Miller on a Roll at Celtic
THE Liam Miller bandwagon rolls on, with the gifted Cork youngster now a red-hot certainty to win his first Republic of Ireland senior cap in Tuesday night’s friendly with Canada.
And it just gets better for the 22-year-old, with Martin O’Neill now actively involved in talks with Miller’s agent to secure his long term future at Parkhead.
Miller’s current deal expires at the end of the season, but O’Neill met with Fintan Drury and Eamonn McLoughlin, the player’s Dublin-based agents, after last week’s starring role in the Champions League win over Anderlecht.
O’Neill revealed, “We spoke with his agent on Thursday after the Anderlecht game. He came over especially from Dublin which was great timing for Liam because he is playing terrifically.
“Liam was brilliant for us in the Anderlecht win and that’s the way he has been playing for a while. He certainly has great potential and is a star with a long future ahead of him.
“He’s going to be a big player for us with a wee bit of luck. I have been encouraged by what I’ve seen and I am sure we can come to some sort of agreement. He deserves it as well because he has played terrific and he is a great lad.
“We would like to get things resolved from our own view point as quickly as possible, but these things take time.”
Miller’s advisors believe the player will stay with Celtic. “We don’t have any great concerns,” said McLaughlin. “I have spoken to Celtic and they have indicated that they want to keep him. We have no problems with that and Liam wants to establish himself in Celtic’s team.”
Celtic legend Henrik Larsson agrees with O’Neill’s assessment of the player. He said, “Liam can go all the way in this game, that’s how good he is. He’s just a tremendous player and he has played like he did against Anderlecht in every match recently. I cannot speak any more highly of him.”
Miller, rested in the win over Dunfermline, is refusing to get carried away with all the fuss.
“It’s all nice, but the main thing is to be winning these games and I’m just delighted whenever I get a shout,” said Miller after he received a standing ovation when he substituted late on in the Anderlecht match.
“It was a nice ovation and the fans have been great to me, but to be honest I was more embarrassed than anything.
“I was more delighted we got the three points because we all knew before hand that it was a must win game. I was pleased to get the starting call-up, I really was. I didn’t feel any pressure. The whole team played excellently and everyone played their part.”
O’Neill, meanwhile, expects to have English midfielder Alan Thompson back for the crucial Champions League game with Bayern Munich at Celtic Park on November 25 as he continues to recover from a thigh strain.
And winger Didier Agathe believes all the pressure is now on Rangers after they struggled to beat Kilmarnock 3-2 on Sunday, 24 hours after the Celts thumped Dunfermline 5-0.
“When you are playing, you are not thinking about Rangers,” said Agathe.
“We try to do our best, but the pressure is all on them now and we have to stay focused on our task.”
Boylan Easily
Re-elected
MEATH players are backing Sean Boylan to fire them to glory this year after his crushing win over Eamonn Barry in the managerial election last week.
Boylan won the verdict on a convincing 69-19 vote at the county board meeting in Navan, and goalkeeper Cormac Sullivan believes he will now justify that faith.
“If I know Sean, he’ll have something up his sleeve and winning Leinster will be his target,” said Sullivan. “We’ve had two tame exits from Leinster in a row so the goal would be to put that right. And all the players are behind Sean to do that.
“He’s given us our chance in inter-county football and a lot of us have experienced the highs and lows under his charge. We’re in a low at the moment but he’s well capable of leading us back to a high point.
“Sean’s beauty as a manager is his ability to reinvent himself every year. He has so much passion for the job that he makes sure he doesn’t let things get stale.
“No one knows Meath football as well as Sean and when you add that type of knowledge to his passion then you’ve got a potent mixture.”
All-Ireland winner Evan Kelly revealed that several well known faces would have quit the county team if Boylan had been beaten.
Kelly added, “If Sean had stepped down, I’d say a lot of the lads would have probably decided that they were going to go as well.
“They’d probably all have left together, but luckily that didn’t happen and no one has to make those decisions.”
O’Shea Talks Up Keane
JOHN O’Shea has revealed his belief that Manchester United
teammate Roy Keane could have got the Irish soccer team past their European Championship hiccup in Basel and on to the 2004 finals in Portugal.
Keane has been outstanding for United in recent games against Rangers and Liverpool, and O’Shea believes he could have made all the difference in Switzerland.
“I know what an influence Roy has on the Manchester United team so I know what an influence he could have had on the Republic of Ireland side,” said the Waterford born defender.
“We had a poor start, got it back together but it was just a bit too much. Maybe if we had Keano it would have been different. We needed to win at home against Russia and we still had a chance in Switzerland. I would have liked to have seen how he would have driven the team.”
FAI Supports Genesis
THE Football Association of Ireland (FAI) finally endorsed the Genesis Report at Saturday’s extraordinary general meeting in Dublin and hope to have a new streamlined 10 man board of management up and running by January.
“I am delighted that the vast majority of the Genesis recommendations are now in place and we can press ahead with creating an association which will better serve the grass roots of the game,” said recently appointed FAI chief executive Fran Rooney.
Kinane, O’Brien Part Company
LEADING jockey Mick Kinane stunned the Irish racing world on Friday when he parted company with trainer Aidan O’Brien. Jamie Spencer will succeed former champion Kinane as stable jockey at Ballydoyle.
Kinane is leaving the O’Brien operation for the sake of a change, he says, and will now ride exclusively for John Oxx.
“This year at times, it was difficult. Everybody was looking for me to possibly stumble and fall, but I didn’t and I think we ended it on a great high note in the Breeders’ Cup, and I think everyone, including myself, would say it is probably time for a change,” Kinane said.
The Breeders’ Cup Turf race in Santa Anita this year was a dead heat between the Kinane/O’Brien charge High Chaparral and American longshot contender Johar. O’Brien says High Chaparral represents the high point of his career with O’Brien.
“The horse this year showed outstanding courage, both here at Leopardstown and the United States,” Kinane said. “When you get horses like that it just makes you feel good inside.”
Soccer Shorts
EVERTON and Republic of Ireland midfielder Lee Carsley is on the mend. Carsley has resumed training after a knee injury kept him out of action for three weeks but he will not be available for next Tuesday night’s friendly against Canada at Lansdowne Road. “I hope to be back for Everton in another week or two,” said Carsley . . .
CELTIC striker Henrik Larsson is one of 50 players nominated for France Football’s Golden Ball award for the best player playing in Europe, a trophy currently held by World Cup winner Ronaldo . . .
NEW Republic of Ireland squad member Andy Reid had double reason to celebrate over the weekend when he was named player of the month in the English First Division after some fine performances for Nottingham Forest . . .
YOUNG Newcastle United defender Stephen Brennan is out of the under 20 World Cup finals in Dubai at the end of the month after picking up a thigh injury in training.
GAA Shorts
BILLY Morgan has turned to some tried and trusted friends in his second coming as manager of the Cork senior footballers with the appointment of Sean Murphy, Teddy Owens and Colman Corrigan as his new selectors. Murphy served with Morgan before, while Corrigan won an All-Ireland title under the recently appointed Reds manager . . .
ARMAGH footballer Steven McDonnell and Kilkenny hurler JJ Delaney are the proud owners of two new Seat cars after they were named as the GPA players of the year in both codes at a glittering dinner in Dublin last weekend. The Limerick footballers were named as the most improved team of the year.
PAIDI O Se has announced the make-up of his backroom staff in his new job as Westmeath football boss, with former inter-county referee Paddy Collins joined by one time county star Jack Cooney and Kerryman Tomas O Flaihearta . . .
WATERFORD’S Fergal Hartley, captain when they won their first Munster title in 29 years last year, has quit inter-county hurling at just 31 years of age . . .
EAMONN Barry has decided to stay on for another year as
Dunshaughlin boss after failing to oust Sean Boylan in a vote for Meath manager . . .
FORMER Laois player Andy Shorthall is the new manager of the Tipperary senior footballers in succession to Corkman Tom McGlinchey who recently quit after three years in charge . . .
LIMERICK legend Eamonn Cregan is to help new Meath hurling manager John Hunt in his bid to improve the Royals. Cregan will act as a coaching advisor to Hunt and will travel to Meath every weekend to work with the county team.
|
