25 April 2026; A patch of flowers are seen as a linesman runs the line during the FAI Youth Inter-Provincial Tournament match between Leinster FA and Munster FA at Drom, Salthill Devon in Galway. Photo by Tyler Miller/Sportsfile
James McClean and only James McClean will decide when to call it quits
LOI deserves to see Jimmy back on the field
Cathal Dervan, Editor
God bless the poor surgeon who took it upon himself recently to tell James McClean that ‘he has no business being on a football pitch’ as he delivered a preliminary prognosis on the playing future of one of Ireland’s most iconic footballers.
We can only assume that the unnamed medic was telling it as he sees it, having first examined McClean’s ongoing hip injury before delivering his final verdict at a meeting with the Derry City player on Friday just gone.
That meeting was first revealed by McClean on social media on Thursday night last. The outcome will probably become public knowledge in the coming days as McClean and his club consider his options.
Based on McClean’s post, it may not be good news given that the old plastic pitch at the Brandywell has only aggravated his hip problem since his return home from Wrexham.
When James tells you that he is struggling with the pain, you better believe him. When he explains that it is interfering with his life, including his devotion to his kids, then you can only begin to sense how serious it all is.
Hence his fear, as revealed on Instagram, that the injury may be too far gone to facilitate the surgery he feels represents his only chance to fulfil his final wish in football and serve his Derry City club with distinction and pride before he finally retires.
The surgeon would appear to be in the glass half empty camp. But many people before him have told James McClean that he has no business being on a football pitch. And he’s never bowed to any of them.
Part of that is the Derry in James McClean, the resilience that has seen those who worship the Candystripes through so many hard times in the past. They know a challenge in the North-West and like his peers, McClean loves a challenge. They also know how to battle against the odds.
That’s why Tiernan Lynch confirmed after Friday night’s big win against Shamrock Rovers that he wouldn’t be surprised if James turned up in a wheelchair and still togged out in the red and white stripes.
FIVE2FOLLOW
Andrews’ firefighting
Moran at 70
St Pats summer postponement
McGrath’s desire
Fabregas’ Como Blues
It wouldn’t surprise any of us to be fair. When he came home from Wrexham’s version of Hollywood in January, Jimmy wanted to end his career by making a real impact on the Derry team. Not, I suspect by limiting his movement in a central midfield role curtailed by the pain and restrictions of this hip issue.
He deserves a better swansong. The League of Ireland also deserves a fitting farewell season or two from the player who earned 103 caps for his country and won the heart of the nation with his commitment.
Never afraid of a fight or taking a stance, McClean will give this last battle his all. He deserves to win it and to end his professional career on his own terms, not on the recommendation of a surgeon.
Ironically, James McClean wasn’t in the Derry set-up for the game against Rovers. He did train at the interim City venue with his team-mates on Thursday, just before his Instagram post dropped, but he didn’t make the match day squad.
So he wasn’t put out to grass at Celtic Park on Friday. Fitting, if you think about it.
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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.”
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