Latest news with #TonyFitzpatrick
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Twenty five extra Premier Sports Cup fixtures to be streamed live in bumper broadcast move
It will be a football bonanza this summer with TWENTY FIVE extra Premier Sports Cup games picked for live streaming. The SPFL and leading competition broadcaster have confirmed the move that will see the host of games join the previously announced five live TV broadcasts. Advertisement That means supporters will be treated with 30 live group stage fixtures to kick-off the new season in style. READ MORE: Scotland learn Belarus World Cup qualifying venue but there's a major sticking point READ MORE: St Mirren's top-six bid for next season just got harder, says Tony Fitzpatrick The additional games will be streamed live on Premier Sports streaming service, which can be purchased in the UK from £11.99 per month. Fans wanting to watch certain matches can take advantage of a reduced matchday pass offer of £9.99 which gives 48 hours access to watch the extra group games. The original five TV picks are NOT included in the matchday pass and will continue be broadcast on Premier Sports 1 via Sky, Virgin, Amazon Prime, STV Player and the Premier Sports streaming service. Advertisement Sky TV customers with a Premier Sports subscription receive complimentary access to the Premier Sports streaming service. Games selected for broadcast or streaming in full Matchday 1 – Kick-off 3.00pm unless stated Saturday 12 July: Brechin City v Falkirk (streamed) Saturday 12 July: Dundee v Airdrieonians (streamed) Saturday 12 July: Arbroath v St Mirren (streamed) Saturday 12 July: East Kilbride v St Johnstone (streamed) Saturday 12 July: Clyde v Motherwell (streamed) Saturday 12 July: Brora Rangers v Kilmarnock (streamed) Saturday 12 July: Heart of Midlothian v Dunfermline Athletic (TV - Premier Sports, 5.15pm) Matchday 2 – Kick-off 7.45pm Tuesday 15 July: Forfar Athletic v St Mirren (streamed) Tuesday 15 July: Hamilton Academical v Heart of Midlothian (streamed) Tuesday 15 July: Motherwell v Peterhead (streamed) Wednesday 16 July: Kilmarnock v Livingston (TV - Premier Sports, 7.45pm) Matchday 3 – Kick-off 3.00pm unless stated Saturday 19 July: Alloa Athletic v Dundee (streamed) Saturday 19 July: St Mirren v Annan Athletic (streamed) Saturday 19 July: Inverness Caledonian Thistle v St Johnstone (streamed) Saturday 19 July: Stenhousemuir v Motherwell (streamed) Saturday 19 July: Livingston v Brora Rangers(streamed) ** Saturday 19 July: Stirling Albion v Heart of Midlothian (TV – Premier Sports, 5.15pm) Matchday 4 – Kick-off 7.45pm Tuesday 22 July: Motherwell v Greenock Morton (TV – Premier Sports, 7.45pm) Tuesday 22 July: Falkirk v Queen's Park (streamed) Tuesday 22 July: Partick Thistle v Queen of the South (streamed) Tuesday 22 July: St Johnstone v Raith Rovers (streamed) Tuesday 22 July: Kelty Hearts v Kilmarnock (streamed) Wednesday 23 July: Heart of Midlothian v Dumbarton (streamed) Matchday 5 – Kick-off 3.00pm Saturday 26 July: Falkirk v The Spartans (streamed) Saturday 26 July: Ross County v Partick Thistle (streamed) ** Saturday 26 July: Dundee v Montrose (streamed) Saturday 26 July: St Johnstone v Elgin City (streamed) Saturday 26 July: Kilmarnock v East Fife (streamed) Saturday 26 July: Livingston v Kelty Hearts (streamed) ** Sunday 27 July: St Mirren v Ayr Utd (TV – Premier Sports, 3.00pm) **Subject to pitch works being completed**
Irish Examiner
20-06-2025
- Health
- Irish Examiner
Birth experiences: why care is needed before, during, and after giving birth
Ireland is becoming a better place to have a baby. That's according to the Irish Examiner National Women's Health Survey, conducted by Ipsos B&A, in which women who have had multiple births report a gradual improvement in care over time. However, there is still progress to be made. Some 41% of mothers said their first birth was difficult or complicated. Prenatally, 36% found healthcare professionals unwilling to consider alternative approaches to birth. Dissatisfaction was highest with postnatal care. One in three cited problems accessing lactation consultants and breastfeeding supports. Three in 10 feel there was a lack of information about postpartum recovery, and one in four said they didn't get enough advice about looking after their baby. Deirdre Daly, associate professor of midwifery and director of the Centre for Maternity Care Research at Trinity College Dublin. Deirdre Daly, an associate professor of midwifery and director of the Centre for Maternity Care Research at Trinity College Dublin, believes the maternity service lets women down when it doesn't give them adequate postnatal support: 'Mothers need to learn how to keep themselves and their babies healthy and well, They need to be told what is and isn't normal, so they can reach out for help, if needed. That's how they get off to the best possible start.' Tony Fitzpatrick, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Association's (INMO) director of professional services, says that many of the problems within maternity services are caused by a lack of staffing. Tony Fitzpatrick, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Association's (INMO) director of professional services, says that many of the problems within maternity services are caused by a lack of staffing. This lack extends to postnatal care, where the shortage of public health nurses and general nurses results in inadequate care for mothers and babies after they leave hospital. 'With regard to postnatal care, the INMO has highlighted shortfalls in both public-health-nurse and community-registered, general-nurse staffing levels, as well as the numbers of midwives providing care in maternity hospitals,' he says. 'INMO members have reported they are striving to meet basic care needs for newborns and their mothers, but that they are far too stretched to give mothers the level of care they are trained to provide.' What the INMO would like to see, he says, is 'a maternity service that places women, babies, families, and midwives at the centre of care'. Postnatal hubs Efforts are being made to create such a service. Daly sees the network of postnatal hubs that have opened around Ireland as a welcome development. Run by midwives, they currently operate in Cork, Kerry, Carlow-Kilkenny, Sligo, and Portiuncula in Galway. 'Our research shows women often feel invisible in the maternity service, particularly postnatally, when the focus moves from mother to baby,' says Daly. 'These hubs were set up as a pilot project in 2022 as a way of addressing that. For six weeks after birth and longer, if necessary, women can go to midwives with their questions and worries and midwives can identify and treat potential problems before they escalate.' Dr Cliona Murphy, chair of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Dr Cliona Murphy, chair of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, adds that plans are under way to open an additional eight hubs throughout 2025 and 2026. 'Each will deliver accessible, woman-centred postnatal care to mothers and babies,' she says. 'They will provide multi-disciplinary support in local settings, with services such as breastfeeding support, birth reflections, and debriefing, wound care and more.' There are other positive developments within the maternity service. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, women now have three care pathways to choose from, tailored to their individual clinical needs and preferences. There has also been investment in education and training, with clinical practice guidelines being developed in subjects such as care for women using a birthing pool for labour and birth. Chair of the Association for Improvements in Maternity Care Ireland (AIMS), Krysia Lynch, says there is much we could learn from other countries, citing Germany as an example: 'Women there see the same midwife at all their appointments and build up a relationship of trust with them. We would benefit from that continuity of care in Ireland.' She would also like us to emulate the French by including a postnatal pelvic check as standard: 'Women's pelvic health is so important for their general health and quality of life as they age.' The key to increasing women's satisfaction with the care they receive in the maternity system is ensuring that their voices are heard at all stages, according to Daly. 'Some 41% of first-time mothers find birth difficult or complicated,' she says. 'Nobody thinks they should lower their expectations or anticipate complications. Instead, we should aim to exceed their expectations by consulting them and considering their needs prenatally, during birth, and after they have their baby.' More support second time Stephanie Buckley is a 39-year-old mother of two from Tralee. Her oldest is three, and she was well taken care of when she was pregnant with him: 'My appointments and scans were great. I was listened to and cared for at all times.' It was during labour that things started to veer away from what she expected. Buckley's waters broke. Labour started, but then stalled: 'I was induced, and when he still didn't come out, I had to have a C-section.' She hoped for a different outcome with her second child, who is now four months old. 'But it went the same way,' she says. However, there was one big difference between the two experiences: The level of postnatal care: 'After my first baby was born, the midwives were great, but they were so busy they couldn't spend much time with me.' She saw a lactation consultant and appreciated the visit from her public health nurse: 'But I still had questions, particularly in relation to my C-section recovery, and would have liked more follow-up.' She got this with her second baby, because, in the meantime, a HSE-run postnatal hub opened in Tralee. 'It was everything I'd been looking for,' she says. 'At my first visit, I had a full debrief on the birth, was checked for postpartum depression, and the midwife looked at my wound. It was just about to get infected, but she caught it just in time.' Buckley returned to the hub two or three more times after that to get her wound checked and ask more questions. 'I didn't have to sit at home and wonder like I did with my first baby,' she says. 'There were people I could talk to. That was missing the first time around, that extra layer of reassurance and support.' Yvonne Harris, 39, has a three-year-old child and lives in Firhouse, Dublin. Photograph Moya Nolan Problems in labour Yvonne Harris, 39, has a three-year-old child and lives in Firhouse, Dublin. Harris felt cared for throughout her pregnancy. 'I was given good information and was always listened to,' she says. 'It wasn't until I went in to labour that things started to go wrong.' She was 1.5cm dilated when she arrived at a busy labour ward. 'Because I was in the early stages of labour and the ward was full, I was placed in a room at the end of the hall with women whose pregnancies were being monitored, but who weren't in labour,' she says. Her husband had to leave when evening came. 'I'm quiet and don't like to make a fuss, and because everyone was so busy, I wasn't checked on much.' When she was examined the next morning, she was fully dilated and was rushed to the delivery suite. Her daughter was born by vacuum delivery, but Harris retained the placenta. Attempts to remove it manually resulted in haemorrhaging, and she had to be operated upon. She now wonders if her birth experience led to postnatal depression. 'It kicked in when my daughter was six months old and I treated it with medication and counselling,' she says. 'Talking helped release the trauma I'd held on to from the birth.' Looking back, she questions if her complications might have been avoided if her labour had been managed differently. 'If I'd asked for help more or if there had been more staff to check on me, things might have been different.' Click here to read our National Women's Health Survey. The Irish Examiner Women's Health Survey 2025 Ipsos B&A designed and implemented a research project for the Irish Examiner involving a nationally representative sample of n=1,078 women over the age of 16 years. The study was undertaken online with fieldwork conducted between April 30 and May 15, 2025. The sample was quota controlled by age, socio-economic class, region and area of residence to reflect the known profile of women in Ireland based on the census of population and industry agreed guidelines. Ipsos B&A has strict quality control measures in place to ensure robust and reliable findings; results based on the full sample carry a margin of error of +/-2.8%. In other words, if the research was repeated identically results would be expected to lie within this range on 19 occasions out of 20. A variety of aspects were assessed in relation to women's health including fertility, birth, menopause, mental health, health behaviour, and alcohol consumption.
BBC News
13-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
How Robinson went from abuse to adulation at St Mirren
Life as St Mirren manager is an oasis of peace and serenity for Stephen consecutive top-six finishes in the Scottish Premiership, European football, memorable goals and wins domestically and continentally and a regularly sold-out stadium, this is a club that's no longer looking over its shoulder, but looking to scale the it didn't start out that way when Robinson replaced Aberdeen-bound Jim Goodwin in February 2022, losing eight of his first nine games in charge."It's funny, I only looked at the league table up the way, I didn't realise how close we were to the bottom," Robinson told BBC Scotland as he looked back at those difficult early months."It certainly wasn't the way I wanted to start at the football club."I remember a cup game against Airdrie and I got absolutely abused. We got beat against Motherwell and it was the Covid times when you got changed behind the stand."I had all the Motherwell boys wanting me to clap them from my previous time there and I had the St Mirren fans wanting to kill me and I had to walk up through the middle of them."So, I didn't acknowledge anybody. That was tough, you do question your decision, you know, what have I done here?"But I always had a lot of faith in my own ability and the staff that I surround myself with. We had a belief in what we had in the staff that if we got the players in that we wanted we would do well."And in St Mirren's case, they have legendary Tony Fitzpatrick was lampooned in some quarters for his assertion that they were a top-six club during his time as chief only has Robinson delivered on that score across three successive campaigns, but he has been beating points tallies and win records that Fitzpatrick himself was setting in the 1980s during his time as player and manager."Tony's brilliant, by the way," Robinson said. "He's been so supportive of me, even when we had testing times early on when I first came to the club. He's very much a glass half full guy."We're not a top-six side in terms of our infrastructure. We don't have the staffing and fanbases that other clubs have."But, in terms of playing and recruitment, that has to be our achievement. We've managed to achieve it and it's about putting it in place so that we can do it more often." 'I'd love to manage my country one day' Robinson, who was capped seven times for Northern Ireland during his playing days at Bournemouth, Preston and Luton, has been linked with several clubs as he continues to impress and, while he remains focused on his job, he admits he continues to harbour certain ambitions."I want to manage at the top, top level of the game, I'd be lying if I said I didn't," he said."If we can do that at St Mirren, if we can keep being a top-six side, fantastic."I'd love to manage my country one day. You want to be the best you can be and St Mirren have been fantastic to me and will continue to be."The fans now expects to be a top-six side and that's based on having the same resources to work with. The board increase it every year because we have to to stay on par with the other clubs and that's a real challenge."St Mirren warrant my full dedication and concentration, so my mind's 100% here. I can't control what other people write or say, it certainly doesn't come from me."So can there be a silver-lining to the Robinson-era in Paisley? The 50-year-old hopes to use Aberdeen's Scottish Cup success and the celebrations that followed as inspiration as he eyes up similar scenes in Paisley next season."When you're in Scotland, you probably have to accept that you're not going to win the league, if you're realistic" Robinson said."But, you can always win a cup. You need a bit of luck, you need a good draw, or get a good run and I've not managed that at St Mirren."[Aberdeen winning the Scottish Cup] is good for Scottish football. It was good to see."I've been to finals twice with Motherwell and I saw what it did to the town, the togetherness it brought, so that is certainly a driving force."My head of recruitment Martin Foyle said 'you could do with a cup run' and I'm like 'thanks Martin, I know that and we're trying'."It's something that will drive us forward and it is one of our aims."
