- John Haughey
- 1 Oct 07, 05:57 PM
It hasn鈥檛 quite matched the national trauma induced by departure from five years ago but Ireland rugby team鈥檚 hapless efforts in France have gripped the over the past three weeks.
Two months ago, a semi-final place in this World Cup was being spoken about as the minimum acceptable requirement for this so-called Golden Generation of Irish players.
Instead, their World Cup was over before we made it into October as the shambolic displays against and Georgia were followed by conclusive defeats against and .
Continue reading "Emerald Isle wants answers after World Cup flop"
- John Haughey
- 17 Sep 07, 12:01 PM
Belfast - Ireland coach Eddie O鈥橲ullivan has made three changes for Friday鈥檚 must-win World Cup clash against but the biggest talking-point may be his decision to leave out of the entire 22.
The Ireland team is: Dempsey; Horgan, O'Driscoll, capt, D'Arcy, Trimble; O'Gara, Reddan; Horan, Flannery, Hayes, O'Callaghan, O'Connell, Easterby, D Wallace, Leamy. Replacements: Sheahan, S Best, O'Kelly, N Best, Boss, P Wallace, Duffy.
To put it mildly, Gavin Duffy's inclusion on the bench at Murphy's expense is baffling.
Continue reading "Murphy absence baffling"
- John Haughey
- 16 Sep 07, 05:21 PM
Belfast - It wasn't meant to be like this.
The closing minutes of Saturday's World Cup win over Georgia was some kind of weird sporting for a stunned Irish sporting public.
Millions of Euro have been ploughed into this professional Irish rugby team yet for the second weekend in succession they have been embarrassed by the so-called minnows of world rugby.
Continue reading "O'Sullivan must stop the rot"
- John Haughey
- 16 Jul 07, 12:50 PM
I work for 91热爆 Northern Ireland as an internet sports journalist and given that we have a small team, I cover a wide variety of sports although my particular strengths in knowledge-terms would probably be Gaelic Games and Athletics - although others may beg to differ.
I've also enjoyed dipping my toe into the Rugby Union world since I joined the 91热爆 in Belfast.
After university, I did a variety of jobs, including an interesting year TEFL teaching in Greece before returning to Ireland to study journalism for two years in Dublin.
At the end of my Masters at Dublin City University in June 1993, I was sent on a two-month placement at the Irish News in Belfast and I was fortunate enough to be kept on.
I was appointed as deputy sports editor in 1997 and then got the sport editor's job a year later.
Highlights during my Irish News stint were covering the World Athletics Championships in Athens and Seville in 1997 which mixed work and vacations.
I was a passionate Manchester United fan from the age of 9 until about five years ago and Alex Ferguson's refusal to allow Roy Keane to rejoin the Republic of Ireland squad during the early days of Brian Kerr's reign led to me severing all links with the Red Devils.
In terms of my own participation, Golf is my main sporting love. I was a six handicapper in my youth and it is a source of immense frustration that my game has deteriorated markedly over the last 20 years even though according to the Golfing Union of Ireland I still play off seven - university, work and the yips did for me.
