22 June 2026; Patrick Hickey of Bohemians in action against Rodrigo Freitas of Shelbourne during the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division match between Shelbourne and Bohemians at Tolka Park in Dublin. Photo by Tyler Miller/Sportsfile
Be warned, lightning can strike twice and will do so again at this World Cup as Philly game descends into farce
Cathal Dervan, Editor
A day when we waited for history and a day when history was made at the FIFA World Cup but ultimately a day that ended in farce as the RTE pundits were left to fill air time with chats about everything from horse sales to robot footballers.
France against Iraq kicked off just an hour or so after Lionel Messi rewrote history with the goals that confirmed his standing as the World Cup’s leading scorer of all time, goals against Ireland’s upcoming Nations League opponents Austria by the way.
As Messi overtook Miroslav Klose in the scoring charts so Kylian Mbappe served notice of his intentions to eventually overtake the Argentinean in that regard with a quite stunning opener against the Iraqis.
Then the rain and the lightning hit Philly as the players made their way to the dressing-rooms for the half-time cup of tea. And the farce descended on this World Cup as quickly as the rain fell on the home of the Eagles.
The RTE pundits - Kevin Doyle, Aine Gorman and Stephen Kelly - did their best to fill in under the watchful eye of Clare McNamara. Over on the BBC, Kelly Cates did her best to keep Gael Clichy, Olivier Giroud and Joe Hart on script.
Between them, the pundits in Dublin and London tried hard to stay relevant. As part of his self confessed waffling, Kevin Doyle leaned on his horse breeding experience to explain that Lionel Messi is not your typical footballer. At a horse fair, he told us, the Lionel Messi types would be left behind in favour of the thoroughbred specimens.
Stephen Kelly expanded on the Messi debate during a discussion on Ronaldo’s World Cup failings to date. A football robot, Kelly suggested, would be more Ronaldo than Messi.
Fair enough, even if Messi is more likely to stay longer in this tournament and score more goals than the divisive Ronaldo. See, even this viewer joined the irrelevant conversation as we waited to see if it would ever be sunny again in Philadelphia.
At least Joe Hart did give me some ammunition over on the BBC. As you will see from our World Cup podcast today with Rob Shepherd, I have fears over the ability of England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford to keep his team in this tournament when it comes under real pressure.
Turns out, according to Hart, the ball is the problem. Once it goes at any height there is no spin and the ‘keepers are struggling to cope with it.
So the weather break did some good. I might have learned more than that only for the fact that I went to bed at midnight - two hours after kick-off and an hour or so after the half-time break.
FIVE2FOLLOW
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Roy says no… to golf
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At that time, there was no solid news on when the game would resume. And by then I’d lost the interest to wait or listen to any more waffle on RTE or the BBC.
It was all very farcical. Like so many other things that have gone wrong in this tournament. And it is bound to happen again.
At least, we all know who to blame - Gianni Infantino for awarding the tournament to the United States and Donald Trump for not ensuring the torrential rain and the lightning was kept away from the Philadelphia Stadium. It’s their fault.
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The key stories developing today
England midfielder Declan Rice has revealed how Arsenal’s ‘chronic’ fixture schedule forced him to play through injury ahead of the World Cup finals.
Rice revealed to Talksport ahead of Tuesday’s game against Ghana that he has been battling nerve pain in his hamstring since December,
The injury flared up against Croatia in England’s opening game but the Arsenal man insisted he will be fit to face Ghana. Rice said: “I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time.
“Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that, it was all behind-the-scenes stuff, but it was a smart decision. In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70‑minute match.
“But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it, and I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.
“It’s an obscene amount of games, the schedule was crazy, but what can we do about it? You can’t sit and complain. We have to just get on with it for the moments like I had winning that Premier League.
“You’d play as many games as possible to have that feeling again and knowing that there’s a World Cup at the end of it as well.
“You know, you’d put your body on the line to be always in to play, it’s a lot of games, but we’ll get our break at the end.”
Roy Keane has urged NFL superstar Tom Brady to get back to Cork as soon as possible according to a report in the Irish Sun but admitted he won’t be joining him for a game of golf at the Old Head.
The pair shared some onscreen banter during a World Cup edition of The Overlap podcast when Brady revealed he is due to visit Ireland soon for golf at Royal County Down, Portmarnock, and Adare Manor.
Leesider Keane advised: “Tom, you have to get to Cork. Have you heard of the golf course in Kinsale? The Old Head it’s called.”
Brady then disclosed: “The Old Head, of course. I played there a while ago. Loved it.” Keane then confessed: “I’m not into golf of course, but I know the courses and like watching it.”
Brady responded: “How is an Irishman not into golf?”. Roy answered: “I didn’t have the patience for it, Tom.”
Harry Vaughan showed once again why Bohs want to sign him on a permanent deal as he scored after just 27 seconds of Monday night’s 3-0 hammering of Shelbourne at Tolka Park.
Vaughan’s goal sent Bohs on their way to a much needed win with Colm Whelan and Ross Tierney also on target in a game that saw Shels finish with 10 men after a late red card for Sean Boyd.
League leaders Shamrock Rovers were held to a 1-1 draw in Tallaght by Derry City in the night’s other Premier Division game.
Former Irish international Derrick Williams has announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 33 after a career that saw him play across the divisions in England and in the MLS.
The Irish Independent reports from a statement issued by Reading on behalf of Williams which said: “After much consideration across the off-season, I have decided to call time on my playing career. I feel as though now is the right time to move on and look ahead to what’s next for myself and my family.”
Northern Ireland captain Shea Charles looks set to move back to the Premier League as Leeds United step up their bid to sign the Southampton midfielder.
The Athletic is reporting that Leeds have had an initial £20million bid for Charles turned down but are expected to improve the offer in the coming days.
Leeds are also looking at free-agent deals for Borussia Dortmund’s Julian Brandt and Fulham’s Harry Wilson.
