Martin O’Neill is already winding his Scottish Cup final opponent Neil Lennon up after telling a hilarious story about the one-time state of Lenny’s house live on Premier Sports.
Celtic eventually thumped St Mirren 6-2 but needed extra-time, and four unanswered goals, to get the job done at Hampden Park.
The Bhoys will now meet their former captain and manager Lennon in next month’s final after he masterminded a penalty shoot-out win for Championship side Dunfermline against Falkirk in Saturday’s first semi-final.
Lennon was on pundit duty for Premier Sports at the Celtic game and was reunited with his former boss for the post-match interviews with O’Neill revealing how he stayed in Lennon’s house before signing him for Leicester from Crewe.
Reminded that it’s 30 years since that signing, O’Neill went on to highlight how he insisted on visiting Lennon at home to convince him to move to the Foxes and then revealed he needed to wipe his feet - on the way out!
O’Neill also complimented Lennon’s work as a manager and as a player with the Daily Record quoting him as saying: “He has been fantastic for me, there is no point in praising him any higher, both at Leicester and at Celtic. A major player for us, yeah, and his record in management is second to none.”
Shamrock Rovers enjoyed a statement 2-1 win over Bohemians in a pulsating Dublin derby at Tallaght Stadium on Friday night but not even two ‘disputed’ penalties could persuade Stephen Bradley to back the introduction of VAR to the League of Ireland.
Bradley was the happier of the two managers by a distance after Graham Burke scored from play and from the spot to put the Hoops 2-0 up before the break but Colm Whelan gave the visitors hope when he netted an 80th minute penalty.
Opposite number Alan Reynolds wasn’t happy about ref Rob Hennessy’s decision to award Rovers their 44th minute penalty but Bradley had no issue with either decision and told the Irish Mirror’s Mark McCadden about his distaste for VAR.
“They’re both penalties in my opinion but, yeah, we don’t want VAR, that’s for sure,” said Bradley. “I think VAR is killing the game. They were supposed to bring it in to make it more black and white. It’s mad, it’s created more grey areas. It’s nonsense.
“You’re still going to a video room, but it’s someone else’s opinion. It doesn’t make sense. I think it’s actually made the game worse.”
Local hero Denise O’Sullivan will miss the return of international football to Leeside when Holland visit her native Cork for a World Cup qualifier in June but the Irish midfielder still took the positives from Saturday’s 1-0 win over Poland at the Aviva.
The Liverpool midfielder will miss that home fixture after she picked up a yellow card against the Poles and told Extratime’s Macdara Ferris of her disappointment.
“It’s frustrating that I’m missing the game in Cork,” admitted O’Sullivan. “It’s a massive game for the team so of course I’m really gutted but it is what it is. It’s part of football, it happens.
“I’ll take the positives, and that’s the three points tonight. I’m sure I’ll be there cheering the girls on in Cork. I trust them, I trust the staff that they’re going to go out and do everything in their power to get something in those games. I’m keeping my head up. That’s the mentality.”
Troy Parrott’s incredible season continued on Sunday with the Dubliner on the scoresheet as AZ Alkmaar defeated NEC Nijmegen 5-1 to lift the Dutch Cup at the Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam.
The Irish Examiner reports that Parrott scored the fifth and final goal five minutes into stoppage time when a close-range effort took a wicked deflection.
Manager Pep Guardiola and striker Erling Haaland had plenty to say as Manchester City did their title hopes a huge favour with Sunday’s 2-1 home win against Premier League leaders Arsenal with Haaland scoring the 65th minute winner.
