Three Ulstermen called into Ireland squad for Antwerp trip
McKee will be joined in the squad by fellow Banbridge man Luke Witherow and Lisnagarvey's Jonny Lynch. YMCA's Sam Hyland also joins the panel for the six-match block of fixtures.
Coach Mark Tumilty said: 'We have four new players coming into the squad for Antwerp. The team have worked hard this year on their physical condition and should be ready for the challenges over the next ten days.'
Ireland have struggled to compete in the elite division, which features the world's top nine international teams. The Green Machine have lost nine and drawn one of their ten fixtures so far.
Ireland will face Belgium on Saturday and Sunday. Next up is a double header with Australia on Tuesday June 17 and Wednesday June 17, with all four games set to start at 2.30pm BST.
Tumilty's team then face Spain on Saturday June 21 and Sunday June 22, with pushback for both matches at 9.30pm.
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Times
3 hours ago
- Times
Max Verstappen slams 80-minute rain delay – but George Russell backs FIA
George Russell said it 'isn't racing, it's just stupidity' to suggest the FIA was wrong to delay the Belgium Grand Prix due to rain. The Spa-Francorchamps circuit is one of the most dangerous on the calendar, but Max Verstappen said the race was 'ruined' after an 80-minute rain delay without cars on track, and a further ten behind the safety car. McLaren secured a one-two in the grand prix which began on a wet track but was predominantly dry. Oscar Piastri overtook Lando Norris on the first racing lap — with the leader disadvantaged without a slipstream. The move effectively won Piastri the race. While the cars lined up on the grid, teams were erecting gazebos as a sudden shower hit the track. Drivers reported poor visibility on the formation lap behind the safety car, so the start was delayed. It is the spray from the cars which is the main issue, rather than the standing water or grip itself from the intermediate or wet tyres. 'As a racer, you always want to get going,' said Mercedes driver Russell, who finished fifth. 'You love driving in the rain. But the fact is, when you're doing over 200 miles an hour out of Eau Rouge, you literally cannot see anything, you may as well have a blindfold on. It isn't racing, it's just stupidity.' Anthoine Hubert, the F2 driver, died aged 22 in a crash at this circuit in 2019, while Dilano van 't Hoff died in a multi-car crash in the rain in a Freca race here in 2023. Frustration remains at the length of the delays when rain occurs in Formula 1 races, and the idea of wet tyres essentially being made redundant because of the spray. There is hope that next year's new regulations could mean slightly less spray is produced from the back of the cars. It was not an afternoon which produced great interest for the television fan, or those who had braved the weather in Belgium. Drivers spent an hour and 20 minutes twiddling their thumbs in the garage, as a heavier rain shower on the radar prevented the FIA starting the race in a brief dry period. Eventually it stopped by 4.20pm local time with the race resuming behind the safety car. 'Yeah [it could have started] miles earlier, I mean one hour earlier,' Verstappen said. 'It was a bit of a shame, they [the FIA] took a more cautious approach. Of course, we spoke about it after Silverstone to be a little more cautious because there was quite a lot of water there, but this for me it was the other extreme. It just ruined a nice classic wet race as well.' Verstappen and Red Bull had added downforce to his car ahead of qualifying, predicting wet weather conditions. He likely would have had more grip than his rivals if the race had got underway in the rain. Instead, the new normal for Red Bull without Christian Horner, their long-serving former team principal and CEO, was rather similar to the old one; Verstappen did not have the pace to challenge the McLarens and was stuck behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in third, with Verstappen eventually finishing fourth. The most notable difference was perhaps on the grid, with Verstappen's father Jos — who had been openly critical of Horner — relaxed and stood alongside new team principal Laurent Mekies. It was the first grand prix in 405 events (and Red Bull's entire race history) that Horner had not attended. On lap five, racing began in earnest with a rolling start after Norris, on pole, was one of those to report on the radio that one side of the grid was drier than the other, suggesting a standing start would not be fair. It did him little favour though — as having used much of his battery pack on the restart, he was easily passed by his team-mate Piastri on the Kemmel Straight. 'A bit lively up over the hill,' was the calm Australian's verdict. Piastri extended his championship lead to 16 points so won't mind the lack of activity, barely even given a fright by his team-mate, on the harder compound tyre, who again made mistakes running wide in his eagerness to close the gap. Norris was perhaps always going to struggle, with Piastri joking after qualifying that it might have been to his advantage that he could not beat the Briton on Saturday given the benefit of the slipstream. In the wet conditions it is impossible to drive through Eau Rouge flat out, but Norris admitted his team-mate had 'committed a bit more', holding his nerve to take the lead. That forced Norris to opt for an alternative strategy, selecting the hard compound in the hope he would be able to reach the chequered flag, while Piastri could struggle on the medium. Instead, the championship leader calmly managed his tyres, while Norris again made mistakes as he pushed to the limit to close the gap. The battle promised much but fizzled out in the closing laps as it became clear Piastri had too much of an advantage. 'I got a good exit out of turn 1 and then lifted as little as I dared through Eau Rouge and it worked out pretty well. We had it mostly under control after that,' Piastri said. It was a role reversal on his fortunes in the sprint race earlier in the weekend, where he was the pole sitter and was passed by Verstappen on the Kemmel Straight. Lewis Hamilton produced an excellent recovery drive to finish seventh, having started in 18th. He perfectly timed the crucial decision to switch from intermediate tyres to slicks on lap 11 but still apologised to his team on the radio for mistakes earlier in the weekend. Hamilton had very little to lose after what he described as a 'weekend to forget', having spun his car in sprint qualifying, finishing 15th in that short-format race, and then been eliminated from the first session of main qualifying after exceeding track limits at Raidillon. He called it an 'unacceptable' individual error.
BBC News
3 hours ago
- BBC News
Fine margins: How Norris lost out to Piastri in Belgium
Oscar Piastri's victory in the Belgian Grand Prix underlined the fine margins that will likely decide the world championship battle with his team-mate Lando Australian bounced back after two consecutive victories for Norris on a weekend on which the advantage swung back and forth between the McLaren drivers almost from session to pair arrived at Spa-Francorchamps on the back of two consecutive wins for Norris, one from the front in Austria, one somewhat fortuitous after a penalty for Piastri at took a pole position each in Belgium - one for Piastri for the sprint, and one for Norris for the grand prix. And the race turned on a few key drive was from the top drawer - he took the lead from Norris at the rolling start after a few exploratory laps behind the safety car in the wet by being, by Norris' admission, a little braver through Eau Rouge on the first he managed his position with careful judgement to make his medium-compound tyres last to the end while under pressure from the closing Norris on more durable Norris may look back on a few small errors in which he could have done better. He said he "couldn't have won". He probably could not. But he could have given himself a slither of a chance, despite the difficult position he was in by leading at the start. The start Piastri had demonstrated how difficult it is for the driver on pole to lead by the end of the first lap at Spa by losing the sprint race win to Red Bull's Max Dutchman slipstreamed past Piastri up the hill to Les Combes, and then held the McLaren at bay for 15 laps, while Norris followed closely in the grand prix, it was Norris in front, with Piastri in second and Piastri had been thinking about the opportunity this presented him since losing out on pole the day team boss Andrea Stella said: "This weekend, Oscar, if anything, the only inaccuracy was in qualifying, where his laps weren't perfect."At the same time, we have to say that after the sprint qualifying, he said, 'Yeah, I'm in pole position, but maybe this is not the right place to be in pole position.'"And as a joke, after the qualifying yesterday, he said, 'That was not my best lap in Q3, but perhaps this is the best place not to have the best lap in Q3.'"Sure enough, Piastri took the lead on lap one of the grand prix, just as Verstappen had the day before."I had a good run out of Turn One," he said, "and then tried to be as brave as I could through Eau Rouge and was able to stay pretty close. After that, the slipstream did the rest for me."When I watched the onboard back, it didn't look quite as scary as it felt in the car. I knew that I had to be very committed to pull that off."But Norris could have done a better job. For a start, he failed to build himself a gap over the finish line by arguably going too early at the restart. Then he made a mistake at La Source, which allowed Piastri to be right on his tail approaching Eau Rouge."I didn't have the best Turn One," Norris said. "So it's hard to know how much that played a part. At the same time, Oscar came past me pretty easily. So even if I had a better Turn One, his run and the slipstream probably still would have got me."Stella said: "It would have always been very difficult for Lando to keep the position starting first at the safety car restart. At the same time, I think Lando didn't help himself by not having a great gap on the finish line." The pit stops The next turning point was the stops. Piastri had first choice as leader, and went for mediums with a stop on lap could have pitted Norris at the same time - the so-called double-stack - but went for another lap, and decided for hard tyres, to go to the end. Piastri was planning the same but didn't know whether the mediums would make had been just under two seconds behind when Piastri pitted, and was nine seconds back when he rejoined the seconds of that offset can be accounted for by a slower pit stop, the other five by the extra lap on worn intermediates. A double-stack would have cost less time - but then he'd have been on the mediums, and the race effectively already said: "To catch Oscar from that gap is quite an achievement. I gave it a good shot, but just not close enough."Piastri said: "It was quite a late decision to pit on the lap we did, but there's risks either way. If I was in Lando's position, I probably would have done the same thing. At that point, it seemed like the safest thing to do was go on the medium, because the hard is two steps harder here."Stella said: "We did consider double stacking. At the same time, it was possible for Lando to deviate. He opted to deviate, which would have given him the possibility to go on hard tyres, which is what he decided to do."Actually, I thought at some stage that that would have been a very good move, but I have to say that Oscar managed a very solid and strong stint on the medium tyres. Even if Lando was, on average, a little bit faster, that was not enough to attack Oscar at the end." The chase Norris now had to try to chase Piastri down. He got to within 3.4 seconds by the end of the race, but he probably lost a little more than that with three errors during his ran wide at the fast Pouhon double left-hander on lap 26, costing himself 1.3 seconds, then had lock-ups at La Source on laps 33 and 43, costing a total of just under three a perfect race might have given him a shot at Piastri on the last lap or two. But given how difficult overtaking proved at Spa in both races, the chances of him actually getting by must be considered slim in the said: "Yes, Lando had a couple of lock-ups in corner one and also a little oversteer in corner nine that cost him time. I think this, overall, prevented us from having an interesting battle, possibly, at the end."But, in fairness, even Oscar had a couple of times in corner one a little bit of a time loss."It's very difficult when you push so much in these conditions. It's very difficult to always drive within the limit of the grip, and also it's not easy to always keep the car on the racing line when you have the maximum grip, considering that, away from that, you can lose it very rapidly because of the track being still a little damp." The lessons Piastri's sixth win in 13 races extends his lead in the see-sawing battle to 15 points before the next race in Hungary this weekend, scene last year of Piastri's maiden victory, in somewhat controversial circumstances. Stella called Piastri's drive "very, very, very high quality", but added: "We have two drivers which to the standards that even myself in my career have been close to, driving with multiple World Champions, I think Lando and Oscar are operating at that level, at the level of deservedly being in contention for the drivers' world championship."This is quite the compliment considering Stella engineered both Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso during his Ferrari years earlier this said: "The difference will be made by the accuracy, the precision, the quality of the execution."The execution is what is going to make the main difference. We, as a team, we will try and make sure that from a reliability point of view, from a team operation point of view, we are as good as possible, such that it will be the drivers deciding their own outcome in terms of competing for the drivers' championship." Should the race have started earlier? The other main talking point at Spa was whether the race should have started earlier - either at the original start time, or a few minutes before it eventually Hamilton and Max Verstappen were of the view that it should have and that officials had been too said the decision "didn't make sense". He said that at the scheduled start time "it was not even raining" and added: "Of course between Turn One and five there was quite a bit of water, but two or three laps behind the safety car it would have been a lot more clear. And the rest of the track was anyway ready to go. It's a bit of a shame."Hamilton added: "I kept shouting, like, it's ready to go, it's ready to go. And they kept going around and around and around."However, both acknowledged that the decisions were made after the drivers had urged officials following the last race at Silverstone - in which one car rammed another unsighted at a restart in the rain - not to go too Piastri and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc both pointed out the extreme dangers of Spa, and referenced the two fatalities that have happened there in junior categories in recent said: "For that reason, I'd rather be safe than too early. It's a constant discussion, and we'll probably feed the people that made this decision back that maybe it was a little bit on the late side, but I wouldn't have changed anything."Piastri added: "The past few years, particularly here, we've given the FIA feedback that we would much rather be on the safe side than risk anything. I think that's what we did today."If you were to be picky, maybe we could have done one less formation lap. But in the grand scheme of things, if that's one lap too early, is it worth it? No."
Belfast Telegraph
5 hours ago
- Belfast Telegraph
Cheers, beers and Spanish tears at Belfast gathering for Euro final: ‘Hopefully this encourages more women'
For three hours this afternoon, The American Bar in Belfast's Sailortown could have been renamed The Spaniard, such was the support for the World Cup holders from the players at Belfast Ravens as they took on England in the Women's Euro Final at a watch-a-long party. The majority at the gathering — which started in the neighbouring Seatons as Kerry hadn't quite wrapped up their All-Ireland win as the Euro football final kicked off — were leaning in the Spanish direction. But it wasn't through a fervent anti-English sentiment. Belfast Ravens has a strong Spanish influence running through its ranks. Perhaps the largest women's football club in Ireland, the Ravens have three teams playing across the NIWFA divisions. The manager of their second team is Clara Alvarez. That her little boy Charlie has turned out in his Real Oviedo shirt gives the game away — she's from the Spanish city. Clara had just led her Ravens to a 3-0 away win at First Bangor Women earlier in the day. She turned up hoping for a double celebration — but in the end of a dramatic final in Basel it was the words of her teammate Megan Ferguson that proved prophetic. As Spain took a first-half lead, England-supporting Megan said: 'I'm not worried yet. We always go behind. We have Chloe Kelly to come on. She'll win it for us.' Just before 8pm that same Chloe Kelly slammed home the winning penalty in a shootout as England won the Euros again, after their success at Wembley three years ago. The full 120 minutes failed to separate the two dominant forces in the women's international game after a 1-1 draw. Clara, along with her partner Marty Cauley, are a driving force behind the Ravens club, set up just eight years ago by David O'Reilly. 'Honestly, I'd never properly kicked a football until eight years ago, but everybody in Spain loves football,' she said. Having been with Belfast Ravens since the early days, she has seen the number of players consistently rise. 'We're up to 45 regulars and there are more mums who might have other commitments a lot of the time, but overall we're about 60 strong in numbers,' she said. 'We all love it,' she said. 'It's not just the football, it's everything that comes with it, the sport, the friendships we have formed.' David O'Reilly was the initial driving force behind the club, having encouraged his wife to bring some friends along for a kick-about back in 2017. 'It wasn't much more than that back then,' he said. 'It was just for fun, but it quickly took off and while much of what we do is still informal, we do like the social side, the friendship and the going for a drink after the match, we still have a very competitive edge. 'That we're now in a position to field three teams in the NIWFA leagues shows just how strong the sport is becoming. Even five years ago there was little TV coverage. But it has really taken off.' Northern Ireland's success in reaching the Euro finals three years ago was a real boost for the sport in the country. There are now nine divisions, featuring 70 teams, as the strength of women's football grows stronger every year. 'Watching the Euros in 2022 really got me into it,' said Megan Ferguson, proudly wearing her England shirt amongst a majority of Spanish red. 'I did grow up in a family full of Liverpool fans, but it never used to be something girls really played much. It was netball for me for a long time. I'm still a Liverpool fan in the men's game, but it's Arsenal Women for me in the WSL. 'I only joined the Ravens in January, but I've been to an Arsenal Women's match, and was part of the biggest ever WSL crowd. 'My granddad was brought up in England so I've been supporting them.' For Louise Boyle though, a right winger with the Ravens first team, there was an extra reason to support Spain in the final — her boyfriend Miguel Martin is from Madrid. They both sported Spanish tops for the final. Louise had the full Euros experience following Northern Ireland in Southampton three years ago when they qualified for the previous tournament. 'It seems to be even bigger this time round,' she said. 'It's wonderful to see the recognition the women's game is now getting. 'It was the last Euros that got me into the sport,' she said. 'I know Northern Ireland weren't there this time round, but with all the games being live on the main television channels, it's been brilliant to watch.' Several of the Ravens players were actually in Switzerland last week, with Lisa Black and Caiti McCloskey among those who attended all four quarter-finals in a whistle-stop tour of the country. 'The Switzerland against Spain game was a great one to be at, because of the support for the home nation,' said Caiti. 'But the Swedish fans were the best. I think it was the Abba music. 'But it showed us just how big the women's game is. There was free transport to get fans around the country, the crowds were fabulous, the TV coverage was wonderful. 'Hopefully, seeing these matches on television will only encourage more women to get involved.'
