The summer I went to Irish college – ‘Boys from the southside of Dublin or the west of Ireland were both new breeds I hadn't met before'
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The Irish Sun
13 minutes ago
- The Irish Sun
Sarah Healy seals Diamond League top spot despite ninth-place finish in Silesia
Sarah Healy didn't need a podium finish to cement her place at the summit of the Diamond League standings CLOUD NINE Sarah Healy seals Diamond League top spot despite ninth-place finish in Silesia IRELAND'S Sarah Healy has secured top spot in the women's 1500m Wanda Diamond League standings. And that is despite only finishing ninth in Saturday's race in Silesia. 2 Sarah Healy still remains in top place in the Diamond League standings 2 The UCD star heads the pack heading into the final meet of the series in Zurich Advertisement The UCD star had already done enough to qualify for the Zurich final on 28 August - meaning she couldn't be caught at the summit. There's over €25,000 up for grabs in the showpiece race. World champion Gudaf Tsegay blitzed the field in Poland, setting a furious pace by going through 800m in under two minutes before storming home in 3:50.62. Her triumph was just shy of Faith Kipyegon's 2023 world record of 3:49.11. Advertisement Healy stayed in the pack throughout and crossed in 3:57.95 to cross the line in ninth. Her time also meant that she was inside the automatic qualifying standard for next year's European Athletics Championships. Elsewhere, Irish track and field stars Sharlene Mawdsley and Andrew Coscoran have found themselves caught in the fallout of Michael Johnson's 'Grand Slam Track' crisis. The former US Olympic champions is facing a financial crisis - with $13million still owed to athletes. Advertisement The bold new track and field league, launched this year by Olympic legend Johnson, promised huge prize pots and global exposure. But just three meets into its debut season, after events in Kingston, Miami and Philadelphia - the final showpiece in Los Angeles was scrapped. Inside Sharlene Mawdsley's 'delicious' yet atypical Tenerife holiday with GAA star boyfriend Mikey Breen It's cancellation apparently has left athletes waiting for money they earned.
Sunday World
13 minutes ago
- Sunday World
UK rapper's song slammed for blaming gardai and migrants for ‘trouble and violence'
'Like all genres of music rap can be used to benefit social conscience or it can be used to attack it, and we would see this as an attack' One of the scenes featured in the video One of the scenes shot at Johnnie Foxes in Dublin A song released by an infamous UK gangster turned rapper calling for Ireland's freedom from 'guards and migrants' has been slammed by an anti-racist group. Jordan McCann who wrote a hit song while on parole from prison has racked up millions of views on social media and says he is making six-figures from his new career. While previous songs have been about the danger and lure of the gangster lifestyle his latest offering suggests Ireland is troubled by violence due to migrants. Also featuring on the song 'Free Ireland' which this week already had nearly 500,000 views on YouTube, is Dublin singer Conor McLoughlin. One of the lines in the song reads: 'Free, free, free Ireland from all the trouble and the violence. Free, free, free Ireland from all guards and the migrants.' The video for the song that was posted on YouTube starts with a man in Dublin shouting at a line of gardai in riot gear: 'The batterings will continue until the plantation is complete.' The idea that people in European countries are being replaced and their countries 'planted' is an international far-right conspiracy theory. The introduction also features clip from the November riots in Dublin in the wake of a young child and others being stabbed in Parnell Square. Convicted crminal turned rapper Jordan McCann (black hat) in Dublin News in 90 Seconds - August 16th The video was filmed in several well-known tourist site in Dublin including Merchant's Arch, the GPO, O'Connell Street, the city quays as well as in Jobstown and at Johnnie Fox's pub in the Dublin Mountains. McCann also alludes to his Irish roots in the track and how his 'grandfather left on a boat for England' and 'Irish to the core, so it's Guinness that I'm drinking.' Other lyrics are less sympathetic to immigrants: 'Heroes got blasted and died for these bastards so open the floodgates, swear that is backwards.' Gardai are seen intervening as McCann filmed on O'Connell Street last month where a crowd gathered around him. The video also features Conor McLoughlin The music video finishes with a photograph of Michael Collins and a quote from the revolutionary leader on Irish nationality. Damian Farrell of Dublin Communities Against Racism (DCAR) said that while he was not aware of McCann's video specifically, he believes they are not representative of the majority of people. 'Generally speaking, rap artists like this have a media platform and inherit a space where the person who is the loudest is heard the most. 'They are able to broadcast and amplify what is after all just their opinion. 'So, a lot of the work we do is in dispelling the narrative that these videos are the only message out there. They're not. McCann and McLoughlin in the video 'It is the hidden voices that Dublin Communities Against Racism represent that we are trying to encourage. 'We work with a wide range of ethnic minorities in doing more to make those voices heard without putting themselves in physical danger. 'People like rap music', Mr Farrell added, 'and like all genres of music it can be used to benefit social conscience or it can be used to attack it, and we would see this as an attack. 'And the exploitation of fake sense of nationalism that is promoted through the anti-immigration campaign and elected representatives who should know better creates a society that is of no use to anyone. One of the scenes shot at Johnnie Foxes in Dublin 'The people who are involved in these kinds of videos are not being empowered, they are being used and exploited in a way that, ironically, is the same as they use immigrants to blame for all the ills in our society that we are endeavouring to combat.' The music clip also features Conor McLoughlin who last year won the approval of five judges during an episode of The Voice on ITV. He appeared at the blind auditions and won the attention from each of the celebrity judges with his rendition of Ed Sheeran's 'I See Fire'. Tom Jones, Leann Rimes, Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones hit their button to turn their chairs around. He previously took part in BBC's Let It Shine in 2017. While in west Dublin Jordan McCann stopped to pose for pics with Lee McDonnell a notorious violent criminal. McDonnell has 133 previous convictions, including for robbery, aggravated burglary and escaping from lawful custody. He was part of a group of young west Dublin criminals who were causing havoc in their late teens and early 20s who had been mentored by older criminals with links to veteran gangster Derek 'Dee Dee' O'Driscoll. McDonnell previously hit the headlines going on the run for five weeks after escaping from a prison van in Inchicore after prison officers stopped at a chipper. Compared to O'Loughlin McCann's route to showbiz has been a lot tougher who has said interviews that he grew up in jail. In 2016 he was among 13 people subject to court orders sought by police in Manchester and Salford to stop a gang feud after a series of shootings. One of the scenes featured in the video He belonged to a well-known criminal family in Salford, Greater Manchester, and has been convicted of violent crime, armed robbery, gang affiliations and drug dealing. He was in prison when his breakthrough moment came as his Lifestyle track was released and proved to be a big success. In an interview with the Manchester Evening News in 2023 he said he realised he had to turn away from crime after being sentenced to six and a half years aged 19. 'I was just thinking, 'I'm not coming home now for years, I'm living around all these same people, I lived by this f***ing code, I've been the [most loyal] guy, I've been the realest guy' and it does get you nowhere. 'I just realised, 'bang' this life is the fakest life in the world'.' 'After growing up in prison and seeing so many scenarios and people I've looked up to and seeing some of the moves that they pull themselves, I realised it's inevitable in this life bad things are gonna come.' 'Nothing good's gonna come, when money gets involved, when girls get involved people are gonna f*** people over.'
Sunday World
33 minutes ago
- Sunday World
OAP (80) who ‘flooded' England with €15m of cocaine for Byrne crime gang jailed
Great-grandfather Malcolm Hoyland was handed down the seven-year sentence after he was caught up in the massive drug operation when his son became ill and fell into debt The widower made 17 cocaine drops for the notorious Irish branch of the Kinahan Cartel An 80-year-old pensioner who "flooded" England with €15m (£13m) of cocaine for the Byrne Organised Crime Gang has been jailed in the UK. Great-grandfather Malcolm Hoyland was handed down the seven-year sentence after he was caught up in the massive drug operation when his son became ill and fell into debt. The widower was arrested in a police bust after he made 17 cocaine drops for the notorious Irish branch of the Kinahan Cartel, which was based in Crumlin in Dublin. Led by Liam Byrne, the Byrnes operated on behalf of the cartel, one of the world's most powerful organised criminal organisations. Ex-soldier Hoyland and his 49-year-old son Richard's point of contact in the Byrne gang was a an underworld figure named for the 'Mr Miyagi' character in the Karate Kid movies. Malcolm Hoyland. News in 90 Seconds - August 16th Hoyland snr travelled across the UK from the £200,000 semi he rented in Prestwich, to Plymouth, London and North Yorks as a 'trusted' drug courier. When police arrived at the property in January of last year they discovered cocaine with a street value of £8.3m, although detectives believe up to £13m was handled by Hoyland and his son before being trafficked across Britain on behalf of the Byrnes. It has been reported that Hoyland who is partially deaf and has who has arthritis and other serious health conditions, will now die behind bars having been jailed for a total of seven years and three months by Manchester Crown Court. His son from Todmorden, West Yorkshire, also admitted conspiracy and was jailed for 10 years. Both will have Proceeds of Crime hearings in January. According to MailOnline, police began a surveillance operation on the Hoylands when they were tipped off the Hoylands were dealing with the Byrnes. It was later discovered that Hoyland Jnr had first come into contact with the Byrnes after he developed the incurable neurodegenerative illness Huntington's Disease. After his business went into liquidation, Hoyland snr who had worked as a roofer and a farmer after leaving the army started helping out his son with cocaine drops when the family home got into mortgage arrears. Hoyland's 49-year-old son Richard Prosecutor Alex Langhorn told the court: 'They were involved in the source and supply of at least 137kg of cocaine on behalf of someone whose name was stored in their phones as 'Mr Miyagi'. 'There were 17 trips with destinations as far flung as Ripon, North Yorks, Leicester, Accrington, Batley, Haydock, Sunderland, Sheffield, Plymouth, Burnley and the City of London. 'Mr Miyagi directed what was to be done with the packages but it would appear Richard was the primary point of contact and he passed things onto his father who was a willing participant in the conspiracy.' Police who raided Hoyland snr's address found three bags containing 70g of cocaine in the living room. A further 13kg of cocaine was found a box in a wardrobe in a bedroom. Police also recovered two empty Sports Direct sports holdalls plus £2,000 in cash locked away in a safe. Initially Hoyland snr claimed to have no knowledge of the drugs but later admitted he was aware packages containing drugs were stored in the property. 'I did not arrange for the drugs to be brought to the property,' he said. 'I was directed by my son and occasionally dealt with some packages Police found holdalls full of cocaine ''I also accept on a very few occasions I made deliveries on my own but I acted at all times under the direction of my son. I felt I could not report the drugs to the police as I was afraid about what others might do to my family.' After Hoyland Jnr was stopped as he was driving his Ford Transit in Littleborough, his ex-partner's home was searched and officers recovered two iPhones and £5,040 in cash from a sock drawer in the master bedroom. He later said he got involved in the racket after being forced to give up his job due to his illness and claimed he was trying to provide for his family. Judge Peter Horgan said: 'It is a sad state of affairs when I have to sentence a man of 80 for such serious crime. 'I accept you introduced to this conspiracy by your son - however you were acting in the expectation of significant financial reward and you made your own decisions to play an active role. The widower made 17 cocaine drops for the notorious Irish branch of the Kinahan Cartel 'Others have expressed how dumbfounded at your involvement in this matter.' Steven Gerrard's influencer daughter Lilly-Eva is currently dating Lee Byrne, the son of jailed crime boss Liam Byrne, who works for the Kinahan Cartel. His gangster brother David Byrne (33) was gunned down in the Regency Hotel hit in 2016, while his cousin is convicted Kinahan murderer 'Fat Freddie' Thompson. There is no suggestion that Gerrard or Lilly-Ella and Lee who announced the birth of their first child together earlier this year have any involvement in crime.
