WATERFORD LEAGUE RESULTS Lismore 3 Villa 3

Saturday last Lismore had the Villa as visitors to the Castle Farm Ground in Division 2B and the points were shared 3-3 following a very good game of football.

Sam Uniacke gave Lismore the lead after ten minutes and they were the better team for most of this half. However, the Villa equalised in the 30th minute, against the run of play, and Lismore then had an opportunity to regain the lead when they were awarded a penalty, but the spot kick was missed. With a minute to the break the home team did take the lead when Aaron Whelan scored – 2-1 at halftime to Lismore.

The opening 20mins of the second half had the Villa on top. They equalised and then took the lead from the penalty spot.

Lismore kept attacking looking for the equaliser and were rewarded with five minutes remaining, when Dave Smith scored. Lismore dominated the final minutes and injury time, but were unable to find the net and had to settle for a share of the points 3-3.

Lismore have no game this weekend.

Ballyduff Rovers 3 Villa 0

Ballyduff Rovers had their first victory in Division 3A when they defeated the Villa 3-0. As we complete our notes on Monday morning we do not have the goal scorers, but this is a great result for the village team.

Ballyduff are at home again this coming Saturday when Kilmacthomas are the visitors in 3A.

Elsewhere, on Sunday, Brideview will make the trip to Waterford to play De La Salle in Division 2A with a 2pm start.

IRELAND SET TO COMPLETE THEIR UEFA EURO 2024 CAMPAIGN

This Saturday Stephen Kenny’s Republic of Ireland will play their final group game in the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers when they travel to the Johan Cruyff Arena Amsterdam to play the Netherlands. Already out of contention, this is just completing the group games for Ireland.

Once again this campaign has been disappointing for the Irish team and in all probability could be manager Stephen Kenny’s final game in charge. With just two wins from seven games played in the group (against bottom team Gibraltar), this has been a dismal and definitely one of the worst campaigns we have seen by the Irish team and as we wrote last week, the Irish rankings of 34th in 2020 down to 58th at present tells its own sad story.

So many times, we have written here of how happy we were when Stephen Kenny was appointed as international manager. The expectation was he would bring in fresh faces into the team from his involvement with the Irish U21s. This he did and he changed the philosophy how the team would play under his regime. The system he adopted came in for much criticism, playing the ball from the back and getting rid of the long ball up the field. The criticism came from former international players who were used to that very same old system.

However, and unfortunately for Stephen Kenny, the system he wished to employ was taking time with the young players that were receiving their first caps at senior level and the results saw the team out of tournaments after only a few group games in each competition. When the current campaign began, it was obvious the team had to qualify, but the group included France (beaten by Argentina in the World Cup final a few months back) and the Netherlands, not the team they once were, but still strong enough to be deemed favourites to finish second to France.

Greece was the team the Irish were expected to beat home and away and then take full points from Gibraltar in the two fixtures. We all remember the game away in Athens last June which saw the Irish lose out in a display that had everyone criticising the team and management. Liam Brady said “we haven’t got the players and this is the worst group of players that any Irish manager has had in my lifetime”.

We wrote at the time that after just two games and two defeats (v France and Greece), we were on the brink of elimination from the group. In fairness to Kenny, he has given twenty players their first caps and an opportunity to commence their international careers. The next Irish manager will have those players at his disposal and they will already have the experience of playing at international level.

Saturday night’s game is a chance for the team and especially the manager to win back some pride in the green jersey and we hope that the team will do well and maybe, just maybe, get a result that will see Stephen Kenny step down with a victory against one of the teams ranked above the Irish.

On Tuesday next, Ireland will play a friendly at the Aviva against New Zealand and Stephen Kenny will probably be in charge.

U21

This Friday the Irish U21 team play the first of two fixtures over the weekend as they prepare for the UEFA Championship 2023. On Friday they travel to play Norway in a friendly and then next Monday 20th they will play Italy at Turner’s Cross in a group game, a group that see them at the top of the table following their three group wins.

Monday’s game is of vital importance and a win here will almost certainly see them qualify from the group, although it is still only the halfway stage. Tickets for this game are still available and there should be a large crowd at the Cross, as there has been for the group games played here already.