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Belfast Telegraph
2 days ago
- Sport
- Belfast Telegraph
Belfast Telegraph's Top 50 Irish League players of the 2024-25 campaign
Keith Bailie and Graham Luney With pre-season preparations well under way, we are still catching our breath and reflecting on a campaign which gave us historic highs amid the thrills and spills. Linfield comfortably won the League, Dungannon Swifts made Irish Cup history, Cliftonville lifted the BetMcLean League Cup and Glentoran netted he County Antrim Shield.
Belfast Telegraph
4 days ago
- Sport
- Belfast Telegraph
Dungannon Swifts' Irish Cup Final hero reveals how he wound Cliftonville up on and off the pitch
The Tyrone side won the Irish Cup for the first time in their history after extra time and penalties at Windsor Park.
Irish Daily Mirror
7 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Meet the Ireland star inspired by Katie McCabe's rags to riches story
There is not one footballer who hasn't experienced a sliding doors moment, one door opening the way to a disaster, the other to a Champions League final. For Katie McCabe, her career-changing incident happened eight years ago when a loan move to Glasgow City reminded her of everything she had but showed her everything that could be lost. Now look at her, the fourth Irish woman to win a Champions League, and just the 14th Irish player in all to pocket the most coveted medal in club football. Marissa Sheva has stood at that crossroads junction, too. Read more: Former Down GAA star and Irish Cup winner has message for fans after joining Shamrock Rovers 'Yeah, you've just given me goosebumps thinking about what Katie achieved,' Sheva, McCabe's fellow Irish international said. 'I can't even imagine how she feels. I don't think it's sunk into the rest of us as winning the Champions League is one of the top things you can do. "It's just incredible. She's proven herself on the biggest stages in the world now. 'And we're excited for her. Hopefully she has many, many more opportunities to make it back to the Champions League final, and I don't doubt for a second that she'll be back many times. I hope she's celebrating hard right now.' Yet Sheva is also drinking the moment in. The Sunderland and Ireland midfielder said: 'It gives the whole team confidence to be able to say we play with Katie. I would never put myself on Katie McCabe's level but just knowing we get to train with her, we get to see just how she operates pretty consistently should give all of us confidence. We can all strive for a little bit more.' From the start, she has never settled for being ordinary, making her way initially through athletics where she was a champion middle distance runner, before she won a football scholarship to Penn State university. Success followed there too - a NCAA title being the highest prize any college athlete could hope for in the United States. That said, college football has a short shelf-life as well as being amateur, and when she was 21, Sheva knew she had to make the right decision: get into the rat race or follow the dream. It was an easy choice. Moves to Deportivo La Coruna, Utah, Washington and Portland followed but the option of transferring to Sunderland in March was too good to turn down, getting her closer to home and within Irish boss, Carla Ward's, sights. Thirteen times she has been capped by Ireland under three different managers, Vera Pauw, Eileen Gleeson and Ward and it's only now she is beginning to feel confident in her surroundings, which is often the case with footballers who break through late. Sheva says: 'Carla's style of play fits mine. 'She's been very helpful with specific things about my game; Carla is seeking me to turn forward and drive with the ball, to be more confident. 'It's crazy just how her bringing that to my attention has made such a huge difference. I'm nowhere near a complete midfielder so I'm willing to take any and all information she has to give me. 'Composure is something that every midfielder kind of aspires to have. I look at someone like Denise O'Sullivan who is a complete midfielder, tactically aware, and one of the best technical players I have played with. I am just kind of trying to be more like Denise.' She gets her chance to continue her impersonation of O'Sullivan - who is arguably on McCabe's level in terms of quality if not profile - when Ireland face Turkey and then Slovenia over the next week. Currently second in their Nations League group, behind Slovenia, Ireland need two wins to have any chance of topping their group and earning promotion to the top tier. A visit to the play-offs is likelier. But Sheva says: 'We have a lot of work to do. We need to beat Turkey and then need to handily beat Slovenia. "If that doesn't happen, there are play-offs, a bunch of things that would have to happen for us to potentially get back into group A. "We are not even thinking about that, we just know that we have a lot of work on our hands here and it starts in Turkey (on Friday). That's our first goal, beat Turkey and get back to Cork and prepare for Slovenia.'
Irish Daily Mirror
7 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Ireland women's star Megan Connolly inspired by Katie McCabe success story
Rome wasn't built in a day. Nor was Megan Connolly's career. She had figured that bit out before she landed in Formella, 25 minutes from the Italian capital, a two-year contract with Lazio the biggest move of her career. All those stepping stones towards this chance, the formative years with Cork Corinthians, the coming-of-age experiences with Brighton and Bristol City, have led to this. Read more: Former Down GAA star and Irish Cup winner has message for fans after joining Shamrock Rovers Read more: Bundesliga giants eye up summer swoop for Bray Wanderers and Ireland underage star She's here now, in the Italian capital, playing in one of the best leagues in the world, at the peak of her powers. At 28, Connolly is both old enough to have seen the tougher side of football, and young enough to realise better days lie ahead. And that's where Lazio come into play, the Italian Serie A club offering her the chance to step up from super-sub to starter on the Ireland team. The Cork woman says: 'At the start it was quite difficult to settle in going to a new culture, trying to learn a new language. 'So yeah, it was a shock at the start. But now I'm absolutely loving it. The league is great, the football is great. Lazio is fantastic, the training is great, the players, the staff. While I took quite a big risk to go there, I look back on it as such a great decision for me personally and for my career. 'It is a growing league with some fantastic players, Italians and other internationals who relocated last year. You have some of the best teams in Europe in the WSL, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City but there are some fantastic teams in Italy and yeah the level is top. 'The Rome derby was different to anything I ever experienced in England, grown men shouting at you. It was quite a shock. But a nice one. A good atmosphere. And yeah we played well in both games so that made the atmosphere really good and hopefully we can beat them twice next season.' Before then she has work to do with Ireland. A poor start to this Nations League saw Ireland lose 4-0 away to Slovenia before they posted wins over Turkey and Greece (twice). That sets them up nicely for the showdown with Slovenia in Pairc ui Chaoimh in Connolly's home town next Tuesday. She said: 'We have been trying to implement a new style of play under Carla (Ward, Ireland's recently appointed manager). 'We are over the Slovenia defeat, definitely something we'll learn from, teaching us what can happen when you're not on your game. 'It was a wake-up call that while we're trying to implement new things, change our style and grow, these things can happen and we have to make sure they don't happen again. 'These are two really big games for us (Turkey away on Friday, Slovenia at home next Tuesday) to try and get back into League A. 'We know that has an effect on the World Cup qualifying campaign. So the focus for us is on Friday, get the result, and then go for Tuesday and try to get another good result. We know it's going to be difficult.' But being in the Pairc will help, for it was there, last year, when they got their best result in recent years, beating France 3-1. Connolly said: 'Hopefully the same crowd comes out, the same noise is there. The pitch was fantastic the last time as well. Down in Cork, they always keep it so well. 'I know there's lots of games on it with the GAA but the pitch quality was unreal and as were the fans and the atmosphere. 'That France game was amazing to see the crowd we got. 'The last time we had played in Cork before that was in Turner's Cross and I was there as a fan about ten years beforehand. 'So I'm not sure we kind of knew what to expect. Obviously all the fans that turned out and the noise that was made was something that I think stuck with everyone, even with all the players. 'They loved everything about it and we all hoped to come back to Cork. Once we found out one of the games was back in Cork, it was such great news for all the girls who play football in the city. 'For us to come back down to Cork and expose ourselves to more fans down here is massive. Hopefully the crowd is just as loud because we'll need them.' Indeed they need all the help they can get. Should Ireland beat Turkey on Friday - which is likely - and should Slovenia defeat Greece that same day - which is even likelier - then Ireland would have to beat the Slovenes by five goals. That's a big ask and a promotion/relegation play-off is their probable destiny. But Connolly says: 'We will give it our best shot.'
BBC News
27-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
McGovern joins Shamrock Rovers from Dungannon Swifts
League of Ireland Premier Division leaders Shamrock Rovers have completed the signing of forward John McGovern from Irish Premiership side Dungannon 22-year-old striker joins Rovers for an undisclosed was a key figure in Dungannon's successful 2024-25 season, which saw them finish fourth in the league and win the Irish Cup by beating Cliftonville 4-3 on penalties after the game ended 1-1 after extra-time, thereby securing European football for the Stangmore Park former Northern Ireland Under-21 international and Newry City frontman scored the opening goal in the showpiece decider and contributed 14 league goals in 29 appearances for Rodney McAree's team."After many weeks of negotiations, the club agreed a transfer fee with Dungannon Swifts which will remain undisclosed," read a statement from the Dublin club on Tuesday."This transfer is subject to International and Domestic clearance which, when approved, would allow John to be available for selection from July 1st, 2025."John has attracted much interest in recent months but has been fully committed in his desire to play for Shamrock Rovers."Speaking on the Shamrock Rovers club website, external, manager Stephen Bradley explained that he had McGovern in his sights for "over a year"."We were up quite a lot to watch John. We tried quite a bit over the last year to get him, but it wasn't possible. "John was at university and Dungannon weren't ready to sell at that moment in time. So, it was a case of continuing to monitor John and thankfully we've got him in now. "We could have moved in on other players in the previous window, but we wanted to wait on John as he was someone we'd monitored for quite some time. He fits the group, has a good age profile and we really like what he's about. So we waited and now we got it done."McGovern told the club's website that it was "a no-brainer" to make the move."I'm absolutely delighted. It's a massive club, the biggest in the country. You look at the success Shamrock Rovers have had in recent years and throughout the club's history."I want to win trophies, I want to win medals, and continue the legacy of the club."Rovers are six points clear of nearest challengers Drogheda United at the top of the Premier Division table.
