“Somebody needs to start sticking up for Evan Ferguson,” says Kevin Kilbane who has had his fill of Roma manager Gian Piero Gasperini “never missing a chance” to criticise the 21-year-old. “Without fail, he has damaged the reputation of one of the best young footballers Ireland has ever produced.”
Heimir Hallgrímsson will, of course, hope that Ferguson recovers his confidence - and fitness - in time for next month’s World Cup play-off semi-final against the Czech Republic, and, beyond that, the Nations League, the draw for which takes place this evening. Gavin Cummiskey tells us that one of Ireland’s potential opponents could be….. Israel.
Meanwhile, Manchester United’s co-owner Jim Ratcliffe has complained that Britain has been “colonised” by immigrants who aren’t contributing a whole lot. He didn’t, though, actually name Manuel Ugarte and Matthijs de Ligt.
In rugby, Gerry Thornley has word on the five or six changes Andy Farrell is likely to make to his team for Saturday’s game against Italy, while John O’Sullivan looks at Irish rugby’s production line, one that is in desperate need of “refinement”.
READ MORE
John also has news on the Irish under-20 side named for tomorrow’s Six Nations game against Italy in Cork, while Gerry talks to Dan Sheehan’s kid brother Bobby who will be in the Ireland Clubs side that takes on their Scottish counterparts at Energia Park tomorrow.
In Gaelic games, the University of Limerick are celebrating their first Sigerson Cup title after Wednesday evening’s win over UCC at Croke Park, a venue stadium director Peter McKenna is confident will host another money-spinning NFL game next year. And Ciarán Murphy wonders if the NFL should follow the GAA’s example when it comes to choosing its “MVP”.
Ian O’Riordan has the latest Irish Winter Olympics news, talking to Cormac Comerford after he finished 37th in the super-G. It was a quirky enough day in Italy, a Norwegian bronze medallist telling the world he had cheated on his girlfriend. Like you do.
Nathan Johns reports on a “shellacking” for Ireland by Australia at cricket’s T20 World Cup; Philip Reid previews the Pebble Beach pro-am where Rory McIlroy will attempt to defend his title; and Brian O’Connor hears from Willie Mullins ahead of the trainer sending “yet another outstanding festival team” to Cheltenham next month.
And Dave Hannigan writes about the closure of The Washington Post’s sport section by the “cultural vandal” that is Jeff Bezos, but will the younger generation even notice? Probably not. “To them, the idea of paying for journalism is preposterous and prehistoric. You might as well inquire if they have spare change for the payphone.”
TV Watch: There are just the 14-ish hours of live Winter Olympics coverage on BBC1/2 and TNT Sports through the day and night, and come 4.45pm Sky Sports Golf brings you round one at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. And at 8pm, Arsenal will attempt to restore their six-point Premier League lead over Manchester City when they take on Keith Andrews’ Brentford (TNT Sports 1).
