European Championship 2012 Qualifier

Armenia 0 Republic Of Ireland 1 (Fahey,76)

This win was forged in the industrial midlands of England as Wolves past & present combined to feast on the Armenian defence after nibbling away for 75 minutes the outstanding Kevin Doyle combined with Record Goalscorer & skipper Robbie Keane to set up Birmingham striker Keith Fahey for his debut strike minutes after entering the fray.On a humid night at the Stadium of The Republic in Yerevan the hosts proved to be a typical Eastern European side with plenty of steel, studs raised kicking lumps out of the visitors with the occassional counter attack to give the Irish pause for thoughts of an easy assignment.
In a first half that Ireland utterly dominated Robbie Keane proved to be particularly profligate as he wasted several good chances engineered by the ubiquitous Doyle & Liam Lawrence. The easiest of those chances came after 8 minutes when Keane’s box rustiness not playing for Spurs evidenced early as he snatched a snapshot that at his best he would have buried.Keane also had two penalty appeals, one spurious & one stonewall – neither were given. The captain also had the ball in the net but it was disallowed for a tight offside decision. Doyle had his best match for Ireland as he consistently lead the line & also proved to be magnificent defensively. The Irish defence were magnificent with Richard Dunne once again proving that he is one of the best stoppers in World football & Kevin Kilbane John O’Shea proved pivotal to keeping the pressure on Armenia.

Republic of Ireland manager, Giovanni Trapattoni has confirmed that Paul Green will start tomorrow’s Euro 2012 qualifier in Armenia.

The Derby County midfielder has been given the nod to replace the injured Keith Andrews and he’ll be partnered by Glen Whelan for our opening Group B fixture.

Richard Dunne is expected to take his place in defence and will train on his calf injury this evening, while Aiden McGeady has also been included in the side – despite a slight doubt over his ankle injury.

Kevin Kilbane retains his place at left-back, while Damien Duff’s absence means that Liam Lawrence will also start on the wing.

Ireland team in full: Given, O’Shea, Dunne, St Ledger, Kilbane, Lawrence, Whelan, Green, McGeady, Keane, Doyle.

Full story to follow…

The countdown continues for tomorrow’s big clash between the Republic of Ireland and Armenia in their first Euro 2012 qualifier in Yerevan.

Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni has had a nightmare week with several key players pulling out of the squad through injury. There was optimism though with Trap when Robbie Keane took part in full training.

Sportspeak’s chief soccer reporter Dan “Pitchside” Pitcher reports.
 

Sportspeak has learned that Fulham’s Damien Duff and Keith Andrews of Blackburn Rovers have been ruled out of the Republic of Ireland’s opening Euro 2012 qualifier against Armenia on Friday.Duff will miss the game because of a calf injury although he could return for next week’s match against Andorra.

Blackburn’s Andrews is out of both games because of a groin injury so Derby’s Paul Green is in line to start.

Liam Lawrence, Paul McShane and Keith Treacy are also injury doubts for Friday’s game in Yerevan.Lawrence has a groin injury while Treacy limped out of Preston’s game against Sheffield United on Saturday.McShane missed Hull’s game against Doncaster because of a calf injury.Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni has already called up CSKA Sofia striker Cillian Sheridan for the two qualifiers.

The 21-year-old former Celtic player was not in the initial 25-man panel named by Trapattoni’s assistant Marco Tardelli 10 days ago.Andrews’ absence meant that Green partnered Glenn Whelan in central midfield in the recent friendly against Argentina and the Derby player looks likely to occupy a similar role against Armenia.

Trapattoni’s recovery after surgery led to assistant Tardelli naming the Republic squad for the qualifiers against Armenia in Yerevan and Andorra at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.Trapattoni, 71, is continuing his recuperation after undergoing surgery for an surgery for an abdominal complaint.The Irish manager is confident that he will be fit to travel with the squad to Armenia.

Republic of Ireland squad: Given (Manchester City), Westwood (Coventry City), Murphy (Scunthorpe Utd), O’Shea (Manchester Utd), Dunne (Aston Villa), St Ledger (Preston North End), Cunningham (Manchester City), Foley (Wolves), Kelly (Fulham), McShane (Hull City), O’Dea (Celtic), Kilbane (Hull City), Whelan (Stoke City), Gibson (Manchester Utd), Green (Derby County), Lawrence (Stoke City), McGeady (Spartak Moscow), Keogh (Wolves), Fahey (Birmingham City), Treacy (Preston North End), Keane (Tottenham Hotspur), Doyle (Wolves), Long (Reading), Sheridan (CSKA Sofia).

Padraig Harrington has been included in Monty’s  European Ryder cup team as a wild card and may have fellow Irishman vice captains Paul McGinley and Darren Clarke to thank for that. The 3 time major champion has had a bad year so far and his chances have been written off by many. Harrington makes up a pack of 3 Irishmen in the team, as well as himself, there is Ulsters Greame McDowell and Rory McIlroy.

Harrington was the first wildcard Monty called out along with Luke Donald from England and Italy’s Edoardo Molinari.  The Italian who won his second European tour event today at the Jonny Walker Championship in Gleneagles and after his performance couldn’t be left out. He also joins his brother Francesco on the team

Europe’s captain also revealed that Spain’s Sergio Garcia as a fourth vice captain for golfs biggest event in October.

Europe’s full Ryder Cup 1010 team:

Padraig Harrington IRE (Wild Card)
Rory McIlroy NIR
Greame McDowell NIR
Lee Westwood ENG
Martin Kaymer GER
Ian Poulter ENG
Ross Fisher ENG
Frencesco Molinari ITA
Miguel Angel Jimenez ESP
Peter Hanson SWE
Luke Donald ENG (Wildcard)
Edoardo Molinari ITA (Wildcard)

Sportspeak understands that Lance Armstrong may have tried to silence Floyd Landis prior his doping allegations this spring. According the cycling website www.velonation .com & the US Newspaper the Daily News, US federal prosecutors and Armstrong’s attorneys may focus on the correspondence between the two former US Postal team-mates.”The idea that Lance’s team wanted to speak with Landis is simply the latest of Landis’ Floyd-brications,” Mark Fabiani told the Daily News.”Floyd Landis has disgraced himself with his admitted lies, and it is incredible that FDA agents are wasting taxpayer dollars in a fruitless attempt to bolster Landis’ falsehoods.”

As Sportspeak reported Armstrong hired “The Master Of Disiaster” Fabiani two weeks ago to handle his public relations as the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) investigation intensifies. Its criminal investigator, Jeff Novitzky is examining Landis’ allegations of organised doping in Armstrong’s US Postal team. He may also examine Landis’ and Armstrong’s correspondence during the weeks leading up to Landis’ e-mail being leaked to the media on May 19.

To get the full story log on to www.velonation.com

The road to the Aviva Stadium Dublin for the final of the Europa League on May 18th 2011 will begin with tough tests for the surviving English sides.
Manchester City will need all their high priced purchases to perform after being drawn with Juventus.As well as the Italian giants, Roberto Mancini’s team also face Salzburg of Austria and Lech Poznan of Poland.Liverpool had an unkind draw too, the Reds put into Group K along with Romania’s Steaua Bucharest, Italy’s Napoli and Utrecht of the Netherlands.The draw saw the 48 clubs divided into 12 groups of four teams, with the top two from each set progressing.Manchester City summer signing Mario Balotelli was the victim of racist abuse from Juventus supporters during his time as an Inter Milan player.
Two seasons ago Juve were ordered to play a home game behind closed doors after an incident aimed at Balotelli, who is of Ghanaian descent,during the last campaign the Serie A club banned several supporters after they chanted discriminatory remarks about Balotelli during a cup match against Napoli.
“I think a new season is a chance to show new behaviour, and to show also at a European level that the Italian supporters, or more particularly those of Juve, have understood the messages and the sanctions that were handed out,” said Juventus general manager Jean-Claude Blanc.
“Supporting your team is to support your team, and not to make remarks of a racist nature toward other players. We will be extremely demanding and intransigent about this.”
Brian Marwood, Manchester City’s head of football administration, said: “Mario, like all of our players, I’m sure, will be relishing the opportunity.He’s a young man with an incredibly bright future ahead of him and we will give him every support and help that he needs.We will leave it to the authorities to deal with anything that happens but we are not anticipating any issue.”
Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard admitted that the Europa League is not his club’s top priority – but is confident the Reds will progress from the group stage.”It’s a strong group and I’m certainly looking forward to the games,I’m confident we can get out of the group but it will be tough. I don’t think the Europa League is the priority. Everybody knows that our league position, where we finish at the end of this year, is the priority.But it’s another trophy, it’s a big cup. We haven’t won a trophy for four years now so it’s important we put a good show on in all the cup competitions and try to reward the fans with a final.”Group J also looks extremely competitive, with Sevilla, Paris Saint Germain, Borussia Dortmund and Karpaty Lviv all competing for the top two places.The group stage begins on 16 September and when it concludes three months later the top two teams from each group will go through to the final 32 – where they will be joined by the eight third-placed finishers in the Champions League group stageHolders Atletico Madrid defeated Fulham in last season’s final and are in Group B, along with Bayer Leverkusen, Rosenburg and Thessaloniki.
Group A

Juventus Manchester City Salzburg Lech Poznan

Group B

Atletico Madrid Bayer Leverkusen Rosenburg Thessaloniki

Group C

Sporting Lille Levski Sofia Gent

Group D

Villarreal Club Brugge Dinamo Zagreb PAOK

Group E

Alkmaar Dinamo Kiev BATE Borisov FC Sheriff

Group F

CSKA Moscow Palermo Sparta Prague Lausanne

Group G

Zenit St Petersburg Anderlecht AEK Athens Hajduk Split

Group H

Stuttgart Getafe Odense Young Boys

Group I

PSV Eindhoven Sampdoria FC Metalist Kharkiv Debreceni

Group J

Sevilla PSG Borussia Dortmund Karpaty Lviv

Group K

Liverpool Steaua Bucharest Napoli Utrecht

Group L

Porto Besiktas CSKA Sofia Rapid Vienna

Alex Ferguson & his two time Champions’ League winners will be playing at the place where Tony cascarino’s last defiant stand as an Ireland player took place as United make the exhausting trip to Bursa where the Republic lost out in a playoff for Euro 2000 in 1999 with Cascarino trading digs with Turkish police.Manchester United and Rangers have been drawn together in Group C of the Champions League at draw in Monaco.
That means a return to Glasgow for Red Devils boss and Govan native Alex Ferguson, while Gers boss Walter Smith will be making a return to Old Trafford, having briefly worked as Ferguson’s assistant prior to his stint in charge of Scotland.Spanish side Valencia and Turkey’s Bursaspor make up the group.
United and Rangers were drawn together at the same stage in 2003-04 with United winning 3-0 at home and 1-0 at Ibrox.Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham, who secured their first appearance in the Champions League group stage with yesterday’s 4-0 win over Young Boys, were rewarded with a place in Group A alongside Italian holders Inter Milan, Germany’s Werder Bremen and Steve McClaren’s former club FC Twente.Chelsea, among the top seeds, were matched with France’s Marseille, Russia’s Spartak Moscow and Slovakia’s MSK Zilina in Group F.
Arsenal, meanwhile, appeared to have the most straightforward assignment after drawing Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk, Braga of Portugal and Serbian outfit Partizan Belgrade in Group H.
All four Premier League sides will have been glad to avoid Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid, who were in the second pot for the draw.Madrid were instead drawn in an exciting-looking Group G alongside AC Milan, Ajax and Auxerre.
Lyon are top seeds in Group B where they will meet Benfica, Schalke and Hapoel Tel Aviv, while Barcelona have a chance to overturn last year’s shock home defeat against Russia’s Rubin Kazan in Group D. Panathinaikos and FC Copenhagen make up that four.
Group E includes Bayern Munich, Roma, FC Basel and CFR Cluj.This year’s final will take place at Wembley.

Bohemian FC confirms that 18-year-old defender Matt Doherty has been transferred to Wolverhampton Wanderers, who are now completing the player’s registration.

Doherty has been playing with Bohemians’ under-20 team and he lined out for Bohemians in the July friendly against Wolves, attracting the attention of their manager Mick McCarthy. Wolves representatives watched him again when he appeared for Bohemians in a friendly against Aston Villa.

Doherty’s transfer was completed over the weekend.He has signed a two-year contract with Wolves, with a further year’s option. He previously had trials with Portsmouth, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Derby and Charlton.

At Wolves, Doherty joins another former Bohemian, Stephen Ward, who recently returned from long-term injury to play with the first team.

Before joining Bohemians last year, Doherty played for youth teams with Belvedere and Home Farm. Both clubs are entitled to a share of the compensation paid. The financial terms of the transfer have not been disclosed.

Sporting Fingal will host St. Patrick’s Athletic for the first time this season tonight, in the Morton Stadium. It’s the first of three home matches in a twelve day period for Fingal and three points would hoist them above their second-placed opponents. Friday night’s 2-1 victory at UCD, their third straight Airtricity League win, was hard-fought – leading Buckley to admire his Fingal side’s resilient streak.

“We’ve never had an easy game against UCD and it took a huge effort from the lads in the second half to regain the lead and hold out for the points,” he said. “The concentration levels by the players over recent games have been fantastic and that will be required as we head into the fourth and final series of matches.”

Looking to tonights visit of St. Patrick’s Athletic, Buckley explained that his troops are in composed mood.“We’ve drawn twice at Inchicore so far but, as the home team, we’ll be expecting to take the initiative for this one. “Our players realise this game will not make or break their season but are aware of the opportunity it gives them to put themselves into a better position three quarters way through the campaign.”

Conan Byrne, the scorer of Fingal’s first goal in the 2-1 win at UCD, echoed his manager’s sentiments.He said: “We’ve had to grind out some wins lately which perhaps would have resulted in draws earlier in the campaign. “Playing St. Pat’s at home is a brilliant prospect for us. They’ve been up around the top all season and here’s a chance for us to continue our current form against one of the title favourites.”

Colin Hawkins remains sidelined with broken ribs while Lorcan Fitzgerald faces a pre-match fitness test having missed the last games with a hamstring strain.

The Saints will be hoping for a good performance to keep them in touch with Rovers at the top of the Premier Division. St Pat’s picked up injuries to Dave Mulcahy (hamstring) and Danny North (knee) against Sligo Rovers on Friday night and both players are set to miss out. Paul Byrne (ankle) is still out but Damien Lynch is available for selection having recovered from an ankle injury.

“I thought the team played really well (Friday night) and we did every we could to win the match so I’ve no complaints. It was a real Pats’ performance, especially in the second half and I could’nt fault the players – they were excellent.Sporting Fingal present a very different challenge but we’re looking forward to it.  It’s a big game for us, while we were even with Rovers a few weeks ago they are now 5 points clear so we can’t fall too far behind them” – Pete Mahon.