Although in general the Irish players are losing weight in the African heat, one player is having trouble keeping it off. Celtic midfielder Colin Healy, an under-18 player whose performances at that level earned him a late call into the squad for this competition, is perhaps becoming more widely known for his waistline.

Apparently the young Cork-man and Joe Walsh, the team's kit manager, have been eating little but Snickers and Mars bars since arriving in Africa and the teenager reckons he's put on a stone in the last week. The fact that Sepp Blatter was in town for Sunday's opening Group C games was regarded as something of a coup until the lights went out and it became a bit of an embarrassment for the local organisers.

Only an hour before the kick off your typical all things to all men senior football administrator had been answering questions from the Nigerian media about the chances of the senior World Cup coming here in 2006. Blatter was as charming as ever, telling the packed press conference that with only three games of these championships played and the half of the African nations championships that Nigeria will host next year still to come, it was just a little early to say. He said, however, he generally had a very positive feeling about the country's candidacy.

Two hours and 10 minutes later he was sitting in the dark listening to an announcement over the stadium tannoy suggesting that we should refrain from panic as our safety was guaranteed. It's far from certain his safety would have been guaranteed if the visiting media could have found the world's chief soccocrat in the dark.

There are still various explanations as to why the floodlights went out on Sunday. Some newspapers simply blamed the state electricity supply company, NEPA. The organisers had, however, reacted with scepticism to NEPA's promise that venues and the surrounding areas would get six hours of uninterrupted supply, before, during and after the games.

Instead they had opted to rely on their own generators. This much we know but there are then two differing stories with one paper claiming that an insider had informed them that senior officials had chosen to ignore warnings that their own generators were dodgy and that it would be better to switch back to the mains. Alhaji Mufutau Oduntan, a zonal co-ordinator for the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, told journalist David McKechnie, however, that the problem was simply "a blown fuse." In any event, Oduntan promises it won't happen again.

Most of the 50 or so Irish supporters at Sunday's game were, predictably enough, ex-pats and there may have been a record set for the highest proportion of clergy amongst the fans ever to cheer on an international team in a competitive game (doubtless it will be beaten when the Vatican, as it undoubtedly will, affiliates to UEFA and FIFA).

The priests and nuns were joined by Irish ambassador Joe Lynch, his staff, some local businessmen and managers of multi-nationals such as Guinness as well as, remarkably, two punters who travelled from Ireland for the tournament. Jimmy Ryan, a Garda from Cork, and Pat O'Sullivan from Limerick had both stayed in Lagos for a couple of days before making it up to Ibadan for the game. Their budgets were already getting tight due to the special football supporters rates on offer in the local hotels, generally 150 bucks per night (quite a lot of pounds).

At a reception back in the team hotel after Sunday's game, however, the SMA fathers came to the rescue and the two men have now taken up residence at the order's seminary at New Bodije where handily enough for them, Brian Kerr regularly puts his players through their paces when he doesn't want the hassle of negotiating for the official training pitch at the Liberty stadium.