‘It's about creating new memories' – Shels captain Mark Coyle embraces Joey O'Brien era ahead of Linfield Champions League tie
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The Irish Sun
13 minutes ago
- The Irish Sun
England vs Spain – Women's Euros final: Get Lionesses at 3/1 to lift trophy PLUS £20 in free bets with Midnite
ENGLAND and Spain meet in a mouth-watering climax to the Women's Euros on Sunday. Sarina Wiegman's side are attempting to defend their trophy and have shown incredible powers of recovery throughout the knockouts to reach the final once more. Midnite have a fantastic price boost for England backers, with the Lionesses to lift the trophy now available at 3/1 - up from the usual price of 2/1! Midnite's new customer offer Midnite welcome offer Download the Midnite app or create an account online Register using the Promo Code: BETGETSPORTS Deposit a minimum of £10 Place a pre-match bet of £10 and a minimum of 4 legs, at minimum total odds of 3/1 Once that's settled - win or lose - you will receive £20 in free bets You will also receive 50 free spins England vs Spain: Get £20 in free bets and 50 free spins England go into the contest as underdogs, such is the strength of the Spanish squad and their World champions tag. This Lionesses group have done it before though and won't be looking to give their European champions tag up easily. Not giving up has been a feature of their campaign - particularly in the knockouts - and the semi final highlighted that more than any other. Sometimes, it's just written in the stars. Midnite have a top price boost on that continuing and England lifting the trophy. The normal price of England winning the final is 2/1 but Midnite are offering all customers 3/1 for a Lionesses triumph! Midnite new customer offer Want to join Midnite? Well here's how you can... Simply download Midnite's app or create an account online using the Promo Code: BETGETSPORTS Once that's done, deposit a minimum of £10 and stake a pre-match bet of £10 and a minimum of 4 legs, at minimum total odds of 3/1. Once that's settled - win or lose - you will receive £20 in free bets. You will also receive 50 free spins to spend on Big Bass Splash (valued at 10p per spin). Midnite offer: Get £20 in free bets and 50 free spins Remember to gamble responsibly A responsible gambler is someone who: Establishes time and monetary limits before playing Only gambles with money they can afford to lose Never chase their losses Doesn't gamble if they're upset, angry or depressed Gamcare – GambleAware – Read our guide on responsible gambling practices. For help with a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or go to *18+ New UK customers. Bet £10 on accas with 4+ legs, min odds 3/1 (4.0). Get 4x £5 Free Bets and 50 Free Spins, valid for 7 days on selected bets and games only. T&Cs apply.
Extra.ie
13 minutes ago
- Extra.ie
Olympian Rhys McClenaghan shares health update after surgery
Olympic gold medalist and Dancing with the Stars champion Rhys McClenaghan has shared a health update from the hospital after his shoulder surgery. Rhys gave the camera a thumbs up from his hospital bed as he shared the update on social media. The Olympic gymnast is recovering from having surgery on his shoulder which he remarked can be the 'reality of sport'. Rhys is in good spirits after the surgery. Pic: Instagram @rhysmcc1 Rhys wrote: 'Day 1 of recovery from shoulder surgery'. 'I've been struggling with this injury for a while now, so I'm delighted that everything went to plan with the operation and I can make my way back to maintaining my spot as the best in the world at what I do. 'This is the reality of sport, and I love all of the challenges it throws my way. Champion Mindset.' Earlier this year, the gold medalist was forced to withdraw from the European Championships in Leipzig because of an unspecified injury. Rhys McClenaghan in action at the Olympics. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile At the time, he said: 'I tried my best to push through preparation but an injury kept holding me back. 'I chose to prioritise being healthy and recovering for future competitions this year and be sure that I can put out my best work yet. 'I may not be retaining my European title but the path to being the GOAT is still very clear.' His fellow Dancing with the Stars team were quick to send their well wishes in the comment section of his recent post. Kylee Vincent wrote: 'Speedy recovery', with Karen Byrne adding the same message and Brian Redmond saying: 'Get better soon champ. I hope the feet are still at their exceptional best.' Rhys McClenaghan with dance partner Laura Nolan on Dancing With The Stars. Pic: Kyran O'Brien/KOBPIX Rhys shared an additional post on Instagram from the hospital bed with him narrating over videos from the hospital and clips from his gymnastics. He said: 'This time last year, I was at the Olympic Games and today I'm in a hospital bed. 'I think this is why sport is such a great example for life. 'One moment, you're on top of the world and the next, well, you're not. 'Well because to have the good days, I think you have to have the bad days. 'I also think that this is one of the reasons why I love what I do so much because even though I'm in a bad situation currently, I know that when I'm back competing in front of millions again, when I finish that routine, it's going to feel so much sweeter. 'But that comeback starts today.'
Irish Times
10 hours ago
- Irish Times
Redemption and restitution: Both England and Spain look to exorcise ghosts in the Euro 2025 final
For England , the last Women's World Cup final remains a kind of open wound. The mistake by Lucy Bronze that allowed Spain's Olga Carmona to score the only goal of the game; Lauren Hemp hitting the crossbar; the opportunities not taken; the surges of momentum not rewarded; the sense of a golden inheritance slipping inexorably through their fingers. For the players who remain, and for coach Sarina Wiegman, Sunday's European Championship final offers a chance for redemption. If all this is normal and regular enough, then what is perhaps more unusual is that much of the above is also true for their victorious opponents. Restitution, revenge, a chance to erase painful memories, a collective resolve that this moment will not be taken from them, the chance to secure a meaningful legacy: these will be the stakes for Spain in Basle, Switzerland. Winning the World Cup in 2023 was a monumental achievement for them, but was immediately tarnished by the actions of their federation. This final, by contrast, feels like more of a clean slate. READ MORE Spain should win. They have been the outstanding team of the tournament so far, effortlessly gifted on the ball, ruthlessly disciplined without it, adding layers of complexity to their famous passing game, defending gallantly when the situation has demanded it. There has also been a sense of quietly building momentum to them, not just in the tournament itself but through the year as a whole: pieces falling into place, players becoming more comfortable in their roles. But as Montse Tomé's players have consistently made clear, Spain are competing for more than trophies. The bitter legal and public battles fought with their federation, the RFEF, are part of a longer struggle for recognition and equality, for respect and dignity. After all, if the greatest moment of their careers could be so cruelly taken from them, then what ultimately was the point of it? Alexia Putellas, Cristina Martin-Prieto, Alba Redondo and Olga Carmona of Spain celebrate beating Germany in the semi-final. Photograph: Charlotte Wilson/Getty The 2023 World Cup was not the unifying moment for Spanish football that it could have been. For the players in New Zealand, marooned on the other side of the world, split between those who had chosen to play and those who had chosen to step away, a begrudging truce had been maintained with their disliked coach Jorge Vilda and the suits above him. It was a fragile show of unity, maintained only by their quest for a first major trophy. Once it had been secured, all hell broke loose. In hindsight, the unwanted kiss that Luis Rubiales , then Spanish FA president, planted on the lips of Jenni Hermoso was simply the trigger. The unresolved issues and grievances within Spanish football had lain unresolved for decades, and probably would not have been purged in any other way. The actions of Rubiales himself were egregious enough; what really hurt was the way the mechanisms of power and influence instinctively mobilised to protect him. Hermoso was urged to appear in a video publicly defending him; after she refused, a statement insisting the kiss was consensual was written and published by the federation without her knowledge. 'While the world has seen this, attitudes like this have been part of our team's daily life for years,' she wrote on social media. When Rubiales finally resigned in an interview with Piers Morgan, having blamed 'false feminism' for the storm of protest against him, he did so not out of genuine remorse or contrition but – as he admitted – out of a desire not to hamper Spain's bid for the 2030 men's World Cup. A Spanish court found him guilty of sexual assault in February and, after ignoring an appeal from prosecutors who sought a jail sentence, fined him €10,800. Luis Rubiales, then Spanish FA president, after Spain's Women's World Cup final victory in 2023. Photograph: Isabel Infantes/PA Has anything really changed? Rubiales is gone, as are many of the figures around him when he was at the RFEF. Vilda was sacked after the tournament, but will take charge of Morocco in Saturday's Women's Africa Cup of Nations final. But the moment they shared and the platform it could have provided has gone forever. Keira Walsh was a Barcelona player at the time and saw first hand how the Lionesses effect of 2022 summarily failed to materialise in Spain in 2023. 'The way our league jumped after we won the Euros, if you compare it to Spain it probably wasn't the same,' she said this week. 'After the game there was a lot of controversy and I don't think enough spotlight on how incredibly they played.' But of course the enduring excellence of this Spanish generation is that it can always generate more opportunities. Bronze remembers playing training games at Barcelona and countering 'like, clones and clones and clones of these amazing, technical, intelligent players'. And the 11 who will take the field against England on Sunday are the very best of them. It is not just the World Cup fallout for which Spain are trying to atone. Twelve months later they travelled to Paris as the overwhelming favourites for Olympic gold, only to be stunned 4-2 by Brazil in the semi-finals after a performance littered with defensive errors. They didn't even win bronze, Germany beating them in the third-place playoff. Goalkeeper Cata Coll was inconsolable afterwards, but here has talked about how 'life has given us a second chance'. This is a better team than 12 months ago, arguably a better team than two years ago, 'like a steamroller' as Carmona describes them, albeit with an occasional habit of getting stuck in neutral. Capitalising on these fleeting passages is England's best hope of upsetting the odds, picking their moments to attack, using their press, their physicality and their technical ability to rattle Spain off their game. And perhaps for a country for so long indifferent to women's football, where the sport was banned until 1980, where the women's team have often been treated as an afterthought, Spain can finally enjoy their moment in the spotlight. There are big screens being erected across the country from the Parque de Berlin in Madrid to the Plaza del Pilar in Gran Canaria. This is a team united and content again, longing above all for a chance to write their own story. – Guardian
