There are two tricks of old school journalism that you won’t find on any third level curriculum teaching modern day communications for influencers, content creators and their like in a world where print is a thing of the past.

The first ‘old’ trick of the trade is to always talk to the taxi driver when you hit the ground in a foreign land. Trust me, nine times out of 10 they know more about their football team than most people in the vicinity.

And you can always quote a taxi driver as a local source if you’re struggling to make a deadline - more than one transfer rumour started in a black cab over the years! Some of them even came true.

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Quick step or waltz…

The taxi trick normally only works away from home mind you. Most media owners in my day expected their football writers to know more about the game on the ground than those working in the transportation industry! And I’m sure that hasn’t changed.

The other trick beloved of the old schoolers works home or away and it doesn’t cost as much as a taxi journey. Whenever a game doesn’t go the way your target audience wants it to go, just look up the TV schedule and find a listing to match the story and the sentiment.

Now I wasn’t in Glasgow yesterday for the Old Firm derby so I had to make do with the Sky Sports broadcast of the biggest game of his second coming from Martin O’Neill.

So when Roy Keane appeared on our screens, live from the Director’s Box at Parkhead as Celtic continued to chase a 1-0 deficit, it was time to have a look at the schedule on the remote control.

And there it was on BBC One - Songs of Praise live from the Harvest Festival in Somerset and hosted on a farm with faith at its centre.

Bingo.

By the time the last hymn sheet was consigned to the history books, Rangers had seen out the 1-0 win and O’Neill was explaining a third defeat of the week, two of them against Celtic’s bitterest rivals.

In an instant, the Songs of Praise were nowhere to be heard in the East End of Glasgow. The taxi drivers, I can only assume, were talking about the removal of O’Neill as manager. Even the man himself admitted afterwards that he would consider all options over the upcoming international break.

And Roy Keane could now be the Keane the Celtic fans are looking for - having ran the Robbie one out of town the minute it was claimed that he was on his way over the summer.

Roy of the Keanes has never made a secret of the fact that he still fancies a crack at management despite all the money he is making on the Overlap and on an endless talking tour of Ireland with Roddy Doyle.

And if there is one thing that this Celtic squad clearly need at the moment, it’s a leader who can turn their season around, quite a demand considering the fact they are still two points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership after seven games played.

The fact of the matter is that Celtic have looked rudderless this past week, against Rangers and against a Ferencvaros side largely put together by Robbie Keane.

Martin O’Neill performed a miracle worthy of a Song of Praise last season when he snatched the league title from under the nose of Derek McInnes and Hearts.

But the same McInnes, and his new Rangers team, have regrouped and recharged their batteries - they looked more like title contenders than Celtic on Sunday and that has to be a concern for a Board that didn’t have the conviction to see the Robbie Keane appointment through in the summer.

They might have seen enough on Sunday though to go for a different Keane second time around. And they might get lucky at the third time of asking - seeing as how Roy turned Dermot Desmond down twice previously when it came to the Celtic job but was there on Sunday to see for himself the task at hand, the sort of task he would surely relish.

Stranger things have happened in football - just ask your local taxi driver!

The Coaching Corner is close to home this week as Larry Mahony joins editor Cathal Dervan to discuss the ever improving League of Ireland from a coaching and playing perspective - including some penalty shoot-out tips from Larry that apply across the game. You can follow Larry at www.bigpicturecoachingireland.com.

The full episode is available on site now and you can watch all the previous Let’s Talk Football episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

No noise, just the news & views that matters. The Sports Hacks is a reader supported publication - if you like what you read, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber and sharing our work.

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That Petrol Emotion were never the Undertones and the Undertones were never That Petrol Emotion. Teenage Kicks were the boyhood dreams growing up in Derry for the young Tones while the ageing Emotions were looking for someone to Detonate Their Dreams by the end of their 15 minutes of fame.

Confused? Well you have every right to be if you were born any time after USA ‘94 but there is a League of Ireland connection and there is a Premier Division title race analogy here if you have enough patience to stick with rambling.

Teenage Kicks is one of the best pop songs in the history of pop songs, delivered with all the brashness of punk and still as fresh as ever as visitors to the Brandywell tonight will discover when Derry City entertain Galway United and the song will feature on the match day playlist - as it always does.

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Getting shirty…

The O’Neill brothers - Damian and John - are well known around the City ground and they are the links between the Undertones and That Petrol Emotion, the band that almost gave them a second shot at the big time.

These days the O’Neills are back with the modern version of the Undertones, Paul McLoone doing a very good job as long term replacement for the enigmatic frontman Fergal Sharkey. And the current edition of the Undertones are a band well worth checking out on their tour of Ireland this Christmas season.

By then, the League of Ireland title race will have been decided and one of current champions Shamrock Rovers, current table toppers St Patrick’s Athletic and current double contenders Bohemians will have the trophy sitting on their mantlepiece.

Who will it be? After an incredible weekend of football last weekend, including a Fantastic Friday and a Manic Monday for Pats when they beat Rovers at home and hammered Dundalk away, we can still only guess but the central question is really a simple one - who will detonate their dreams as That Petrol Emotion sang two singles before their 1994 break-up.

Now you can see where all this is coming from. Pats have a teenage dreamer in Ryan Sheridan, a wonderfully balanced young footballer who is filling Kian Leavy’s boots with real skill. And Rovers have clearly missed the teenage touch offered by Arsenal bound Victor Ozhianvunu before his injury at the start of the summer.

Those two, currently level on points and separated only by goal difference at the top of the table although Rovers have played one less game, are the most likely winners but Bohs, only three points adrift and with a game in hand on Pats as well, aren’t out of the running just yet.

Which makes this weekend’s games, the last series before the international break, so intriguing and so important from a psychological point of view.

Pats don’t get the chance to build on last week’s momentum until Saturday when they go to play a Sligo Rovers side already all but relegated. An away win is a racing certainty here unless Sligo pull a rabbit from a hat they don’t appear to have in their possession this season.

By the time the Saints kick-off at the Showgrounds tomorrow night, Bohs could be level on points with them if they beat their Drogheda visitors and the Dublin Rovers could be ahead of them based on the outcome of their biggest game of the season as rejuvenated Waterford travel to Tallaght Stadium tonight.

Beat the Blues and the Hoops will go three clear, draw and they move one point ahead. Win and they will convince their own fans and the detractors that they have the ability to keep the trophy in their cabinet. Lose and it will be very difficult for anyone outside their dressing room to believe this can be turned around.

That’s how big the games this weekend are. Season defining with the potential to detonate those teenage dreams. You heard it here first - mostly because you won’t read that line anywhere else!

As for Wednesday Week? That’s for another day!

After a fantastic weekend of Premier Division action in the League of Ireland, why is there no protest about the lack of local based players in the Ireland squad for the upcoming window? That’s one of the topics discussed by Darryl Geraghty and editor Cathal Dervan on this week’s LOI Let’s Talk Football Special...

The full episode is available on site now and you can watch all the previous Let’s Talk Football episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

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Israel will be the main topic for discussion when Heimir Hallgrimsson sits down with the Irish football media for the first time this season today and rightly so. The moral compass will and should demand another examination of the outrageous decision to play football not once but twice in the coming weeks against a nation engaging in genocide and Heimir can expect many questions on the topic when he names his squad for said games.

What he can also expect are questions about a young man by the name of JJ Gabriel who visited these shores only a few short weeks ago when Manchester United defeated Leeds United on penalties in the Boylesports Cup final at Croke Park.

Young JJ, still only 15, was in the United squad but didn’t get a run on the hallowed GAA turf that night and right now it looks like he might never get another run in a United shirt at all.

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Need for speed…

As well documented elsewhere, JJ and his family want to end his association with Manchester United before it has really begun. The club, naturally, don’t want to lose the best 15-year-old in Europe as he has been labelled this week but Real Madrid, PSG and Barcelona are all, reportedly, waiting in the wings.

So what, you might ask, has all this got to do with Heimir Hallgrimsson? Well JJ Gabriel was born Joseph Junior Andreou O Cearruill a mere 15 years ago in the London suburb of Enfield.

His dad is Joe O Cearruill, a former Arsenal reserve who played for St Patrick’s Athletic at one stage and won two Ireland caps on the 2007 tour of America when Steve Staunton’s makeshift side played against Bolivia and Ecuador.

Joe was, and I suspect I am one of the few people who saw him play for Pats and Ireland, a bit of a journeyman footballer who never quite made the grade as a pro in England as he wandered from one non-league side to another.

The same cannot be said of his son who is already the most wanted young footballer in Europe with a talent that his dad, the one who calls the shots, clearly believes belongs on a stage bigger even than Old Trafford.

The fact that JJ’s dad played for Ireland and that his grandmother is Irish makes JJ eligible for the squad that Heimir will name today for the upcoming games against Kosovo, Israel and Austria but JJ won’t be involved.

It’s already been made clear to the FAI that JJ wants nothing to do with an Ireland call-up so those asking the question today will be wasting their time.

The reality, as the Declan Rice story proves, is that the best young players in England will be told by their advisors and agents that an England career is worth a whole lot more than throwing your lot in with the likes of the Republic or Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland.

That’s just the way of the world and while it makes a good story to link JJ Gabriel with Ireland, there is no fear of it ever happening. We can, and will, jump on the bandwagon but this story will be nothing more than a sideshow today when Heimir meets the media for the first time since the summer tour to Canada.

As distractions go, it will be a welcome one for the Irish boss in all probability given the nature of the Israel issue but we can’t expect to see Europe’s best 15-year-old in a green shirt. More’s the pity - but that’s life.

Don’t look back in anger - it’s time to talk Premier League football once again and our Merseyside based commentator Kevin Bannon joins editor Cathal Dervan for a brief review of the Manchester derby, VAR et al. It’s a short and sweet episode this week as Steven Spielberg would have been proud of his Gremlins who managed to curtail the conversation!

The full episode is available on site now and you can watch all the previous Let’s Talk Football episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

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There’s a young man out there who won’t like the story being told but here goes - only because today is Friday and not a Super Sunday as so often used by Sky Sports and their likes.

Once upon a time Sunday was League of Ireland day. All games kicked-off in the afternoon and everyone was home - or in the pub - by teatime. It was all very regular and all very structured and of its time.

Nowadays, Friday is League of Ireland day. From February until November, give or take, we measure our seasons and our ambitions on a Friday evening - unless you’re from Sligo which is when Saturday comes into play in the North-West.

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Let’s get the party started…

This weekend however, all the Premier Division action is on tonight, Friday night. So we need, as you will hear on our LOI podcast with Darryl Geraghty, a new moniker and an Irish version of Super Sunday.

Fabulous Friday is a bit too Joanna Lumley so maybe we should consider Freaky Friday - even if a young man I know was so freaked out by the title of the 2003 movie that he left the cinema before the opening credits had even rolled at the time of its release.

Could tonight be a Freaky Friday in the top flight of Irish football? Or is Fantastic Friday a better option? Yes actually, simply because it has all the ingredients to be a defining Friday with just seven games to go before the end of the season - or a flop of a Friday for some.

There’s a couple of games that don’t really have the clout to deserve a freak title. Bohs go to Galway for a potential FAI Cup final dress rehearsal with Alan Reynolds side in real need of the three points in case something goes their way elsewhere in the title race.

Shels against Derry and Waterford against Dundalk won’t really affect the top or the bottom of the table as it will look after tonight’s games - but the other two games certainly will. And they definitely have the potential to be freaky or fabulous in terms of impact, depending on which side of the fence you sit on at Richmond Park or Sullivan & Lambe Park.

Let’s start with the visit of Shamrock Rovers to Inchicore and their quest to avenge their recent extra-time defeat to Pats in the FAI Cup. That probably won’t be as big an incentive for the Hoops tonight as the three points which could, effectively, all but end the title race given that they are currently six points ahead of both the second placed Saints and third placed Bohs.

You would have to think that a nine point advantage for Rovers over Stephen Kenny’s side, with only 18 left to play for after this game, would effectively end the home team’s title hopes and leave their owners and their fans scratching their heads again.

Likewise a win for Pats - cutting the lead down to three points in the process - would reignite their own championship hopes and the title race, even more so if Bohs take a win home from Terryland.

To borrow and alter an old phrase - it really is poop or get off the pot time for those who will wear the Pats and Rovers jerseys on Virgin Media tonight.

If Rovers are to win the league, they need to deliver more than their recent form and turn possession into goals tonight. They can create chances, we have seen that more often than not recently, but this time they must take them.

The same goes for Pats. Yes, they were unlucky to lose on penalties to Bohs last weekend but again they had the chances to win that game and didn’t take them. Any repeat this evening and they can kiss the league title goodbye.

Drogheda have a different problem at home to Sligo at the other end of the table. Kevin Doherty’s side can play good football and can score great goals - witness Brandon Kavanagh’s strike against Dundalk in the recent game. But they are also prone to conceding too often, as again evident in that painful Wee County derby defeat.

Currently five points clear of a doomed Sligo ahead of tonight’s relegation battle, they are also four behind Waterford and cemented, it would seem, to that play-off spot.

Time, as Kevin will know, is not Drogheda’s friend right now. They have to start winning again tonight - or it will be a flop of a Friday. And that’s a marketing jingle nobody wants.

It has all the makings of a Super Sunday but it might end up being a Freaky Friday with so much at stake in the League of Ireland tonight at both ends of the table. Our regular LOI analyst Darryl Geraghty joins editor Cathal Dervan to look forward to all the action.

The full episode is available on site now and you can watch all the previous Let’s Talk Football episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

No noise, just the news & views that matters. The Sports Hacks is a reader supported publication - if you like what you read, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber and sharing our work.

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Firsts and lasts. It’s all about the firsts and the lasts this morning as Irish football continues to cling on to the past and hope for a better future - Troy Parrott and Dalymount Park being the latest focus of obvious attention.

Troy has had a number of firsts in the last few days - his first appearance for Real Betis, his first start for the club, his first goal, his first ever Champions League appearance, his first Champions League goal. All good news stories.

Dalyer has had a number of lasts in recent weeks as well. The last European game at the famous old ground, the date set for the last ever FAI Cup match at the ground, all landmarks ahead of the rebuild of the old lady of Irish football.

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Net nestlers…

I’ve no problem with all the celebrations around Troy’s series of first. After November last year, when he briefly rescued Ireland’s World Cup hopes and earned Heimir Hallgrimsson a contract extension he didn’t deserve, Troy was the Budapest hero who answered his country’s call when needed. Those Budapest goals alone have earned him all the credit he wants in my book.

That he put his struggles in English football behind him and took his chances on the continent a couple of years ago - rather than taking the traditional route of dropping down to the Championship from Spurs - also earned him an enormous amount of credit.

That the plan is working, albeit we would all be well advised not to get carried away with the instant success of his Seville move, is indeed something to celebrate.

Irish football needs new heroes who can stay the course and Troy is as good a contender in that regard as any of the current crop, better probably than most of those we hype up far too easily in this corner of the Atlantic.

No doubt he will be named in the Ireland squad next week and no doubt he will add seats to the Austria fixture that will be the Aviva’s only fixture in a four game window that is going to be dominated by Israeli discourse, whether we like it or not.

Let’s hope Troy stays fit with Betis and is ready to torment the Kosovans, the Israelis and the Austrians on the pitch the next time he wears the green shirt of Ireland.

He has never, as far as I can recall and certainly not as an adult, worn the green shirt of Ireland at Dalymount Park and that’s a pity. Whatever about the claims that the Aviva Stadium is the home of Irish football, it’s not. The long term lease will expire somewhere around 2070 so the FAI are effectively tenants in a rugby stadium that will revert to rugby ownership long after some of us have moved on to another arena.

Dalymount was our home, even when it wasn’t fit for purpose for international football. It’s where Don Givens routed Russia, where Paul McGrath made his debut against Italy, where Hurley and Giles and Farrell strutted their stuff, where FAI Cup finals were won and lost. And then it was abandoned by international football, when it became too small and too old and too lacking in corporate opportunities.

Now they are going to rebuild it - after the last Cup game and after the last League of Ireland game. After the last of the lasts they will knock it down and replace it with an 8,000 all-seater at an estimated cost of €63million according to the most recent reports. That’s around €7,500 per seat as things stand and a lot more than the cost of the old seats recrafted as garden furniture which you can buy via Bohs.

It’s great to see Dalymount reimagined but it is too small in my opinion. As someone who walked from one end of the ground to the other at half-time in games in the late 70s, I have always wanted to see Irish football stay at home, stay at Dalyer.

But that’s never going to happen now. That boat sailed years ago when buying the houses around Dalymount would have been cheaper and easier and possible.

So Troy will never get to play a World Cup or Euros game in Dalymount Park. More’s the pity.

The Champions League is back and so is Kevin Bannon, our Merseyside based guru on all things English football, as he chats European action, a Seamus Coleman return and the chances of Spurs finally winning a Premier League game this weekend with editor Cathal Dervan.

The full episode is available on site now and you can watch all the previous Let’s Talk Football episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

No noise, just the news & views that matters. The Sports Hacks is a reader supported publication - if you like what you read, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber and sharing our work.

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Imagine telling Cork’s very own Henry Ford how to build a car? Imagine telling Henry Ford how to drive a car? Imagine telling Henry Ford how to sell a car?

Yeah, you’d be wasting your time if the great Henry was around today. He knew a thing or two about combustible engines, chassis construction and gearbox ratios so I wouldn’t be taking him on in the motoring section of the pub quiz - even if he might struggle with the concept of electric cars or self drive vehicles.

So if the pub quiz was on in that quaint little establishment near Bandon and Clonakilty and a resurrected Henry was there, I’d tip my hat to him and said job well done sir.

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Refs need the love too…

If his great-great grandson walked into the same bar tomorrow, I’d get up and leave based on the insult he just delivered at the feet of an Irish icon and one of the most honest sports people you will ever meet.

Calvin Ford - no, I never heard of him either - is the latest American investor in ‘soccer’ to prove that Gianni Infantino thought he saw an easy hit when he targeted Wall Street for the great World Cup sell-off.

Now I am not a genealogist or a mathematician so excuse me if my guess that this man is three generations removed from his great-great grandfather Henry Ford is incorrect. But I’d say I’m close enough for this exercise.

There’s little on Google search about Calvin other than to suggest that he does a lot of charity work and is a shrewd philanthropist according to those who know such things.

According to the internet, his investments in football include a small stake in the German club SSV Ulm - no, never heard of them either - and Livingston where he bought 100 per cent of the shares from a man called John McIlvogue last year.

Calvin came to my attention yesterday when he sacked former Ireland captain Glenn Whelan as manager after just nine games and 98 days in charge of a side that played only five times in the league under Glenn’s tutelage, winning two and losing three, and currently sit in fifth place in the Scottish Championship table.

That’s not good enough seemingly for Calvin or his Director of Football David Martindale - incidentally he was manager for most of last season when they were relegated from the Scottish Premier. Now Martindale is in interim charge and back in the dug-out and Glenn is back in Manchester and out of work.

Yep. Less than a hundred days into his first managerial role, Glenn has been sacked. A guarantee for any manager, regardless of their age or their experience and one that Glenn knew would come his way one day.

Getting the sack is not the issue here. How it was handled is and not just the vulgarity of sacking your boss after less than a hundred days. It’s the words Calvin used in his excuse making statement that add weight to the theory that most American investors know sweet FA about football.

“Looking ahead, we have already begun the process of securing the appropriate search firm to help us find our next head coach,” wrote Calvin in his letter to the fans that was more JCB than Ford Mustang.

“Our net will be cast far wider than it was in our previous search, and the focus of the search will be via data analytics that fit in with the clubs game model, and other important criteria’s that will aid Livingston FC in finding the ideal candidate to lead our Club forward.

“Mediocrity is not an acceptable solution, and we will continue to work to find the leader that delivers on the ambitions and aspirations of sustained, high-level success that we expect at Livingston. Nothing else is acceptable.”

Ford - and whoever advises him - should ask any Ireland fan about Glenn Whelan’s standards. He is far from mediocre. He is a player who dedicated his professional life to improvement via hard work, determination and honesty.

You don’t earn 91 caps for your country without knowing your way around football. You don’t play for Giovanni Trapattoni by being mediocre.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of his reign at Livingston, Glenn Whelan deserved better from a Yank landlord than to have the word mediocrity attached to his name.

Calvin’s letter to the fans stinks. I hope they see through this American bull***t. The Glenn Whelan I know deserves better.

How Katie Taylor turned down senior football with UCD, Stephen Kelly bingo, the vulgarity of modern coaching terminology including left tilts and the funnel press - it's all on this week's Coaching Corner with the great Larry Mahony from www.bigpicturecoachingireland.com.

The full episode is available on site now and you can watch all the previous Let’s Talk Football episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

No noise, just the news & views that matters. The Sports Hacks is a reader supported publication - if you like what you read, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber and sharing our work.

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Two decades and a bit ago you could stroll around Islandbridge and watch Katie Taylor at the top of her sport for free, stand there on the grassy bank and realise the hype was true as she matched pace with skill, brain with brawn.

Tomorrow night she fights for the final time in a Croke Park stadium befitting her greatness and a friend of a friend of mine has been offered two decent tickets for a staggering €1500. Each.

That’s how sport works, it’s how sport evolves, it’s how the stars in the male and female arenas become superstars. It’s how the sporting circle of life rotates.

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Walking away with it…

A decade ago you could have walked into an underage game and watched Bradley Barcola for free. Next Wednesday night a premium package will cost you a small fortune to see him against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League at Anfield.

Liverpool have to get a return on their €125million investment in Barcola any way they can. Eddie Hearn has to earn the rent money for Croke Park - though I can state for a fact that the seller of those €1500 has no connection to the Hearn family and is merely a speculator. Maybe even a tout.

I was one of the few people watching Katie play football in Islandbridge for free all those years ago. My good friend and Star colleague Gerry Callan had told me this story about the finest boxer of her generation combining her love for the beautiful game with an absolute passion for the fight game.

An Irish international already at the time, Katie did indeed have a great story to tell and she was, as Gerry had promised, a standout player and an excellent interview subject.

We’ve met a few times since and she has always been courteous, civil and engaging. But the spark has never left her eye. That single-mindedness that drives all great sports people is always present around the Katie Taylor aura.

It’s what got her to the very top, it’s what helped her rewrite boxing history and good luck to her, tomorrow night and in the future when the gloves are packed away and her life carries on without professional boxing as a constant.

Katie will enter the Jones Road arena tomorrow night a few hours after the FAI Cup’s game of the weekend when St Patrick’s Athletic entertain Bohemians in the quarter-final clash at Richmond Park.

Quite why this game is on in our capital city on the same day that almost a hundred thousand people will be otherwise engaged with the biggest boxing occasion in Irish sporting history is beyond me.

And there are still some tickets available for a lot less than the €1500 my friend was quoted for Croker or the hundreds of Euros it will cost to get to Merseyside to watch Barcola in action next Wednesday night.

Which brings me to the point of this column. Finally. In a week when the English transfer marker officially went mad and led Miguel Delaney to make the very plausible suggestion that it is all built on sand, domestic Irish football started to make a lot more sense.

You may not see the next Barcola if you swap Anfield for Richmond Park tomorrow afternoon but you will see honest footballers minus the vulgarity of an industry that values Enzo Fernandes at close to €150million.

Yes, these players play for the pay cheque. But they also play with passion, commitment and integrity. Like Katie Taylor in Islandbridge all those years ago, they will give everything for the shirt tomorrow and mostly because this is the season defining game for both teams.

The atmosphere won’t beat that at Croke Park and the collective skills on show won’t quite be at the same level as Liverpool v Atletico but that shouldn’t make it any less appealing to the real sports fans out there.

Chris Forrester and Dawson Devoy are easily worth €20 of your time today. Trust me.

As Rory Gaffney hangs up his boots, our League of Ireland man on the beat Darryl Geraghty and editor Cathal Dervan pay tribute to the Galway born legend. Plus Rovers v Shels and all the side stories, the FAI Cup previews and Athlone's dominance continues in the WNL...

The full episode is available on site now and you can watch all the previous Let’s Talk Football episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

No noise, just the news & views that matters. The Sports Hacks is a reader supported publication - if you like what you read, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber and sharing our work.

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There’s a Tommy Tiernan reference and a scene from a chipper in Belfast starring three great Dutch footballers to come but first a statement formed by opinion, not fact - Lionel Messi is not the greatest player who ever played the beautiful game. Now read on as they used to say in the days when typewriters carried the words to the page.

Let’s start with Tommy and the scene in one of his very early stage shows when one of his genius real life characters pronounces, behind the bike sheds in our old Navan haunt St Patrick’s Classical School, that Status Quo are the best band in the world - because his brother said so.

The definition by Tiernan’s character was very definitive and there was no suggestion that Thin Lizzy, the Rolling Stones, Stiff Little Fingers or even local heroes The Bogey Boys could give Quo a run for their money.

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No chance…

That scene came to mind as the world debated the greatness of Messi earlier this week when the Great One - not the greatest one - announced his international retirement after 207 games and 125 goals in the most famous light blue and white stripes of them all.

Many comments were passed on a career that has seen the little one earn over a billion dollars and every honour available to him with club or country, all of them complimentary and the majority of them gushing.

Those only coming to terms with their love of football as Messi and Ronaldo exploded onto the European scene and then the world stage in the early 2000s were treated to the emergence of two of the best players the game has ever seen, fighting it out to be regarded as the football world’s number one star.

That Messi was awarded that crown, and indeed the title of greatest player ever, by so many of those commentators as the ink dried on his retirement statement this week is no surprise. But is it realistic?

I’m not sure. That declaration of greatness brought me back to a trip to Belfast in August 1988, just a couple of months after Joxer went to Stuttgart and Ireland beat England, drew with Russia and lost to an offside Dutch goal in our first ever appearance at a major tournament.

The reason to visit Belfast, then still a troubled city, was a burning desire to see one of the world’s greatest players live in action as George Best’s career was celebrated at Windsor Park in front of a sell-out crowd of 27,000 fans and in a game featuring great players from all over Europe including our own Liam Brady, Pat Jennings and a very young Michael O’Neill.

My desire to travel North was a simple one. I wanted to see George play football, something I was too young to experience when he was at the height of his talents, not even when he played briefly for Cork Celtic in the League of Ireland in 1975.

Instead, I had to make do with the 42-year-old version of George as he dragged his ageing legs and a few defenders around Windsor one last time, even scoring a brilliant chipped goal over Allen McKnight of Northern Ireland and West Ham.

And speaking of chips - guess who ended up in a late night chipper around the corner from the Europa Hotel that night with my Star colleague and photographer Noel Gavin and a handful of footballing legends including Dutch masters Ruud Krol, Johnny Rep and Johan Neeskens? Yes, yours truly. It was no time to discuss their own greatness.

My desire to see George play was a simple one. For years I had been told by everyone old enough to remember that he was the greatest player who ever played the game. So I really wanted to see him play for myself.

I’m still glad I did. Did he look like the greatest player ever? No, of course he didn’t. Was he once the best player ever? I don’t know simply because I never saw him in his prime, short and all as that was.

He’s not alone in that regard. I have to rely on other people to tell me if he was better than Duncan Edwards, Pele or Alfredi Di Stefano. Unlike today, there’s no real YouTube footage available to prove them right or me wrong.

Which is exactly why I can’t agree that Lionel Messi is the greatest player ever - simply because that is subjective. Is he one of the best players I have been lucky enough to see live on more than occasion, most recently when Argentina were given the shock of their World Cup lives by Pico and Cape Verde? Yes, he is.

Better than Ronaldo? Yes. Better than Maradona, who I was also fortunate enough to see play football when he was still worth the admission money? Maybe.

The best ever? Nobody can ever say that for definite in my opinion but everyone is entitled to their opinion.

What I can say for definite is that Thin Lizzy were a better band than Status Quo - no matter what Tommy Tiernan’s brother thinks!

It’s Wednesday Week (to keep up with the northern music references), so it’s Kevin Bannon joining Cathal Dervan to discuss all things EPL. The window slammed shut last night, here they cast their eye over some of those movements while keeping an eye on what’s ahead this weekend.

The full episode is available on site now and you can watch all the previous Let’s Talk Football episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

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Jerry Maguire turns 40 later this year. Hard to believe that one of the most iconic sporting movies was released four decades ago as it opened the public’s eyes to the world of sports agents and their fragile relationships with their clients through the good times and the bad.

It was of its time of course and it was pretty brilliant to be fair, matching as it did the harsh realities of professional sport in one of the cruellest arenas of all, the NFL, with the romance between Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger, aka Jerry and Dorothy Boyd.

Made on a budget of $50million, long repaid by box office takings of over $273million, It was also factual and well written, on both sides of the story.

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New beginnings

There’s not a sports agent alive since then who hasn’t had the ‘show me the money’ line thrown at them at least once in their relationship with any client, signed or secured.

Nor is there an agent out there who hasn’t been led up the garden path like Jerry was with the family of Frank Cushman or found loyalty for life as Jerry did, eventually, with Rod Tidwell. And Rod’s eventual fairytale success does indeed show them all the money.

The Jerry Maguire story is as relevant today as it was back in 1996. And it should be on the ‘must watch’ list at every academy in Ireland now that we are a nation overdosing on producing players via a ‘one size fits all’ system for clubs - and for our best young talent by default.

Young players and their families can learn from Jerry Maguire. So can anyone thinking of a career in the sports industry. And so can we, as members of the Irish media.

In the past week, I have seen glowing praise heaped on the shoulders of Jack Moylan, Troy Parrott, Jacob Devaney and Rory Finneran to name just four - none of whom, of course, were born when Jerry Maguire was filling cinemas.

Jack and Troy are home produced, Jack more so than Troy given that he found his feet in the League of Ireland. Jacob and Rory, like so many of our recent recruits, are products of the English academy system.

All are young players at the crossroads of their football careers so how we refer to them, how we regard them, is important.

Troy is the most successful of the four as of now with his transfer value already at half the Jerry Maguire budget. But Troy is still learning the game and still has to prove himself in La Liga which is exactly why we should pay no heed to some of the negative Spanish reviews of his 57 minute full debut in the 5-2 defeat for Real Betis at Levante on Saturday.

Jack Moylan fared better the same day, scoring with a well finished strike after two minutes in the 2-2 home draw with Sheffield United. That goal saw him compared to Wayne Rooney in some quarters but again, the comparisons need to be taken with a pinch of salt. After his unusual route to professional football in the UK, Jack will know that better than anyone.

Troy is there or thereabouts in football terms and his career is definitely there in terms of setting him up for life. He is to be congratulated on that after being brave enough to reinvent himself in Holland.

Jack is getting there and is to be congratulated for the sheer determination that has seen him progress from Tolka Park to Ireland caps and the Championship.

Rory Finneran, on loan at Notts County from Newcastle, and Jacob Devaney, on loan at Hibs from Manchester United, are still in the development stages of their careers. They haven’t made it yet - they are showing positive signs - so we need to be careful with branding them as the great young hopes of Irish football before they have delivered at the highest levels or earned the right to deliver at the top of the game.

As a viewing of Jerry Maguire will prove, anything can happen in professional sport so let’s take it easy with the superlatives. The fairytale end isn’t always guaranteed.

This week’s Coaching Corner with Larry Mahony and editor Cathal Dervan is all about managers. Why do Graham Coughlan and Stephen Bradley give all the credit to their players and what is Roberto Di Zerbi doing wrong at Spurs? You can catch up with Larry at bigpicturecoachingireland.com.

The full episode is available on site now and you can watch all the previous Let’s Talk Football episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

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For a long time, Irish footballers going abroad usually meant one thing. England. Maybe Scotland. We weren’t exactly used to checking Bundesliga team sheets on a Saturday afternoon to see how one of our own was getting on.

That’s changing, and Alex Murphy is the latest to take the European route.

The 22-year-old Galwegian defender has left Newcastle United on loan for 1. FC Kaiserslautern. Four-time German champions, founding Bundesliga members and a club with plenty of history behind them. But for Murphy, the big thing now is getting the minutes.

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Not quite enough…

They finished sixth last season and have opened this one with two 0-0 draws against Wolfsburg and Karlsruhe, so nobody is getting carried away just yet. Murphy’s first taste of German football came in the cup away to WaldhofMannheim and it was hardly a gentle introduction. The game had pretty much everything by that stage, from crowd trouble and delays to extra time, and looked to be heading for penalties. Then Murphy found Ibrahim Kanaté just outside the box in the 120th minute. He still had plenty to do, but was given a little too much space and bent a brilliant right-footed effort into the top corner. First appearance, first assist and a derby won with almost the last kick of the game. You could do worse.

It’s probably exactly the sort of experience Murphy needs now. He left Galway United for Newcastle at 18 after breaking into senior football at Eamonn Deacy Park. Since then there have been Premier League appearances, a loan spell at Bolton and, this summer, a first senior Ireland call-up. Newcastle clearly rate him, but at 22 the conversation changes a bit. Training around Premier League players is great. At 22, he needs starts, minutes and the pressure that comes with playing for something every week.

There’ll be no shortage of pressure either. You don’t really understand the size of Kaiserslautern until you look at the crowds. More than 46,000 were turning up on average last season in a city with a population only a little above 100,000. The Fritz-Walter-Stadion dominates the place from the Betzenberg and the club’s history is everywhere you look.

Fritz Walter is still the name you can’t really get away from around Kaiserslautern. He captained West Germany to the 1954 World Cup and spent his whole career with the club. They had already won German titles in 1951, 1953 and 1991, but 1998 is the one that still gets brought up. Kaiserslautern had just come back up from the second tier and Otto Rehhagel somehow took them straight to the Bundesliga title. Nobody has done it since. It’s probably fair to say the bar has been set fairly high ever since.

They’ve also had enough years where those old stories were doing most of the heavy lifting.

Kaiserslautern were relegated from the Bundesliga in 2012, dropped into the third tier six years later and by 2020 the professional side had entered insolvency. Promotion back to Bundesliga 2 came in 2022, followed by a DFB-Pokal final two years later and sixth place last season. They’re not back in the Bundesliga yet, but they’re close enough for people around the Betzenberg to start looking up again. That’s the club Murphy has walked into.

Manager Torsten Lieberknecht knows the place well too. He played for Kaiserslautern himself and has already won promotion from this division elsewhere. Sporting director Marcel Klos highlighted Murphy’s ability to play centre-back or left-back, his comfort on the ball and his aggressive defending when the deal was announced.

The next few months are really about turning that versatility into starts.

From an Irish point of view, that’s probably why this one is worth keeping an eye on. Murphy could easily have taken another loan in England and become another Saturday score check. Instead, four years after Galway United, he’s at Kaiserslautern trying to play his part in getting one of Germany’s big old clubs back towards the Bundesliga.

If his debut is anything to go by, it might be worth keeping an eye on the German scores this season. And learning how to spell Kaiserslautern wouldn’t hurt either.

The League of Ireland's European adventure is over. Our LOI expert Darryl Geraghty and editor Cathal Dervan discuss how Shamrock Rovers will respond to their Conference League exit and what it will mean in the Premier Division title race. Plus a look ahead to the new FAI National League and a review of the Women's FAI Cup action.

The full episode is available on site now and you can watch all the previous Let’s Talk Football episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

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A trip back to his holiday home in Dunfanaghy in a Champions League week was hardly on Martin O’Neill’s wish list at the start of the season - it can be now.

The Dunfanaghy Jazz and Blues festival is a staple on the Irish music festival calendar for men and women of a certain age, an age group that Martin definitely falls into.

It’s up there with the brilliant Rory Gallagher festival in Ballyshannon that is currently clinging on for dear life after the organisers were left high and dry by a ticket agency that’s gone bust.

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Close call

And it’s on a par with the Harvest Time Blues Festival in Monaghan next weekend that features Jimmy Smyth of Bogey Boys fame and Mr Commitments himself Andrew Strong amongst others.

Martin probably won’t be able to make Monaghan. Celtic have a game at St Mirren that Saturday night and needs must.

But he does have a few holes in his calendar now for the following week when Celtic were supposed to play in the group stages of the Champions League ahead of an Old Firm derby at Ibrox on the Sunday, September 13th.

So Martin might allow himself a day or two off to revisit Dunfanaghy and catch aptly named acts like The Hitmen and Her, We Are Ghosts and the Renegade Blues Bands. Based on the evidence of Tuesday night’s €20million capitulation in Austria against LASK, Celtic could do with a hitman or two and a few renegades if they are going to banish their CL blues - and the ghosts of 1967 that will always be the yardstick for any European adventure.

From what I know and have witnessed, Martin O’Neill is more into true crime than rock and roll but the excuse to visit Donegal again should not be missed.

Indeed, he should make contact with Donegal sooner than that and pick up the phone to Seamus Coleman, last seen training with his local GAA club and enjoying the summer sun in his native Killybegs.

When Celtic needed a manager in the summer, they threw Robbie Keane’s name out there to get a sense of the public reaction to any such appointment. Some of the public said no so Celtic went for the tried and trusted and brought O’Neill back to Parkhead for a third time.

It looked a safe bet, too safe in the eyes of some Celtic fans and that’s exactly how it has transpired. Celtic were out-played at their own game in Austria on Tuesday night, beaten 5-4 on aggregate by a team full of running, overloaded on vigour and overdosed on heart.

LASK played exactly as Celtic fans want their team to play and O’Neill, bar one over zealous reaction to a throw-in decision that got him booked, looked like a man with precious few answers either in his head or on his bench.

That’s on O’Neill and, it can be argued, that’s on those who went for safety first when it became obvious some Celtic fans would block the appointment of a younger manager simply because he once took a team in Israel to the title.

The Celtic board may have reacted very quickly last season when it became clear that another of their great appointments, Wilfried Nancy, was in way over his head but they will never admit to a Martin O’Neill mistake.

So either he goes of his own volition after this Champions League disaster or he does something, within the financial constraints imposed on him by said board, to turn things around.

Signing Seamus Coleman, available on a free transfer, would be a good start. When Heimir Hallgrimsson realised his Seamus Coleman mistake almost a year ago, the then Everton defender turned the Irish team’s World Cup fortunes around, saved the Icelander his job and helped Heimir to a new contract that should have been ripped up post Prague.

Coleman can rescue O’Neill now. He can bring some leadership and authority to this Celtic team and some counsel to a manager he knows well from their Ireland days together.

Donegal is calling for Martin O’Neill. It’s time to make the connection again - or sing the Blues for real.

Jamie O'Hara has already declared Arsenal as Premier League champions in waiting but our own Kevin Bannon tells editor Cathal Dervan why that's just a little too early... and the pair discuss Troy Parrott, Jake O'Brien and even the likely first Premier League managerial casualty!

The full episode is available on site now and you can watch all the previous Let’s Talk Football episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

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Dion Fanning is the chairperson of Dalkey United, one of the clubs that famously gave Paul McGrath to the world. It’s important to note Dion’s involvement in grassroots football before we share his views on club football’s European structures and UEFA’s vulgar distribution of funds.

As the chair of a grassroots club, and this I know from personal experience closer to home, we can assume that Dion gives hours of his time to the needs of every footballer and member young and old attached to one of the most famous clubs in South Dublin.

His phone, I suspect, is constantly on. That’s the way of a chair or any official involved at the very heart of the game that some in the FAI leadership prefer to think of as a business like Tesco.

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Shielding the ball…

Dion is also a journalist steeped in the finest traditions of a dying industry. He’s been in as many if not more press boxes across the world than he has graced sideline viewing points in grassroots football so his views on our beautiful game are well founded.

On any given Sunday, Dion’s column can be found on the pages of the Sunday Independent, still Ireland’s biggest selling newspaper in a declining market and the publication that allowed him to cut his teeth in football journalism.

Dion’s column this past Sunday was all about European club football at the start of the week that sees Shamrock Rovers fly the flag as the last remaining Irish representative in Europe when they travel to KuPS for Thursday’s Conference League play-off, with the game finely balanced at 1-1.

As confirmed in Dion’s article, Rovers are playing for €3.17million in Finland this week and will pick up another €400k for any win that may follow if they can qualify for the group stages, a bit of a tall order based on the evidence in Tallaght last Thursday night.

Those figures are a small fortune for an Irish club but they are dwarfed, as Dion pointed out, by the riches available to those who dine at the Champions League table, the haves of European football who are the real beneficiaries of UEFA’s generosity.

Consider the figures quoted - UEFA contributes 74 per cent of its club competition revenue to Champions League clubs, seven clubs received more than €100million from UEFA in revenue last year, UEFA distributes more than €3billion in prize money per year but only €308million goes in solidarity payments to clubs who don’t qualify for either the Champions League, the Europa League or the Conference League.

It is as lopsided as it sounds but that’s the way UEFA and FIFA (via the new club World Cup) operate, cosy cartels that protect those with the most to lose and not those with the most to gain.

Rovers will be delighted if they get their hands on that €3.17million in Finland this week and rightly so. That sort of money will allow them to further develop their academy, strengthen their squad over the winter and dominate the Premier Division again next season. Money buys power and €3.17 million represents significant power in this marker.

It’s peanuts though next to the sort of riches PSG and Real Madrid will receive and have received from UEFA. Is there a better way?

Well one better way was proposed by the independent Union of European Clubs, an independent body founded to improve support and advocacy for non-elite professional clubs across Europe with my friend and former Ireland international Gareth Farrelly as CEO.

As Dion Fanning’s article outlines, they proposed an alternative revenue funding model for the UEFA competitions that would see 50 per cent go to the Champions League, 30 per cent to the Europa League and 20 per cent to the Conference League.

Crucially that money would be distributed proportionately, via the national associations, to the leagues those clubs represent and then divided equally amongst all the clubs in those leagues, not just the clubs who qualify.

It’s a revolutionary theory - the rising tide carries all boats etc - but one that the big boys will never accept in all reality, even if it would allow real prize money in the League of Ireland for example and not the pittance currently on offer.

It’s definitely, however, a proposal worth listening to and a debate worth having as Rovers look to rescue Europe for Irish football this week. So a thank you to Dion Fanning for raising it - and carry on the good work in Dalkey!

On this week's Coaching Corner, Larry Mahony and editor Cathal Dervan talk up Keith Andrews, Damien Duff and Stephen Rice after Brentford's big win over Spurs and throw in a bit of Jose Mourinho, Roddy Collins and Welcome to Wrexham for good measure. You can catch up with Larry at bigpicturecoachingireland.com.

The full episode is available on site now and you can watch all the previous Let’s Talk Football episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

No noise, just the news & views that matters. The Sports Hacks is a reader supported publication - if you like what you read, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber and sharing our work.

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Richard Dunne was asked more than once about Troy Parrott’s imminent move to Real Betis at a media event in Dublin on Wednesday and his answers were insightful as you’d expect - but it was a story told off camera that probably told more about the extra ingredient needed to make it to the top of professional football.

Dunne was back at his Home Farm roots to announce details of a new collaboration between the north Dublin club and the French academy he founded with his wife Helen just outside Monaco.

As part of the new arrangement, one of the graduates from the FMC Elite Academy will be offered the chance to further their education on and off the field with Home Farm DCU, the new entity offering young players National League football at Whitehall Stadium and access to Third Level studies at Dublin City University.

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Hair raising moments…

It’s an opportunity that wasn’t open to Dunne when he last stood in the Home Farm clubhouse as a 15-year-old, there for a presentation from his only schoolboy club ahead of a move to Everton that spawned a career 515 first team appearances across Everton, Manchester City, Aston Villa and QPR and, of course, 80 international caps for Ireland.

Dunne didn’t know that’s how it would work out when he took that chance to sign for Everton. It was all a trip into the unknown, an intriguing trip that included pre-season with the Toffees academy when he was still 15, a return home ahead of a trip for a family holiday to the United States and then a one-way flight, on his own, back to England to begin the greatest adventure of his life.

He travelled alone that day with no comfort blanket and no fear, ready to take on the big, bad world and fight for the chance to make it as a pro. Dunne, as tales from Moscow recalled in Home Farm will prove, was never afraid of the fight. And never afraid to take the chance.

Troy Parrott is exactly the same. Labelled the new Robbie Keane at far too young an age by lazy keyboards, he has taken the rejection at Spurs and come out fighting. Loans at Millwall, Ipswich, MK Dons and Preston never offered the hope that English football could offer redemption so he switched his focus and took off for Holland.

Another loan at Excelsior was followed by the move to AZ Alkmaar and the 30 goals in 59 games, a bit better than a goal every two games, that have restored his reputation and his confidence.

Now he’s off to the Champions League and La Liga with Real Betis, a club overshadowed by Arsenal for their recent friendly in Dublin but the team that hammered the English champions at the Aviva Stadium.

Are Real Betis the perfect fit now for Budapest hero Troy as many Irish pundits are suggesting? It’s too early to say but the omens are good. Like Alkmaar in Holland, Betis are not A listers in Spanish football.

They appear to be a club grounded in reality with a real sense of belonging amongst their loyal fan base. And they will offer Troy calmness and opportunity in the beautiful city of Seville.

That an Irishman, the now legendary Patrick O’Connell, helped them to their only Spanish league title back in 1935 won’t be lost on Troy as he takes the latest path least expected in his fledgling career.

There’s nothing to suggest Troy Parrott will produce another Budapest style miracle and inspire Real Betis to La Liga glory next May but he deserves credit for giving it a try - better to be basking in Spanish sunshine than mucking around in the Championship on a wet Tuesday night with West Ham or their likes.

Ireland legend Richard Dunne was back at his boyhood club Home Farm on Wednesday and chatted around new pathways for young Irish footballers.

The full episode is available on site now and you can watch all the previous Let’s Talk Football episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

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Bonnie Tyler, James McClean and the Total Eclipse - welcome to another whacky week of League of Ireland headlines, drama and action and it is all reviewed here again by our LOI expert Darryl Geraghty and editor Cathal Dervan  

The total eclipse line in the latest Let’s Talk Football podcast, available here on The Sports Hacks, isn’t ageing as well as the Bonnie Tyler song referred to more than once in the weekly League of Ireland chat with Darryl Geraghty so let’s turn our attentions to another Jim Steinman song. And butcher it as well!

Jim, in case you are too young to have heard about the 70s never mind remember them, was the songwriting genius behind the rock musical God that was Meat Loaf - or Mr Loaf as one Irish radio presenter famously called him back in the day.

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Wednesday Night Lights

Meat Loaf was an operatic rock singer, a man who needed a big song to showcase the full power of his incredible vocal range. Steinman provided Mr Loaf with so many of those great power anthems in the late 70s that the big man became a household name across the world.

By the early 80s however, Meat lost his voice and Steinman ultimately offered Total Eclipse of the Heart to Bonnie Tyler, only finishing the song after they had met, according to myth anyway. Bonnie and Jim made a fortune from the song and the rest is history as is the suggestion, in the week of the eclipse and on the latest Let’s Talk Football, that the James McClean situation at Derry City is akin to the story behind the song. Once upon a time they were falling in love but now they’re only falling apart - even if the Candystripes have withdrawn their threat to rip up McClean’s contract.

As we await confirmation of the latest twist in the James and the giant breach of contract, let us consider another Steinman song in a different guise - and play with the lyrics a little.

‘Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad’ was the opening track on Side Two of the multi-million selling debut album Bat Out of Hell for Meat Loaf - and Steinman - and earned a gold record in its own right as a single between 1977 and 1978.

And what has this got to do with Irish football, you may well be asking yourself at this juncture? Well, tonight three League of Ireland sides are in European action. Shamrock Rovers take a 3-1 lead to Egnatia in Albania in the Europa League while the Conference League second legs see Shels 3-1 down, at home to Ajax, and Bohs 2-0 down, away to Midtjylland of Denmark.

That’s three teams with three chances to make it through to the final qualifying rounds in both of the lesser European competitions - or is it?

Bohs have it all to do in western Jutland against a strong home side with goals right across their frontline. Don’t count on anything for Ireland from this one - other than repeated renditions of Johnny Logan’s ‘Hold Me Now’ of course!

Rovers again have the best chance of staying in Europe. They should be taking a bigger lead to Albania but the evidence was clear enough in Tallaght last week to suggest that they are more than capable of scoring away from home tonight. If they do get a goal, they have more than enough European experience in their ranks to make it one out of three for LOI sides tonight. Not a great return, but not bad either.

Shels could have lost by a handful in Amsterdam last week but they didn’t - and Daniel Kelly’s well taken goal in the Johan Cruyff Arena gives them what manager John Russell has rightly labelled a ‘fighting chance’ in Tolka Park this evening, a venue as far removed from the plush surroundings of Ajax’s home ground as is possible. So Shels might just rescue the European coefficient for the League of Ireland with a miracle win tonight. If they do then ‘Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad’ will definitely be worth an airing - or two. It’s unlikely - but it could happen.

Bonnie Tyler, James McClean and the Total Eclipse - welcome to another whacky week of League of Ireland headlines, drama and action and it is all reviewed here again by our LOI expert Darryl Geraghty and editor Cathal Dervan.

The full episode is available on site now and you can watch all the previous Let’s Talk Football episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

No noise, just the news & views that matters. The Sports Hacks is a reader supported publication - if you like what you read, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber and sharing our work.

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The security man at the gate had all the purpose of an English centre-back, the stare of an Irish midfielder from Cork and the inquisitive nature of a Tony O’Donoghue. At 8am of a Monday morning, he wanted to know the purpose of my visit to Carton House, the luxury hotel just outside Maynooth.

So I told him I was there to sign for Manchester United ahead of their first training session of the day at the Kildare venue that is currently a home from home for Michael Carrick and his Premier League superstars ahead of their Croke Park War of the Roses clash with Leeds.

He’s still laughing. It started with a grin then turned quickly to a laugh. He didn’t even need to consult with one of his bosses via walkie talkie to know I was spinning a yarn, not the first time says you. At least he saw the funny side of it, the Taylor Made hat on my head giving a clue to the real purpose of my visit to the five star resort.

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Boom!!

And at least my lie gave him a laugh on the day Marcus Rushford returned to the United training ground after his time in Spanish exile and lots of kids turned out to catch a glimpse of his Manchester United return.

My attempt at humour wasn’t the only football ‘lie’ spun on Monday. Later that day Donald Trump did what Donald Trump does best and interfered again in the ways of world football as he babbled on about Gianni Infantino in a post on Truth Social, an oxymoron if ever there was one.

The truth about Infantino, according to the king of the u-turns, is that: “He is fantastic, having just presided over the most successful World Cup, by four times, ever presented. If he is gone, it will never be as successful or profitable again! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJT.”

So now we know. Or do we? The truth is that football needs to get rid of its own President for Profit and the sooner the better. Associations like the FAI need to get off the fence, remove the splinters from the backsides of their ineffective leaders and remove this man from office before the current split in world football becomes terminal.

We’ve still to hear a word from Abbotstown about the Infantino scandal. Maybe they’re afraid to upset this paymaster? Maybe they think the sort of money to clear their debt from a World Cup sell-off is worth considering?

Are they still supportive of Infantino’s bid for re-election next year? We don’t know because they haven’t told us anything, other than supporting a UEFA veto that they had no choice but to support - because UEFA are one of their other paymasters.

The FAI suits will probably be in Croke Park on Wednesday, sharing the joy of their GAA counterparts at another sold out match on Irish soil featuring the very best of English football.

At a time of year when Croker should still be hosting inter-county football and hurling, one of the biggest rivalries in English sport will be renewed on hybrid Irish grass.

And good luck to them. This may be an invitation for some to show us what English football hostility really looks like but at least we know why this game is in Croke Park - money.

Mayo finally winning Sam Maguire again in July glossed over the fact that the All-Ireland final is now played with five months left on the sporting calendar for the GAA to cash in on the appeal of Croker to Leeds United, Manchester United and Bon Jovi.

At least their greed, like that of Infantino, is obvious. At least we know where the GAA stand before the cash cow is milked at Croker tomorrow night.

It would be nice, in the meantime, for the FAI to let us know where they stand on Gianni Infantino after his threat to sell the game of the people from under the nose of the very people who will always own it.

A bit like that desire to sign for Manchester United, I won’t hold my breath!

As Leeds United and Manchester United fans prepare to pack out Croke Park on Wednesday night for a pre-season friendly, coaching legend Larry Mahony and editor Cathal Dervan discuss if Irish football supporters can support teams in Ireland and England. You can catch up with Larry at bigpicturecoachingireland.com.

The full episode is available on site now and you can watch all the previous Let’s Talk Football episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

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The great thing about James McClean is that he wears his heart on his sleeve. The not so great thing about James McClean is that he wears that heart on his sleeve and is never afraid to publicly air the views that are inspired by said heart - whether you like them or not and whether you want to hear them or not.

A friend did ask me yesterday if I had heard the inevitable news that Tiernan Lynch is no longer the manager at Derry City. As someone with the League of Ireland close to my own heart, of course I had.

The same person, another LOI devotee, asked me if I thought James had driven Tiernan out of the club. That’s an easy question if you think that those who own League of Ireland clubs pay attention to social media.

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Eyes on the prize…

I’m not so sure they do. If they did read every word that’s said about them in the poisoned word of social media, there would be precious few owners around the self proclaimed greatest league in the world.

Indeed, if the managers in our league paid any attention to X, TikTok, Instagram or Facebook, managerial jobs would be available every week of every season.

That’s why I wasn’t in the least surprised when Derry City owner Philip Doherty announced, as part of the statement outlining Tiernan Lynch’s departure from the Brandywell, that he pays little or no attention to social media or football pundits. The Lynch decision was based on results and recent results decreed it was time for a parting of the ways.

That’s it in a nutshell. Results haven’t been right at Derry City and the manager, as is always the case in professional football, paid the price. Not the owner and certainly not the players.

So James McClean, for all his recent outbursts, had little or no impact on the actual decision by Doherty to sack Lynch. What he did influence was the atmosphere around the club and, in all probability, around the city.

Derry City FC is a unique case in football. The city revolves around the club and the club revolves around the city. The two communities, sporting and public, are one and the same. When Derry suffers, Derry City FC suffers. When Derry City FC suffers, Derry suffers.

You can add James McClean to that theory. He is as Derry as anyone I have ever met, as committed to his town and his people as anyone who has ever stepped foot inside the city walls.

There are times when that obsession borders on the ridiculous but he shouldn’t be blamed for that. It’s his way and you are never going to change his way.

Instead you need to understand them before you are ever going to accept them. You need to understand that Derry - and Derry FC by association - matters to James McClean as much as his family does. Simply because everything connected with Derry is family to him.

What James may need to understand is that not everyone feels the same way and not everyone needs to share his feelings for the town he clearly loves so well. The world bleeds red but only some of it bleeds red and white like he does.

What James really needs to understand though is the power of silence. How many times has he quit social media only to return within days with new targets on his timelines? How many times has he laboured a point to score cheap points against those he clearly believes to be enemies of Derry and, therefore, his enemies?

James McClean doesn’t need anyone’s approval to voice his opinion, nor will he ever seek it.

But my advice to him now, and he will never seek that either, is to shut up. Get fit, play your football and enjoy your return home to Ireland James.

You’ve come back home with a career to be celebrated, not one to be continually thrown open to scorn by some self inflicted words on social media.

Let your feet do the talking again for a while and leave the worries of the world to the world. That’s where they belong.

It's another big story week in the League of Ireland and our LOI correspondent Darryl Geraghty joins editor Cathal Dervan again to discuss the Tiernan Lynch sacking at Derry City and the James McClean effect along with the European latest for Shamrock Rovers, Shelbourne and Bohemians...

The full episode is available on site now and you can watch all the previous Let’s Talk Football episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

No noise, just the news & views that matters. The Sports Hacks is a reader supported publication - if you like what you read, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber and sharing our work.

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First the good news. Gianni Infantino wants to run for President of FIFA for another four years from 2027. Now the bad news. Gianni Infantino wants to run for another four years as President of FIFA.

Before you go running to your local national football governing body to insist they vote against this buffoon, don’t bother. They won’t upset their backers and they can’t afford to after Wednesday’s pledge by football’s Mr Nasty to give each federation over €35million as their share of a proposed FIFA sell-off to private investors.

That €35million offer to support the FIFA Forward Enterprise - a proposal to bring together the sale of FIFA’s commercial rights including broadcasting, ticketing, sponsorship and licensing revenues - would go a long way to paying off the FAI’s near €40million debt. Just think about that for a second.

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Happy days

Then his vulgar offer was followed by a threat from Infantino of less funding for grassroots and development projects for any national associations who don’t vote this proposal through by September 19th. That’s the dissidents told. Or most of them.

Naturally the offer was met with disgust by UEFA who immediately called an emergency meeting of its members, including the FAI, and claimed Infantino had crossed a line this time.

There’s already talk of UEFA leading a revolt against Infantino and his disgusting attempts to turn world football into his own personal fiefdom. Even new British PM Andy Burnham got in on the act when he declared on X yesterday: “Football does not belong to investors. It belongs to the people who fill the stands and who stand on the touchline week in, week out, rain or shine.”

Nice words from the Labour man. Strong words that will be applauded in many European corridors of power. But useless words. There’s literally no point standing against Infantino.

The man who spent the build-up to the World Cup and the summer chasing Donald Trump’s affirmation like Fred running after Wilma in the Flintstones already has enough support from the Americas, Asia and Africa to guarantee his re-election.

So opinions on this side of the world won’t count for anything when the Sepp Blatter replacement - or clone if you like - goes to the ballot box next year with his victory already guaranteed.

We see this in politics all the time. It’s what happens when you throw enough money at your constituents to ensure they see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

As the excellent Martyn Ziegler reported recently in The Times, FIFA’s cash distributions to its 211 member associations have risen from $2million per annum in 2016 to $8million, over a four-year cycle. Now they’re all being offered a €35million bonus.

That loot - and the previous increase under Infantino’s watch - explains why those in power in three of the five continents have already decided that the status quo is just fine for another four years from 2027.

So they will continue to turn a blind eye to the despicable and ongoing behaviours of their president.

As long as Infantino and his FIFA crew keep signing the cheques - and the cheques get bigger and bigger - the emperor can continue to wear no clothes and wrap himself in the nakedness of ambition.

Crown Prince of World Football? Clown Prince is more like it.

Editor Cathal Dervan sits down with Stephen Hunt talking about life after football, players, transfers and the life of an agent. The former Crystal Palace, Brentford, Reading, Hull City, Wolves, Ipswich and Coventry played 39 times for the national team now looks after players on both sides of the Irish sea through his agency, SHM.

The full episode is available on site now and you can watch all the previous Let’s Talk Football episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

No noise, just the news & views that matters. The Sports Hacks is a reader supported publication - if you like what you read, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber and sharing our work.

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All politics is local, they say. And whoever they are, they should also acknowledge that all great sports stories are local. There’s always an angle, even when Mayo win their first All-Ireland football title in 75 years and someone on X goes looking for a League of Ireland angle. Of course, they found one.

And it’s a bloody good one, the story of Andy Moran and his time as a wannabe professional footballer introduced to the black and red stripes of Longford Town whilst still a teenager.

Moran, as reported by the Longford Live website on Monday and based on a 2025 interview with the community radio station in Castlebar, turned to the League of Ireland’s underage set-up when he came out of minor football in Mayo and was left waiting for his senior call-up to the county colours.

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Getting down to business

By all accounts he was a decent footballer when he travelled down the N5 to the Strokestown Road grounds, winning an Enda McGuill Under 21 Cup with the Town’s under 21 side in 2003. “When I was younger, it was probably always my dream to play a bit of professional soccer,” said Andy. “I loved it, I really enjoyed it.”

Moran was also humble enough in that interview to admit that he wasn’t the best minor footballer in Mayo, never mind Connacht. He was a bit part player at best and only a December call-up to train with the Mayo senior panel from then manager John Maughan persuaded him to swap professional footballer ambitions for the chase for Sam.

That chase was a forlorn one as a player. Moran played in six All-Ireland final Sundays and left Croke Park a beaten man on each occasion.

But, as current squad member and former captain Paddy Durcan told Marty Morrissey at Monday night’s homecoming, Mayo always kept knocking on that door. On Sunday, the one time Longford Town winger Andy Moran handed them the key.

Not long after the hooter sounded at Croke Park, the Longford social media crew got to work. Their tweet was a simple one - ‘Congratulations to former Longford Town player Andy Moran who managed Mayo to All-Ireland success today! #Town2026 #CmonDeTown’

It was a good move by the Town’s media crew and it wasn’t a cheap shot. That tweet was typical of the goodwill that Mayo’s first All-Ireland win in almost 80 years generated across the country and indeed as far as Joe Biden country in America and Kevin Kilbane’s new home in Canada.

Mayo’s eventual All-Ireland success story touched soccer heads just as much as it inspired the gaelic football world. One of the best photographs I’ve seen is of Steve Staunton celebrating in the Croke Park stands alongside his brothers, the win meaning as much to them in honour of their late Mayo father Tom as Louth’s proud march to the Leinster title this year did for the Dundalk family.

Sport crosses borders and sport unites. And there’s a lesson for Longford Town and every other trailblazer in Irish soccer as Mayo fans begin to think about going back to work sometime this week.

It’s been a while since Alan Matthews did an Andy Moran on it and inspired Longford Town to breakthrough honours with consecutive FAI Cup wins in 2003 and 2004.

Now back in the First Division, the Town are fifth in the table and in a dogfight to make the promotion play-off places at the end of the season. But, like their former player Andy Moran with Mayo, they are still knocking on that door.

And someday that door will open again for Longford Town just as it did for the Mayo footballers. Just don’t wait 75 years, lads! It’s not good for the heart.

In another change to ‘normal’ service it’s Tuesday Night Football for Darryl Geraghty and editor Cathal Dervan. With a huge night ahead for Shamrock Rovers and further action for LOI teams across Wednesday & Thursday, the pair delve into what might be in store for our sides.

The full episode is available on site now and you can watch all the previous Let’s Talk Football episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

No noise, just the news & views that matters. The Sports Hacks is a reader supported publication - if you like what you read, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber and sharing our work.

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The script was written long before Ross Tierney pulled his right foot back and sent a size five screaming into the top corner of the Ballkani net, a fitting finale as the curtain came down on European football at Dalymount Park.

On the ground graced by legends like Pele, Zidane, Brady, Givens Finney, Whelan, O’Connor and Jameson in a chequered past, it was appropriate that the match winning hero for the would be one of their own for the Bohemians faithful.

Ross Tierney epitomises everything that is good about Bohemians Football Club. And then some. Born and bred just up the road in Ballymun, Tierney is proud of his roots, proud of his family, proud of his community, proud to be a Bohs man.

His incredible work ethic is that of a man who knows the value of a hard shift. His loyalty is that of a man who will do whatever his right for those nearest and dearest to him. His passion is that of a man who’s only focus in life is to be the best father, husband, footballer and role model he can be.

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I’ve worked with Ross Tierney. I’ve seen first hand how hard he trains, how dedicated he is to the jersey on his back, whatever the colour. I have witnessed just how determined he is to provide his children with the very best opportunities in life.

He is making the very most of his ability as a footballer to make life better for those he goes home to. He will stretch every sinew in his body to show the world that he is entitled to earn the living he makes from football.

And that attitude, that willingness to put his body on the line and his brain into gear, whatever the demands of the occasion, ensures that Tierney will always give his best. It also embodies all that is good about the modern day Bohemian Football Club as we prepare to say goodbye to Dalymount Park as we know it.

Before anyone gets carried away with this bromance, there are things about the Bohs way that I don’t like. I’ve been going to Dalymount since I was a kid by the way so let me feel entitled to my opinions!

Some of their fans get a little too worked up about things for my liking and a few of them are far too quick to turn against their managers when things go wrong.

But this is definitely a club for its people. A club that listens to what its members want, takes the majority view on board and acts on it.

In many ways, Bohemians is the football club that the FAI should model itself on. One where the senior management actually know and understand Irish football, one where the board and those answerable to them actually listen to their members, a club that is not afraid to take the hard decisions and actually see them through.

Ross Tierney’s goal late on Wednesday night gives Bohs real hope of progressing in the Conference League when they go to Kosovo next week. It was scored by a man raised by Irish football, a real live product of the Irish system that the FAI are now rebuilding from the ground up.

The goalscorer’s story and his club’s mantra are the way forward for domestic football in this country. That match winner against Ballkani didn’t just provide a fitting farewell to European football at Dalymount before the bulldozers move in, it also provided a pathway to the future. And that’s a good night’s work from the hardest working man in Dublin - to paraphrase Jimmy Rabbitte.

With the SPFL season only a week away, there’s been plenty of noise around the lack of signings at Celtic. ASCOM has plenty to share, not just football either…

You can watch all the LTF episodes now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

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It is almost time to park the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Almost. With the League of Ireland vibrant and exciting, with our top clubs active in Europe and with the return of the English and Scottish Premier Divisions only around the corner, the world will move on from the World Cup.

That’s football. One of the beauties of the game, one of the facts facing any supporter dealing with a massive letdown from their team is the simple fact that there’s always another game on the horizon.

Rodri will return to Manchester City in a couple of weeks. Mbappe will be wearing the Real Madrid shirt again. Ronaldo will play on, regardless of his age, in Saudi Arabia. Messi will be back on South Beach in Miami alongside new team-mate Vozinho. And Pico will finally have ventured back into Dunnes Stores in Kilnamanagh for the big shop.

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Life will return to normal - or as normal as it gets for some of the superstars of international football, as normal as it will ever be again for Vozinha and Pico after their Cape Verde heroics.

We will still have the great moments of the summer of 2026 to fall back on. We will always have those magical plays from France, the tactical genius of Spain, the false promise of England, the farce of the American President’s red card interference, the 308 goals across 104 games, the Scottish bagpipes, the Viking rowers, the hydration breaks, the four quarters, Argentina’s comeback in Miami, the Torres winner again the overly aggressive Argies in the final.

Those positive memories will be there whenever our World Cup vibe needs a boost, whenever we feel like looking back at a tournament that delivered probably more than most of us expected, a tournament which proved once again that the World Cup can suck you in and stick to you like no other sporting event on the planet. It is still an essential watch every four years.

And now it is time to move on. And debate what it all means for Irish football after a summer when one of our own reversed the granny rule and starred for his father’s country on the international stage.

Four years from now Spain, Portugal and Morocco will be the main hosts for a tournament likely to be expanded to 64 teams - with Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay also hosting games to mark the 100th anniversary of this great event.

That expansion to the Beatles number is an interesting one. Will we get to love the World Cup as Ireland fans when it’s 64? Apologies to Beatles fans but it is an interesting question to ponder post the summer of 48 guns - and that’s an alarming attempt at humour.

There’s no guarantee that Europe will get significantly more teams at the next World Cup. That ignoramus Infantino is a dab hand at harvesting votes from the smaller confederations as he clings to his tainted power and you would have to suspect that votes equals more teams at the next World Cup finals for those who keep Trump’s mate in office.

So what we have to ensure is that Ireland qualify on the pitch next time around. And I’m hopeful. The Troy Parrott generation will be four years older and have the benefit of the Euro 28 campaign behind them.

The kids coming up behind Troy - the Noonans, Melias, Umehs and Devanneys - will be senior internationals by then. A generational talent may well have exploded from the traps. We might even have a Head Coach who knows how to protect a two goal lead in a play-off away from home and see it through. It won’t be the current incumbent by the way but that’s a story for another day.

Who knows, four years from now the FAI might have sorted itself out and realised that it is a members association, not a supermarket chain.

What we cannot do is allow another World Cup to pass us by. Norway and Scotland have had their shot at the ‘best fans in the world’ title. It’s time to get the champions back in the ring.

Let’s do whatever needs to be done to get Ireland back on the World Cup stage in 2030. We deserve another Ray Houghton moment of our own.

Renowned coach and coach educator Larry Mahony joins us for his regular chat and discusses the finale to the World Cup, the non-football from Argentina versus the patient approach from Spain - catch up with Larry at www.bigpicturecoachingIreland.com.

Watch the full episode now on TheSportsHacks.com

or you can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel

Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!

No noise, just the news & views that matters. The Sports Hacks is a reader supported publication - if you like what you read, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber and sharing our work.

Share