17 May 2026; Mia Mulconry of Cork in action against Isabella Finney of Wexford during the FAI Women’s U19 Inter-League Cup final match between Wexford and Cork at Ferrycarrig Park in Wexford. Photo by Tyler Miller/Sportsfile
Arsenal title lifts the Gunners, Saints turn to sinners and football keeps on delivering
Cathal Dervan, Editor
Remember the children. Remember your childhood. Remember that special feeling when football offered you the realisation of all your sporting dreams. Remember the kids with Arsenal and Southampton shirts in their locker when you take these words on board.
Some of them are smiling today as they celebrate a first Arsenal Premier League title in 22 years. Some of them are asking why they won’t be going to Wembley on Saturday now that the adults in charge of Southampton FC have paid the price for cheating.
Southampton’s Ryan Manning, a Saint but not a sinner and now not a participant in the EFL play-off showpiece at Wembley
All of them are experiencing the emotional roller coaster of emotions that football will subject them to for the rest of their lives, Gunners or Saints, League or Cup. The highs will be high and the lows will be low.
One of the great disappointments last weekend was the utter and complete devaluation of the FA Cup final. It was almost forgotten about as Manchester City defeated Chelsea 1-0 at the new Wembley, a week before Southampton were due to play Hull City on the same hallowed turf.
If the stories are correct, then in years to come the 2026 edition of what was once the most famous game of any year in English football will be remembered as Pep’s last stand, as the final occasion on which Guardiola lifted a trophy for Manchester City.
Yet there was little or no razzamatazz about the Blues achievement. And that hurts. In my day - and I go all the way back to the 1971 FA Cup final - this was the day of all days..
Granted we didn’t have Sky Sports or Premier or TNT or Amazon Prime or Netflix in those days. Many of us didn’t even have BBC or UTV available on a daily basis.
So live football in our living rooms was about as common as a dry day in Ireland. That’s why the FA Cup final was special. It was wall to wall coverage - breakfast from the team hotel, interviews with the players and the managers, footage as the bus made its way towards the Twin Towers, cameras inside the dressing room, live coverage as the men in suits led their teams out.
It was rare and it was magical. Charlie George diving on the Wembley grass that 1971 Saturday has stayed with me forever. It prompted a lifelong love affair with the Gunners, a lifelong fascination for all things football and for the Arsenal.
That’s why the public disregard for the Cup final on Saturday was disappointing. That’s why Arsenal’s title win in absentia on Tuesday night, their first in 22 years and the first for the great Mikel Arteta, was so special.
That’s why I feel for the Southampton fans today, young and old, and for their Irish players Finn Azaz and Ryan Manning. They weren’t the ones who authorised a young staff member to hide behind a tree and record phone camera footage of a Middlesbrough training session.
They weren’t the ones recording Oxford United and Ipswich training sessions earlier this season. Yet they are the ones who are really going to feel the pain this Saturday - pending appeal - when the play-off final goes ahead without them, the richest game in club football as they like to call it.
FIVE2FOLLOW
Five of the Best
Bruno’s disappointing assists
Super six for Cristiano
Doherty damns decision
Katie’s team of the season
Football, as Mikel Arteta will tell you today, will lift you up like little else in life.
Football, as Southampton fans and players alike will tell you, will let you down like nothing else in life.
That’s the beauty of the game. And it’s why, 55 years after a Saturday devoted to an FA Cup final, it still woos me every day of every week. And we wouldn’t swap it for the world!
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.
Roberto ‘Pico’ Lopes was speaking at the Nike x Intersport Elverys Gear Up experience, celebrating his journey from the League of Ireland to the FIFA World Cup while showcasing the latest Nike Tiempo with fans in-store. The Nike Tiempo is available in-store at INTERSPORT Elverys and online at www.elverys.ie
The key stories developing today
The BBC has marked what would have been the 80th birthday of Belfast Boy George Best on Friday with a fascinating feature on five things that made him a footballing genius.
Reporter Simon Stone caught up with a number of people who caught the Georgie Best genius at first hand including his former team-mate Sammy McIlroy who turned to Lionel Messi as a comparison.
“Lionel Messi is close to Best in the way he plays. He can dribble, beat people, score goals and make goals,” McIlroy told Stone.
“Messi has got this amazing dribbling ability. Best had that too but it was in the 1960s, when the conditions were much different to the way they are now.
“The pitches were terrible and your opponents wanted to hurt you. Norman Hunter, Tommy Smith and Ron Harris were good players but they were cruel in the way they played.
“It didn’t bother George. It didn’t matter who was dishing it out. He used to take the rough stuff, get up and say,’come on then, let’s have some more.”
McIlroy recalled, as a 13-year-old, watching Best destroy Scotland in an international at Windsor Park.
He added: “I never saw another performance like it in my life. It was a one-man show. He made me want to be a footballer. He made me want to join Manchester United.
“Everything came naturally to him. Left foot, right foot, shoot, head, tackle. He was a natural lad, a lovely lad. He spent a little bit of time with me, as he did with the all the other Belfast trialists that came over. George always had time for you. I really admired that.
“When I signed as an apprentice in 1969, I brought my mum and dad over and right away he came across and spoke to them. I was standing there listening to him telling my parents he would look after me.
“My dad’s eyes were just glued on Bestie. He never opened his mouth. He was just in awe of George.”
Manchester United and Ireland legend Roy Keane has branded Bruno Fernandes and the pursuit of the Premier League’s assist record as a circus act.
Fernandes equalled the PL single-season record of 20 assists when he set up Bryan Mbeumo for United’s third goal in Sunday’s 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest, joining Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne in the history books.
But the Portuguese midfielder has been criticised of opting to pass when shooting opportunities were on the cards with Keane critical on The Overlap of his decision making on the day.
The42 website reports Keane as saying: “When you’re the captain of a club and you’re supposed to be driving the club forward, do not be getting bogged down by just your role in the team, just assists.
“What I heard at United at the weekend, honestly, I was raging with it. The whole chat about his assists… Everyone, the players were (talking about it), the game was about his assists. That’s the whole thing.
“After the game, he got interviewed and he said, the captain of Manchester United, said ‘A few times, I probably should have… shot but I made the passes’. Wow. How can your mindset be not to win the match but be about an individual record?”
Keane responded to comments from Gary Neville that Fernandes had turned down lucrative moves to other clubs by insisting that the player needed to change his mindset.
“He won’t be winning trophies, not with that mindset of the team,” said Keane. “They’re giving up two goals and everyone’s getting all giddy because he’s equalled the record for assists. It’s mind-boggling. It’s a circus act.
“Bruno gives a pass and they missed it. What did Bruno do after he missed it? He went on the floor. Why is he falling? (He’s disappointed) for himself. His striker is having a difficult spell and missed a couple of chances, and he’s thinking of himself.”
BBC Sport reports that the 41-year-old forward already holds the men’s record for all-time international appearances (226) and goals (143) and is one of six players to have played in five World Cups.
Lionel Messi also looks certain to play in his sixth World Cup after captaining Argentina to glory four years ago in Qatar.
Ronaldo, sent off against Ireland in the qualifiers, is suspension free for the tournament.
Coach Roberto Martinez has named a squad of ‘27 players plus one’ in reference to former Liverpool forward Diogo Jota, who died in a car crash last July.
“He is our strength, our joy,” said Martinez. “Losing Diogo was an unforgettable and very difficult moment, but the very next day it was up to all of us to fight for Diogo’s dream and for the example he always set in our national team.
“Diogo Jota’s spirit, strength and example are the plus one and will always be the plus one.”
Waterford won their first game of the season against Drogheda on Monday night - but United boss Kevin Doherty was left fuming by the late penalty decision that cost his team a 2-1 defeat.
Tommy Lonergan was adjudged to have been fouled by ‘keeper Fynn Talley as he cleared his line with referee Neil Doyle pointing to the spot.
Lonergan scored from the spot and Doherty was red carded for his protests, later slamming the decision in an interview on LOI TV which was reported on by RTE.
“I can’t believe it, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” said Doherty. “People will say ‘here he goes again’ but just have a look. It’s so, so so - I could add ‘so’ a hundred times and it wouldn’t be enough - poor.
“And again, here I go again. Neil Doyle - absolutely excellent referee and a brilliant fella - but it’s in my opinion possibly one of the worst (decisions) I’ve ever seen.”
All photos on TheSportsHacks are provided by Sportsfile.com
Have you got something to share? Want to get involved? We’re always ready to hear a different view and we’re always on the look out for new contributors - young and old, experienced writers or fresh minds.
Simply reply to this email with your details and we’ll be in touch.
