, 28 November 2012

Wednesday morning headlines



SOCCER


Athlone Town are set to play a pre season friendly against League of Ireland champions Sligo, a game has also been lined up with Bohemians

New manager Roddy Collins is in the process of getting his first team squad together and is hoping to have four under 19 players involved next year

Collins says he's working on getting more fixtures arranged and will be looking at more players today




The draw was made last night for round five of the FAI Junior Cup

CCFL Premier Division side CK United, who won away to Ferns last Sunday, will have a home tie against Pearse Celtic

The winners of the Athlone derby between St. Peters and Willow Park will play host to Ballymun United

Should Crettyard get past Lions FC they'll have a home tie against Swinford/Westport/Manulla

City United await the winners of the fourth round tie between Rathangan United and Mullingar Athletic

If Tullamore Town make it through to the fifth round they'll be away to Regional United

Those fifth round ties will be played on weekend of December 8th and 9th


Aston Villa have clawed their way out of the Premier League relegation zone. Villa scored the only goal on a a drab night in the Premier League as they beat Reading at Villa Park. 

Paul Lambert's decision to leave record-signing Darren Bent out of his match-day squad looked to have back-fired up until the 80th minute when Christian Benteke powered home a header. 

The result sees Villa move up to 17th place in the table.


Harry Redknapp's arrival at QPR has failed to produce the instant success their fans were hoping for. 

QPR are still looking for their first victory of the campaign, but Redknapp's arrival in the dug-out saw them scratch-out a scoreless draw against Sunderland in the Stadium of Light.


Tonight leaders Manchester United host West Ham, Chelsea take on Fulham, Everton meet Arsenal, Southampton welcome Norwich, Stoke play Newcastle, Swansea meet West Brom, Spurs host Liverpool and Wigan take on Manchester City.

Last night Ireland striker Andy Keogh scored as Millwall beat Wolves 1-0 while Daryl Murphy was on the mark for Mick Mc Carthys Ipswich who beat Nottingham Forest 3-1.

In Scotland

Pat Fenlon's Hibernian travel to Saint Johnstone in the league tonight , if Hibs win and Celtic fail to beat Hearts at Tynecastle the Edinburgh side will go top. 

Inverness are level on points with Celtic following their 3-2 win over Aberdeen last night.


Ireland captain Robbie Keane has been named in the Major League team of the season. 

The 32-year-old scored 16 goals for LA Galaxy this season to help them to the Western Conference title and he'll be hoping to add to that total in the MLS Cup final on Sunday.


GAELIC GAMES 


Tyrone senior football manager Mickey Harte has reportedly axed several veteran All-Ireland winners as he prepares for next season.

The Gaelic Life magazine says that Harte has dropped 12 members of his 2012 squad, including Brian McGuigan and Owen Mulligan.

Sean O'Neill, John Devine and Davy Harte are among the other players that are believed to have been left out of the panel for 2013.



In the North Leinster Senior Football C this afternoon there's an all Laois tie between Mountmellick Community School and Rosenallis Vocational School at Rosenallis at 12.30pm

Yesterday afternoon Colaiste Naomh Cormac defeated Banagher College by 3-17 to 0-15 in the Leinster Vocational Schools Senior Hurling

And St Fergals Rathdowney lost 1-13 to 1-11 away to Colaiste Mhuire Johnstown



RUGBY UNION


Connacht rugby say they're determined to keep hold of Ireland forward Mike McCarthy

The 31 year old Buccaneers clubman is being linked with a switch to Leinster next season following eye catching performances in the Autumn Internationals

Connacht chief execuative Tom Sears says 'He is an intrinsic member of our squad who has come through our system here and we need to hold on to players like him'



Leinster head coach Joe Schmidt has confirmed that Brian O'Driscoll and Rob Kearney are expected back in action by mid-January.

The two Irish internationals have already been ruled-out of the Heineken Cup double-header against Clermont Auvergne, but they could return in time for rounds five and six against the Scarlets and the Exeter Chiefs.



Ulster captain Johann Muller could make a sooner than expected return for the province. The South African has been out of action since mid-October with ruptured thumb ligaments, but he's now in line to feature in this Sunday's Rabo Pro-12 game against the Scarlets.

Former captain Rory Best is hoping to be available for their Heineken Cup game against Northampton on December 7th. Stephen Ferris and Lewis Stevenson will miss that game against the Saints, but they're expected back in "another few weeks".




Courtney Lawes has been confirmed in England's 23-man squad for Saturday's autumn rugby union international against New Zealand.

The Northampton lock replaces Saracens' Mouritz Botha.

The only other change in the match-day party is the inclusion of uncapped Gloucester fly-half Freddie Burns in place of the injured Leicester man Toby Flood.



RACING

Today's racing is at Limerick with the first off at ten to one

The ground is soft, soft to heavy in places



AND FINALLY

Footballer of the year Karl Lacey has received a letter of congratulations from Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger

Donegal defender Lacey, whose dad hails from Luggacurren in Laois, is a Gunners fan and tweeted a scan of the letter last night

Wenger praised the All-Star's commitment and stated he hopes to see trophies at the Emirates soon




0 comments:

Post a Comment