‘Great to see Roy Keane supporting the League of Ireland' hail fans after icon spotted at Cork City vs Shamrock Rovers
ROY Keane was at Turner's Cross to cheer on Cork City as they salvaged a point against Shamrock Rovers.
Having fallen behind in the 17th minute,
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Keano was among the 3,619 at Friday night's affair
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City sit second from bottom with 12 points from their 13 league games this season
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The 53-year-old is a semi-regular at City games as it's clear he makes the effort to take in a match whenever he's visiting home.
Seeing arguably the greatest player to ever come out of Ireland at a domestic match is always a welcome sight with Irish people en masse.
For instance, the Ireland to Glory X account reacted to his latest appearance by tweeting: "Roy Keane was in attendance for Cork City against Shamrock Rovers last night.
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"Great to see such a legend supporting the League of Ireland."
The Hoops had looked the likely winners after Gaffney hit the net early on.
But City stayed in the fight and
Anderson and Matthew Kiernan — both 18 — had come into defence, with full-backs Milan Mbeng and Benny Couto ruled out.
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The hosts were out to rectify their worst display of the season, a 4-1 Tallaght thumping. But Rovers owned the ball from the start as
Byrne and Gaffney's passing exchange opened a lane for ex-City player Josh Honohan to cross.
Falkirk fans invade the pitch as promotion to the Premiership is confirmed
He found Danny Grant at the back post but Tein Troost got down well to save. The Hoops got the breakthrough on 17 minutes.
Matt Healy's cross was only half-cleared to John O'Sullivan, who caught Troost unawares to strike the post.
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Meanwhile, Evan McLaughlin was down with a knock, inadvertently playing Gaffney onside. The striker produced an excellent finish for his second goal of the season.
A comedy of errors almost gifted Gaffney another. Anderson's miskick flew to the poacher but he volleyed over.
City were limited to set- pieces. Anderson got off a header and McLaughlin a long-range shot but neither troubled Ed McGinty.
After the break, Rovers went in search of the killer blow.
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Honohan came close with a free header from Byrne's floated free-kick. Charlie Lyons was in the right position but Troost saved his miskick to prevent an own goal.
Byrne then tested Troost with a left-footed effort. The crowd lifted as a corner teed up Sean Murray outside the box and his shot deflected wide off Roberto Lopes.
Play was brought back for a free-kick, which Cathal O'Sullivan guided around the post.
City found the leveller in the 74th minute. Harry Nevin kept the play alive from a deflected free, Djenairo Daniels laid the ball back for Anderson on the edge of the box and the centre-back finished low.
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Victor Ozhianvuna made an impact on his introduction.
The Rovers starlet, 16, crossed for Graham Burke, whose shot was saved by Troost. The Dutch keeper also denied Healy, Michael Noonan and Ozhianvuna in the closing stages.
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Irish Examiner
21 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
Ireland almost leave you wanting more as shadow boxing nears end
What's rare isn't always wonderful but Friday night's friendly stalemate with Senegal in Ballsbridge, the Republic of Ireland men's senior team's first game against African opposition in just over 15 years, almost left you wanting more. The Republic had played Celtic and a Tuscan XI since June of 2010. There had been seven meetings with Georgia, six with Gibraltar and Denmark. Even three games against the mighty Oman in the space of just six years. This kind of challenge was overdue. It was Algeria who provided the opposition back in 2010, at the RDS of all places. Current Ireland assistant manager John O'Shea started at the back. Robbie Keane and Damien Duff have walked the same path to the dugout. Others, Kenny Cunningham and Kevin Doyle, are spending some of their retirement in the TV and radio studios. So, lots of water under the bridge, then, as Heimir Hallgrimsson's lads went about this end-of-season box-ticker down by the banks of the Dodder. Novelty factor wasn't the only attraction to Senegal. This was a side ranked inside the world's top 20 and replete with a rake of players who were plying their trade in the Premier League, or had in the past, and a supporting cadre from leagues around Europe and the Middle East. The pity was that the likes of Idrissa Gueye of Everton, Chelsea's Nicolas Jackson, and Ismaila Sarr, who was so central to Crystal Palace's FA Cup win last month, all started on the bench. Probably with an eye on their game against England in Nottingham next Tuesday. Still, that spelled opportunity. Hallgrimsson had framed the terms of this engagement neatly on Thursday when admitting he would have little issue with losing here and in Luxembourg on Tuesday if it meant two wins from their opening two World Cup games in September. It was hard to argue, but even ghost games like this can, in theory, serve a value in and of themselves and not just because a win here would have made it the first time that the Boys in Green had won three on the trot since 2016. That was a hat-trick of World Cup qualifiers, no less, starting with Georgia in Dublin, continuing on through to a 3-1 against Moldova in Chisenau, and ending with a 1-0 victory over Austria in Vienna courtesy of Harry Arter. Repeat that in the autumn and Ireland will have accounted for Hungary in Dublin and sacked the citadels of Armenia and Portugal. Hey, a nation can dream, and Hallgrimsson hasn't been in town long enough to pick up the Irish art of self-effacement. 'Our broader ambition is to not only qualify for the World Cup next summer, but also to be fully prepared to compete against diverse styles of play from teams around the globe when we get there. 'Facing a talented Senegalese side provides us with an excellent opportunity to test ourselves against a different type of opposition and to continue developing,' the Ireland boss wrote in his match programme notes. The game itself? Surprisingly good. Hallgrimsson has Ireland playing to a type. His type. They were aggressive without the ball and disciplined and regimented as a collective at the back. And they can be good to watch at times, too. Maybe we can dare to have our cake and eat it. Take out a red pen to the starting teamsheet here and you were left with maybe five players – Caoimhin Kelleher, Nathan Collins, Dara O'Shea, Matt Doherty and Robbie Brady – who would likely start come the serious stuff in the autumn. With Finn Azaz, Josh Cullen and Mikey Johnston given the week off, it was Kasey McAteer, goal and all, who made the most of the doors this opened. And Caoimhin Kelleher showed why the £12.5, rising to £18m, Brentford paid for him this week is a steal. Senegal were better after the break, more direct, and that created problems for Ireland. Even Kelleher couldn't deny them forever, Ismail Sarr squeezing in a rebound after Cork's finest kept another one out with an outstretched foot. We even had the sight of two teams losing the rag in the dying moments in a more or less meaningless summer friendly. And the good news is that all this shadow boxing is almost over. Finally. It's two years since Stephen Kenny's Ireland lost 2-1 to Greece in the Agia Sophia Stadium – despite a nine-day acclimatization camp in Turkey – and the team's Euro 2024 qualifying hopes went south with six group games still to play. This was Ireland's 20th game since then. That's a whole lot of filler: academic qualifiers, Nations League placeholders and friendly make-dos. Only one more to go, against Luxembourg on Tuesday, before Hungary come to Dublin in September. Win or lose in four days' time, we're coming to the end of this two-year cruise.
Irish Daily Mirror
23 minutes ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
There is a light for Ireland and Hallgrimsson as the gloom begins to lift
It was only last November when Heimir Hallgrimsson looked down a big black tunnel and failed to see any light. Now, eight months after that 5-0 hammering by England, the Icelandic boss stood in the tunnel at the Aviva and stared at a bright new dawn. Young players are alive; older ones revived; unheralded men starting to thrive. Three results in a row hardly constitutes a run but given where Ireland were a year ago, you'll take anything. Here they conceded a late equaliser but prior to that moment they produced ten glorious minutes that represented the best football an Irish side has played since Euro 2016. Not that we saw it coming because the five minutes prior were so drab it reminded you of the story about Vinny Samways. Way back in the early '90s, Samways was Mr Safe - a midfielder who stepped into the Spurs midfield just after Paul Gascoigne stepped out. You could barely think of two more different styles. One would try anything to unlock a defence whereas the other helped his opponent batten down the hatches. Eventually it got too much for the Spurs fans and Vinny Samways was renamed Vinny Sideways. Well, that was Ireland for the opening 20 minutes of last night's game. Yes, they were patient. But they were also boring, conservative and scared - frightened to take a chance or make a mistake. Any pass that didn't go sideways went backwards. Was this the instruction from the manager? You'd hope not. And then we saw it was not. From the 20th minute on, everything changed. That slow, slow, passing programme got binned. Instead Ireland upped the pace, Dara O'Shea firstly, then Jason Knight, followed by Nathan Collins, delivering these stunning, 40-yard diagonals that pinned the Senegalese back. The effect was huge. From the territorial gains came pressure; from the pressure, corners. And from the corners came a goal - Kasey McAteer getting it, the young Leicester attacker showing admirable composure to react to Yehvann Diouff's save to calmly control the dipping ball and then hammer it into the net. Suddenly the place came alive, Ireland's fans rejoicing in the idea of being ahead in a match they were expected to lose. In many ways they are the real heroes, the 32,478 fans who dug into their pockets and bring humour wherever they go. They are always positive - which is something you can't always say about the tactics they have had to watch over the years. Remember even when we were good under Big Jack, we were bad (to watch). But no matter what, this collection of singing, beer-drinking, fun-loving fans have served their country well. All they have yearned for is something to cheer about. And now they had it - as, not for the first time in this stadium, a man called McAteer wrote the headlines, but these headlines were about a goal rather than a continuation of a 20-year whinge about Brian Kerr. It was heartlifting, the sight of this fresh-faced youngster producing a smile that lit up the entire stadium. And it boosted the whole team. Suddenly, for ten minutes, we saw the best of Ireland, front-foot football, slick passing and sharp movement when they had the ball, put-em-under-pressure defending when they didn't. Matt Doherty looked reborn, a year after his international career seemed over. Robbie Brady was even better while Ryan Manning - a player who seemed destined to be nothing other than a footnote to a lost decade - is suddenly looking like a viable option for the left. Why stop there? Because Caoimhin Kelleher's fingertip stop from Krepin Diatta's 52nd minute header was world class. In front of him Collins and O'Shea looked good. Later Jake O'Brien came on as a sub and was even better. The one bad point was the Senegalese equaliser, which arrived just a minute after Brady had signalled his desire to come off - those 32-year-old legs showing the wear and tear of a long season and an even longer career. Ireland's management dithered over this decision. Senegal took advantage, their equaliser stemming down Brady's flank, the fatigued defender unable to cut out the cross which led to Ismaila Sarr's goal. If that was a source of frustration, the reaction was not. Ireland dug in for the final nine minutes. Not that they had much choice, Senegal showing us how powerful force pride can be, as they fought to extend their unbeaten run from 20 games to 21. They managed that. Truth be told they were the better team in the second half, expansive, sharp, powerful. An equaliser was earned rather than inevitable because Kelleher was having such a fine game and the quality of the subs Hallgrimsson was introducing was as good as the players they were replacing. The issue, though, was that they waited a minute too long to get Brady off the field. And the price was that a victory got downgraded to a draw. But in Leaving Cert month, if the student learns a lesson, it'll be worth it.
The 42
34 minutes ago
- The 42
Here's the full list of winners from this year's FAI international awards
THE WINNERS OF the 35th FAI International Awards have been confirmed — and honoured at an event in the Aviva Stadium. Robbie Brady and Kyra Carusa were the big winners, crowned Senior Men's and Women's International Player of the Year respectively. Both players were presented with their awards in camp this week, with announcements made on the FAI social media channels. Brady also claimed the International Goal of the Year award (v Finland), repeating his 2016 double. Finn Azaz and Jessie Stapleton won the Young Player of the Year awards, while Cork's Matt Healy took the Men's Under-21 prize. Irish legends Denise Irwin and Olivia O'Toole were inducted into the FAI Hall of Fame. Irwin was capped 56 times, featuring at the 1994 World Cup in USA, while O'Toole is the Ireland women's national team record goalscorer with 54 goals. Denis Irwin (file photo). Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO Broadcaster George Hamilton was the recipient of the Special Merit Award. The event took place at Lansdowne Road before tonight's international friendly between Heimir Hallgrímsson's Ireland and Senegal. The performances taken into account were from June 2024 to May 2025, while a jury from Soccer Writers' Ireland helped with the selection of certain categories. Here's a full list of winners: 35th FAI International Awards Winners Senior Men's International Player of the Year Robbie Brady Senior Women's International Player of the Year Kyra Carusa Young Men's International Player of the Year Finn Azaz Advertisement Young Women's International Player of the Year Jessie Stapleton International Goal of the Year MNT | Robbie Brady vs Finland Men's Under-21 International Player of the Year Matt Healy Men's Under-19 International Player of the Year Freddie Turley Women's Under-19 International Player of the Year Aoife Kelly Men's Under-18 International Player of the Year Kyle Fitzgerald Men's Under-17 International Player of the Year Finn Sherlock Women's Under-17 International Player of the Year Madison McGuane Boys' Under-16 International Player of the Year Niall Sullivan Girls' Under-16 International Player of the Year Keelin Comiskey Boys' Under-15 International Player of the Year Archie Quinn Girls' Under-15 Schools International Player of the Year Hailey Twomey (Eureka Secondary School, Kells) Boys' Under-18 Schools International Player of the Year Rhys Knight (Clonkeen College, Blackrock) Football For All International Player of the Year Heather Jameson (Cerebral Palsy) Amateur Player of the Year Jake Dillon (Fairview Rangers) Hall of Fame Denis Irwin Olivia O'Toole Special Merit George Hamilton. You can view the nominees here>
