Barry's Blog

RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP  QUALIFIER SPAIN 8-42 IRELAND MC CARTHY MADE Spain took an early lead, dashing scrum half Romain Pallares landing a sixth minute penalty after Julien Agullo was taken late when instigating a move to the right. Twice the home defence was called into a desperate rear-guard action, Joe Keyes thrown back into the field of play as he looked to side-step over between the posts going solo, and Irish skipper Bob Beswick held up over the line by Antonio Puerta. Ethan Ryan was looking increasingly dangerous, not least on kick returns and, after hard-working George King had handled twice, Oliver Roberts was held up over the line as the home defence remained solid. Puerta covered Greg McNally’s grubber on the last after expansive play from Liam Byrne, King, Keyes, Roberts and Roland Podesta on debut, as the visitor’s pressure built. They gained reward with two tries in quick succession just before the quarter time mark, Ryan setting up the first hand...

With the loss of David Delany due to a torn meniscus, knee injury, Stuart Thompson returned to the side for this first-ever international cricket match between the two sides. After losing the toss and being asked to bowl first it didn’t take long for the men in green to assert their dominance. Leg-spinner Gareth Delany struck first, cleaning up opener Daniel Ajeku who tried to go back and cut a ball too close to his stumps and was beaten in flight. Two further wickets fell soon after, and the Nigerians found themselves struggling at 13-3 after five overs. From that point the African side never recovered, with the Irish bowlers bowling a consistent line and length on a sluggish looking pitch. Nigeria finished on 66-9 from their 20 overs – equal to the lowest completed T20I total by a side not being bowled out. For Ireland, Craig Young claimed career-best figures of 4-13 from his four overs, and Mark Adair went top of the tournament wicket-taking chart with 2-10 from h...

WORLD CUP SEMI FINAL ENGLAND 19-7 NEW  ZEALAND TUGLAGI ON TOP England’s first lineout is a good one and Manu has his first carry. They are putting it through hands with Daly up and present in the line early, Watson carries into the NZ half and two phases later they are under the posts. Manu pops up again to pick and drive over from three metres. Farrell converts. At a time when England needed their so far flawless lineout to continue it fails and the All Black snaffle it, they are into the England half but Mo’unga dithers, is tackled and Underhill clamps on. Penalty England 45 metres out and George Ford is lining it up.  That is a remarkable kick under pressure from Ford. Tom Curry is on the ball at the NZ ruck again and England have the ball back in the 22, the referee is continuing to play advantage for an off the ball tackle by Sam Cane. Ford makes no mistake from just right of the posts. Bridge is off for Jordie Barrett and Dane Coles replaces Codie Tay...

IRELAND DUMPED OUT IN CRUEL CIRCUMSTANCES Ireland are in the driving seat in their bid to secure a place at Tokyo 2020 after a topsy-turvy 5-3 victory over Canada in an entertaining first leg of the sides' Olympic hockey play-off in Vancouver on Saturday night. Ireland took the lead but trailed 2-1 at half-time before hitting their stride after the restart as Sean Murray and Shane O'Donoghue both finished with two goals apiece. The visitors started well and struck first through Chris Cargo after eight minutes. Matthew Nelson won possession and fed Cargo for a composed finish. Canada hit back, however, as Gordon Johnston and Keegan Pereira both scored from penalty corners to give the hosts a 2-1 lead going into the break. The Green Machine had been the better side in the first two quarters, even if that wasn't reflected on the scoreboard, but they started to make their possession count after the half-time break.  On 32 minutes, O'Dono...

BIG WIN KEEPS IRELAND IN Ireland kept alive their hopes of reaching the T20 World Cup as they earned a dominant eight-wicket win over Jersey in the Qualifier in Abu Dhabi. Mark Adair (3-10) was the pick of the bowlers, dismissing Harrison Carlyon and Jonty Jenner for ducks, as Jersey could only post 105 in their 20 overs. Fellow seamer David Delany took 2-12 as Ben Stevens top scored with 25. Paul Stirling's unbeaten 58 and Andrew Balbirnie's 33 helped the Irish easily reach their target in 14 overs. GROUP B TEAM PLAYED WON PERCENTAGE POINTS Oman 5 4 1.23 8 Canada 5 4 1.013 8 Ireland 5 3 0.749 6 UAE 5 3 0.656 6 Jersey 5 2 -0.039 4 Hong Kong 5 2 -           0.383 4 Nigeria 4 0 -782 0 MY OPINION ...

CRICKET WORLD CUP Ireland's bid to qualify for the T20 World Cup finals suffered a setback as they lost to Canada by 10 runs in the Qualifier in Abu Dhabi. A poor batting performance meant Ireland fell short of their target, finishing on 146-7 after Canada posted a total of 156-5 from their 20 overs. Boyd Rankin took two wickets as Navneet Dhaliwal (69) and Nitish Kumar (53) top-scored for the Canadians. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/50157263 MY OPINION Ireland have got a curtail match tomorrow when they play Jersey and they need that win to stand any chance of the play offs but it does seem like since they have become a test side the nation has went backwards and they need to get into this world cup.

RUGBY WORLD CUP QUARTERS ENGLAND 40-16  AUSTRALIA MAY MOMENTUM  Slade’s first contribution is to have the ball bumped off him in the tackle, Beale receives it and is through the gap and runs 60 metres up to the England 22, but he’s gone so far that there’s no support with him. Not that it matters as England have given a penalty away that Christian Lealiifano is lining up. And the Wallaby ten slots it. England need some ball very soon.  England have the ball back and there’s more fast soft hands right to Watson, it’s recycled and goes all the way left, some clever dummy runs in midfield hold the Aus defensive line and May crosses in the left corner. Farrell slots a great kick from the touchline. Genia throws an interception to Slade and he’s away, but he doesn’t have the pace to get there from 70 metres so he dinks a beautiful kick on the run for May to gather and he definitely has the pace to get in. Farrell kicks another one from out left.  Wallab...

IRELAND CRICKET WORLD CUP  QUALIFIERS BASH IT TO BALBANE Andrew Balbirnie's unbeaten 70 helped Ireland ease past Hong Kong by eight wickets in their first match of the T20 World Cup Qualifier in Abu Dhabi. Hong Kong made 153-5 off their 20 overs, Kinchit Shah scoring 79 off 54 balls and Mark Adair taking 2-22. Ireland reached 155-2 with 16 balls to spare, Balbirnie's innings being backed up by Paul Stirling, who made 62. MUSTAFA MAKES IT Ireland lost by five wickets to hosts United Arab Emirates in their second Group B match at the T20 World Cup Qualifier in Abu Dhabi. An under-par batting performance from Ireland saw them all out for 125 off 20 overs despite Paul Stirling's 72. Rohan Mustafa took 4-18 and followed that up by top-scoring with 39 as his side reached 129-5 in reply with three overs to spare. DELANY DESISIVE Gareth Delany hit an unbeaten 89 as Ireland beat Oman by 35 runs in Abu Dhabi to stay in contention to qualify for next year's ...

EURO 2020 QUALIFICATION SWITZERLAND  2-0 IRELAND SEFEOVIC STRINGS IRISH ALONG The ball is knocked down to Seferovic on the edge of the box, he gets it onto his left foot and arrows a shot into the corner beyond Randolph. Penalty! Switzerland have a penalty after an Embolo shot is adjudged to have been blocked by Coleman’s hand, which results in him being sent off. The ball arrives at Fernandes’ feet in the box, he sidefoots it towards goal, Duffy tries to stop it but only steers it into the back of the net. https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2019/oct/15/switzerland-v-republic-of-ireland-sweden-v-spain-euro-2020-live MY OPINION I think that the early goal the Swiss scored ruined the Irish dynamic and I think that the Irish need to use there friendly against NZ in November to get the perfect team knowing they will be without their perfect defenders in Coleman and Duffy they should not be in the squad Team Played Won Dra...

EURO 2020 QUALIFICATION ENGLAND 6-0  BULGARIA STERLING STINGS AND BANG IT IN BARKLY That was a spectacular goal from Rashford . He ran down the wing before losing Pashov with a nice Cruyff turn on the left edge of the box. Then, from a tight angle, he smashed a rising shot that went through Iliev and into the net. Iliev might have done better, on reflection, but it was a vicious strike. The goal was made by Sterling , who quickened the pace with a run infield from the right. He played a neat one-two on the edge of the area with Kane - who has been England’s most penetrative passer in recent games - and drove the ball across the face to give Barkley an open goal. At first I thought it was offside, but on reflection I think Barkley was behind Sterling when the ball was played. Ross Barkley gets his second goal with a deft header from Harry Kane’s right-wing cross. Harry Kane, the assist king, gives an open goal to Raheem Sterling at the end of another nice team mov...