O’Carroll move to Cliftonville pays off
KILLARNEY man Diarmuid O’carroll moved to Cliftonville from Glenavon at the start of the month and made an immediate impact scoring in a friendly against Dutch side RKSV Leonidas. He made his league debut off the bench in the SKY televised game against Dungannon Swifts and it was his hold-up play that teed Johnston up for a delightful volley that sailed into the top corner for Cliftonville’s second goal in a 2-1 win.
They now lie third in the table, level on points with Portadown but seven points behind leaders Linfield. O’carroll was rewarded with a place in the starting line-up for last weekend’s cup clash with Ards and he had a fine game in a 2-0 win.
Irish Players in the news
THE last week has seen a lot of our senior international players in the news, Robbie Keane’s loan move to Aston Villa was completed and he came off the bench in Villa’s 1-1 draw with Everton. I think this is a good move for Keane as it will keep him sharp before the MSL season starts, public opinion is often divided when it comes to Robbie Keane but his goal-scoring record speaks for itself and we will need him at his best come June.
The Everton match also saw the return of Shay Given to the Villa side after six weeks out with a hamstring injury and Darron Gibson made his debut for Everton following his transfer from Manchester United. This is a huge move for Gibson who never fulfilled the promise he showed early on at United, with regular football on his belt he could challenge for a starting place at the Euro Finals.
Interestingly Aston Villa finished that match with no fewer than five Irish internationals on the pitch, Given, Keane, Dunne, Ireland and Ciaran Clarke.
Elsewhere Glenn Whelan has a hugely consistent season with Stoke City and has been rewarded with a 3 1/2 year contract extension at the club for whom he has now played 118 times. Whelan’s team-mate Marc Wilson is also showing some good form around now and will be hoping that his good form gets him the Trappatoni nod for the forthcoming friendly against the Czech Republic at the end of February.
Shane Long came off the bench to score for West Brom in their defeat to Norwich with Simon Cox staring up front ahead of Long in this match. Damian Duff was also on the scores-sheet as Fulham went down to Blackburn Rovers.
New Marketing Director
THE FAI has announced the appointment of Max Hamilton as its new Commercial and Marketing Director. Mr Hamilton, who is originally from Greystones, is currently the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Senior Director of Business Development for EMEA and will take up his new role with the FAI from February 6.
O'neill wins award
AIRTRICITY League champions Shamrock Rovers and Derry City provided the two main award winners at the 2011 Airtricity / Soccer Writers' Association of Ireland annual banquet last Friday night.
The prestigious awards, which include the overall accolade of Personality-ofthe-year and the title of Goalkeeper-of-the-year, were presented at the function in Dublin's Conrad Hotel. New Northern Ireland manager Michael O'neill scooped the 'Personality of the Year' award after his success at Shamrock Rovers while Derry City's Gerard Doherty was named 'Goalkeeper of the Year'.
A special presentation was made on the night to Republic of Ireland senior team manager Giovanni Trapattoni following qualification for this summer's European Championships in Poland and Ukraine while Kerry resident, former Republic of Ireland manager Eoin Hand was the recipient of the Airtricity / Soccer Writers' Association of Ireland Special Merit award for his service to Irish football.
Speaking at the presentation of the awards, Stephen Wheeler, Managing Director of Airtricity said: “The Airtricity / Soccer Writers' Association of Ireland 'Personality of the Year Awards' are important in that they allow us to honour remarkable players and personalities whose passion, flair, skill and gamesmanship have contributed to what has been one of the most landmark seasons of recent memory.
“The past Airtricity League season has been a superb one. It's fitting that the overall Personality of the Year Award should go to Michael O'neill who not only guided Shamrock Rovers to an historic second League Title in-a-row, but also steered the Hoops to the highest level that any Irish side has achieved in European competition, and in doing so made every soccer fan justly proud.”