‘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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Irish Times
7 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
Irish Examiner
7 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Cathal Dennehy: The path to senior success does not run in a straight line
The trajectory is never straight, never simple. To achieve what Kate O'Connor and Sarah Healy have this year, vast talent is a prerequisite, but there's so much more to it. It's now six years since they won silver medals at European U-20 level – O'Connor in the heptathlon, Healy over 1500m. This is exclusive subscriber content. Already a subscriber? Sign in Take us with you this summer. Annual €130€65 Best value Monthly €12€6 / month
The Irish Sun
9 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
St Patrick's Athletic boss Stephen Kenny hails unlikely full-back duo for European showing
ST PAT'S players joke that, in Ryan McLaughlin, they have a full-back who taught Trent Alexander- Arnold all he knows. Whatever about that, 2 Jason McClelland of St Patrick's Athletic was hailed by his boss Stephen Kenny for his intelligence 2 The Pat's boss also singled out Ryan McLaughlin for his quality in the Euro clash The pair both played their part in He said: 'Ryan and Jason didn't start any of the European games last year and they're in the positions now. They've both performed really well. 'You see the passing touchline to touchline, Ryan to Jason and then Jason played one back. You don't see that much in matches, those touchline to touchline passes from full-backs. 'Ryan has that in his locker. The in-joke in the group is that he showed Trent how to do it.' read more on football Former Northern Ireland international McLaughlin spent five years at Liverpool but did not make a first-team appearance before leaving in 2016. That was the year Alexander-Arnold made his first-team debut for the Reds, with the England star joining Real Madrid this summer after 20 years attached to his hometown club. McClelland is in his sixth season at St Pat's with his outings in the league split almost equally between starts — 61 — and outings as a substitute — 63. And Kenny remarked that, on occasion, he has not even made the bench but shown resilience and perseverance to play his part. Most read in Football The former Ireland boss said: 'He hasn't always actually been in the squad, he's been in the stand in the past, not just with me. 'Certainly he's had to bide his time and he's just having a run of form and his innate football intelligence is incredible. Marcus Rashford back together with ex-fiancee Lucia Loi two years after they split as childhood sweetheart joins him in Barcelona 'And I suppose he's worked on other aspects of his game which weren't his strongest points where you might get exposed as a left-back, your one-on-one defending and your heading and things like that. "He's got much better at those facets of the game and his distribution is very inventive. 'It is a competitive area for us. Anto Breslin has never let us down, he's always been a terrific full-back at the club. 'We probably wouldn't have factored in at the start of the season Jason playing at left-back but that's the way it's worked out and when people take their opportunity you have to reward that.' But Kenny is not prepared to pigeon-hole the former UCD star, particularly because he might be needed in other areas. Kenny said: 'With Zack Eelbouzedi getting injured, we lost a wide player and Jason has played there as well so we've got to look at a lot of stuff. 'But definitely when the game is in front of him he can see great pictures and has the technical ability to execute really intelligent passes and crosses. He's a very intelligent player. 'The physicality maybe wasn't his strongest point but he has adapted to that and really added that to his game to help him play there.' Despite being in and out of the team, Kenny does not believe McClelland was ever close to leaving and praised how he ensured he kept himself in shape. Kenny said: 'I don't think so. He was out of contract last season. I made it clear to him that I wanted him to stay. 'His versatility is important, he's played central midfield this year a good few times and he's played on the left. 'Even when he's not in the team, he's super fit and that's a challenge because players find it hard, when they're not in the team, to stay at the level, they get demoralised. 'He's had that level of professionalism to stay at the level needed whenever needed and that's testament to his character.' Opportunities in midfield came in part, because of Chris Forrester — Thursday's goal hero after he came off the bench — being sidelined for a total of almost two months. And Kenny admitted the fan favourite had work to do to get back into the starting XI. He said: 'He's had a few weeks' training and is coming on so definitely he comes into our thoughts but Jamie Lennon and Barry Baggley have been very good.
