Ireland v Luxembourg preview: Heimir Hallgrimsson wants his big men to stand up and be counted
For all the talk of an Irish upturn, watching Portugal claim Nations League glory on Sunday served as a reminder of the heights Heimir Hallgrimsson's side will need to reach if they are to participate in the World Cup qualification discussion.
It was Hallgrimsson who brought up the game in his press conference ahead of tonight's friendly in Luxembourg, describing the stirring clash between the top seed in Ireland's group and the European champions Spain as closer to a basketball match in its personality. 'Both teams were really comfortable that the game was like this,' he said.
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The 42
an hour ago
- The 42
Minimal change in low-key squad announcement for Ireland's US summer tests
THE ANNOUNCEMENT WAS low-key, the squad itself not straying too far from recent iterations after all. It was released through FAI social media channels at noon, while a press release landed in journalists' inboxes. There was no press conference with head coach Carla Ward, as is customary; some quotes instead circulated for use as the 23-player selection for a friendly double-header against the US was unveiled. Katie McCabe's unavailability was flagged last week, the captain rested after a hectic season which culminated in Champions League glory with Arsenal. Ward stated McCabe was 'on the verge of burnout' after the Nations League group finale against Slovenia, and suggested 'a number' of other players would not travel Stateside for the off-season series. More change was probably anticipated than followed, Ward selecting a relatively familiar squad as Ireland build towards their Nations League play-off with Belgium in October. Eight players were listed by the FAI as unavailable, four of them long-term injury absentees in Jamie Finn, Jess Ziu, Lily Agg and Tara O'Hanlon. Heather Payne and Leanne Kiernan had both been ruled out of the last camp, while Aoife Mannion joined the captain as the other name: the Manchester United defender played the first half of the Türkiye game, but didn't feature against Slovenia as her load — and a quad knock — was managed. Aside from the now-retired Louise Quinn, Shelbourne's Aoibheann Clancy was the only other player from the last squad not included following a recent bereavement. 'The WNT players and staff send their condolences to midfielder Aoibheann Clancy following the passing of her mother, Siobhan. She is being given the time to deal with this difficult period and has the full support of the WNT squad,' read the press release. Advertisement Hayley Nolan and Izzy Atkinson (centre) return to the squad. Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO Ellen Molloy, Hayley Nolan and Izzy Atkinson were the three headline inclusions. Molloy and Nolan receive their first call-ups under Ward. Molloy has been impressing in the SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division since returning to Wexford, and now gets a fresh opportunity with Ireland. The 21-year-old midfielder was a regular under Vera Pauw, before an ACL injury interrupted her rise. A move to Championship outfit Sheffield United followed, and Molloy won her first senior cap since 2022 in last October's Euro 2025 playoff semi-final against Georgia. Another injury followed, she left Sheffield in January after four months due to personal reasons, and has been thriving amid home comforts. Nolan is back in the fold for the first time since late 2023 under Eileen Gleeson, having last played for Ireland in the pre-World Cup friendlies against the US. It's a full circle moment for the Crystal Palace defender, who has see-sawed between fine form and injury in recent times. 'Hayley has been unlucky to miss out on being included in recent squads, simply because we have a lot of competition for places at centre-back,' said Ward. 'We have kept an eye on her at club level, I've spoken with her managers and also had conversations with her. So we are excited to bring Hayley in and give her a chance.' There notable change is in defence, in the absence of first-choice full-backs McCabe and Mannion. Atkinson gets the nod as another left-sided option alongside Megan Campbell and Chloe Mustaki, while right-back is an area in which Ireland currently lack choice. Mannion appeared to nail down the position through the Nations League, though is naturally a centre-back. Jessie Stapleton deputised against Slovenia and will most likely have to do so again without injured duo Payne and Finn, but Nolan's versatility could also be useful. Expect huge competition at centre-half: there's a spot up for grabs for the first leg against Belgium with Anna Patten suspended, and no shortage of contenders. The rest of the squad runs along the same lines as the last, with no change in the goalkeeping department and Molloy added to a midfield selection spearheaded by Denise O'Sullivan, who will be stand-in captain. 'Ellen is a player who we have been tracking closely,' said Ward. 'She has done well for Wexford over the last two months and has been on the longlist for our squads, so we needed an opportunity to take a closer look at her in our environment and this is it. 'We know how talented Ellen is but it's how she can adapt that to international level is what we need to look at. I watched her when she was with Sheffield United and we've been watching her at Wexford, so we want to see how she gets on during this camp.' There's also continuity in attack, all who featured in the last window returning. New recruit Erin Healy is recalled, and could win her first cap in her country of birth. Atkinson is actually listed as a forward. The 23-year-old Dubliner gets a fresh international opportunity following her departure from Crystal Palace. She was in Ward's first squad where 'tough love' was offered after falling 'out of favour' at Palace, but was left out thereafter. Related Reads Recalls and absentees as Ireland squad named for US friendlies Have expectations been set too high for Ireland after mixed Nations League group? Like Molloy and Nolan, the 2023 World Cup bolter will be looking to get back in the picture. Ireland head coach Carla Ward. Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO Further experimentation with new faces, like younger and domestic talent, may have been hoped for in some quarters, but Ward sticks with pretty settled squad as the Belgium play-off looms large. The US provide formidable competition as the world number one, reigning Olympic champions and four-time World Cup winners. Their European-based players will be rested, but Emma Hayes still has an abundance of top stars to choose from. Ward cites her as a mentor and close friend and has unique insight, having worked in the set-up at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games as a scout and performance analyst. Now, she leads Ireland into their 16th and 17th meetings with the US in Denver (Thursday 26 June) and Cincinnati (Thursday 29 June). 'We know how good USA are, they've always been world-class but I believe Emma has taken them to another level and that's why this is a great test for us. To be coming up against the very best is a good opportunity for us,' said Ward. 'When these games were first proposed to us we knew that we would be without certain players, but that opens the door for others to step up. 'Of course you always want to win games but, for me, the most important aspect of these two games will be the performance and continuing to implement our processes. 'These two fixtures will be our final preparation, in terms of games, before we take on Belgium in October, so we want to make the most of these opportunities.'
The 42
an hour ago
- The 42
US Open: Scheffler the man to beat, Lowry better primed than distracted McIlroy
YOU'LL BE HEARING a lot this week about 'the greatest test in golf', as the organisers of the US Open take their historic championship back to Oakmont in Pittsburgh, whose founding principle was to be the most challenging golf course in America. And so the 2025 US Open may cross the threshold from test to outright trial. The rough is long and knottier than the tree lights you took down from your attic last Christmas; the greens are slippery and more sloped than even those at Augusta National; and the eighth hole is the longest par-three in major championship history. Speaking on Golf Channel on Tuesday, the long-serving former head pro Bob Ford was asked to describe the typical member at Oakmont. 'Sadistic', he replied. The whole set-up is designed, ultimately, to have pro golfers break out in the kind of cold sweats they otherwise reserve for the prospect of a tougher tax regime in Florida. Jon Rahm said on Tuesday he expects the winning score to be over-par if the rain stays away. Rory McIlroy played a practice round last Monday week and birdied the final two holes to card an 81. While the course has been deluged by rain in the weeks leading up to the tournament, the forecast for the opening days of action is more agreeable, although the weekend face the risk of disruption from thunderstorms. Without this rain, says McIlroy, the course would have been 'impossible.' There are only two Irish golfers in the field, as all of Seamus Power, Graeme McDowell, Tom McKibbin and Padraig Harrington failed to make it through qualifying. Organisers have handily paired them together, and so McIlroy and Shane Lowry will play alongside each other and Justin Rose, teeing off early on Thursday and among the late wave on Friday. McIlroy playing alongside Rose evokes easily-accessed memories of the Masters, and trust McIlroy to take the aftermath as interesting as it could possibly have been. He spoke from Augusta in April of feeling freed from the burden of his long major drought; McIlroy was, in his own words, now playing with house money. Er, not so. He barely made the cut at a bizarrely surly PGA Championship, at which he swerved media interviews amid annoyance at the leaking of the fact he had to change his non-conforming driver, and then missed the cut by a mile at last week's Canadian Open with what was, in strokes gained terms, the second-worst round of his career. McIlroy missed the cut the last time this tournament was held at Oakmont, which started a three-year run of missed cuts at the US Open. His reaction to this run is one of the more underrated aspects of his career, and he has been freakishly consistent at the tournament since. He has been in the top-10 in each of the last six years, finishing as runner-up in each of the last two editions. Advertisement Maintaining that consistency this week rests on him finding form off the tee. His driving accuracy across each of his last three events has been abysmal, and a failure to find fairways at Oakmont will mean an early end to his challenge. Having tried a new driver in Canada, McIlroy has switched up his equipment once again this week. 'I feel a little better with the driver over the weekend at home and even today playing a practice round, so hopefully I can hit a few more fairways than I have been hitting and give myself some opportunities', said McIlroy at his Tuesday afternoon press conference. A bigger question is the inner drive. McIlroy admitted ahead of the Canadian Open he had been finding it hard to have the same motivation to grind on the range now that he's achieved all he had set out to do. Speaking to the press this week, McIlroy didn't give the impression of a man who has re-fixed a maniacal focus on golf. 'I think chasing a certain goal for the better part of a decade and a half, I think I'm allowed a little bit of time to relax a little bit. But here at Oakmont, I certainly can't relax this week', before then talking of how one of his goals this year was to take up more hobbies and see more of the world, and so he's joined caddie Harry Diamond and manager Niall O'Connor for their on-the-road tennis matches. His playing partner, by contrast, arrives in much more consistent form, albeit appearing increasingly tortured by his inability to get over the line on Sunday. Lowry had a galling close shave at the Truist Championship the week before the PGA Championship, at which he missed the cut on one of his least favourite courses on Earth. He made a stunning Sunday start in Canada last week – five-under through his first four holes – only to cool off too early to catch the later starters. Lowry is less daunted than most by Oakmont, where in 2016 he took a four-shot lead into the final day only to shoot a round of six-over 76 to finish in a tie for second, three shots off winner Dustin Johnson. Lowry is a much better player now, though, and this is a course which will reward his accuracy off the tee – where he ranks among the top-30 on the PGA Tour – along with the quality of his iron play and his hands around the green, where greenside rough will reward only the very best. His contention will rest, though, on how he performs on the greens: he has shown an ability to catch fire with his putter, but these sprawling, sloping greens are redolent of those at Augusta National, on which Lowry has occasionally struggled. That said, Lowry arrives in a better position to contend than McIlroy. Their biggest issue for all may not be the brute of the course, but Scottie Scheffler. Having made a slow(ish) start to the season after hand surgery in the off-season, Scheffler is once again the dominant man in the sport: he has won on three of his last four starts and arrives exuding that air of apparent invincibility. Given Scheffler's awesome form, the brutality of the Oakmont test may ultimately be a favour to everybody else in the field. Scheffler has never won this championship, though victory this week will see him rocking up to Portrush next month seeking to complete the career Grand Slam. Scottie Scheffler: 2025 PGA Championship winner. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo Who can stop him? Jon Rahm finally returned to relevance at a major championship with his Sunday charge at Quail Hollow, where his finishing score did not reflect the pressure he exerted on Scheffler. He has the muscle to deal with the Oakmont rough, along with the form to compete. Bryson DeChambeau has meanwhile 3D-printed a new set of irons in the hope he can successfully defend his title this week: at the Masters and Quail Hollow, he contended despite his ball-striking, rather than because of it. Oakmont, though, is going to be too tough to hide any aspect of your game. DeChambeau is now undoubtedly the most popular player in the game, thanks mainly to his YouTube videos, which he says has given him a new lease of life on the course. 'I view my legacy as not just winning golf tournaments', DeChambeau told the press on Tuesday. 'I view it as how much good can I do for the game outside of playing professionally. That's a metric that I hold myself up to. 'The start is YouTube, but there is so much more that's coming down the line, and that's also what gets me up every day, as well.' Elsewhere within that press conference he began some megaphone negotiations with LIV over a contract renewal – 'They see the value in me. I see the value in what they can provide' – explained if he hadn't been a golfer he would be working on how AI will be integrated into biomechanics and hailed his own business sense with the deathless line that his Crushers LIV team have been 'EBIDTA positive for the past two years.' (LIV golf is hardly leaning into the traditional partisanship of other team sports. EBIDTA positive. . . you'll never sing that.') DeChambeau will be the most popular man on the golf course, though Scheffler is, as ever, the man to beat. The greater the test, the more likely the best player is to emerge from the field. And the best player by a street is Scottie Scheffler. Tips Gavin Cooney A winner not named Scottie Scheffler: Jon Rahm (9/1) A solid, make-your-money-back e/w bet: Harris English (55/1) A wild outsider who might make you a fortune: Aaron Rai (75/1) Fintan O'Toole A winner not named Scottie Scheffler: Xander Schuaffele (18/1) A solid, make-your-money-back e/w bet: Harris English (55/1) A wild outsider who might make you a fortune: Rasmus Hojgaard (150/1)
The Irish Sun
an hour ago
- The Irish Sun
England footie ace Millie Bright misses OBE ceremony with Prince William as she's on crutches with knee injury
LIONESSES ace Millie Bright missed a date with Prince William yesterday — as she is on crutches. The England defender, 31, is recovering from surgery to fix a knee injury which forced her to Advertisement 3 Millie Bright is recovering from surgery to fix a knee injury Credit: Getty 3 Prince William with Everton manager David Moyes Credit: PA It also meant she missed her investiture at Windsor Castle, where she was due to receive an OBE. Instead, the It comes after The Sun revealed she had An onlooker said: 'Millie's had a chaotic few weeks with news of her split and pulling out of the England squad. Advertisement Read more on Millie Bright "But she's as tough in real life as she is on the pitch.' We revealed on Saturday how Millie had f England's World Cup captain last week made herself She was said to be in turmoil after splitting from hubby-to-be Levi Crew and growing close to tattooed martial arts enthusiast Dave, who has been seen moving into her property. Advertisement Most read in Football However, she has told friends her A source said yesterday: 'Millie and Dave's relationship has rocketed. STAR'S NEW LOVE England footie ace Millie Bright's hunky new personal trainer lover revealed as kickboxer dad of SEVEN "They are smitten. It's tough on their former partners but they are trying to navigate through the turbulence as best they can and concentrate on a future together.' Millie was awarded her OBE after winning the 2022 Euros and captaining England to the 2023 World Cup final. Advertisement 3 Millie's new love, tattooed martial arts enthusiast Dave Credit: Facebook
