Pockets Picked in Saint Denis

Giovanni Trappatoni is under a lot of pressure concerning his position as coach of Irelands senior football team.  A 6-1 defeat to Germany has seen him endure a torrid time with people calling for his head.

Now, I'll admit that being cut off from the goings on of Eamon Dunphy, Jonny Giles and Liam Brady at the RTE studios in Mobtrose has its plus points.  One such point is that I'm a bit of a fan of 'Big Trap' and his sometimes erratic approach to the game of football.  Without the ecentric Italian we would never have experienced the agony and ecstacy that we experienced at The Stade de France back in 2009.

That Handball

Having been lacklustre four days earlier in Dublin were a deflected Nicolas Anelka shot gave France the advantage the knives were out for Trapattoni as the team landed in Paris.  The shackles imposed on the team were cast aside as Trapattonis men came at the French from the off.  Robbie Keane gave us a deserved lead to level the tie and suddenly France were there for the taking.

Henry wasn't saying sorry to Richard Dunne

John O'Shea and  Damien Duff had great chances to send us through but wayward shooting and good goalkeeping kept the tie alive.  The game finished up 1-0, it could have been one of our greatest victories ever but for the little matter of thirty further minutes of extra time.

Trapattoni drives his team on

With two minutes of the first half of extra time remaining we all know just what happened......some of you may not want to read on.  A long ball played in from a free kick was destined to go out of play until Thierry Henry kept the ball in play with the use of his hand, not once but twice.  He then played a pass to William Gallas who stabbed the ball home into an empty net.   It was a cruel cruel blow and the replays on TV only made it harder to watch and stomach leaving me with the feeling that the entire nation of Ireland just had its pocket picked.

We may not have won the penalty shoot out but there is always a chance when it comes to the lottery of penalties...think Liverpool in Istanbul 2005.  Trapattoni was immense that night and surely proved his worth, yes we were robbed, yes we didn't win the game either but The French knew they had just got out of jail (this wasn't the first time a French team had got out of jail in Saint-Denis either as we shall see another day). 

More Munster Heartbreak

Sandwiched in between Munsters last minute missed penalty in the 2000 European Cup Final and Neil Backs shenanigans in the 2002 edition was the gut wrenching semi final defeat against French glamour club Stade Francais in Lille.You could call it a trilogy of near misses as Munster carried not only the hopes of a province but I'm sure the rest of the country as they went in search of The Heineken Cup back in 2001. 

Try time for Munster.....surely

Stade Francais had edged into a 16-9 lead early in the second half before John O'Neill thought he had given Munster a chance to take control as he touched the ball down for a try in the corner.  The referee and touch judge thought otherwise and ruled, incorrectly as you can see above, that the Shannon man had touched the corner flag first.

Ronan O'Gara then found his range and kicked two penalties to bring the Munster Men to within a point of the Parisians. The French withstood the onslaught however to hold on for the one point win as Munster fell agonisingly close to European glory for the second straight year. 

Beaten By The Rain.....Again

There was a strange case of Deja Vu for the Irish Cricket Team in Colombo today as their T20 World Cup was brought to an end.  They posted a fairly competitive total of 129, against T20 heavyweights The West Indies, to give themselves a chance to progress to the next round. 

Any hopes of progression were dashed when the rain came and  stopped the game before The Windies had a chance to bat.  Ireland were knocked out on net run rate, a mere technicality really.

Rain rain go away

This hard luck story has a familiar ring to it as the same circumstances conspired against us at the last T20 World Cup.  England were the benefactors two years ago and took their chance with both hands going on to claim the cup.  If only the weather had stayed on our side.........sigh!!

24 Hours in Bergamo

Eoin Keith gave Ireland their greatest result in endurance running at the 2009 IAU 24 Hour World Championships.  Running a controlled race, fuelled by strawberry milkshakes and a swag of picnic food,  Keith clocked up a staggering 237.266km to finish in  a very respectable 5th palce. 

The day finished with Eoin only 5kms' away from a bronze medal but unfortunately time ran out as he chased down the leaders.  Maybe had the race gone into a 25th hour that 3rd place finish could have been achieved. 

There was another close shave for the Corkman as the European Championships were run concurrently.  Russias Vladimir Bychkov finished a mere 3kms' ahead of Eoin to deny him a bronze and a place on the podium. 

It's not every day that an Irish athlete will earn two great results at the same race but Eoin Keith was on fine form that day for sure!!

A Bicycle Made For Two

James Brown (no relation to the singer) almost became Irelands first medal winner at this years Paralympic Games competing in the individual pursuit in London. Coming in to the final kilometer The visually impaired Brown and his pilot Damien Shaw from Mullingar held a slight lead over the Spanish Pair.  With only four laps of the track to go could the duo hold on and claim a remarkable third place finish??

 

James Brown (r) and Damien Shaw give it their all

 Alas it was not to be as the Spaniards ground the brave Irishmen into submission and claimed the bronze medal for themselves.  Heartbreaking stuff for the two men who have only been competing together since February.