Latest news with #O'Connell
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
Lionesses star Alex Greenwood's boyfriend is ex-Premier League player who had to retire at 29
The Lionesses will be deep into their matchday preparations for their quarter-final clash against Sweden in the Women's Euros on Thursday evening, with Alex Greenwood a likely starter Alex Greenwood will be hoping to have a similar performance to her stand-out showing against the Netherlands last week as the Lionesses face Sweden on Thursday evening. After making it through the group stages of the Women's Euros - though there was a moment of doubt early on - the England squad will be preparing hard for their quarter-final clash against the Swedes, with plenty of support from fans and family alike. One person who has been in Greenwood's corner for some time is partner Jack O'Connell, who has been dating the England international since sixth-form college. Like the 31-year-old defender, former Premier League star O'Connell dedicated his life to football, having been a product of Blackburn Rovers ' academy. He made one appearance for the Lancashire side and eventually signed for Brentford following a series of loans to Rotherham United, York City and Rochdale. O'Connell eventually settled into Sheffield United's starting XI in 2016 and played a key role in their promotion from League One to the top flight, spending seven years with the Blades. The 31-year-old made 35 appearances in the Premier League, but injuries hampered his final two seasons with the Blades and he was forced to retire from the sport in 2023. O'Connell put a statement out regarding his departure from professional football on social media, which read: "This is a very difficult announcement for me to make, although Sheffield United fans will already know that for the past three seasons, I have been fighting to save my professional football career. "Today, I am announcing my retirement from football. I have put my heart and soul into this recovery since my knee problems began in June 2020, but this is a battle I cannot win." O'Connell also made sure to note his partner Greenwood's support throughout the ups and downs of his career, dubbing her a "supremely talented" player and person. He added: "Walking away from football will leave a void in my life - but I have made my peace with it. "And I am grateful for the matches I played, the moments I lived out on the pitch, and to my team-mates - many of whom will be friends for life. It was all a dream come true. "For now, some thanks. First, to partner Alex, who has given me support through my lowest moments. She is a supremely talented footballer and it has been a great consolation to be able to watch her career go from strength to strength. I am her biggest fan." Following his own sad exit, O'Connell was on hand to console Greenwood that same year as England made it all the way to the Women's World Cup final in Australia, only to be bested 1-0 by champions Spain. The former defender was full of praise for his girlfriend's performance on the biggest stage, as he told Sky Sports: "[I'm] really proud of her. "I've been there from the very start. I used to go and watch Alex when she was 16. It's unbelievable how far it's grown now. I'm her biggest critic as well. The standard that she sets herself, she has more to come. I get goosebumps when I think about it but I think she's one of the best centre-halves in the world and she still has gears to go through." Now, Greenwood is aiming for even more international glory with the Lionesses, as they look to retain their Euros trophy in Switzerland. England will take on Sweden in the quarter-finals of the Euros, kicking off at 8pm on Thursday evening, after bouncing back from their opening 2-1 defeat to France with 4-0 and 6-1 wins over the Netherlands and Wales respectively. Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Canberra Times
15 hours ago
- Automotive
- Canberra Times
More than $2 million price tag as 135-year-old Braidwood hotel comes up for sale
The main street has about 3 million car trips through it a year, Mr O'Connell said, though admittedly, "a lot of them are repeat cars" and booms during summer holiday time. Just over an hour from the ACT, the town is loved by Canberrans as a stopover location when travelling to the NSW South Coast.
Irish Examiner
a day ago
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Farmers hold all the cards when it comes to beef
Beef processors have been forced to halt price pulling due to dwindling beef supplies. ICMSA Livestock Committee Chairperson, Michael O'Connell, has said some beef processors 'have sought to pull the wool over farmers' eyes' by quoting lower base prices for steers and heifers. Processors have been quoting base prices of €7 for steers and €7.10 for heifers; however, an additional 20-30c/kg is available for farmers. 'Processors should be ashamed to quote €7.00/kg base price for steers when they are giving up to €6.70c/kg flat for P and O grade Friesian cull cows. That leaves a prime underage P+3 Friesian steer at the same nominal value as a P grade cow,' said Mr O'Connell. Mr O'Connell went on to say that for the past 10 days, processors have felt the pressure on supply due to the end of shed-finished cattle and a slow start to cattle coming from grass. 'We have seen in the past month or so, kill plans being reduced as a means of controlling price and supply, but this can't last forever, and the demand for Irish beef across Europe is huge,' cautioned Mr O'Connell. 'I'm sure factories are praying that the 'calendar beef farming' 30-month age limit will convince farmers with January and February 2023-born cattle to consider slaughtering these shortly. But the weather is favourable and cattle are thriving well - there is no pressure to kill them… They'd be much better off just acknowledging the reality that we all see and go out and buy the cattle from farmers as opposed to going into the farmers' yards and looking foolish by offering obviously below-par prices,' said Mr O'Connell. Noting that the numbers of cattle across Europe are at an all-time low, Mr O'Connell stated that Irish live exports have never been as strong due to our Bluetongue-free status. 'We are sure that the volumes of 2023 and 2024 born cattle leaving the country have added to the pressures on processors. Demand for Irish cattle is off the charts and is going to continue with predictions of the EU herd falling by a further 5 to 7% this year,' Mr O'Connell said. The Livestock committee Chair also called for the 'big players' in Irish processing to recognise the value of Irish beef and live exports, with European counterparts able to recognise the high environmental and legislative standards Irish beef meets. 'For the last fortnight, reality reasserted itself, and we see the factories getting nervous about the numbers and unable to pull prices further. The pressure is on them; the old tricks and ruses aren't working because the facts are just overriding them. ICMSA's advice is: keep possession and only sell when they are receiving the true value of the cattle,' suggested Mr O'Connell. Mr O'Connell invites farmers to study their options with finished cattle. He says that loyalty to processors should be gone following the price cuts of the last few weeks, and farmers should not take the first price offered to them by agents. 'The pressure is off farmers with the improvement in the weather; cattle are content and thriving, and the majority of silage has been cut. By contrast, the pressure on processors has increased and we're telling farmers to stand their ground on beef prices in the coming weeks,' concluded Mr O'Connell.
Extra.ie
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
WATCH: Fontaines D.C.'s Carlos O'Connell stars in hit Netflix series
Fontaines D.C. guitarist Carlos O'Connell has appeared in Lena Dunham's new Netflix comedy, Too Much. The 10-episode series was created by Dunham and her partner, Luis Felber, and hit the streaming platform last Thursday, July 10. It tells the story of workaholic Jessica (Megan Stalter) who moves from New York to London, in an effort to escape her messy break-up with Zev (Michael Zegen) and build a new life for herself. O'Connell portrays Eoin, bassist in the fictional band The Feelers, who perform 'Always the Girls' and 'True Love Trajectory' by co-author Felber's real-life band Attawalpa. Other songs featured in the show include Jensen McRae's 'Massachusetts', Suki Waterhouse's 'Dream Woman', Waxahatchee and Kevin Morby's 'You Found Me', Misty Miller's cover of Kesha's 'Praying', and Sleazes 'Push Tuck'. Apart from well-known producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner (Love Actually), the cast is equally prominent; O'Connell is co-starring alongside Dublin actor Andrew Scott (Ripley), Rita Ora, Kit Harington (Game of Thrones), and model Emily Ratajkowski, among others. You can watch the trailer for Too Much below :
Irish Examiner
3 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Paul O'Connell: 'These guys are capable of taking on stronger opposition'
Portugal 7 Ireland 106 Saturday started with Scotland slipping to defeat against Fiji in Suva. It ended with England claiming a series win at the expense of Argentina in San Juan. Wales broke an 18-game winless run in Japan in between, a second-string French team sucked up some hard lessons in defeat to New Zealand, while Italy were outclassed by 14 against the Springboks. Some of those exercises were more worthwhile than others. Every one of them was of infinitely more value to the Six Nations sides involved than this cringe of an occasion at the Estadio Nacional on the outskirts of the Portuguese capital where Paul O'Connell's romped to a record win for an Irish men's Test team. Sixteen tries were scored against a host playing its first game for four months, and its last for another four. A side made up mostly of part-timers, the majority of them had prepared by playing in a local league the last 10 weeks that wouldn't match the AIL on its best day. Portugal coach Simon Mannix said that they had been basically trying to 'bluff' it. 'Yeah, the opposition could have been stronger, for sure,' said O'Connell when asked if it would have served Ireland better to be put to the pin of their collar in Tokyo or Buenos Aires. 'These guys are definitely capable of taking on stronger opposition, but it is what it is.' The stand-in Ireland head coach had by that stage already lamented the lack of a third summer run for an inexperienced squad that has been operating without so many players, coaches and backroom staff as a result of the secondments to the British and Irish Lions expedition in Australia. The original plan had been for a third Test in Bucharest against Romania but then the Eastern Europeans are still digesting a record loss to another Tier 2 nation this week having gone down 70-8 to Uruguay in Montevideo. That Ireland won't be crossing their paths is no small mercy for all concerned. It's no wonder then that O'Connell found himself waxing lyrical about the benefit of the tour in a wider sense, focusing in on the worth to young players of being in camp for a month and exposed to the jargon and the culture and the workrate and leadership of men like captain Craig Casey and Ryan Baird. The Munster legend, while reluctant to pick out individuals who have impressed, explained how Finlay Bealham, now with the Lions after a late call-up, has benefited by singling out areas of his game and prep that others do well and tapping them up for pointers when in the national camp environs. 'That's been a big thing for us. We see it on the Emerging [Ireland] tours, they just need an opportunity, whether it is with Ireland or with their provinces. There are some very, very good players and they just have to gain the experience. 'They have to play a game, review it, train. Play a game again, be reviewed and accumulate. That's what a lot of our frontliners are doing with their provinces and Ireland: they are playing games and reviewing it and putting that into place. Others just need that chance.' Boil it all down and Ireland scored 140 points and 20 tries over the last two weekends while conceding two. There were nine Test debuts handed out with Shayne Bolton, Hugh Gavin and Alex Kendellen, the three newbies in Lisbon, all getting on the scoresheet two days ago. To be fair to Ireland, they never stopped playing their game their way in the face of a paper-thin Portuguese defence. Time and again teams have lost their shape and their focus in such circumstances. Not here, not even with the beach within touching distance, almost literally and figuratively, at the end of such a long campaign. Whatever about the opposition, it's been good to see the likes of Bolton, Tommy O'Brien, Ben Murphy and Alex Kendellen wearing green jerseys at this grade while people like Casey, Jimmy O'Brien and Ryan Baird got to step up to roles of seniority. It's not yet confirmed if there will be another Emerging Ireland tour next season. O'Connell touched on the strains the concept can cause provinces and coaches while extolling the virtues of the time benefits to be accrued by those in need of such training wheels on the road to better things. Simon Easterby, his colleague on Andy Farrell's staff, has taken the head role on previous such ventures and challenged players involved to put their hands up for squads to follow come the November and Six Nations windows. O'Connell would do the same while painting this as a picture with a greater measure of depth. 'It's not just about that first game up [against New Zealand in Chicago in November], it's about the next two years.' Portugal: N Sousa Guedes; S Bento; V Pinto, T Appleton, M C Pinto; H Aubry, H Camacho; D Costa, L Begic, D H Ferreira; A R Andrade, P Ferreira; D Wallis, N Martins, D Pinheiro. Replacements: G Aviragnet for Appleton (21); F Almeida for Aviragnet (33); G Costa for Andrade (50); M Souto for Begic and A Cunha for Costa (both 57); PS Lopes for Begic (57); AR Andrade for Ferreira (60); V Baptista for Pinheiro 62). Ireland: J O'Brien; T O'Brien, H Gavin, S McCloskey, S Bolton; J Crowley, C Casey; J Boyle, G McCarthy, T Clarkson; T Ahern, D Murray; R Baird, A Kendellen, C Prendergast. Replacements: M Deegan for Baird, M Milne for McCarthy, T Stewart for Boyle, T O'Toole for Clarkson and C Frawley for McCloskey (all 52); C Nash for T O'Brien (54); C Izuchukwu for Murray (60); B Murphy for Casey (61). Referee: A Leal (RFU).
