Irish Political News

The final day of the Six Nations tournament sees all six teams playing again on the same day.  Italy host Scotland in a battle to avoid the wooden spoon, kick-off 1pm.  Ireland have only pride, and Eddie O’Sullivan’s continued employment, to play for against England at Twickenham, kick-off at 3pm.  The only meaningful game starts in Cardiff at 5pm. Wales will need to stay within 20 points of a reshuffled France to take the trophy and can claim a Grand Slam by beating the once tournament favourites.  BBC’s iPlayer will have the games later. Update Results below the fold.  Congratulations to Wales.  Six Nations Champions with a Grand Slam.

Adds It may be only to avoid the wooden spoon but it’s an entertaining game so far.  Half Time. Italy 10 - 17 Scotland Now Another entertaining 40 minutes of rugby sees Italy secure their first win of this year’s tournament.  Final score. Italy 23 - 20 Scotland Twickenham And they’re off. 5min in And, after some nervous kicking, an early first try for Ireland. 7min And a penalty. 12min Good attacking play by England, and good defence from Ireland, ends with a penalty. 20min Another entertaining game, so far, and an England try. 30min Better play from both sides, but England look sharper in attack. And get a penalty.  35min Geordan Murphy limps off.  Half-time Entertaining half, but Ireland’s early lead was too easily reversed by England.  More possession might produce better attacking play.. might..  England 13 - 10 Ireland 2nd Half Underway.  44min England forward pressure rewarded with penalty. 50min Better play from Ireland’s backs brings a penalty. But it’s missed. 58min Another converted England try. 70min And another.  74min And a penalty. Final score England 33 - 10 Ireland.  A poor second half from Ireland, but England deserved the win.  Sharper in both attack and defence and helped by Irish errors and flat play.  Cardiff Now the big one.  Allez les Blues! 7min Another frenetic start. Penalty to Wales. 18min Sustained pressure from Wales, and a penalty. 20min France reply. 22min Swapping penalties. Half-time France beginning to find their feet in attack against a strong Wales defence.  But Wales start the 2nd half a man down. Henson sin-binned. Wales 9 - 6 France 2nd Half 50min France draw level.  65min Wales have a converted try and a penalty. 73min Swapping penalties again. 77min Great attacking play from Wales rewarded with a try. Full-Time Wales 29 - 12 France. Well done Wales.  Deserved victors on the day.  Now Six Nations champions and with a Grand Slam. 

Money may have been “a great balm” in west Belfast but it, or rather the lack of it, looks like scuppering the proposed multi-sports stadium at the Maze prison site.  We’ll have to wait to see how accurate the senior sources within the DUP quoted in the UTV report actually are, but for now it’s worth noting the comments

Senior sources within Stormont`s largest party, the Democratic Unionists, have indicated that concerns about the financial feasibility of the project are likely to see it rejected.  One source said: “As the business case is unlikely to stack up it is unlikely that the Maze stadium will go ahead.”

Whilst opposition to the Maze development proposal by some within the DUP, and elsewhere, has been known for some time, the sticking point is reportedly the combined cost of the stadium and required infrastructure as detailed in this report [pdf file] - £240million.  Adds DCAL minister Edwin Poots has responded to the speculation.

The report is worth considering more carefully.

Because the problem may be not the initial costs so much, as an increasingly isolated Project Aim -

Project Aim

4.1 In keeping with the original DCAL Ministerial instruction, the following ‘working’ aim has been given to the Stadium Steering Group for the Multi-Sports Stadium project:

“To provide a Multi-Sports Stadium of international standards that meets the needs of Association Football, Gaelic Games and Rugby Football in a location acceptable to all and which supports the development of an integrated society through the provision of a shared space.” [added emphasis]

With Sinn Féin and, in a Peter Robinson era, the DUP potentially intent on a ‘back to basics’ approach the development of an integrated society may be a secondary consideration to [internal] party politics.

Meanwhile ursine mammals will continue to defecate in forested areas..

Adds From the BBC report

Mr Poots, who is in the United States, said that the Department of Finance and Personnel, is currently examining the economic appraisal.

He said that this would take another month, and then a political decision will be made.

He added that the project has been discussed by senior members of the party but there has been no firm decision.

Here’s some compensation from an earlier date at Croke Park… Co Down’s first All Ireland victory in 1960… Nice vintage photgraphy and a nice result… And this is what they did the year after... Though it is the 68 team I remember watching first...

Unbeaten Wales travel to Croke Park for a ‘grudge match’ against Ireland, kick off 1.15pm - RTÉ predicts “Ireland should win this match..” Later today, 3.15pm, the Calcutta Cup will be contested between England and Scotland at Murrayfield. Tomorrow sees France hoping to hold their nerve at the Stade de France against Italy, kick off 3pm.  The BBC’s iPlayer will have the games you miss. 1st Half And first points to Ireland after heavy work by the forwards. 10 mins More open play from Wales but they miss the penalty. 18 mins Another Irish score. 26mins Wales pull 3pts back. Half-time After sustained pressure from Wales they lose a penalty decision because of ill-discipline. In truth, without the errors and missed penalties, Wales would be deservedly ahead.  Ireland 6 - 3 Wales. 2nd Half Wales start a man down and win a penalty on 45min. 50min Wales’ better play rewarded by the first try. 62mins Ireland open up, at last.  And get a penalty.  Wales down to 14 men again. 67mins Better from Ireland, against the depleted Welsh, another penalty.  75mins Stupid penalty gives Wales 4pt cushion. Full-time Ireland too dull for too long.  Wales deserved winners of Triple Crown. Ireland 12 - 16 Wales Murrayfield A scrappy non-event of a 1st half ends Scotland 9 - 3 England Full-time More of the same as Scotland grind out a victory on points.  Scotland 15 - 9 England. Paris A much more entertaining game at the Stade de France where a superior French side win over the battling Italians.  France 25 - 13 Italy. Now France must beat Wales by 20 pts in Cardiff next week if they’re to win the tournament.

Looks like a must buy: the long awaited: the DVD documentary on the Cricket World cup in the West Indies. It has intrigue, tragedy unexpected success and ultimate failure. The DVD release date for “Breaking Boundaries - Ireland’s Extraordinary Cricket World Cup” is Friday March 7th, with a charity screening at Dublin’s Sugar Club in Lower Leeson Street on Monday 3rd March (and in the Gaiety in Sligo on the 5th).

More history, courtesy of Nevin…

WorldbyStorm suggests a possible link between the suspicious device found in Fairview Park today, which gardai have described as viable, and the sporting event at Croke Park.

Gardaí have refused to link the device with today’s visit by a British monarch to Croke Park where the Princess Royal is to attend the Ireland v Scotland rugby international.

All 6 Six Nations take to the field[s] today.  The Ospreys Wales are about to tackle Italy in Cardiff, 3.00pm kick-off. MbyM here.  Ireland hope to improve, again, in Dublin against Scotland later, at 5pm - MbyM.  And tonight England travel to Paris to face tournament favourites France, kick-off at 8pm - MbyM.  The BBC’s iPlayer will have the games you miss. 1st game Wales deserved the win, but Italy didn’t deserve the scoreline.  Wales 47 - 8 Italy.  Half-time in Dublin.  Scotland are still try-less but Ireland are still losing their lineouts.  Ireland 14 - 6 Scotland. 2nd Half 30 minutes to go and Scotland score a try.  63min in. Ireland 29 - 13 Scotland.  Full-time Ireland 34 - 13 Scotland.  And in Paris, an entertaining first half ends, France 7 - 13 England. 2nd Half 10 minutes left and French errors, and solid English defence, mean France 10 - 19 England. 6 min to go.  Tense finish ahead.  France 13 - 19 England. Full-time Final minutes try sealed the game, deservedly, for England.  France 13 - 24 England

After last week’s eventful matches, Wales welcome Scotland to Cardiff and should probably expect home field advantage to win through, 2pm start - MinuteByMinute here Meanwhile.. Ireland travel to Paris to face France.. kick-off 4pm - MinuteByMinute here - I’m not making any predictions.. but it’ll be a real upset if Ireland can win that one.  Italy host England tomorrow. The BBC’s iPlayer will have the matches here later. And, this time, let’s keep the discussion to the actual games themselves.  Update Wales 30 - 15 Scotland.  A reasonably solid home win for Wales.. with a little bit of help from the video ref.. And Unluckily for Ireland, France score first on 16mins. But Ireland get a penalty shortly after. Bah 19mins in. Ireland asleep. France score again. 29mins Ireland pull another 3 points back. 37 mins An error-strewn Irish attack ends with a French counter.. and a try. Half-time A tale of missed opportunities and errors for Ireland. France 19 - 6 Ireland. 47mins Lost lineouts abound. But the Irish defence holds. Still France 19 - 6 Ireland. 50mins Spoke too soon. France break through for another try. 58mins Pressure from the Irish forwards eventually tells. Penalty try.  61mins Suddenly Ireland are back in the game. Another try! 75mins O’Gara takes the penalty! Full-time France 26 - 21 Ireland. So close at the end.  Over ambitious chip was gathered into touch.  But it was [overall] a much better performance from Ireland.

The 25th anniversary of the kidnapping, and subsequent disappearing, of the champion racehorse Shergar in 1983 sees a number of articles about those events.  Jockey Walter Swinburn reminisces here and, after a brief introduction of some the wilder conspiracy theories, there’s one of the more thorough accounts here. UTV’s Ivan Little also reports below - including on what “one veteran republican” had to say about the sanctioning, or otherwise, of “a spectacular own goal.”

If the opening games of the 6 Nations Tournament are anything to go by it’s going to be an eventful and close series.  The BBC report correctly sums up Ireland’s win over Italy at Croke Park, “Ireland labour to opening win” - the ghosts of the World Cup have clearly not been fully exorcised. Ireland twelfth straight win over Italy, “perhaps the least satisfying”.  The Guardian’s Kevin Mitchell gives an overview of the scene. Meanwhile The Ospreys Wales triumphed over England at Twickenham for the first time in 20 years in a remarkable second half comeback. Eddie Butler is worth reading as always. Scotland face France today at Murrayfield, kick-off 3.00pm. [All games will be available on the BBC i Player here] Update France “[send] out a warning to the rest of the Six Nations.” Scotland 6 France 27

Interesting piece from Spotlight on the problem of Northern Ireland losing talent to the FAI. Darron Gibson of Derry City apparently is only the third NI born player to make the A team of the Irish Republic, but a pro-active campaign on the part of the FAI suggests that pressures in the modern game may be forcing its hand someone. Interestingly, the FAI declined a camera interview. FIFA, who don’t come well out it at all, produced an internal circular 901 last May which asserted a new set of rules over extra territorial players that allowed for Grannies, but re-emphasised the importance of territory as the predication of eligibility. As a footnote of sorts it seems that extra revenues that would flow from an all Ireland league is popular with the clubs, but not with the two associations.