Cathal Dervan
by Cathal DervanRSS 
Recent Posts
- We won't see the likes of Manchester United manager Alex Ferguon again
- Irish defender Paul McShane - A good guy finally finishes first
- Munster’s defeat in the Heineken Cup proves Celtic Tiger didn’t take our soul
- Alex Ferguson and Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez - the good and the bad of Premier League action
- No wearing of the green for Rory McIlroy at U.S. Masters as Adam Scott claims victory
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There was a time when Rory McIlroy’s Irishness -- or the lack of it -- would have really bothered me.
Not so long ago, I’d have got really upset by his apparent willingness to play for Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics in London.
I may even have slated those comments on these very pages when he made them back in 2009 and said that he would probably play for Britain rather than Ireland in London next year.
A year ago Paul was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease and died in the early hours of Monday morning.
He passed away just as the province’s top players were engaged in a fundraising cycle from Limerick to Dublin in his honor.
Reports in the papers say that the players involved, top internationals one and all, were numbed when the news broke just as they were preparing to take off on their travels.
There's a website you probably know about if you’re a fan of the boys in green and, if you are, it will come as no surprise to know that the website address is www.ybig.ie
You Boys In Green are a colorful lot whose only goal in life is to follow the Irish soccer team with pride, respect and dignity.
Along the way, they have a good time. A very good time for the thousand or so boys – and girls – in green in Skopje last Saturday night for Trap’s win over Macedonia.
It’s a saying that has been around my profession for as long as I can remember. I’ve even heard it in English soccer circles, and on more than one occasion.
With nearly as many years as Robbie Keane goals approaching, it’s a saying I’ve heard more than once in my travels with various Irish teams under the tutelage of Jack Charlton, Mick McCarthy, Brian Kerr, Steve Staunton and now Giovanni Trapattoni.
If you’re watching the game on a big screen in a Manhattan bar, there’s every chance that an Irish player might just be sitting beside you to see what they’re missing.
America is now the destination of choice for Premier League footballers who want to go missing on their down time in those few months when English football isn’t wall to wall on our TV screens.
