Brentford boss Keith Andrews has urged his side to fight fire with fire when they tackle Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Monday night game tonight.
The Bees go to Manchester looking for the win to end a run of five straight Premier League draws and seeking a first victory at the venue since 1937 and a first there since winning promotion in 2021.
“It is a special place to play football, for sure, and a special place to go, with the history of the stadium and the football club,” the Dubliner is quoted as saying by the RTE Sport website.
“I think it is just in that bracket of clubs where you want to go and really test yourself as a player - with the environment and the team that you are facing, but also the individuals that they will be coming up against.
“It is a really, really tough test for us against a team that is playing well, playing really good football. They have obviously been very, very effective in what way he (Michael Carrick) set them up over recent weeks and months.
“I just think it is a game for us that we should attack. We should embrace the challenge of it and it has been a while since we have been able to do that there.”
Kevin Moran at 70 on his iconic career, life, deaths and the one moment he would love to relive
Dublin legend and Ireland legend, Kevin Moran turns 70 on Wednesday with the spirit of a man half his age judging by a quite extraordinary interview with Roy Curtis in the Irish Mirror.
The All-Ireland winning Gaelic footballer with his beloved Dublin and a World Cup hero under Jack Charlton, Moran recalls the glory days and friendships made in an honest and charming sit-down.
And his views on reaching 70 are just wonderful. “It doesn’t bother me one iota,” he told Roy Curtis. “honestly, it means nothing. What matters is how you feel and I’m blessed that I feel great. The rest is just a number.
“We had a little celebration in Dublin last weekend. They say 70 is the new 50, but I said, ‘no, it is the new 40.’ There were a few pints and a singsong in O’Donoghue’s last Saturday with a gang of lifelong friends. That old adage about Guinness being good for you definitely has merit.”
Stephen Kenny has joked that he may push kick-off times at Richmond Park closer to midnight for the summer after his St Patrick’s Athletic team moved back to the top of the Premier Division table with a 3-1 win over Bohs on Friday night.
The lessening need for floodlights as the bright evenings deepen is one of the reasons Kenny wants to protect the mood in Inchicore.
Speaking to the Irish Sun after the derby win against Bohs, Kenny declared: “It was a great atmosphere and we need more of that. Sometimes in the summer months, people go on holidays and there is other stuff going on, it’s bright and you lose some of that . . .
“People shout louder in the dark when the lights are on. We might have to put the games on at 9.30 or 10pm! We need to maintain that.”
Hibs star Jamie McGrath has expressed his burning desire to get back into the Ireland squad and add to his haul of 13 caps, the last coming in 2024.
McGrath played 64 minutes of Sunday’s 2-1 Edinburgh derby defeat, the two Hearts goals ironically coming after he was part of a triple substitution by the home side’s boss David Gray.
In a pre-match interview though, he outlined his international ambitions to Paul Rowan of the Sunday Times.
Meath native McGrath said: “I’m very happy with where I am at. But the one thing burning away is trying to get back in the national team. Trying every week to force my way back in because it’s been a while and my main reason for playing football has always been to play for Ireland.”
Cesc Fabregas was tight-lipped when asked about the Chelsea managerial vacancy but his Italian bosses at Serie A side Como have no issues with their man being in the frame to succeed Liam Rosenior.
Blues legend Fabregas was refused permission to speak to Inter Milan last summer but Como president Mirwan Suwarso won’t block any Chelsea approach.
Talksport’s website quotes Suwarso as saying: “If that makes him happy, that’s him. You want your employees to stay with you for as long as possible but at the end of the day we don’t own him and he’s free to go to Chelsea if he wishes.”
Fabregas countered the story however when he said he has: “Nothing to say about that.”
