Cheltenham
- AP McCoy finally rode his first winner of this year’s Cheltenham Festival, his last, when the 16/1 shot Uzixandre won the Ryanair Chase.
- Earlier Vautour got the day off to a great start for Ruby Walsh and Willie Mullins while Cole Harden led from pillar to post to win the feature World Hurdle.
- Remember that unfortunate photographer who broke his leg… well he got some great shots out of it.
Home
- Jamie Heaslip and Johnny Sexton have both overcome injury worries and are named in the Ireland team to play Wales on Saturday.
- Martin O’Neill named Shay Given and Harry Arter in a pretty big squad ahead of the must-win game with Poland this month.
- And there was good news for the Ireland boss as his side moved up in the Fifa rankings despite not playing a game since November.
- The IRFU released concussion guidelines for the amateur game in Ireland.
- The GAA has been urged to help fight a fungus that could threaten hurley production.
Away
- The world’s worst football team are just 21 games away from qualifying for Russia 2018 after a shock win.
- We now know whether or not the Cardiff roof will remain closed for the Ireland Wales Six Nations game.
- The anti-Mourinho bandwagon in Britain is gaining momentum after last night’s loss.
- The UFC is convinced the popularity of MMA will only grow in Europe in the coming years.
The best thing we shared today
Stephanie Roche is back scoring spectacular goals.
On the record
“Do you really believe what they say? I’m a bit tired of listening to sheep making up s**t.”
Barcelona’s Danny Alves has no time for the Spanish media.
Where we were today
Ben Blake was at the Ireland soccer squad announcement while Murray Kinsella was there when the Irish rugby team was named. Sean Farrell was chatting to Dave Kearney ahead of the Ireland v Wales game on Saturday.
The fixture list
- The second weekend of SSE Airtricity League action gets under way with five games.
- England take on Scotland in the Women’s Six Nations while the Ireland U20s are in action against Wales with kick off at 7.45pm.
- The last day of Cheltenham means Gold Cup day.
Showbiz, baby!
Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher had all the craic picking their All-Star charity XI.
“A single carriage-way… what like a horse and cart? “
The same John Barnes who threw a victim of racism, Patrice Evra, under a bus and sided with the guilty party.
@Robb Stark:
“I can tell you they won’t be making a big issue over either of the Suarez or John Terry situations in other countries, the reputation of English football around the world is not going to be damaged at all.”
“We’re getting carried away with a bunch of incidents here that, in the bigger picture, don’t mean much. Football clubs have to react to it because of what we do in the media.”
That’s what he said and between those two he said the handshake incident was no big deal. He’s an idiot and hypocrite so he fits right in, in the current climate.
@Robb Stark:
“I can tell you they won’t be making a big issue over either of the Suarez or John Terry situations in other countries,” said Barnes.
“The reputation of English football around the world is not going to be damaged at all.
“We’re getting carried away with a bunch of incidents here that, in the bigger picture, don’t mean much. Football clubs have to react to it because of what we do in the media.”
Between that he said that the refusing to shake the victim’s hand incident was no big deal. His hypocrisy is par for the course now unfortunately.
@Robb Stark: the anti Liverpool bias is strong with this one. The knot must be tightening in the stomach as they inch their way towards the title. Don’t worry be happy :)
@Freddie Rincon: Good man yourself.
Lovely tweet from him yesterday!
@Cortiss: very kinky
He was born in Jamaica. Should never have played for england. And talks crap to stay revelent.
@Cionneach MacEoin: What vile nonsense. Cascarino played for Ireland, so did Aldridge, so did Matty Holland. And as for Ray Houghton, please give it a rest. PS Phil Lynott was born in Birmingham and Padraic Pearse in London. Buy a map, and grow a brain.
@Annie Quigley: Pearse was born in Dublin.