Latest News

CORK have had their opening-day struggles in the past decade but they got their Division 2 campaign off on the right foot with a four-point victory against Meath.

This was an open, entertaining game played under the new rules, although these two produced an equally exciting 3-14 to 0-19 encounter in the equivalent fixture two years ago.

Colm O’Rourke got his managerial term off to a winning start that day but Robbie Brennan’s inter-county debut went the other way as Cork grabbed the goals this time through Matty Taylor and Chris Óg Jones, who finished with 1-4.

Cork manager John Cleary said: “There are a lot more scores. Under the old rules, it is unlikely we would have had that many scores.

“It is more enjoyable to coach. And it is more enjoyable to watch. And the players are loving it as well. It is a win-win.”

He added: “This is the first time since I’ve been involved in the last four years that we’ve won the first game so there’s relief in that.”

While the Rebels executed the majority of their chances, Meath missed far too many opportunities.

Brennan said: “You look at the numbers and I think it was 11 scoreable frees we conceded and then we’ve missed 19 opportunities.

“Huge frustration in the dressing room because we came down to win and we feel we’ve left that one behind us.”

In terms of the new rules, Cork scored the only two-pointer of the first half from a free outside the 40-metre arc.

But their failure to keep three players beyond the halfway line saw them penalised with a 14-metre free to level 0-11 apiece at the break.

Meath committed the same offence after the break with Mark Cronin taking the option to move the free back outside the 40-metre arc for a successful two-pointer.

Both sides pushed their goalkeeper forward throughout to manufacture 12-on-11 situations in the opposition half.

Adventurous Meath stopper Billy Hogan collected a couple of assists and had three shots at the posts, scoring one when spinning between two tacklers.

The teams traded points through the first quarter with impressive kicks from Mathew Costello, who ended with 0-10, and Jack Flynn before a Seán Coffey solo-and-go led to a handpassed point from Jordan Morris.

Cork trailed by one but slingshot into the lead with new free-taker Brian O’Driscoll splitting the posts from a free outside the arc.

There was space left in behind by players defending the arc and both teams almost exposed it before the break.

The threatening Morris had a shot on goal saved by Micheál Aodh Martin and Colm O’Callaghan cracked the woodwork after a smart one-two.

Cork’s first goal arrived in the 41^st minute with wing-backs Seán Powter and Taylor combining for the latter to chip into the far corner.

It was 1-13 to 0-13 but Meath levelled for a 10^th time with quickfire points from Shane Walsh, new captain Eoghan Frayne, and Hogan.

Cork reeled off the next 1-5 without reply, with the goal in the 57^th minute. Hogan saved Jones’ first effort but he netted the rebound for a 2-18 to 0-16 lead.

Costello attempted a pair of late two-point frees, including one brought outside the arc after sub-keeper Patrick Doyle took too long over a kick-out, and scored one, but they couldn’t get within touching distance.

CORK: MA Martin; M Shanley, D O’Mahony, N Lordan; S Powter, R Maguire, M Taylor 1-0; S Walsh, C O’Callaghan; P Walsh 0-1, E McSweeney, B O’Driscoll 0-6 (2f, 1tpf); M Cronin 0-7 (5f, 1tpf), C Óg Jones 1-4, S McDonnell.

Subs: P Doyle for Martin 52, C O’Mahony 0-1 for McDonnell 52, D Cashman for Powter 62, É Desmond for S Walsh 66, T Walsh for McSweeney 70+1.

MEATH: B Hogan 0-1; A O’Neill, S Lavin, D Keoghan; E Harkin 0-2, S Coffey, C Caulfield; J Flynn 0-1, B Menton; K Curtis, S Walsh 0-2, J Kinlough; J Morris 0-4, M Costello 0-10 (5f, 1tpf), E Frayne 0-1.

Subs: B O’Halloran for O’Neill 50, C Duke for Curtis 54, J Conlon for Walsh 56, R Jones for Frayne 61, S Rafferty for Caulfield 61.

Referee: D O’Mahony (Tipperary).

Calling all Swifties: Follow Page Six's live updates for all the latest Taylor Swift news, photos and more.

Singer Sinead O’Connor left her children £ 1.7m – and invited them to “milk” sell her music. Nothing compares 2 ...

Read more

BRUNO FERNANDES backed Ruben Amorim’s blast at his stumbling stars and stressed: You’ve got to have the balls to play for Manchester United.

Boss Amorim caused a storm last week when he branded United’s fall-guys the worst side in the club’s history.

Rex

Bruno Fernandes says Man Utd must handle the pressure better[/caption]

Getty

Ruben Amorim’s astonishing blast ‘inspired’ Fernandes[/caption]

He later admitted he went too far — yet Fernandes reckons he was bang on.

And the Red Devils skipper said: “The reality is to play here you have to have that pressure, you have to have the balls to play for this club — that is what it is.

“You have to feel that in every moment in every game it is a new chance to bring us back to the position we deserve.

“Unfortunately for us this season there have been too many ups and downs and every time we look like getting there, we get punched again and go down.

“What we have to do is every time we take a punch and go down, we must get up and try to punch back.”

Fernandes certainly did that with his last-gasp winner in a dramatic Europa League clash with Rangers on Thursday.

And he admitted Amorim’s outburst after last weekend’s 3-1 loss to Brighton inspired him to those final-second heroics.

Fernandes added: “I don’t want to hear my manager saying certain things about the team because I know he doesn’t feel it.

JOIN SUN VEGAS: GET £50 BONUS

“But he made himself part of that and when the manager makes himself part of what he’s saying, no one can get angry or disappointed by it.

“When he says ‘the worst team in Manchester’, he speaks about the position we are in and when you look at where we are in the league we ARE in the worst position we’ve ever been.

“So you have to take it, that’s the reality unfortunately. We are in this position for a  long time and the club doesn’t belong there.

“But we have to accept that and understand we need to push ourselves to much bigger things and higher positions.”

BRUNO FERNANDES wants to lead Manchester United into a new era of last-gasp Fergie Time heroics.

And if he does, it will answer the one question which had him stumped after his midweek Europa League late supershow: Whether Red Devils boss Ruben Amorim wears a watch.

Eamonn and James Clarke

Bruno Fernandes has called for the club to bring back Fergie time[/caption]

Getty

He scored a crucial late winner against Rangers in the Europa League[/caption]

Eamonn and James Clarke

The captain has also backed Ruben Amorim[/caption]

In two triumphant decades under Sir Alex Ferguson, even those with only a passing interest in football had no doubt.

Barely a week went by without football’s greatest gaffer very publicly checking his wrist to make a point about stoppage time — and so often it ended with a late goal for United.

There has been precious little of it in the decade since Ferguson’s final farewell — but now playmaker  Fernandes has made it his mission to bring them back under the latest man to fill Fergie’s boots.

There have already been murmurings of it in just 16 games with the Portuguese manager in charge — five late-show strikes, in fact.

And after his 92nd-minute goal to beat Scottish giants Rangers made him the latest name on the list — in every respect — Fernandes knew the subject of United’s stoppage-time history was coming.

As a keen student of the club’s past, yes, of course he was well aware of Fergie Time.

But no, there hadn’t been enough of it under Amorim for him to know if his boss even had a watch, never mind had cause to check it in front of any watching official.

Yet as he vowed to turn grand finales from exception to the norm once more, he will not be in the dark for much longer.

CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS

It might not be good for the nerves, but that is part of the deal for any club with pretensions of greatness. And United certainly have plenty of them.

Fernandes, 30, admitted: “I think that, ever since I have been at this club, that has always been a part of things.

Getty

Sir Alex Ferguson’s sides were famous for late comebacks and winning goals[/caption]

“We always talk about Sir Alex’s time, you know, when he looks at his watch and United will grab a goal for sure.

“I don’t know if the manager has a watch to look at, but obviously we need to have that belief and even more like this — because we knew we still had two or three minutes to play.

“So you have to try and go forward to get one because you  can only win games where you’re at this club — nothing less is expected of you.

“Of course,  we know we are not in the position this club was many, many years ago and have a long, long way to go as a team — but we are on our path.

“We know it won’t be as easy as they made it look, because obviously they had great players in the past at this club and a great manager who led the club to many trophies.

“But we have to make our own way. And as tough as it is, and as difficult as it can be, we are going to fight for this club to try and make it back.”

In fairness, United have come up with the goods in the dying embers of the game more than once this season.

Admittedly, not quite so dramatically as against  Rangers —  but late enough nonetheless at Manchester City and Liverpool and at home to struggling Southampton in the Premier League.

All thanks to Ivory Coast winger Amad Diallo,  as well.

Oh, plus a late winner over Czech side Viktoria Plzen from Danish striker Rasmus Hojlund a fortnight before Christmas.

It’s the games in between that have been the problem, powder-puff defeats to the likes of Wolves, Bournemouth and Brighton.

The last of them finally pushed Amorim over the edge, as the affable gaffer gave way to a steam-coming-out-of-his-ears attack dog.

So furious that he smashed a television on the dressing-room wall and slammed his flops as the worst United team in history.

When the red mist cleared, Amorim relented and admitted maybe he should have taken a breath before sounding off.

Yet far from taking the huff, Fernandes was right behind his fellow countryman.

He added: “I am pretty sure it was in a moment of rage.

“I am Portuguese and I know that pretty quickly the blood comes up, so it’s just in that moment.

“I was here with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, one of the calmest people I’ve met, and he had this sometimes, too.

“As a manager you depend on the results and sometimes you need to have these kinds of words to your players.

“It wasn’t anything out of context — or something we didn’t deserve in  the moment.”

The challenge now is to make sure there is no cause for them again…

TRANSFER NEWS LIVE: STAY UP TO DATE WITH ALL THE LATEST MOVES FROM THE JANUARY WINDOW

LUCAS BERGVALL reckons his rapid rise at injury-ravaged Tottenham shows he was right to snub Barcelona.

The Swede, 18, looked set to join the LaLiga giants last January but opted for North London at the eleventh hour.

Alamy

Lucas Bergvall has no regrets about snubbing Barcelona for Tottenham[/caption]

PA

Ange Postecoglou’s side have struggled greatly this season[/caption]

And one key reason for the change of heart was a feeling that his chances of getting game-time were higher at Spurs.

Bergvall officially moved from Djurgarden in July for £8.5million — and is set to make his 27th appearance of the season in today’s Premier League clash with Leicester.

He has started five of Spurs’ last six games, netting his first goal for the club in a 1-0 win over Liverpool earlier this month, in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final.

Bergvall said: “When I decided, I thought that Tottenham was the best club for me. It is a great club with good ambitions.

“I feel I am getting better every day. Training with all the boys and all the staff, I’m getting used to it.

“It’s not an easy change coming from the Swedish league.

“Everything is different. The running, the physical part… everything.”

There was a lot of excitement around Bergvall when he first arrived, particularly after rejecting a club as mighty as Barca.

JOIN SUN VEGAS: GET £50 BONUS

His new team-mate Pape Matar Sarr added to the hype in August when asked which of the club’s summer signings had impressed him most.

The Senegal star — who is a doubt for today’s game — said: “Lucas. He is a really great player.

“I really love his style. He’s never under pressure when he’s on the ball. Technically, he’s fantastic. He’s bound to be one of the world’s top players. He’s got all the assets. With work, he’ll get to the very top.”

It was some appraisal from the 22-year-old and, in truth, it took a little bit of time for Bergvall to live up to it with some underwhelming early-season  displays as he got to grips with his new environment.

In November’s 3-2 defeat against Galatasaray, for example, he was guilty of holding on to the ball too long in the lead-up to the Turkish hosts’ second goal.

But he kept racking up the substitute appearances and making the odd start here and there, learning, improving, adapting, before really kicking on over the last six weeks.

Bergvall’s breakthrough moment came against Liverpool when he netted the only goal to give Spurs a precious lead going into the second leg at Anfield a week on Thursday.

Since then, he has been a regular name in Postecoglou’s starting XI.

Spurs’ injury crisis boosted his chances of playing but there have times when he has been picked ahead of the likes of England star James Maddison purely on form.

Getty

Bergvall is hoping to inspire his Spurs teammates back to winning ways[/caption]

Bergvall looked exhausted as he dropped to the turf at the end of Thursday’s crucial 3-2 win over Hoffenheim in the Europa League.

That victory means a top-eight spot and a path straight into the last 16, without having to worry about a pesky play-off next month, is within Spurs’ grasp, with Thursday’s final group game against Elfsborg to come.

But it was also a vital victory after a horror run of results which saw Spurs win just one of their last ten Premier League games, plummeting down the table and even sparking talk of the club finding themselves dragged into   relegation scrap.

And Bergvall feels it is vital to take the boost in morale from Hoffenheim into today’s game against the struggling Foxes and rediscover get that winning feeling in the league once more.

Three points would also ease the considerable pressure on Aussie manager Postecoglou, who is facing a testing time midway through his second season at Tottenham.

Bergvall added: “It was an important game in Europe, we needed to win to keep going.

“For the confidence too, we’ve had a tough time in the last few weeks, so it was really important.

“It’s difficult. We have 11 or 12 fit senior players, maybe more, it’s a tough period. We just have to keep going and fight.

“Especially now in tough times, when we have a lot of injuries, everyone needs to perform.

“We have to keep going. We don’t have any other option. He’s the coach and of course we work for him.”

Роман Х’ю Джекмана з Саттон Фостер коштував йому дуже дорого. Через його вибір багато друзів почали ставитися до актора прохолодно. Вирішальну роль зіграв не його вибір, а той факт, що Х’ю почав стосунки за спиною у дружини, Деборри-Лі Фернесс. «Мало хто оцінить те, як Х’ю залишив свою віддану дружину заради старлетки. Він чутливий хлопець і […]

Northrop Grumman Employees Found Dead The recent news about Northrop Grumman Employees death reports that two employees were found unconscious at ...

Read more

Jeopardy! is all set to return with a brand-new episode for the final time this season on Friday, July 28, ...

Read more

Tim Burton’s Wednesday cast sees new actors tackle the iconic Addams Family characters, with plenty of familiar faces and newcomers ...

Read more