HERO OF THE WEEK
THOSE who like to knock Mick McCarthy can turn away now. It takes a very good manager to get the most out of his players, to assemble a squad for half nothing and turn them into winners. Mick did that with Sunderland a couple of years ago, and he did it again with Wolves when their promotion to the Premier League was guaranteed on Saturday. Hopefully he gets money to spend in the summer, but no matter what happens next season he proved himself to be a great manager this season -- again.
IDIOTS OF THE WEEK
UEFA issued a new edict against racism on Tuesday, but do they really mean it? President Michel Platini has claimed that games will be stopped for 10 minutes if racist chants are heard in a ground, but last weekend Juventus fans turned on the young Inter Milan striker Mario Balotelli in a vicious racist attack on his Ghanaian background. Juve have been ordered to play their next game behind closed doors, but surely automatic relegation from Serie A would have been a far more worthy punishment for a despicable act of hooliganism.
Sideline Views
GAA: Sometimes the GAA doesn’t know a good thing when it sees it. Last September Kilkenny’s Brian Cody and Tyrone’s Mickey Harte received medals as the winning managers in the All-Ireland hurling and football finals, exactly the same medals their players received. The gesture was a nice one, a little recognition for the hard work they put into their teams. It was also a one-off. The GAA Congress in Cork last Saturday ruled that medals will no longer be presented to winning managers after last year’s experiment. What a shame.
GOLF: There’s more than a passing interest in Rory McIlroy’s appearance the next time he appears on a golf course as a professional. The Ulster teenager is currently at home in Bangor on a well-earned break after his recent American adventures, and one of the items on his agenda is a visit to the barber. “I tend to do things in the extreme,” McIlroy told the Irish Independent. “I’ve let my hair grow so long, who knows, I might go completely the other way now.” We’ll wait and see.
HURLING: So now we know why Pat Kenny is about to give up the Late Late Show. On Sunday a Pat Kenny from the Buffer’s Alley club scored two goals on his senior inter-county debut as Wexford hammered Carlow in the NHL on Sunday. Okay, so Pat is a little bit old for senior hurling, very senior it would have to be, but maybe’s that’s why he’s giving up the biggest job in Irish television!
GOLF: Nice to report that Paul McGinley finished in the top 10 at the China Open on Sunday, tied for eighth and his highest finish in years. With the 3 Irish Open at Baltray around the corner, McGinley’s return to form is a welcome one.
SOCCER: Moves are afoot to get Celtic and Rangers into a new look Premier League once again. Good as the idea is, there’s just no way that UEFA will agree to it if the Scottish FA don’t approve. No way at all.