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Off the ball daily a home

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for your favorite podcasts from off the ball Everyone

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now OTB

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am the sports breakfast show

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from off the ball

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Thursday mornings

0:36

TV and the sports breakfast show from up below here

0:38

with you live until 10 o'clock this morning loads

0:40

coming up between now and 10 o'clock we've got May

0:42

of the burka looking ahead to the Rook of Ireland versus

0:44

France in the women's game tonight at Tala Stadium 7

0:47

45 p.m kick-off of course as

0:49

the team head off to Australia tomorrow Plenty

0:51

of interesting stuff out of the press conference as well yesterday that we will

0:53

get into With vera power at Barry

0:55

Hennessy not with fair appellate of course there were chatting to veer apart

0:57

at the press conference kitty McCabe was There as well and

0:59

we'll discuss that with them if the burka a little bit later

1:01

on the show I already had a C Antonio Regan will preview

1:04

go away versus limerick in the all-iron senior

1:06

hurling championship semifinal this weekend It will of course

1:09

look ahead further to the clerical Kenny game on tomorrow

1:11

morning show a Jess Kelly is back from Wimbledon She's

1:13

been using some AI over

1:15

there for some robotic commentary

1:18

That's what here how all that was her and Paul Howard's

1:20

version an episode of you had to be there

1:22

all to come at around About 9 o'clock this morning Really

1:25

looking forward to that one some really interesting pics from Paul it

1:27

has to be said and Tim Vickery some highlights Last

1:30

night's show at half-past nine will have live commentary

1:32

by the way of the Ireland France

1:33

game tonight with Nathan Murphy Alongside

1:35

Pearl Slattery, but we will first say good

1:37

morning to Kathleen McNamee and to call him boo-hoo

1:40

good morning to you both Morning, Kathleen

1:43

are we keeping

1:44

very well? I'll go straight well excited about Paul

1:46

Howard's you had to be there Oh the very excited about

1:48

that can't ruin the pics yet coming no no

1:50

I wouldn't think so but it did they are very good I

1:53

will say this

1:53

the most prepared man in the world He gave me those

1:55

pics like over a month ago at this stage,

1:58

and did he give them to you in the order that was? correct

2:00

or did you reassemble them? No, he gave it to

2:02

me exactly. He actually didn't even need that

2:04

much of an explanation. Normally you need to talk people

2:06

through the exact details that you want and he was

2:08

just like, here you go. Do you

2:09

know what I mean? The one thing I will say about it

2:11

is, it's a minor spoiler, there is a snooker

2:14

pick. There is a snooker pick.

2:16

What a snooker pick. So I was obviously buzzing for this one.

2:18

I was like, yeah. And I think the second most entered,

2:21

you had to be there, concludes, pause

2:23

list. Do you think it's the second? I think so. I think it's the first

2:25

maybe. Oh, do you? I think the other one. I think Katie

2:28

Taylor has a vengeance. Yeah, that's not a spoiler

2:30

because Katie Taylor isn't included. I think that's the most

2:32

entered, but this is my second most.

2:35

Please bring up the article about

2:37

Paul Howard's dog. Yeah. Because I haven't seen

2:39

this. What's this about? This is about Paul Howard's beagle.

2:42

In 2018, Paul Howard is beagle. I hope Paul's listening

2:44

now. Yeah.

2:44

And I was thinking like, I'm not going

2:47

to read an article about someone running by their dog.

2:49

Yeah. Then I read it and I was like,

2:51

absolutely in after paragraph one,

2:53

the paragraph two, I was howling.

2:55

It's such, it's brilliant. Yeah. It's

2:58

like the most stubborn dog in the world and gave examples

3:00

of how we couldn't train him properly. Then once later

3:03

was in Dunleary saw the same

3:05

breed of dog and was like, oh, that reminds you of that article. And

3:07

then follow the dog up the lead to

3:09

the owner who was Paul Howard. That's never been

3:12

starstruck by a dog before.

3:14

Yeah, actually. Yeah. Funny. I still have never been starstruck

3:16

by a dog. It could happen to you. I

3:18

mean, I didn't think it would either. Also just to correct the

3:20

record is actually a Basset hound. Basset, is that what

3:22

it is? Yeah. Yeah. It says it in the first line of the

3:24

art. Yeah. I can see

3:29

it here next to me. People

3:31

should read, honestly, read it.

3:33

I don't have a dog. I found the grace.

3:35

Paul's entry into the culture

3:37

club. Remember we had the culture club during the, during

3:39

COVID was it? Oh yeah, that's right. Was it Colombo? Was it?

3:42

Yeah, that, that rings a vague sound. Someone random

3:44

did Colombo and he said he visited. Could have been him. I think

3:46

it was Paul. No, I stand

3:48

to be correct. The part of him wrong apologies, but certainly someone

3:51

random in my head was

3:53

a very big fan of Colombo.

3:55

I always like when we're talking to someone on the show and

3:57

we're like apologizing to them or addressing them

3:59

as a. they're this thing and I just find it funny the idea

4:02

of they're not listening at all and we're just talking into

4:04

a void Yes, as if someone is being insulted

4:06

and we don't even know

4:07

I am correct By the way, Paula Howard added

4:09

Colombo to the OTP Culture Hall of Fame in 2020 Could

4:12

that be your epitaph? I am correct by

4:14

the way. Just one more thing Colombo might say

4:16

himself Yeah, because he said he visited Colombo's

4:18

grave or Peter Folks grave Colombo

4:20

of course being a fictional character Would

4:23

Peter Folks be after? I'm actually

4:25

not sure another guy whose autograph I have Peter

4:27

Folks the actor who played Colombo You're

4:30

gonna say Colombo? Before

4:32

we get on to the actual sport how many autographs do you have?

4:35

Thousands really? Yeah. Yeah

4:37

the gaff at home if there's ever a there's ever a fire

4:39

or something touch wood I'll be I should really

4:42

put them away. So bring them in. I'll bring them. I'll bring a

4:44

few of them I'll show and tell. Scatter them there around the studio.

4:46

Yeah, exactly. I'll have your autographs yet guys

4:48

both Mine's inconsistent with figures is

4:51

it? Literally different every time. Yeah, like someone

4:53

who has a

4:53

consistent signature Not say I don't like you but

4:55

yeah, what is that please? Your

4:58

ones that are on the white board outside are pretty consistent

5:00

apart from whenever you do it with different hands Yeah, that's why

5:02

I was trying to show off that I couldn't I could

5:04

write with both hands Do you know when I was in school? My

5:07

teachers always used to think I was faking notes

5:09

because my dad's signature is so bad It's literally

5:12

just like a circle and another like loop

5:14

I love it and like I also

5:16

are I'm not gonna say on air But our doctor

5:18

had a slightly unfortunate name and they also

5:20

thought that I was making that up

5:21

whenever I had And I was like no that's

5:24

literally his name and that is actually my

5:26

dad I don't know the name now, obviously can't reveal on air

5:28

and Yeah, I used to my

5:30

mum's signature was quite easy to copy but I

5:32

used to tell her I was copying it

5:34

But like instead of just taking the job said mom, can I just I

5:36

just do this? She was like, yeah, go on Sorry,

5:39

mum, but I shouldn't be really But

5:41

it was with her full permission. No, I wasn't just sending

5:44

your best signatures there. Yeah, send in your signatures I

5:46

used to practice signatures when I was a kid, but yeah, I have loads of sporting

5:49

signatures I think Franz Becken

5:50

classic Shane line I used to practice signatures

5:54

I was like what if I have to ever write a signature and

5:57

yeah, I used to practice What did you decide on as your favorite

5:59

source? signature? Favorite sort

6:01

of signature? Like do you like a

6:04

big loopy doctor style sort of one

6:06

or are you more like intricate with this?

6:08

I want you to describe it like aesthetically pleasing like

6:11

Donald Trump has a signature that looks bonkers

6:14

as you can, like sometimes signature is put

6:16

to personalities it's like a what

6:18

do you call the graph that your heart rate monitor it's

6:21

just a squiggle. Heart graph like it's been it's been

6:24

I couldn't think of that one on the spot it's it's essentially

6:26

just a squiggle so sometimes people's signatures

6:28

are just hilarious sometimes Michael Keynes is like I have

6:30

that at home it's like M line it's

6:32

all a scam. You just

6:34

start off with the first letter of your first name which

6:37

is fine then you just go mad after that like doesn't actually matter

6:39

and also the matter you go the more it seems to be respected

6:42

like it's a whole scam signatures. It's

6:44

all a bit mad and there'll be a few signatures dished out

6:46

at Talastating's side after the match

6:48

because of course

6:48

they're heading off to Australia tomorrow for the Women's

6:51

World Cup really excited and

6:54

I know the French game is probably going to be slightly

6:57

tougher than the Zambia match to say the least. I

7:01

understand the I guess the thinking

7:04

behind this Kathleen is play really

7:06

really tough teams and that's been Vera Poe's plan

7:09

all along I guess. Yeah like she

7:11

has said all along that she wants to

7:13

play the toughest opponents because otherwise

7:16

the team won't be properly prepared and she said

7:18

like quite a few times that that's why Ireland

7:21

have struggled in the past is that they haven't actually put

7:23

themselves up against the best opposition. She's also

7:25

very particular in like the teams that she picks

7:28

say like in the last couple of months in the build

7:30

up to the World Cup every team has had a particular reason

7:32

why she's played them so like China,

7:36

Zambia, Germany,

7:38

France they all like fill different

7:41

criteria that suit the teams

7:43

in our World Cup group even if it's just certain elements

7:45

of it so

7:47

yeah tonight's gonna be interesting.

7:49

Interestingly what team Vera puts out I asked her yesterday

7:51

in the press conference everyone's fish so

7:53

everyone's willing to play and I was like how

7:55

close is it going to be to the starting 11 and

7:57

she was like well we're treating this match as a

7:59

competitive game, we're going out to

8:02

win.

8:03

It's a very different situation to say like Zambia,

8:05

where she was trying to get an idea of who

8:08

was playing well and who was going to be in the actual

8:11

squad. But she also said that that doesn't necessarily

8:14

mean that the team will stay that way as well.

8:16

So she was saying that because of the

8:18

way they're doing like periodization to make

8:20

sure that all the players get to the

8:22

same spot at the same time, because

8:25

everyone's coming. Championship players finished like

8:27

a couple of months ago. Players like Katie McCabe when he came

8:30

in a couple of weeks ago. Janice O'Sullivan, this is like

8:32

her first week in camp.

8:35

So she was saying that there

8:37

are some players that might only play like 30 minutes.

8:39

There are other players who might play the full 90. While

8:43

it is a competitive game, it's still a build

8:45

up to the World Cup. So we're not going to see like absolutely

8:48

everything that we can expect from that first game in Sydney.

8:50

Regardless

8:53

of it being a friendly, and I was thinking like, because they're

8:55

flying out tomorrow, can you imagine the trepidation of these

8:57

players heading into a 50-50 challenge tonight?

8:59

It's like, and of course, if you pull out, you

9:02

tend to get injured. So you really have to go for it. That was

9:04

worse. Yeah, exactly. But any old kind

9:06

of stupid injury where you could just, you

9:08

haven't warmed up to 100% efficiency

9:11

and you could do a hamstring. And it must be intentional,

9:13

because at the same time, you're playing against the

9:15

fifth best team in the world, according to FIFA rankings. Who

9:18

have played? Who have played for your players who have played

9:20

in five World Cups themselves, France versus Ireland

9:22

zero. Like it's a huge disparity in like,

9:26

just 17 places between these sides and the rankings.

9:28

Again, if rankings are important to you, and only five

9:30

of this Irish squad have actually played against France before.

9:33

So it's new for the majority. And

9:35

on paper, this is actually Ireland's toughest task

9:37

in the next month. You know, but of course,

9:40

being a friendly, you're like France are going

9:42

to be in the same boat as Ireland. Everyone is, they don't want to get injured,

9:44

especially the star players. So you're hoping

9:46

for a bit of rotation. And I guess the only

9:48

thing you're hoping for tonight is two things, obviously,

9:51

is a good performance and promising football, but

9:53

also not to get hammered. You don't want

9:55

to leave the country with drobing. But

9:58

I don't think that's going to happen.

9:59

No, surely not. I'm just checking here to see so France

10:01

are fifth in the word rankings and our the rest of

10:03

our group Canada 7th,

10:06

Australia 10th and

10:08

Then ourselves of course in 20 seconds.

10:10

You're like 40 something. Okay, they're 40th.

10:13

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so, okay It's Canada

10:15

are the highest rank like our France It's

10:17

pretty stupid question to ask because of course they are but France legitimate

10:19

World Cup contenders here, Kathleen

10:21

I think like

10:23

yes I think like France

10:25

technically should have been World Cup contenders

10:28

or even euro contenders for the last couple of years But

10:30

they've had such a complicated situation with their

10:32

former manager. Karun Diakra who like

10:35

like the 2019 World Cup It was held in France It

10:37

was supposed to be like a watershed moment for that French

10:39

team But she isolated so many of the

10:41

top players like Eugenie Lissamier

10:43

like she's the top French scorer Despite

10:47

what people will try and tell you about them inside She

10:49

hasn't played for the last couple of years because she fell out

10:51

with Diakra you had like

10:54

Amadeen Henry Henri who was like

10:56

the captain she also fell out with Diakra They've

10:59

had so like Wendy Renard before

11:01

the whole tournament started What said that she

11:03

wasn't going to play the World Cup under Diakra

11:06

and then within a week Diakra was gone and

11:08

Renard was back in the squad so This

11:10

is like the first year in a long

11:12

time that we're actually going to properly see

11:15

what this French team are capable of They still

11:17

have some quite big injuries, but

11:19

also they've known about those for a couple of months They're like

11:21

ACLs that were done last summer towards

11:24

the end of autumn So, you know, they've

11:26

had time to prepare for it and they've some really

11:28

really talented young players coming up too. So

11:30

I think They're

11:33

probably an unknown quality to

11:35

a certain extent but definitely

11:38

one of the teams that I would see doing quite

11:40

well in the tournament if They're

11:42

able to get their act together Wouldn't be the French

11:44

without a little bit of carnage in the build-up in

11:46

the year before World Cup So for people unfamiliar

11:49

like Diakra who you mentioned was sacked following

11:51

a player of revolt So Wendy Renard, Mariano

11:53

Nercatoto, Kadia to Diani among

11:56

those who threatened to walk away unless Diakra was sacked

12:00

I think it was over his approach to dealing with players and

12:02

he was sacked. Irving Renard comes in in March,

12:05

I mean in March, like just months before

12:07

a World Cup, which isn't exactly ideal to have a manager

12:09

coming in that late. Irving Renard is of course

12:12

that dapper looking gentleman

12:14

who managed Saudi Arabia in their famous win

12:17

over Argentina at the men's World Cup.

12:18

He's such an interesting appointment because he

12:21

doesn't have any experience in the women's game

12:23

and I know people say like football is football but

12:25

there are different things that you kind

12:27

of need for either side and like people

12:29

can manage both, that's absolutely no problem at all but from

12:32

what I know he has limited to no experience

12:35

managing a women's team but the

12:37

way he came in he was actually really impressive with

12:39

some of the stuff like he automatically introduced

12:42

a policy where any of the players

12:45

in the team who were mothers could bring

12:47

their babies into camp and he was like why

12:49

wouldn't I do that? I mean if they're distracted

12:52

they're not going to play well in the pitch so we should be doing everything

12:54

we can to support them and it was like.

12:56

Yeah. He's

12:58

such an intriguing figure. Yeah,

13:00

it's an interesting one. The fact that he's only had months

13:03

as well, what four months now to deal with that.

13:06

I can't really talk about France going into a World Cup with

13:08

carnage after Saipan 2002 I

13:10

guess and also we should turn

13:13

to this story because the press conference yesterday

13:15

wasn't exactly dominated by matters football,

13:17

it was matters off the pitch. Back to the

13:19

Irish independent, McCabe Pois new deal is not up to me.

13:22

Ireland captain Katie McCabe has said it's not up to her to decide

13:24

whether Vera Pois gets a contract extension beyond this month's

13:26

World Cup. The manager saying last month that

13:28

both she and the FBI were engaged in talks and she hoped

13:30

that the discussions could be completed before the

13:32

commencement of the World Cup and of course there's these fresh allegations

13:35

emerging

13:36

this week on the US website about her time

13:38

at the Houston dash. The FBI appearing

13:40

to have stalled on negotiations so that

13:43

seems to have been what's dominated the press conference

13:45

yesterday. Someone is out to get

13:47

me says Vera Pois in the back of the Irish daily star.

13:50

Pois believes person with an agenda is trying

13:52

to destroy her. Pois claims the allegations

13:54

made against her last December and in an article published

13:56

earlier this week are down to an agenda by one person

13:59

who is quote trying

13:59

to destroy my career.

14:01

She was heavily pressed on this issue yesterday

14:03

at the contents of an interview conducted with unnamed

14:06

former Houston Dash players and staff members that appeared in

14:08

the athletic on Monday morning and

14:11

all the rest of the papers are dealing with this issue as well. Kathleen,

14:13

this was an issue that cropped

14:16

up heavily at the press conference at which you were present

14:19

yesterday.

14:20

Yeah, I don't think I've ever been in a press

14:22

conference that was quite as tense

14:24

as that and I have done in Murino and Guardiola

14:27

press conferences before, which are just tense on an

14:29

average day.

14:31

It was, yeah,

14:33

Vera came out very

14:35

strong at the start and she has always

14:37

vehemently denied any allegations

14:40

against her and the press conference

14:42

yesterday pretty much followed the same

14:44

tune. There was a bit of discussion

14:47

before as to who the player would be that would

14:49

be put up to, I suppose, represent

14:51

what the team were thinking. No surprise that it was

14:54

Katie McCabe when these allegations first came

14:56

out before Christmas. It was Katie that was up

14:58

there as well. It

15:01

was, yeah, it

15:02

was probably like half an hour of

15:04

the two of them being asked the same question or

15:07

very, very similar questions over and over

15:09

again and the two of them getting

15:11

continuously more frustrated

15:13

with it. Like even at the end, Katie

15:16

was very, very visibly frustrated

15:19

and frustrated at the fact that

15:21

there was so little talk about the match tonight

15:23

or the fact that they're flying off to the first ever World

15:26

Cup. But it's hard as well in those situations

15:28

because, yeah,

15:29

you can ask those questions

15:32

but also

15:33

the story that everyone wants to know about is the

15:35

article that was written

15:37

this week and I suppose this yesterday was

15:40

like Vera's first opportunity to actually address

15:42

the media about it and give

15:45

her side from straight from her mouth

15:47

rather than, you know, the quotes and the

15:49

information that she gave in the article.

15:51

But yeah, strenuously

15:54

denied all the allegations. McCabe

15:57

was asked, did the whole squad

15:59

support her and

15:59

She said yes, and then it was kind of

16:02

followed up and someone asked her, well,

16:04

do you speak for the entire squad? And she was

16:06

like, well, obviously I can't speak for everyone individually.

16:09

So there was a bit of, I

16:11

suppose, not clarity

16:13

there. And

16:14

when Vera was asked, because it was one

16:16

of the questions that was raised and off the ball during the week, have

16:19

you talked to the players or how's

16:21

the FBI talked to the players? She said that she's

16:23

talked to the senior leadership and that

16:25

each one of the senior leaders came to her individually

16:28

and offered their support. Obviously that's

16:30

coming from her rather than the actual players. So

16:33

you have to take it at her word. But

16:36

yeah, it was, I don't

16:39

know, I just, I feel like we've spent so much of this World

16:41

Cup buildup talking about things other than the football

16:43

and just being able to get excited about it. And

16:46

it's incredibly frustrating. And I

16:48

feel like the FBI could have done a

16:51

much better job at handling

16:53

this situation. It shouldn't be up

16:55

to Katie McCabe or any of the other

16:58

players to stand up and have

17:00

to speak for the entire squad or answer questions

17:02

about why the FBI acted one way or the other.

17:05

That should be on the FBI. They should have had

17:07

more clarity in their processes in this whole

17:09

thing. And that hasn't been there. And

17:13

it's only gonna get worse because when we get to the

17:15

World Cup, the Australian media is gonna wanna ask

17:17

about it, the Canadian media is gonna wanna ask about it. Yesterday's

17:21

press conference ended and we all kind of went

17:23

like, okay, that's over. But

17:26

the next thing we were all thinking was, okay, well, when

17:28

we get over to Brisbane, Sydney, Perth,

17:31

we're just gonna have to sit through this again and again. And

17:34

there definitely would have been a way

17:36

to approach this where there'd be less questions

17:38

swirling around and we'd be able to

17:40

focus on the actual football.

17:42

For anyone who has been living under a rock, so

17:44

the comments in the, and Vera

17:46

Pow was interviewed for this athletic piece that was released on Monday.

17:49

She claims she received a death threat from a member of the Houston

17:51

Dash staff after she switched training

17:53

to the evening to avoid the daytime heat. She

17:56

said, in the piece, he threatened to shoot me in the head as I was taking

17:58

his beer night away, adding, got police protection

18:01

until that situation was resolved. This all started

18:03

back in December. Vera Powes named in a

18:05

report which alleged that while

18:07

she was manager of Houston Dash from

18:09

November 2017 to September 2018, she

18:12

shamed players for their weight and attempted to

18:14

exert excessive control over their eating habits. Powe

18:17

denied every allegation made against her and as Kathleen said,

18:20

continues to deny those allegations up to and including yesterday.

18:22

A month later then she was among eight

18:24

coaches sanctioned by the NWSL. That's

18:27

the National Women's Soccer League in North America

18:29

as part of their corrective action in response to the findings of the

18:31

report. Her future employment in the NWSL

18:34

is conditional on acknowledging misconduct, participating

18:36

in training and demonstrating a sincere commitment to correcting

18:39

behaviour. And then Powe herself

18:41

responded to those sanctions saying she was in contact with

18:43

an Iowa-based employment discrimination and civil

18:45

rights lawyer and vowed to fully clear her name. And

18:47

then of course this set this piece on Monday, not

18:50

only was Powe interviewed for that piece, but it

18:52

chronicled her time in Houston Dash. Four ex-players

18:54

and three former members of staff all interviewed

18:56

under the cover of anonymity discussed

18:59

Powe's, what they said, Powe's methods. They described them

19:02

as quote, abusive and inappropriate. Another said

19:04

she quote, created a culture of fear. So

19:06

I guess the article on Monday is why this kind of

19:09

worms has been reopened. I know Joe Malloy

19:11

spoke at length

19:13

about this on the show during the week.

19:15

I think Joe's points were

19:18

fair. I know we probably took a little bit of heat from

19:20

some people for some of them because of the timing of the work up.

19:22

But like...

19:23

I would also say that anyone who, I

19:25

know like the Joe's monologue was

19:27

put out, but I would also encourage anyone

19:29

who watched that and was given Joe a

19:32

bit of heat to actually listen to the interview he did

19:34

with the two authors of the article because

19:36

he properly interrogated

19:38

them. And you know, a lot of people were

19:41

saying he was anti-Viera and

19:43

anti-The Ireland Squad and anti-The World Cup. But

19:45

if you listen to that interview

19:48

in the context of what he said, that's

19:51

not the case at all. It's an interrogation

19:53

of the situation because the fact

19:55

is we don't know. We only know what

19:58

has been reported and what

19:59

has said and what the players

20:02

have said in the media so that's all we're

20:04

going off and we can only

20:06

just keep asking those questions as well.

20:08

It's one

20:11

and as you say, Kathleen, we don't know the truth

20:13

and Joe said that himself as well. It

20:16

could come out and I guess Joe's issue and it's

20:18

a very fair one is how the FBI have dealt with

20:20

this. You can't just say you've

20:22

spoken to Vera Powell and spoken to one or two players

20:25

and I also think Vera Powell is saying she's spoken to the senior

20:27

leadership group. I actually think she should be speaking

20:29

to every single player individually. I don't

20:31

think it's that difficult.

20:32

But again, it's also not

20:35

on her to talk to them in the sense that

20:37

if your boss comes to you and says, do you have

20:39

a problem with me? Yeah, I get you.

20:42

You're probably not going to tell them whereas that's

20:45

the one thing that came out of the joint investigation

20:47

that was done in the NWSL was that things

20:50

don't actually come to light unless there is an independent,

20:53

anonymous way of reporting things

20:55

because

20:57

face it, we're going into a World Cup. If you actually

20:59

had an issue with Vera Powell, you're not going to turn around and

21:01

be like, I have an issue and she's going

21:03

to be like, well, you're not going to the World Cup or whatever.

21:06

She might not say that, but you

21:07

know. It does. It feels like there's a simmering tension,

21:09

right? Yeah. Like I was taking like, I was

21:12

watching all of the videos that Kathleen posted on her Twitter

21:14

from the press conference. Yesterday, it

21:16

was glued to all of them. But one in particular was Katie

21:19

McCabe's response to all the things. We have that video. It's slightly

21:21

longer than we usually play it a couple of minutes, but we

21:23

think it's worth it for the response. So

21:25

this was the Irish captain, Katie McCabe, discussing

21:27

all these issues at the press conference yesterday. Have a look.

21:29

Of course, it's a real

21:31

negative distraction, but for us, we're

21:34

solely focusing on what we have going

21:37

forward. We have a game against one

21:39

of the top five teams in the world tomorrow

21:41

here in Teleste, women's front, a

21:43

massive send off game in front of our home

21:45

fans that I wasn't able to

21:48

play two weeks

21:48

ago. So I'm really looking forward to it to be able

21:50

to be 11 years tomorrow with that. And

21:53

we've got a massive four or five weeks ahead

21:56

of us in Australia. And for us,

21:58

yes, of course, it's a lot of fun.

21:59

not to explain all noise but our fully

22:03

focus is on these next two weeks and

22:07

keeping together as a group. And

22:09

as a group do you fully support your power as you manage

22:12

it? Yeah, well we've built something

22:14

over the last two and a half years you know,

22:16

we've worked really hard together

22:18

to contain

22:21

the culture we have within the group in

22:24

terms of on and

22:27

off the pitch. We've had highs and

22:29

we've had lows over the last few years

22:32

and our jobs as staff

22:34

and as players is to support in

22:36

high quality performances for our

22:37

country and that's what we're looking to do for the next few

22:40

weeks. Would you say that you

22:42

speak for the whole team, all 23, they're

22:45

happy with Vera Power's

22:48

answer to those allegations?

22:50

I can't answer for each and every player

22:53

and of course Vera has a style

22:55

of management that we're

22:57

used to now over the last two years. It's something we've

23:00

worked

23:00

together, we've argued

23:03

through each other of course, like you're never

23:05

going to get on 100% with your manager

23:07

at times, she pushes me like for sure. So

23:12

in my opinion and from

23:14

my personal relationship with Vera of course

23:16

we've clashed many a times but

23:19

we're always professional to make sure we

23:21

are fully focused with the team. I mean

23:24

I want our actor in the right place

23:26

in terms of what's best for the Ireland

23:28

Women's National team going forward and

23:31

again of course

23:32

the act of confinement is not great but

23:35

our full focus will be France

23:38

tomorrow and then going to

23:40

Colombia next week

23:42

and then obviously kicking off our

23:45

first round of work. Interesting,

23:47

good answer. Yeah,

23:49

Katie McCabe very very interesting. You're

23:51

obviously trying to read into body language and

23:54

what Katie McCabe is also saying there but

23:56

I guess she's, as she said she can't speak

23:59

for all of the players, the rest of

23:59

the players in the squad, she can only speak for herself, which

24:02

I think is fair. Yeah. Well,

24:05

okay.

24:05

I've had this argument a couple of times over

24:08

since yesterday happened. She is the

24:10

captain as well. Like I know she can say she

24:12

can't speak for every player, but she

24:15

is,

24:15

by being up there and answering these questions,

24:18

she is speaking on behalf of the squad.

24:20

But I do think in any squad, say

24:23

a squad of 23 players, you're going to have

24:25

maybe, you have 16 players who love the manager and

24:27

eight players who despise the manager. I've done terrible maths

24:29

there. Seven players who maybe despise the manager. But you know what I

24:31

mean? Like that

24:33

entire squad, she may be the captain, but she

24:36

may be getting different opinions herself and I have

24:38

no idea. That's true. So her

24:40

answer was like totally understandable, but she could have worded

24:42

it in a way that was like exactly like you said, it was like,

24:44

well, naturally in a squad of that size, not everyone's going to

24:46

be happy with the manager. But there's clearly,

24:50

there's clearly a tension between the two of them, I think,

24:52

but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. I do think

24:54

they get the best out of each other, but it would be, but

24:57

you can feel like, I thought McCabe had

24:59

a few opportunities there to really kind

25:02

of embellish just how much like Vera Powell

25:04

has done for Irish football and how brilliant she

25:06

is as a manager. But I thought she was, I

25:08

thought her answer was very interesting. Yeah. I

25:11

felt very, I felt very revealing. Well, she didn't, she didn't.

25:13

I think she gave her due credit. I think there's respect there

25:15

for sure. I don't know if there's much beyond

25:18

that.

25:18

But it's funny because the two of them did

25:20

the panel with us at the Mansion House last

25:23

week. I know you guys weren't there,

25:25

but like their body language and the way they were

25:27

talking was very, very different to yesterday

25:30

as well. Because obviously at that stage, the

25:32

article hadn't come out. Yes, the allegations were

25:34

still there, but they kind of left

25:36

the public consciousness a little bit, I

25:38

think. And there definitely was like

25:41

much more ease between the two of them. And

25:43

well, I don't know what you're going to say between the two of them, but much

25:45

more ease because obviously yesterday was a very tense

25:47

and difficult

25:48

day. Yeah. It's one

25:50

of those, it's one of those strange ones. I'm lucky they had to address

25:53

it yesterday. And you know, at the end of the press conference,

25:55

I think Kelly McCabe was basically like, what should

25:58

we share? A passing comment about.

25:59

Thanks for all the talk with the World Cup or? Thanks for covering

26:02

the World Cup, class. I've covered the World Cup. And

26:04

look, I understand the frustration that we're

26:06

literally a day out from the team leaving for

26:09

the World Cup and we're talking about this but

26:12

just understand Kitty McCabe that this is the media, this

26:14

is what happens. If suddenly this comes

26:16

into the... That's why we

26:18

have to talk about it. That's why it was so tense, I think, because we

26:21

are so close to the World Cup and the eve of Ireland's

26:23

first World Cup. No one wants to say anything

26:25

that's going to jeopardise what's about to happen on the pitch. But

26:28

I thought the tension was

26:29

just fascinating to watch. And I did

26:32

think it was revealing and a

26:34

good thing again, that McCabe admitted

26:36

that, yeah, we do disagree all the time. She

26:39

pushes me and I pushes her. Because if she was

26:41

like, no, no, no, everything's fine. No one's going to believe that.

26:43

She

26:44

said that quite consistently as well over the last

26:46

couple of months. That's always been a thing between the

26:48

two of them. I think McCabe's type

26:50

of character who can't help but be honest. Yeah.

26:53

And I think she wears her emotions on her face

26:55

a bit like Vera Powell. And they're actually probably quite similar

26:57

characters in terms of their insane

27:00

drive and competitiveness. Yeah. So

27:02

I think they bring the best out of each other. But it'll

27:04

be fascinating down the line to see

27:07

if they're asked again about each other when

27:09

they no longer work together.

27:10

There's going to be a magnificent

27:13

profile or piece on these couple of weeks.

27:16

I'd say a couple of years. It could even be in a year's time

27:19

where someone deep dives into what

27:21

every single player, a lot of the players

27:23

were feeling over these last couple of weeks. Everything

27:26

from the World Cup to the allegations

27:28

to how they felt watching

27:30

everything unfold in front of them and doing

27:33

a proper undercover. I genuinely

27:35

look forward to reading it whenever

27:36

it happens. For sure. We should mention before

27:39

we leave the arena, football mason mount

27:41

yesterday, securing

27:43

and confirming that signing from Mantis Shaded,

27:45

or two Mantis Shaded from Chelsea, initial £55 million,

27:48

five-year deal, an 18-year association with Chelsea

27:50

ending. He put up a nice video

27:53

saying goodbye and farewell to the Chelsea fans

27:55

yesterday. Of course, won the Champions League with Chelsea in 2021.

27:58

First summer signing for Eric

27:59

and he will wear the iconic number

28:02

seven shirt at Old Trafford. No pressure

28:04

with that jersey. Big one. And he can play about seven

28:06

different positions. Yeah. So

28:09

the worry is like, where's he

28:11

going to

28:12

play? Is that the only reason he deserves a jersey? Yeah.

28:14

Where's he going to play? Because his

28:16

best position is probably central

28:19

attacking, which is taken

28:21

by Bruno Fernandez. Yeah.

28:22

So he could drop deeper to play alongside Casamero

28:25

because Marcel Sabatzer's loan

28:27

deal ended and they're not signing up permanently. And

28:29

Erickson can't read a complete 90 minutes. Mr. Erickson isn't

28:31

selfish. Fred, the jury's

28:33

very much out. With Taminas,

28:36

that's the biggest thing up for Scotland though.

28:38

Yeah, I don't think Taniq's the biggest Matamani fan. So

28:41

it'll be interesting to see where he plays. It's not the most inspiring

28:43

thing. 60 million pounds. Chelsea want to get rid of

28:45

a lot of their players and they're continuing to do so. It's

28:48

a decent signing.

28:49

Decent. Let's see. You

28:51

guys sound so unconvinced by this. Yeah, I mean,

28:53

very open about that. But I said

28:55

last week, I think for the price I prefer a mountain

28:57

this price than rice for his price. I know that

28:59

the money is irrelevant. That's a leave-ar-slip thing. I thought you would have

29:01

had to think about it. Well, there you go. And he's

29:04

about to sign for art. We'll find out next season who

29:06

was the better signer. I find Kath and I'm a lot more

29:08

excited because

29:09

they're about to sign Decent and Rice.

29:10

Yeah. Are you excited about Decent and

29:13

Rice? Come on. No, I am

29:15

excited. I do like, I think

29:17

he is the sort of player that could

29:19

work really well under Arteta. I

29:21

think he's the sort of player we need. I like

29:23

the fact that when he was talking about

29:26

signing, well, like the reporting that

29:28

came out of why he signed is that he likes

29:30

a club that has like a fan base and isn't,

29:33

you know, he's not going to a city. I'm going

29:35

to get loads of city supporters now coming off

29:37

to me about the fact I just said they don't have a fan base. But

29:41

I don't know. I like, there's been few

29:44

signings so far that Arteta has made that have

29:46

gone like drastically

29:47

wrong.

29:49

And I don't think it's going to be like

29:51

another situation where you're kind of

29:55

asking where did all that money go. I don't

29:57

think so anyways. I'm reserving judgement

29:59

on Arteta. how good it'll be. But also the

30:02

money that's being requested seems like so

30:04

much when we talk about like the history

30:06

of football players and what they go for, but it's also becoming

30:09

kind of the norm for players of a certain

30:11

standard.

30:12

Yeah, it definitely has.

30:15

It's just none of the signings have really set

30:18

hearts alight so far in the Premier League this year. They're

30:20

obviously big money signings, but we're amazed to be seeing

30:22

David Dehae's future at Old Trafford is also

30:24

technically no longer united player. No, he's out of contract

30:27

and Andre Onana seems well, certainly

30:29

he seems open to moving from into Milan

30:31

to Old Trafford if the interest is there and it certainly seems

30:34

like the interest is there. United making a bid for

30:36

Andre Onana yesterday.

30:38

So that's like a bid worth 45 million euros, 38.5 million

30:40

pounds.

30:42

Apparently Eric

30:44

Tanhag is driving this move he managed

30:46

Onana at Ajax. So of course they have that relationship

30:49

already. There is a gap

30:51

apparently in valuation with Inter. So Inter, United

30:53

have bid 45 million euros

30:55

as I said, Inter won around 60 million euros

30:58

but compromise could well be struck.

31:00

United are looking at alternatives if agreement can't

31:02

be reached but appears David Dehae's. He's

31:05

been a high number tape goalkeeper in the world for the last

31:07

four years and hasn't performed as such but then

31:09

the years prior to that he was consistently

31:11

United's best

31:12

player. He's either really- So his legacy I think it should

31:14

be remembered but his recent form like I think there needs

31:16

to be a separation and Tanhag's

31:18

priority this summer is a number nine and a goalkeeper

31:21

and I can see why. I don't think there are any United fans

31:23

who would be sad to see Dehae leave at this point. They don't want the

31:25

legacy ruin as you said. There's also

31:28

Wimbledon. Yeah, well just a brief mention Andy

31:30

Murray the redemption. I like

31:32

this is an incredible story. The guy's a metal hip,

31:34

he should be long retired

31:36

and had a brilliant first round victory

31:38

like Hammers Peniston is the British counterpart

31:41

and today plays Stephanas Sitzipas

31:43

the fifth seed in the second round and look

31:46

Wimbledon's team. The schedule's been an absolute

31:48

monumental disaster so far because of the rain. Yesterday

31:51

the organizers made a curious decision

31:53

to keep the roof open on Centre Court and Court

31:55

One thinking it's going to be a shower so they were

31:58

behind again and it was a case yesterday where- where Daria

32:00

Kazakina won her match to progress

32:02

to the third round and it was still 80 odd matches

32:05

in the first round yet to be completed. So

32:07

Sitsopas played Dominic Thiem, the

32:09

brilliant Austrian who won the US Open three

32:11

years ago and since then has been absolutely riddled with injuries.

32:14

It went to a fifth final set tiebreak

32:18

and Sitsopas came out on top but now Sitsopas

32:20

has to play Andy Murray today. So Murray has a serious chance

32:22

of getting through. Have you beaten Sitsopas? Oh yeah, he's beaten Sitsopas

32:25

on different surfaces as well.

32:27

He absolutely can and the

32:30

one really interesting fact about this is that Murray has probably

32:32

never been fitter since the surgery and his form

32:34

is really good recently. He played Jakovic in

32:36

just a warm-up mess-around game there last weekend

32:39

and easily won the first set report. So I know there's

32:41

no footage of this but the talent is there

32:43

and it's a great opportunity to play Sitsopas

32:45

because he will be wrecked. Right, right, right.

32:48

Is there any chance that they'll play on the Sunday

32:50

because they're so behind? They

32:52

do play Sundays now at Wimbledon. They brought

32:54

that in, they brought it in I think it

32:56

was last year, the year before, what year before? Yeah,

32:59

the year before I think they brought it in because 2020 there was no Wimbledon.

33:02

Yeah, they brought it in because they found that they brought up massive pressure.

33:03

I don't think they played Sunday 2021 because I

33:05

was there that year. Oh yeah, so last year

33:08

it was the first year they brought it in because they found that

33:10

they were way behind schedule anyway and they were up

33:12

against it. So they are now but

33:14

it's simmering

33:15

as a result of that. Also

33:18

Maria Sacri, the fifth seed on the women's side,

33:20

won her first set six love yesterday and still lost

33:22

the match. That rarely

33:24

happens. That is insane. There

33:26

is on the back page some of the papers as well. The mirror, Kitty

33:29

Boulder expects security to be stepped up after eco

33:31

protesters disrupted her Wimbledon win. So this is

33:33

another just up oil campaigner. Our campaigner

33:35

is interrupting play by throwing orange confetti

33:37

and jigsaw pieces on court Two

33:39

other producers had invaded the same court earlier in the

33:42

day. So she's the British number one, the only home

33:44

winner. Yeah, Greg Ordeimachavas, the other

33:45

match that they interrupted. Richie McCormick made

33:47

the very valid point in the news round last night. If they really

33:50

wanted to disrupt play, they should have wet the surface

33:52

so that the glitter would stay. Ah, yeah. The

33:55

confetti would stay. You can easily get rid of it when it's dry. Richie,

33:57

there's even might. And Boulder has cleaned up the confetti

33:59

too.

33:59

snooker.

34:00

It wasn't as messy as the snooker which was the R&D. Yeah, they

34:03

probably would do more. I'd say so,

34:05

yeah, to be expected. At

34:07

8.03am on Thursday morning's

34:10

OTBM, the sports breakfast show for multiple plenty more

34:12

to come between now and 10 o'clock as we said earlier on

34:14

we have live commentary of the Republic of Ireland versus

34:16

France on the show tonight Nathan Murphy and Purlas

34:18

Flattery on comms for that 1.75pm kickoff at

34:21

Tallis Stadium. We'll delve into that

34:23

match further with the former Irish

34:25

international Maeve de Burca in studio after this quick

34:27

break. First though, more from the press conference yesterday.

34:29

Here's Vera Paus's response.

34:30

I think it's

34:33

the same story as

34:36

in December. It

34:38

is something

34:41

of a few anonymous players

34:44

and how can you defend yourself against

34:46

the line. I've

34:49

decided to read out one comment

34:52

that I received. It

34:54

is from the Netherlands. It's

34:56

from Barbara Byron. She is the key

34:59

person who wrote about

35:01

all the views in gymnastics and she

35:03

sent me this yesterday. I've translated it and

35:05

I've

35:05

asked her about her jersey. I

35:08

don't put my hands in the fire for anyone

35:10

but for you and your pedagogically

35:14

responsible interaction with players I do

35:17

that 100%. I know

35:19

from so many players how important

35:21

you are or have been for them inside

35:24

and outside the pitch. You

35:26

go beyond everything to choose the best for

35:28

a person. Everyone can learn something

35:31

from that. You can defend yourself

35:32

against the line. OTPAM.

35:37

The sports breakfast show from off

35:40

the ball. All right, six

35:42

minutes past 8 on this Thursday morning's OTBM, the sports

35:44

breakfast show from off the ball. Myself and Kathleen with you until 10

35:47

o'clock. We have loads more of silicone on the show.

35:49

I will preview Galway Limerick with Barry Hennessey and Tony O'Greegan,

35:51

Jess Kelly back from Wimbledon and around 9 o'clock Paul

35:54

Howard's episode. If you had to be there before that, that was the said.

35:56

We have live commentary of the Republic of Ireland

35:58

versus France tonight from town.

35:59

the stadium. Pearl Slattery will be on comms alongside

36:02

Nathan Murphy. For that one to let it to have the former

36:04

Irish International, Maeve De Brucka in studio with us this morning.

36:06

Morning Maeve. Morning, how are you doing? Keeping

36:08

well, thanks for popping in. I think it's your first time in studio with us. It

36:10

is indeed, yeah. First time in. Tuned

36:12

in from South America the last time I think so. Is right,

36:15

Jesus yeah. Bit of a different vibe. I forgot we were in South

36:17

America the last time we talked to you.

36:19

Slightly different environment for this one. Indeed.

36:21

Obviously we're all excited for this game tonight, as I said we have live commentary

36:24

but all the papers, it's hard to ignore it this morning.

36:27

Out to get me, Vera Powell says the allegations made

36:29

against her are down to an agenda by one person

36:31

who is quote, trying to destroy my career. All

36:34

the papers I guess this morning have similar enough headlines.

36:37

It's timing that I guess the Irish team

36:40

could have done without but I guess they can't control the timing.

36:42

This piece came out on Monday in the Atlantic and it

36:44

is what it is but certainly

36:46

tense enough press conference yesterday.

36:48

Yeah, for sure. You could feel the kind of pressure

36:50

I think that they were feeling with the questions being popped

36:52

at them and like you said it's far from ideal

36:55

timing, you know, on the eve of what to be a,

36:57

which will be a great celebration I think tonight

36:59

in Tala but it just does kind of cast a

37:01

little bit of an unfortunate shadow over the whole

37:03

thing.

37:04

Especially when they're putting Kitty McCabe I suppose out

37:06

she has to, as captain give her give

37:08

her own view but Kitty I thought spoke

37:11

well. She of course said you know I can't speak for all of

37:13

the players. Yeah. Which is fair enough she's

37:15

the captain but I feel like

37:17

she maybe shouldn't and can't speak

37:20

for every single player in that team but I

37:22

mean it remains to be seen. We of course none of us know

37:25

what's going on here in terms of the full truth as to what happened

37:27

at Houston Dash but

37:30

it's just one of those issues that

37:32

timing wise could have been better. Yeah, exactly

37:34

and I think it was kind of tough for Kitty

37:36

because when you're sitting beside the person you're asked

37:38

questions about you know it's very difficult and

37:41

with the cameras on you and everything what else was she going to say

37:43

you know in fairness we don't know like

37:45

you said we don't know what happened but I think

37:47

it was a very difficult situation and almost an uncomfortable

37:49

watch for those people watching. I just think

37:52

just the lack of transparency really

37:54

is what the problem is and kind of

37:57

just the lack of due diligence obviously some people

37:59

say the allegations.

37:59

aren't that important

38:02

to that, but at the same time, we just need to, I think,

38:04

make sure that the player welfare is put to the fore.

38:07

And yeah, just a lack of transparency

38:09

and inconsistency is, I suppose, the big issue there

38:11

really within.

38:12

Yeah, and certainly to make sure the FBI

38:14

investigate it properly, regardless of what

38:16

the allegations are, how serious people seem to be. There

38:20

are many other questions, Kathleen, yesterday about the football.

38:23

Was it like, what percentage was it in

38:25

terms of?

38:26

There were three questions in half an hour about the

38:28

football, and I asked two of them. Well,

38:30

because I was just like, it got to the kind of the

38:33

way these things work is like you have a live section

38:35

and then you have stuff that's embargoed for the papers in the morning.

38:38

And it was kind of getting to the end of the live section. And I was like

38:40

curious as to the team that's going to play

38:42

tonight, you know, how close is it going to be

38:44

to what we might see in Sydney? And like

38:47

I said earlier, obviously, you know, these questions

38:49

have to be asked, but I just felt like

38:51

they had been asked quite a lot already at

38:53

that stage. And there was no point

38:56

hammer. I didn't think a different

38:58

answer was going to come. And I was

39:00

right, like a different answer didn't come. But

39:02

yeah, no, I'd say in a half an hour

39:04

of talking,

39:05

there were exactly three questions about the

39:07

football. Right. So you can that's

39:09

I guess we're getting McCabe's little throwaway line at the end came

39:11

from. Thanks for asking. But

39:13

the word copper. Yeah. Well, like

39:15

you could understand her frustration as well. Like if you're a player

39:17

and like they've worked so hard to

39:19

get here and they have done fantastically

39:21

well. So, you know, hopefully I

39:24

suppose it's one of those that it just needs to be talked

39:26

about in this moment. But and hopefully,

39:28

like we said, it is dealt with for perhaps

39:31

the time and right now is more so that

39:33

I think there will be a bit more of a focus on the football, hopefully.

39:35

Yeah. Because I think I asked a couple of the players about

39:37

it over the last few weeks. So obviously there's been so

39:39

much in that the preliminary squad was announced

39:42

and then you had the players

39:43

in the preliminary squad who are maybe on the edge

39:45

were trying to get in but also still doing

39:47

all this media and build up to the World Cup.

39:50

Then the squad was announced and there was all the hype

39:52

and emotion around that. And then there's been so many events

39:54

in the last week or so. So, you know, they were in farm lee

39:57

the other night when this article was it was

39:59

a day after

39:59

article was released and they're getting pictures of

40:02

the Taoiseach and the Tasha and the sports minister. So

40:05

you're already dealing with all the emotion and build

40:07

up with that and then you add this

40:09

on top of it as well. I don't

40:11

know how when you're a player and

40:14

you're dealing with like a tense situation, how easy

40:16

is it to whatever it might be just kind

40:18

of I suppose take yourself out of that and focus on what's

40:20

happening on the pitch. I think it would take a lot of

40:23

adaptation because they're not used to all

40:25

this media attention which is fantastic, an

40:28

external noise I suppose as Katie referenced

40:29

it yesterday but you

40:32

know I'm sure they will be glad just to nearly

40:34

get into a little bubble almost over in Australia

40:36

and just focus on the football. Obviously they still

40:38

have media duties and stuff but I don't think it'll be

40:40

on the same level of intensity as it has

40:43

that they've experienced like you said even

40:45

with that at training camp which can be which

40:47

they all came out I suppose at the time they said it wasn't

40:49

too bad but then it was later emerged

40:51

it was the most intense kind of two weeks of camp ever

40:53

so yeah I think they'll

40:55

just be happy like I said just to get in and

40:57

just focus on the football and I'm sure tonight

40:59

in Thailand that's what they'll be doing as well. So

41:02

that is kind of the way these things work like there's a maybe

41:04

a media storm over an issue like this or

41:07

allegations like this and the players themselves

41:09

you'd like to think a lot of the players aren't reading

41:11

newspapers, aren't listening to media coverage at all especially

41:13

now in the Advance of the World Cup I guess they don't need that but

41:16

then of course something like this pops up and

41:18

FAI press people and media

41:20

people have to basically warn the players and

41:22

tell them look if you're asked about it this is what you should say

41:24

that's just the way the media works and

41:27

it's of course a side of it that these footballers

41:29

never signed up for you know they're not signed

41:31

up to be PR people or to answer questions

41:34

necessarily at all you know they're there to play football

41:36

but it's just a side of the of the

41:38

game that

41:39

they have to be prepared for especially in Advance of the World

41:41

Cup as you say this is because this

41:44

Irish team are getting so much coverage rightly now because

41:46

they've qualified for first World Cup and this

41:48

is the byproduct of it the by side of it I guess that

41:51

they have to deal with. Yeah.

41:52

They are also all incredibly well spoken

41:54

because they've had to spend so much time putting

41:57

themselves forward and you know advocating

41:59

for themselves.

41:59

and saying, look at us, give

42:02

us the coverage, talk about our football,

42:04

like as well as they play on the pitch, they're

42:06

also all quite good speakers, but I

42:08

suppose this is sort of the situation you never expect to

42:11

have to answer questions about.

42:12

And they're probably thinking even, you know, because obviously this is

42:15

what, two weeks before the first World Cup game, and

42:17

we're talking about the likes of this, but even after the

42:20

Scotland game, you know, the greatest night of their lives, then

42:22

of course there's the song and the dressing room and all

42:24

the madness that came out of that. So they must be thinking, we can't,

42:27

we can't enjoy anything. So they're

42:29

used to off pitch matters being the

42:32

topic of discussion now, I guess. Probably good

42:34

practice for them in some ways, you know, because

42:36

these things do crop

42:37

up. Yeah, and if anything was to happen within

42:39

the World Cup situation as well, I suppose they're definitely

42:41

gonna be the most equipped team nearly to deal with it, but

42:43

you can see they're not the only ones, you know, a lot

42:45

of the teams going into the World Cup now have

42:48

little kind of shadows, I suppose, hanging

42:50

over them for various different reasons. And

42:53

yeah, but like I said, that's the nature now of the women's

42:55

game. This wasn't the case, you know,

42:58

eight years ago, like maybe four years ago or

43:00

a little bit more, but now that just

43:02

comes with the increased media coverage and

43:05

it's part and parcel of it really, I suppose, for them.

43:06

Of course, the game itself then tonight,

43:09

Maeve, and obviously in

43:11

one way you think, you know, maybe nice handy four

43:13

nil friendly win over some smaller nation

43:15

might be perfect heading into World Cup. As it is,

43:18

it's the fifth best team in the world, according to the rankings,

43:20

France. This has kind of been

43:22

consistent with Vera Powell over the last couple of years.

43:24

She's always aimed for a bigger opposition, I guess.

43:26

Yeah, she has in fairness, and I think it'll be a really,

43:28

really good test for them tonight because it's gonna be

43:30

better than the caliber

43:33

of the opposition they're gonna face in the group games,

43:35

at least,

43:35

or hoping in

43:36

advance that it won't be just three games they're playing.

43:39

So yeah, I think, you know, France

43:41

are a really strong, powerful, like physical team.

43:44

They're great, attacking, defending

43:46

everything. They're really, I think, nearly a complete

43:48

team, and now they're, you know, rain art is

43:51

after coming in, so it'll be interesting to see,

43:53

you know, a manager coming in four months before

43:55

a tournament starts, what he can implement,

43:57

but I think, by all accounts, like he's

43:59

a proof.

43:59

winner so I think it should be an interesting

44:02

one. They're quick on the flanks, France

44:04

as well by all accounts, like they have a lot of pace.

44:06

Are they similar in any

44:08

way to teams we might face in the group like Canada,

44:11

Australia, I guess coming up against some

44:13

of the old French forwards might prepare you a little bit for Sam Kerr

44:15

but yeah maybe similarities that that

44:17

Pow has has I guess there's

44:20

reasons why Vera Powis picked France in particular.

44:21

Definitely yeah I mean even there when you talk

44:23

about the pace I nearly get flashbacks of the last time we

44:26

played them and they're just running over the top all the time chasing,

44:28

turn their backs and chasing so but

44:31

I don't think I think you know Ireland will sit in

44:33

so that you know that maybe that kind

44:36

of strength of France they won't be able

44:38

to exploit it as much but for sure

44:40

they're really powerful, they're really

44:42

fast and quick and yeah they've like

44:45

they've less summer like Ireland or

44:47

sorry France's top leading goal scorer

44:50

up front she's recently come back into the squad and

44:52

I would have played against her multiple times under 19

44:55

and senior level and Henri as well

44:57

and Amandia and Henri is back

44:59

as well so I think they're really like

45:01

they're attacking forces something to be.

45:03

What would they like to play

45:05

against? They were, I would say if

45:07

I was watching it it would have been a nice game to watch when

45:10

you're in the mix and you know if the third goal

45:13

goes in and then the fourth goal then you know what's

45:15

always a bit of a daunting task but definitely

45:18

I think yeah I think they're one of

45:20

the teams I think I would pick nearly as favorites

45:23

for the tournament even though they're not ranked

45:25

as favorites of that but I think if they kind of if

45:28

things click for them

45:29

I think they could be really really

45:31

good and yeah it's just gonna

45:34

be interesting to see now how tonight pans out

45:36

as well. In terms of the Irish squad like

45:38

what are you expecting from who Vera is gonna

45:40

pick and put in? Yeah I think well she

45:42

said herself I suppose it's gonna be as close

45:44

to the team that starts next

45:47

year in Sydney that

45:49

she can so I think yeah

45:52

I don't think well there's always one surprise

45:54

or two isn't there I was gonna say I don't expect

45:56

any surprises but I'd be lying so

45:59

you know a team and there will probably

46:01

be at least one that we're not quite

46:03

expecting but yeah I

46:05

think she's going to go for experience and

46:07

I think we will see Sinead

46:11

and Marissa as well come in.

46:12

Full home debuts for them. Think so anyways,

46:15

I suppose. Sinead only has one cap

46:17

as well. Yeah. Kind of needs another one. Crazy

46:20

really that players

46:22

have never played a football match in Ireland

46:24

and now they're going to represent Ireland in a World

46:26

Cup. Especially with Sinead, she's probably

46:29

close enough to the starting team as well. More

46:31

so than Marissa could be in there. I wouldn't be

46:33

all that surprised but Sinead definitely with how

46:35

we lined up against the US. Yeah I think so

46:38

and I think she kind of is by

46:40

all accounts a really good player so I think we'll

46:42

see her in from the start tonight.

46:43

Is Vera Power almost going

46:45

to, would you expect her to almost set

46:48

aside the opposition tonight? Is she

46:50

setting up tonight for Australia or is she setting

46:52

up tonight for France?

46:52

I think she'll be setting up for Australia

46:55

with them in mind at least. I don't think she'll kind

46:58

of zone in necessarily on the individual

47:00

players of France. Obviously they will still talk about it in

47:03

meetings and their strengths and weaknesses

47:05

and all that but I think the general structure

47:07

and you know whether they were to

47:09

like if they're to implement some form of I

47:12

don't know man marking job. I don't think that's

47:15

done really nowadays but like you know if

47:17

someone has to take more of the

47:19

I suppose the attention of Sam

47:21

Kerr maybe they'll do the same with the French

47:24

striker this morning or even in who

47:26

Cobie lives somewhere so no

47:28

I think they'll still have Australia completely

47:30

I think in their mind

47:31

yeah. What,

47:33

so Vera Power has already said she's going

47:35

to play her strongest team that she possibly can for tonight's

47:38

game. What team would you like to see?

47:41

Oh what I'd like to see versus what?

47:43

This is probably, well yeah does it differ massively your team versus?

47:46

Well I'd have players start anywhere in the

47:48

squad but that's, we don't have

47:50

that option. I could only pick from the 23 that are

47:52

there now.

47:53

Not in the squad. Who's not in the squad that you would have had in your

47:55

11th game? Roma McLachlan,

47:58

Jamie Finn to name but to.

47:59

Yeah, I don't know I could probably go on but that's two

48:02

that spring to mind anyway She

48:04

wasn't even in the I think she's

48:06

quality like even when she played in America

48:08

as well and with her college team I actually

48:11

saw her play live over there and a

48:13

couple of times and she's really like

48:15

such a technical player I think as well. I think I don't

48:17

know she was Overlooked slightly, but again,

48:20

it could you know, there could be reasons for that too and you

48:22

know, we can't see from the outside how she performed within

48:24

the camp as well, but and That's

48:26

fine for us to say but yeah, maybe they see different

48:28

qualities in her as well and that but Yeah,

48:31

I suppose at the back and I'd see

48:33

definitely Louise and Neve As

48:35

two of the back three and I'd probably

48:38

think that Megan Connelly will probably

48:40

be switched back there as well Yeah, and then

48:42

I'd imagine Heather and Katie

48:44

to make up the back five and

48:47

Then I think probably well obviously

48:50

Denise will be a definite starter and

48:53

I think she'd put Lily Ag in there beside her

48:55

Toss up between Ruch I think and Lily Ag but

48:58

I think maybe she might go I'm

49:00

not sure really because Lily Ag was actually

49:03

left out of the squad against Zambia But obviously

49:05

I suppose the reason that she's definitely Definitely

49:08

going to be to be in I suppose and

49:12

Ruch is kind of a weird one cuz obviously she suffered

49:14

so much with injuries over the last couple of months

49:16

I don't know how does she have 90 minutes in there?

49:19

Yeah Would you rather put

49:21

her on for the last like 20 or something

49:23

or put her on take her off? Yeah,

49:25

I mean that's struggling. I suppose that's what they'll

49:27

see maybe yeah, maybe they will start

49:29

her and see how she gets on and See

49:32

what's kind of in the tank But then

49:35

yeah, I think then I think she'll

49:37

start Sinead and I actually think she may start

49:39

Marisa as well Yeah, you know again, we haven't seen

49:41

much much of her but and I would

49:44

probably have Abby Larkin maybe In

49:47

there are you know one of the kind of more?

49:50

The other attacking players and then I think up front she'll

49:52

go for here Caruso I think just

49:55

I suppose just given how she has The

49:57

history on who she has played I suppose is how But

50:00

it's kind of interesting because six of them actually of that

50:02

starting team weren't even in the squad for Zambia.

50:04

So it'll be a completely different

50:06

change

50:07

to the team. How close

50:09

is Amber Barrett to a start?

50:11

I think that's a really, really

50:13

interesting one because it's

50:15

kind of like actually I think England are facing

50:17

a similar situation with Russo and Daley.

50:19

You know, Russo or Amber

50:22

in our case is so great off the bench that she's

50:25

made such an impact and it must be very frustrating I'd

50:27

imagine for her not to be getting a start because

50:29

she's done everything and what more can she do? Like

50:31

come on and score, you know. So yeah,

50:35

I think I'd also like to see her

50:37

given a chance from the start and even tonight, even

50:39

if it's not fully in her head to do it,

50:42

I think it would be great to see her given the chance

50:44

and you know, just to prove what she can do from

50:46

the start. And like I said, we still have plenty

50:48

of firepower from the bench as well. So

50:51

yeah, that's definitely going to be one of the more interesting

50:53

positions to see who she goes there. Slightly

50:56

off piece from like the Ireland game, but you mentioned

50:58

the Russo-Daley question and I'm

51:00

so curious as to what Veegman's going

51:02

to go for. So if you look at the season, like

51:05

Daley is the better player, but also for all

51:07

the Euros she played in defence and Russo

51:10

was like the player that everyone was calling

51:12

out for to come off the bench being like, why are we starting

51:15

Ellen White? Like start Russo and then

51:17

Ellen White retired and now all the English fans are

51:19

like, oh no, bring back Ellen White.

51:21

She was really good. She scored us goals. Yeah.

51:24

And here's an interesting one, but yeah, like Russo's

51:27

just impact off the bench is hard to ignore

51:29

too. And like when, you know,

51:31

players legs are tired and stuff like that as well,

51:34

like she does seem to have the

51:35

more of an impact. But yeah, to go, it's

51:38

just such credit to daily to go from like a starter

51:40

as generally versatile

51:42

players may not always be on the starting

51:45

team. It's really rare. I can't remember a time

51:47

where someone has started in one tournament,

51:49

played every game defence

51:51

and then is in line to start just

51:54

the next year in another tournament in a completely

51:56

different position. Having scored, yeah, like you

51:58

said, 22 goals and 22 games.

51:59

in England and not even for a top

52:02

team. That's the one, I suppose, if

52:04

she was like Sam Carrer, that in one

52:06

of the top teams, it's obviously easier to get more and

52:08

more ball and the

52:10

scoring rate wouldn't be as, I suppose, impressive,

52:12

but for her, she's done so well. I think, I

52:15

think Dailey will start, I don't know, I think that's how

52:17

she's gonna go. I did just love all the US

52:19

fans this season, whenever WSL

52:22

fans are like, wow, Rachel Dailey is really good

52:24

forward and they're like, guys, you've been

52:26

sitting on the secret for a couple of years now. Yeah,

52:28

exactly, as she'd go.

52:29

Yeah, club, obviously, yeah, for club, she's played

52:32

forward for a long time then. I

52:34

suppose it's similar to Anya as well. In our case, we've,

52:36

Anya playing as a defender now with the national team

52:39

and striker, you know, for

52:42

over, so, but

52:44

it's just been adaptable as well and the players

52:46

at that level can do that.

52:47

Bit farceful from Manta Janet's perspective

52:49

that Lesi Russo has allowed ultimately to leave on

52:51

a free transfer. Yeah. But like,

52:53

she's brilliant, that's it. Third summer signing for Arsenal, she's

52:56

only 24. She's had a few good seasons at United

52:58

as well. Like, how good a signing is that for

53:00

Arsenal? Will that take them to the next level?

53:03

I think so, like, when you look at the, kind of, they're

53:05

just stacked with talent across the

53:07

front line, there's so many options. Like,

53:09

Stenius, I'm not sure where she fits in now, nearly

53:12

with the options they have, but yeah,

53:14

as a man, you know, I defied and wasn't great business, I think,

53:16

to see Russo go on a free,

53:19

you know, it just, it wasn't, I

53:21

think, an opportunity last, you know, and

53:24

for her, I think it's a good move. I think she'll,

53:26

yeah, she'll learn a lot there as well,

53:28

I think, and I suppose that maybe it

53:30

shows, you know, as a United fan, her

53:32

leaving,

53:33

it must have taken a lot, you know, for her

53:35

to leave, and it might say something about

53:37

how, maybe how the club has been running there,

53:39

you know, that she found Arsenal are more attractive now for

53:41

you. Well, I think if you look at the reporting around

53:43

it, basically, United wanted to keep her,

53:45

but also didn't offer her great terms

53:47

on the deal, and then at the very last minute, came

53:50

back into the situation and we're like-

53:52

Master wages at the end? Yeah. She

53:54

was just, like, frustrated with how the club

53:56

had operated up until that point, and as

53:59

you say,

53:59

someone who's grown up as a United fan,

54:02

you know, it takes a bit for you to leave and for

54:04

your club to treat you like that. It's probably almost worse

54:06

if you're a fan. And I think so. Yeah,

54:09

because, you know, kind of the emotions, it wouldn't

54:11

come into that much, you know, more. But

54:13

yeah, I'd say, yeah,

54:16

it just shows, I mean, it shows

54:18

the appeal of Arsenal as well. You know, I would imagine

54:20

how they have such a history in the women's

54:22

game to, you know, many of

54:24

our really only new new force as well. So,

54:26

yeah, I think all eyes

54:28

would be on Arsenal, I think, as a

54:29

team to beat next season there, for sure. I hope so.

54:33

A fan in the corner. Yeah. Well,

54:36

I think we would have won the WSL this year if everyone had stayed

54:38

fit. Yeah, I mean, their history record was

54:41

just too crazy.

54:41

Very unlucky interest to be

54:44

fair, like, the ACL is left, right and centre. Yeah, just popping

54:46

like a... Oh, constantly. Head

54:49

of the Irish World Cup bid,

54:51

I guess maybe we'll call it, like, where on

54:53

the team is your biggest concern?

54:56

Like, do you have any gaping

54:58

concerns in the squad or the team

55:00

at the moment?

55:01

Yeah, nothing like... It could be negative, but I mean, we

55:03

should be realistic here as well, I guess. Yeah.

55:04

I mean, I think

55:07

they've performed so well and they probably know

55:09

themselves where their weaknesses lie

55:12

and, you know, how they can counteract them in that. But

55:14

I thought against Zambia because we pushed

55:17

on and we tried to attack a lot more than we would against

55:19

higher ranked teams that maybe

55:21

our lack of pace at the back was slightly exposed,

55:24

particularly for the last goal, I think. But

55:27

I don't think that will be a case, you know, because

55:29

I imagine us sitting in a low block against

55:32

probably all the teams, slightly less so against

55:35

Nigeria maybe, particularly if we have

55:37

to get something out of that game. I think we'll go a

55:39

little bit more, kind of more

55:42

attacking slightly. But yeah,

55:44

I mean, we usually do sit in and try to

55:46

get set pieces. And that's how we're the best,

55:49

I think, as well. And, you know, any

55:51

kind of, I suppose, risks we take going forward,

55:53

they're calculated risks. So it's kind of,

55:56

they know we obviously usually have plenty of cover

55:58

and that. So it would mean.

55:59

Mainly I think just on account for Attack from a set piece

56:02

is where possibly we might be

56:06

vulnerable, but I think by

56:08

the time our first game rolls around I think

56:10

they'll have that all kind of under

56:12

control hopefully. We will be, you'd

56:14

imagine tonight sitting back and defending for

56:16

a vast majority of those 90 minutes. That's

56:19

just realistic. I know we had that unbelievable record

56:21

of not conceding a goal for

56:23

I can't remember how long it was, but it was an incredible

56:26

run of games. And then obviously the couple

56:28

games in America and then the Zambia game, the

56:30

Zambia game you can probably discount, a lot of changes to the team,

56:33

probably nerves, pre-squad announcement as well, that

56:35

sort of thing. But if they

56:37

can just re-find that era

56:39

where they weren't conceding goals whatsoever,

56:41

that'd be kind of

56:42

nice. It would

56:45

definitely be kind of nice. Have

56:47

you been able to get us through the group?

56:49

I know I was doing those permutations,

56:51

didn't I think Portugal and the men's

56:53

side I think maybe have qualified for that win in a game.

56:57

So yeah, I mean if we don't concede,

56:59

you're right, if we don't concede, we'll probably qualify

57:02

to the next round. So yeah, it's

57:04

not too bad as opposed to permutation. But

57:06

yeah, I think that's it. That's the most important thing

57:09

is just to be really, really hard to break down and not to give

57:11

up any easy goals. Make whatever

57:13

team if they are to score, to work hard for it.

57:16

And yeah, like you said, it probably wouldn't

57:18

be a team run-in for scoring a lot of goals. So

57:21

I think obviously we need to limit

57:23

the amount of chances and the goals we give up and then

57:25

hopefully, like I said, even a counter-attack

57:28

like that night in Hamden or that. I

57:31

think we are well capable of counter-attacking,

57:33

but I think it needs to be done. At

57:35

speed is the main thing really because

57:37

it's hard though when you're defending for such long

57:40

periods in a game to then want to just

57:42

go when you get the ball. The kind of usual

57:44

reaction is to just relax and take

57:46

a breather for a minute. But in

57:48

our case, I

57:49

think we need to, once we win it, then try to

57:51

see if the early ball is on. Obviously,

57:53

if it's not, then we can try to control it a little

57:55

bit.

57:56

It's kind of frustrating not having Manion in the

57:58

squad because she probably

57:59

gave us the option of playing

58:02

out from the back a little bit more and doing so at pace,

58:05

whereas we don't really

58:07

have that option unless it's like

58:09

Katie and Heather coming up the

58:11

wings but even still you probably

58:14

don't want them pulled out of position too much.

58:17

Maybe more, a little more if Megan Connolly

58:19

is back there, I suppose given

58:22

that she's played in midfield as well maybe there might be a bit

58:24

more of that to be seen but you're right

58:26

Aoife definitely showed that when she was in

58:28

and I think you could see a kind of few

58:30

lawn balls going astray particularly earlier

58:32

on in the Sandi game, they

58:34

just kind of seemed to not have many ideas

58:37

but I think again like that lobby dissected

58:39

into

58:39

pieces. Just reminded me

58:41

of how we were playing like maybe six

58:44

or seven months ago when we still were so dependent

58:46

on just who from the ball up to Heather

58:48

when she was playing up front. Yes,

58:52

difficult one. How often did we

58:54

like after games say, God she's

58:57

crazy at running because all she did was like run

58:59

and run and run for games. Like

59:01

chase balls down or like chase

59:03

players down but in terms of the actual

59:06

options to scoring very rarely was

59:08

there actually one properly

59:09

on? That's the thing and I was recently

59:11

talking obviously Heather played with someone at heaven

59:13

where I grew up playing as well and I was talking to someone

59:16

in the club recently and we just said how frustrating it

59:18

was for us to watch her up front given

59:20

that we'd seen her it's been so incredible

59:23

on the wing all throughout her career, her club

59:25

career with Salt Hill and that. She

59:28

seemed quite happy like I was chatting to her last

59:30

week about it and I was like you know how are you finding

59:32

the switch for the national team and she's like

59:34

it's way more comfortable for me. Yes, you can just

59:36

see like she's just so comfortable there. Obviously

59:39

she's a workhorse

59:39

anyway and she did like as good

59:41

a job as possible up front and but she was

59:44

just chasing down aimless balls a lot but now you can

59:46

just see her she's really kind of coming

59:48

into her own you can see her kind of she almost

59:50

glides with the ball like at her feet as you know

59:52

it doesn't really even sometimes

59:54

the way she runs you wouldn't even notice the ball

59:56

with her because it's that kind of effortless

59:59

I suppose.

59:59

but it's great to see her there

1:00:02

finally. I think Caruso

1:00:04

or Verbaert is a great option up

1:00:06

front as well, so I think it will only benefit

1:00:10

the team. Yeah, Caruso is quite an underrated

1:00:12

player, I think, because she hasn't played

1:00:14

in leagues that people watch all that often.

1:00:17

People are almost slightly surprised, even though she

1:00:20

had quite a good goal-scoring record

1:00:22

at her club. Again,

1:00:26

like you were saying about Heather, it has always

1:00:29

puzzled me who we've played up front

1:00:31

when we do actually have players that naturally

1:00:33

play in that position, whether it's Caruso

1:00:36

or even the likes of Leanne Kiernan. I know

1:00:38

she's not in this squad, but she's

1:00:41

always been there. Amber Barrett, there

1:00:43

are quite a few options that we could have had. That's

1:00:46

the thing, and Caruso gives the

1:00:48

option of a holder player as well, so

1:00:51

it does really depend on

1:00:53

how we're going to play. Unfortunately,

1:00:55

maybe from Amber's point of view, we're

1:00:58

going to be playing tougher teams

1:01:00

where we're not going to have as many chances

1:01:02

to run over the top. We're just going to try to look for that outball

1:01:04

and try to relieve the pressure a bit more. I

1:01:07

still go back to what we're seeing here. I would love

1:01:10

to see Amber given a chance from the

1:01:12

start tonight, but I suppose

1:01:14

it remains to be seen whether we'll see that or

1:01:16

not. Some of the players that we haven't even mentioned in

1:01:18

the 23-person squad, I mean, Vera doesn't

1:01:21

exactly

1:01:23

go beyond many of the players

1:01:25

in terms of subs. You're probably thinking 16-17 of

1:01:27

that 23-woman player. Maximum,

1:01:29

I'd say. Even if you look at a

1:01:31

record in competitive games, it's generally

1:01:34

one or two subs. In

1:01:36

friendlies, a little bit more,

1:01:39

but in the last few games, usually

1:01:43

up to two would be probably... Now, you

1:01:45

might see more in a tournament situation, but I still

1:01:47

don't think so because even I think the

1:01:49

first game before their

1:01:52

second game against Canada, they have an extra day's rest

1:01:54

in Canada as well. It's because

1:01:56

the team is travelling so much they have an extra

1:01:59

day.

1:01:59

five-hour drink. It's not like a... it's

1:02:02

not going to go into Dublin now. Sydney

1:02:04

to Perth is a little bit longer. So

1:02:07

yeah, I think, yeah, like I said, there's so many players

1:02:09

who won't see the field like over there.

1:02:11

The list, like even the defenders, Izzy Atkinson,

1:02:14

Clara Reard and possibly even midfielders,

1:02:16

Kira Grant, Lucy

1:02:19

Quinn, like these players of course

1:02:21

could well play and could have some involvement in the World

1:02:23

Cup, probably borderline as

1:02:25

to even make an appearance.

1:02:26

And that's why I think it was interesting

1:02:28

even, given if Emaniun say for example

1:02:30

was left out, like we're saying there, the reality

1:02:32

is five or six players won't play over there. So you

1:02:35

kind of nearly can take a risk, could have

1:02:37

taken a risk almost on those

1:02:39

players. But same, I mean,

1:02:41

when England won the Euros last year,

1:02:43

you didn't see much variation from their

1:02:46

starting team and the subs who came on

1:02:48

either. So I think once the team is

1:02:50

set, even I think tonight is going to be

1:02:53

really, really interesting because

1:02:55

I think that it's

1:02:56

going to be those 11 players that played

1:02:58

tonight will definitely feature, you know, in

1:03:00

the world, well, hopefully will definitely feature

1:03:02

in the World Cup. But yeah, I can't

1:03:04

see any more than like 14, 15. It's

1:03:08

funny how stressed we were over the 23 and who was

1:03:10

going to get picked. That's what I, yeah. It was like the

1:03:12

day before the squad was announced and I felt so

1:03:14

like tense and nervous. And

1:03:16

then I was talking to someone about and they're like, I think realistically,

1:03:19

you're not actually going to see half of these players anyways.

1:03:21

Yeah. And that's why even I was talking

1:03:24

to someone about it when we were predicting

1:03:26

our teams over and back. And I had actually

1:03:28

said, I don't see Jamie Finbin in the squad.

1:03:30

And she's like, no, no, she's going to start. And I was like, no, I

1:03:32

think she should start. But yeah, but

1:03:34

I was saying that I think

1:03:36

it would have been great to see some of the younger

1:03:39

players, I think, you know, the likes

1:03:41

of Aaron McLaughlin and Tara to be maybe have been

1:03:43

just thrown in the mix there. And like

1:03:45

we said there, the chances are they probably

1:03:47

wouldn't have got to the pitch. But can you imagine the experience

1:03:50

they'd have trying to qualify then, you know,

1:03:52

and bring that with them throughout the. I thought it was interesting

1:03:54

saying that Tara probably would have been

1:03:56

in the squad if Izzy Atkinson hadn't played

1:03:58

so well. That's true.

1:03:59

and it's how tight the margins are. And it's very

1:04:02

unfortunate. I think she had her pee leaving search exam

1:04:04

the next day as well. So she was, like

1:04:06

she did well to juggle all that. And I know she

1:04:08

definitely has a bright future ahead, but

1:04:11

it would have been such great experience for

1:04:13

them to have experienced the tournament situation.

1:04:15

And you know, but anyway, that's

1:04:18

the squad she chose at the end of the day as well.

1:04:20

Before they go, may I score a prediction? How

1:04:22

do you see tonight go? Oh, it's a tricky one. Head

1:04:25

or heart is always the question here. A

1:04:27

little. Yeah, exactly. I think,

1:04:29

yeah, I think a nail in would be great. And

1:04:33

yeah, I think I think I've got to go for a draw. Yeah,

1:04:36

I mean, it's probably

1:04:38

is a little bit more at the head here or the heart,

1:04:40

I mean, but I'll go for a one all

1:04:43

draw. Let's see how that works out. We'll

1:04:45

take it. We'll take it. Definitely take

1:04:46

that. I'm a Barrett goal off the bench again. Yeah, yeah.

1:04:49

Great stuff. May have thanks for coming in. Thanks a

1:04:51

lot. As usual, great to have you in studio. May have to back it out.

1:04:53

The former Irish international should mention at 35 am on

1:04:56

this Thursday morning's O2BM, the sports breakfast show from

1:04:58

off the ball. Brayburn Coffee is the official

1:05:00

coffee partner of OTB. Brayburn Coffee

1:05:02

is coming to an Apple green near you. New Brayburn locations

1:05:04

are popping up every month. So visit applegreenstores.com

1:05:07

forward slash Brayburn to find your nearest Brayburn

1:05:09

Coffee experience. Up next, we'll have Barry Hennessey,

1:05:12

Antonio Greig and a preview. Go

1:05:14

away versus Limerick in the all Ireland senior hurling semifinal

1:05:16

this Saturday. First though, the final clip

1:05:18

from yesterdays press conference more here from Vera

1:05:20

Power.

1:05:21

So you feel that if you were

1:05:24

a male coach, the reaction to this

1:05:26

wouldn't have been the same. I'll go through the

1:05:28

allegations and just put Pat Guardiola

1:05:31

or Louis van Gauw or Maureen Nue

1:05:33

in that they would actually

1:05:35

laugh about it. Because it's all about coaching.

1:05:38

It's all about coaching. It's not about

1:05:41

anything else. So I don't want

1:05:43

to go into the details because

1:05:44

it

1:05:46

is nonsense and it's untrue. And

1:05:49

as I said before, there's great safety

1:05:51

in the truth. And that

1:05:53

truth is with me. And the people around

1:05:56

me, the people who know me, the people who

1:05:58

saw me working, you know, that is not true.

1:05:59

There's not

1:06:00

one single person who

1:06:03

knows me for a long time has put any

1:06:05

question mark behind it. So

1:06:08

that is my safety and that's what I'm carrying

1:06:11

with me. I

1:06:12

need to have my full energy for these

1:06:14

players and many

1:06:17

players came to support

1:06:20

and to ask what a crap of

1:06:22

a nonsense it was because they know me so

1:06:24

differently

1:06:25

as well as from all the other teams

1:06:27

that I've been coaching. So I

1:06:29

want to leave it with that. I will

1:06:32

never win from a lie. That

1:06:34

is clear now. Whatever you do, you don't

1:06:36

win from a lie. I have

1:06:38

to live

1:06:39

with it and carry it with me for the

1:06:41

rest of my life I'm afraid. We are

1:06:43

at 8.37am on this Thursday morning's O2BM, the sports breakfast

1:06:45

show from Off The Ball with myself and Kathleen live

1:06:47

with you until 10 o'clock. That was the last clip we had from

1:06:50

Vera Pau speaking at yesterday's press conference.

1:06:52

Loads more clips. Kathleen was of course there for us. You'll

1:06:54

get them up on the youtube.com forward slash Off The Ball

1:06:56

where you can subscribe as well to our youtube channel. We're

1:07:00

going to turn our attention now to matters hurling. Of course

1:07:02

the small matter of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship

1:07:04

semi-final between Galway and Limerick this coming

1:07:07

Saturday at Croke Park. Kenny and Claire then on

1:07:09

Sunday afternoon. Delighted to welcome to the show this morning the former

1:07:11

Limerick hurler Barry Hennessey and the former Galway

1:07:14

hurler Tony O'Gregan. Barry and Tony, morning

1:07:16

how are things?

1:07:18

Morning everyone how we getting on? Keeping

1:07:20

well lads, keeping well. Thanks for joining us. Tony

1:07:23

we might start with yourself. This is a small

1:07:25

task playing Limerick in an All-Ireland semi-final. Should

1:07:28

be a bit of a cracker. It's

1:07:30

been a funny season for Galway. Ten points down to

1:07:33

Dublin at half time. Losing to Kenny by a goal

1:07:35

then as well. It's been

1:07:37

patchy. A lot of wides in some of those games. How do you

1:07:39

feel about the season so far? I guess it's coming together

1:07:41

now in last four. Anything can happen.

1:07:44

Yeah I think those inconsistencies

1:07:46

in game have probably really confused I

1:07:48

suppose players, management and supporters. I

1:07:51

think the last day in fairness against Tip there was

1:07:54

probably a more consistent performance through the

1:07:56

70-75 minutes. So I

1:07:58

think Galway supporters will be hoping.

1:07:59

that we can bring that intensity

1:08:02

and bring that level of application for a full 70

1:08:05

minutes and then you're really putting Limerick

1:08:07

under pressure this weekend. Barry,

1:08:10

from your perspective, from the Limerick perspective, I

1:08:12

guess in recent seasons it's been sheer

1:08:14

dominance. This year Limerick

1:08:16

haven't beaten a team in the Championship by more than two points.

1:08:19

Is it fair to say that the

1:08:21

rest of the chasing pack have caught

1:08:23

up to or are catching up to Limerick at this point?

1:08:27

Yes, Shane, I think that

1:08:30

the chasing pack, as we call them, I don't think they got the

1:08:33

credit they deserve this year, to be honest. They've

1:08:35

obviously raised their own standards

1:08:37

internally across the 50 teams

1:08:40

and I think a lot was spoken

1:08:42

about how Limerick has maybe fallen back a little bit

1:08:44

instead of how the chasing pack has caught

1:08:46

up to them. And to be fair, if you look at all the games

1:08:48

this year, the level of

1:08:50

intensity that other teams brought, I

1:08:53

think it's the first time in the land that Limerick

1:08:56

has been chased

1:08:59

with many aggression and been hit every

1:09:01

since a team got to them and

1:09:03

stopped to build up players for. I

1:09:05

think great credit goes to those teams,

1:09:08

they've obviously raised their standards and it's

1:09:10

made a great temperature so

1:09:12

far.

1:09:13

Tony, come back to yourself. We'll

1:09:16

get Barry's line back up in a second, just a little bit difficult

1:09:18

to hear him there. From

1:09:20

Galway perspective, do you expect changes

1:09:22

to the team much? Dahi Burks down at six or

1:09:25

will he be moved around, do you think?

1:09:28

No, I think it would be really important that Galway stay

1:09:30

consistent with their defensive system

1:09:33

now. I think the team are comfortable with Garroz

1:09:35

at three and Dahi at six and I think

1:09:37

the more they can keep those players in those central

1:09:40

positions, the more structure and organisation

1:09:42

we have as a team and it just brings

1:09:44

that kind of confidence and solidity

1:09:47

around the back line. When

1:09:49

I see Galway, maybe Dahi has gone to wing

1:09:51

back and Garroz is out on the sideline,

1:09:54

I get kind of worried because I tend to think that

1:09:56

we're very open down the middle

1:09:58

as you would have seen in the Linster final. So

1:10:00

the more time the boys spend in those central positions,

1:10:03

I think the more solidness we'll see in

1:10:05

our defensive structure. And I think that could be vital

1:10:07

in terms of Saturday, even if they're to

1:10:09

hold this limerick attack at bay.

1:10:11

It's been a question that we've asked practically

1:10:14

every person, whether they're a pundit or a player

1:10:17

or a manager on the show. But for you,

1:10:19

like, what is the key things

1:10:21

that Galway can do to actually beat

1:10:23

limerick in this game?

1:10:26

Yeah, I think if you look at last

1:10:28

year's semifinal, I think Galway, the first one, probably started extremely

1:10:31

well and just probably didn't execute five

1:10:33

or six scoring chances in that first quarter

1:10:35

that could have put a gap of five or six

1:10:37

points on limerick. And then coming

1:10:39

down the stretch, I think, you know,

1:10:41

Galway brought their subs on off the bench.

1:10:44

And, you know, I think the thinking at the time was

1:10:46

maybe some of these subs hadn't got enough game

1:10:49

time during the season. And

1:10:51

you know, that match sharpness, like, take,

1:10:53

for example, Evan Eileen come on a two or three

1:10:55

shots at goal. Like normally Evan

1:10:57

is nine over 10 times you'd hit the target and

1:10:59

score. But when you come on last year, probably

1:11:02

hadn't enough match time last year and wasn't

1:11:04

as accurate when you come on. So you can absolutely

1:11:07

see throughout the league and the Linster champion

1:11:09

this year that they, you know, really spread

1:11:11

that load in terms of game time and changing

1:11:13

up the team and bringing on subs early.

1:11:16

And I think, you know, if Galway can get to that

1:11:18

last quarter within a score of limerick, they

1:11:22

know they have a bench that can impact like they did against

1:11:24

Tip the last day. Now, there's a couple

1:11:26

of things have changed this week in terms of Jason

1:11:28

Fling getting a hamstring injury. Like Jason

1:11:30

has had a huge impact against Dublin and Kakeni

1:11:33

when he's coming against Tip again the last day. So

1:11:35

that's one out of the equation for Galway that you can

1:11:37

spring that last quarter. You know, do

1:11:40

we start Tom Monaghan, I suppose is another question

1:11:42

now for management to bring forth that

1:11:45

Tom has been the exception for Galway the last two

1:11:47

seasons and probably creating four or five scores

1:11:49

from midfield or half forward as well as, you

1:11:51

know, hitting his own three or four points per game

1:11:53

as well. So that's another dilemma for management.

1:11:56

Do they start Tom or do they, you know, wait

1:11:58

for his energy to come into it in this

1:11:59

second half when maybe Limerick's half

1:12:02

back in the midfield area might have more space

1:12:04

in it. So they're kind of, little

1:12:06

dilemmas management will have to come up with in terms of

1:12:09

who are the two or three impact players that will

1:12:12

add scores and add creation in

1:12:14

that middle third and that final third

1:12:16

for Galway in that last quarter. I

1:12:18

think that will be the difference because when you look

1:12:20

at Limerick's bench last year, David

1:12:22

Reedy, come on, Peter Casey,

1:12:25

this year, will Keenlyn be starting? So they

1:12:28

probably have a few more cards

1:12:29

in terms of fit players at the moment and experienced

1:12:32

players spring into that last quarter that could tip

1:12:34

the scales again this season. Barry,

1:12:37

Declan Hannon's absence, how significant is that

1:12:39

for Limerick?

1:12:41

I suppose in the grand scheme of things, Jen,

1:12:43

it's massive. Declan's

1:12:46

hurling IQ and his awareness is massive.

1:12:50

And just his ability to read a game

1:12:52

and provide that cover that's needed for the guy

1:12:54

beside him or the line behind him, Jenosa, he really

1:12:57

is that on-field leader in general. One

1:12:59

of the requests was throughout

1:13:01

the last couple of years there's always been a significant injury

1:13:04

in the camp and the mentor has always been next to

1:13:06

Ben Up. So

1:13:07

it'll be interesting to see how the squad responds

1:13:09

to that at the weekend and see who

1:13:12

takes the opportunity to report hands and runs with us. And

1:13:14

who is that next man up? Do you expect

1:13:16

Kyle Hayes to move to sixth? Someone like Colin Cocknell,

1:13:19

I guess, can move to seventh. Michael Dijkner interestingly

1:13:21

this weekend, speaking to Tommy Welch about the Siaestra

1:13:23

in studio, diagnosed

1:13:25

Jess in the baby, Kane Lynch,

1:13:27

could be a rabbit out of the hat and moved to number

1:13:29

six. Who would you expect to be the person

1:13:31

to take up that role? I'd like

1:13:33

to think it was Nicky Kway, and that

1:13:35

Jan was calling me back in there in the morning to come back into

1:13:38

the squad. Because

1:13:40

we were waiting long enough for it. I think personally

1:13:45

I'd love to see Barry Nash there because

1:13:47

of the skills that he brings, you know, and he's now

1:13:49

a ball player. But I

1:13:51

could see Dan Marcy just lying

1:13:54

in there. I think someone, but in Paul Morphy,

1:13:56

describing yesterday as Mr. Dependable,

1:13:57

you know, and he is that guy, like he's rare. that

1:14:00

Den is in the limelight for making a mistake. Do

1:14:02

you know he does the basics, the bread and butter well? And

1:14:05

it's probably an easier switch for John and the management

1:14:07

teams just to push one lead out and bring in maybe the

1:14:10

likes of Rich English into the corner rather than moving to her so

1:14:12

he lets her own the blesses up.

1:14:14

Are there any concerns? Didn't they move Dan

1:14:16

Morrissey from three to six against Cork, was

1:14:18

it? And they kind of almost

1:14:20

immediately moved him back. It didn't seem to work. Is there any

1:14:22

concerns there? I guess, as you say though, generally

1:14:25

speaking Dan Morrissey is Mr. Dependable.

1:14:27

Yeah, like I suppose they've had

1:14:29

four weeks as well to try some training

1:14:31

too. So I suppose

1:14:34

Dan had six in the wild. So like the last four

1:14:36

weeks, you think you would have stood to

1:14:39

whoever they're going to try there. There's going to be a lot of games

1:14:42

there and scenarios.

1:14:44

Put whoever that person's going to be. And

1:14:47

I think that look, they'll be prepared for that and they'll

1:14:50

know that the lead's in front and have to provide that cover as well

1:14:52

to allow Dan to provide the cover behind him as well. So

1:14:54

I'm sure they've worked on this and

1:14:56

just that.

1:14:57

Tony Conner Wheeling, I guess, has

1:14:59

been the talk of the, one of the players

1:15:01

that's been the talk of the championship thus far, two

1:15:04

tennis last two games. Is there

1:15:07

a responsibility now that the rest of the go-by-for

1:15:09

is to kind of step up and almost help

1:15:11

them in some regards, not just in terms of scoring,

1:15:13

but in performance generally like Brank and Cannon, help

1:15:16

scoreless against Tip taking off on 54 minutes. So

1:15:19

with a little bit of help, those these

1:15:21

Conner Wheeling performances could really, really be

1:15:23

emphasized, I guess. Yeah,

1:15:25

I think we're going to need probably a

1:15:28

seven or eight out of 10 performance for most

1:15:30

of the forward line this weekend in terms

1:15:32

of contribution, work rate wise, but

1:15:34

also scored wise and a

1:15:36

bigger spread of scores, I suppose, back from the half

1:15:39

back kind of to midfield would be a great help around

1:15:41

that. Conner has definitely

1:15:43

brought his game to a new level this season in terms

1:15:45

of consistency game to game. And he

1:15:48

needs to bring a really big one again on Saturday evening. But

1:15:50

I would be happy with overall in terms of

1:15:52

the work rate of the forward line and how they're playing

1:15:54

for each other and laying

1:15:55

the ball off. And, you know, sometimes Conners

1:15:58

on the end of those scores, sometimes top.

1:15:59

on Mullen, sometimes Brian Concan and sometimes Evan

1:16:02

Island and you'd be hoping a

1:16:04

couple other names pop up in terms of those

1:16:07

nine out of 10 performances this weekend because

1:16:09

you're probably going to need that to overcome

1:16:12

a limerick challenge that's just unbelievable at

1:16:14

the moment.

1:16:15

Tony, I know you're working as a sports psychologist.

1:16:17

We've spoken to you before with that on the show as well, but am

1:16:20

I right in saying you were a sports psychologist within the limerick

1:16:22

squad back in 2019?

1:16:25

Yeah, that'd be true, Shane. A very enjoyable

1:16:27

season. Unfortunately, we're pipped in the semi-final

1:16:29

by Krikenny, so I didn't get a chance

1:16:31

to experience an all-earn with him. The

1:16:34

mentality of the limerick team, and you'll

1:16:36

have seen it up close and personal, it's

1:16:39

something else, isn't it? They just

1:16:41

seem, clearly they're physically in

1:16:43

their prime and in a very good place, but

1:16:45

mentally as well, they seem able

1:16:47

to deal with setbacks, and let's be honest, they haven't

1:16:50

had a few, but even being that front-runner,

1:16:52

it's not an easy position to be in constantly. We saw

1:16:54

the Dublin six-in-a-row

1:16:55

team, they showed mentality on another

1:16:57

scale as well, but limerick have certainly been one of those

1:16:59

teams that have shown that as well.

1:17:02

Yeah, you just have to have huge admiration.

1:17:04

It's grand seeing the lads playing on a Sunday, and

1:17:06

they're bringing that level of hunger and skill that they have,

1:17:08

but to do the things that you have to do

1:17:11

day in, day out to be at the top of your game,

1:17:13

everyone has analysed them to the death in terms

1:17:15

of how they play, but for players themselves

1:17:17

to stay self-motivated in terms of lifestyle,

1:17:21

in terms of gym programmes, in terms of mobility,

1:17:23

in terms of their skill sessions and

1:17:26

their whole mindset and approach towards every

1:17:29

training session, every league campaign, every championship

1:17:31

match, they've just shown their ferocious

1:17:33

ambition and their ferocious hunger and their ferocious

1:17:35

dedication. Until

1:17:38

a team matches that, you're not going to

1:17:40

be in the same ballpark as them, and no

1:17:42

one has matched that the last five or six years really,

1:17:45

and you'd have to admire them in terms

1:17:47

of their dedication to it and how much they

1:17:50

put into it, because between

1:17:52

that top 5% for as long

1:17:54

as they have, it takes unbelievable dedication,

1:17:56

unbelievable mindset and unfairness

1:17:59

to them. They've shown that

1:17:59

consistently.

1:18:01

Bernie, there's so much made about the distribution, goalkeeper

1:18:04

distribution, certainly getting football this year

1:18:06

especially and kick

1:18:08

out retention being such a massive part of it. From

1:18:11

Limerick's perspective, and you'll have seen this again

1:18:14

up close and personal, but how important is that distribution

1:18:16

and winning that battle to retain

1:18:18

the ball? Nicky Quaid is obviously someone who's fairly

1:18:20

adept at it, but I'm sure it's something

1:18:23

that is widely, widely spoken about

1:18:25

and trained in these days.

1:18:27

Yeah, I suppose you've got a guy there,

1:18:29

Shane, that's going to have to ball in his hand maybe 40, 50 times

1:18:32

in the game and the days are just

1:18:35

hitting at long, I suppose, and hoping for the best. They're

1:18:38

gone, you know. So, at

1:18:40

the weekend, it's going to

1:18:43

be interesting to see how, I suppose, Galway

1:18:45

will respond to the push-up, to the sit-back, allow

1:18:47

the first phase, ball out

1:18:49

and then allow the second phase after that where the runner comes back

1:18:51

through the middle first. Because you

1:18:53

can see where teams have got joy against Limerick this year.

1:18:56

They've kind of allowed first phase where the ball goes out

1:18:58

to a very Nash and have shut out the second

1:19:00

phase ball and have forced it to go long.

1:19:03

And I suppose they put Limerick under pressure that way. So,

1:19:05

you can see the last day that it gets clear

1:19:08

in the once-refined that Limerick went along a

1:19:10

lot. It was probably the first time in a while I've seen where

1:19:12

they've

1:19:13

hit a long puck out past the other 65 consistently

1:19:16

without breaking it up to go on short. So,

1:19:18

it'll just be interesting to see what way that Galway still

1:19:21

opens up and responds to that. But, coming

1:19:23

back to your original question, yeah, look, it's something

1:19:25

that's worked on religiously

1:19:28

because, as you said, it's a massive platform. It

1:19:30

has been a massive platform for Limerick over the years, you know,

1:19:32

and Ferris and Nicky.

1:19:33

He's nearly to Stephen Clarkson or the Herning

1:19:35

game. He's revolutionised the restarts.

1:19:38

So...

1:19:39

I was asking Tommy Welch in the studio yesterday

1:19:41

about the break that Limerick have

1:19:43

had versus Galway and whether it's helped them

1:19:45

or not. Because, I guess, sometimes you can have too long

1:19:47

a break. Sometimes you obviously need the time to

1:19:50

refresh the legs as well. Tommy

1:19:52

referenced the fact that, you know, Limerick would have been playing these

1:19:54

A versus B, quote-unquote, matches

1:19:57

and training, which, when you have

1:19:59

the squad... depth and strength and depth

1:20:01

that Limerick have, I'd imagine are fairly competitive.

1:20:03

You'll have had some experience of those games in

1:20:05

training, Barry. I guess people

1:20:07

always look at the break that the team have had, but those

1:20:10

games are

1:20:11

fairly vicious, I'd say, behind the scenes. Yeah,

1:20:14

I suppose you have 37 competitive leads

1:20:16

there, Shane, that are going toe to toe, two, three

1:20:19

weeks, even the week before a game. And obviously

1:20:21

everyone wants to put their hand up and make an impression

1:20:24

and try and give what they can to the group. And

1:20:28

it wasn't more

1:20:31

than months that happened where the B team actually BTA

1:20:33

team on occasion. So that just shows

1:20:35

you how competitive things were.

1:20:36

We looked at that four-week break. I

1:20:38

think Limerick have navigated very well over the last few

1:20:41

years. In 2019, there was a lot of lessons in that that

1:20:43

maybe we did a little bit too much on that break

1:20:46

and came in a little bit flat against Kilkenny.

1:20:49

Whereas in the last couple of years, they've navigated really

1:20:51

well. They know the routine of it now, what

1:20:53

has worked in the past.

1:20:56

It's given a chance for a couple of lights to

1:20:58

just refresh after probably nutritional monster

1:21:00

championship again, where every game

1:21:02

and the monster championship was nearly an all-earning final for every team

1:21:05

because the scalp, everyone wants at the moment

1:21:07

is the Limerick scalp. So

1:21:09

every team, they really raised

1:21:12

their game for their Limerick game.

1:21:14

And it was extremely traditional and very

1:21:17

taxing on the body. So Jon will be glad at the

1:21:19

break there to give lights, give them a week off at the

1:21:21

start and then to knock low into three weeks of

1:21:24

decent training.

1:21:25

Tony, Aaron Golan is no doubt one of

1:21:27

the players that Henry Schaffner would have

1:21:29

pinpointed for a little bit of special treatment

1:21:31

and looking after on Saturday evening in

1:21:33

Croke Park. How would

1:21:36

you expect Galway to deal with him? Because

1:21:38

he's been such a problem for every team that Limerick have

1:21:40

come up against. One four inside

1:21:42

the last day, I think it was. Cal Manion, of

1:21:44

course, playing a sweeper role. Maybe if Dahi Burke

1:21:46

mentioned, I think Tommy mentioned him as yesterday, could someone

1:21:48

who could pick up Golan, how do you look after him?

1:21:52

Yeah, there's probably two or three modes you have to kind

1:21:54

of think on. It's probably, first of all, can

1:21:56

you get pressure on the delivery outside and not

1:21:58

low Limerick to get their heads up?

1:21:59

in terms of the half-battling midfield area. Obviously,

1:22:03

Cahill played as a sweeper all

1:22:05

the last day as well, so I would say

1:22:07

he'd be probably leaning towards his position more

1:22:10

towards Galan, even though Galan plays centrally

1:22:12

a lot, and then probably moves out to different

1:22:14

corners so it can be quite difficult to manage that.

1:22:17

Obviously, then, the man-American role inside

1:22:19

who's going to pick him up on that matchup.

1:22:22

Probably looking at Garrods,

1:22:24

I suppose, to start with and see how it goes from there.

1:22:27

It would need to be a team approach

1:22:29

in terms of closing down the space in defence

1:22:31

and making sure those deliveries aren't as pinpoint

1:22:34

as usual. Hopefully,

1:22:36

there, then you can defend it a bit better because

1:22:39

with some of the deliveries he got in the monster final

1:22:41

in 30-40 yards of space, hopping

1:22:43

in front of him, he can go left

1:22:45

or right, he can take you on, he can win it overhead.

1:22:48

He's a real handful and his movement is just

1:22:50

top class. So, Galan, we're

1:22:52

probably going to need those different

1:22:55

modes to try and shut it down and shut

1:22:57

down that space around him. Before I let

1:22:59

you go, lads, we have

1:22:59

to get the predictions. Is it hard overhead? Is

1:23:02

it head over hard? We'll see now in a second. But last

1:23:04

year's semi-final, I'm just looking at the final score last year, limit 27

1:23:07

points, Galway 121. So, four

1:23:10

points in it, or three points in it, rather, in last

1:23:13

year's semi-final. Tony, how do you see Saturday

1:23:15

Galan?

1:23:16

Yeah, I think the Tipperary match two weeks

1:23:18

ago and a lot of Galway lads show

1:23:20

really good form. I think that match sharpness

1:23:22

just might be enough to

1:23:25

bring them forth and put them into a winning

1:23:27

position by maybe a score or two going down

1:23:29

the stretch. So, you know, we'll be quite

1:23:32

hopeful and optimistic that it could be the time

1:23:34

that they turn over Limerick in the semi-final.

1:23:36

Very good. And Barry, how do you see it?

1:23:38

How do you see it playing out?

1:23:40

I think the beauty of the group being

1:23:43

together for Sol Anshan is they've been in this

1:23:45

situation before where they know how to win big

1:23:47

games and I do think it'll be a lot closer

1:23:49

than I was last year. I do think

1:23:51

it'll probably be a one score game as well and I'm

1:23:53

saying Limerick.

1:23:54

I'm so excited for it because I think last night the show,

1:23:56

James O'Connor and the lads were echoing

1:23:58

those sentiments saying that there'd be a...

1:23:59

expecting a score, a score at the end. Just

1:24:02

before, in a word lads, Kilkenny,

1:24:04

Clare, Tony who are you going for in that one?

1:24:08

Yeah I'd be surprised at the level of favouritism

1:24:10

seems to be around Clare. Kilkenny are just unbelievable

1:24:13

at semi-final stage and have a great record.

1:24:15

So I think Clare will have to be a lot sharper

1:24:17

than they were against Dublin and will have to come

1:24:20

with that energy and work rate that they had in

1:24:22

the Munster campaign. If they don't, Kilkenny

1:24:24

will blow you away. So at the

1:24:26

moment I think Kilkenny are probably favourites and

1:24:28

Clare really have to step up and show

1:24:31

that they've improved from last year.

1:24:33

Barry, in a word, Kilkenny or Clare? It's

1:24:36

Clare for me, we've got club men involved

1:24:38

with them so I'll give them the vote on this one.

1:24:41

Give them the nod. Good stuff. Lads, thanks many for hopping

1:24:43

on this morning, great stuff.

1:24:45

Thank you. Nice one lads.

1:24:47

Barry Hennessey and Tony O'Gregan there previewing Goa Limerick

1:24:50

on Saturday at Croke Park. Really

1:24:52

looking forward to that and that idea that it's going to be a one

1:24:54

score game certainly seems to be the idea most

1:24:56

people are coming up with. I should mention as well that at

1:24:58

8.55am on Thursday mornings O2B AM, the

1:25:01

sports breakfast show from Off the Ball, the Football Pod

1:25:03

are hitting the road again. Yesterday tickets

1:25:05

were released for their road show on All

1:25:07

Ireland Football Final Week. It's going to be in Croke Park

1:25:10

on Thursday the 27th of July with

1:25:12

thanks to AIB, Tommy Rooney, Paddy Andrews,

1:25:14

James O'Donoghue

1:25:15

all bringing the Football Pod live to the Hogan

1:25:17

suite in Croke Park for a live show where they'll

1:25:19

also be joined by some very special guests.

1:25:22

This is your warning, tickets are limited and

1:25:24

they very nearly sold out last night. You

1:25:26

can get the remaining few now over at offtheball.com

1:25:29

forward slash events. It's the only place

1:25:32

to be before this year's All Ireland Football

1:25:34

Final. Back in a sec, Jess Kelly back from Wimbledon.

1:25:37

We've got big news boys. The

1:25:39

Pod, the Football

1:25:41

Pod have another road show coming. Woo! Thursday the

1:25:44

27th of July. All Ireland

1:25:47

Final Week is it? Yes. All

1:25:50

Ireland Final Week. Three days before the

1:25:54

All Ireland Final. Come on. The Football

1:25:56

Pod are bringing a road show, a live

1:25:58

road show and Off the Ball. fair exclusive

1:26:00

event with special

1:26:02

guests to Crow Park. Oh,

1:26:08

on the pitch, on the pitch. We're

1:26:10

in the Hogan-Fahr Swift. We're in the Hogan-Fahr

1:26:12

Swift, which has an unbelievable view of

1:26:15

the pitch. So we've got a good view of the pitch. It's gonna

1:26:17

be absolutely unreal.

1:26:18

Crow football, Potter, Conner, Crocker, are all

1:26:20

our final week. Oh my God.

1:26:23

It's nice. Hello, my name is

1:26:25

out in the office there.

1:26:31

Show me these little gifts that you've brought back. We

1:26:33

just did one dimension before we get into that slot. People

1:26:36

commenting on the tickets for tonight?

1:26:38

Yeah, so the Zambia game, there was like

1:26:41

1,500-ish seats that weren't

1:26:43

filled in the stadium, and I've asked the FBI about

1:26:45

it a couple of times, and they're not fully

1:26:47

sure what's happening, but I was told that

1:26:49

there are multiple groups of people that are

1:26:52

allocated tickets and not turning up, so just

1:26:54

to say, if anyone does have tickets for tonight,

1:26:56

and if you can't use them, that's fine. You

1:26:59

get on to someone, there's plenty of people still looking for

1:27:01

tickets there, but it'd be really nice to see tell

1:27:03

us anything improperly sold out. Because the game itself has

1:27:05

been sold out for weeks now. So if you have a ticket,

1:27:07

turn up. If not, get on Twitter.

1:27:09

There are loads and loads of people looking for

1:27:11

tickets. Yeah, absolutely, cup your stuff on. If you bought a

1:27:13

ticket, go to the match, or give it to someone. Jesus.

1:27:16

8.57 AM, Newstalk's tech correspondent. Jess

1:27:18

Kelly, how are you? I'm great, how are you? Keep it while you're wearing

1:27:21

green for Wimbledon as well. This is like the thing that

1:27:23

we should have been told about this morning, I guess. Colin

1:27:25

Bouhigg is extraordinarily

1:27:27

jealous. I called him a traitor yesterday from

1:27:29

appearing on the PM show. He's just jealous today.

1:27:32

Yeah, I felt, I

1:27:34

don't do emotions very well, but

1:27:36

I felt bad for once the

1:27:39

day that I said to Colin that I was going to Wimbledon, I could see

1:27:41

his little heartbreak.

1:27:42

Look at the actual head. The amount of times

1:27:44

he told me to F off over the last two

1:27:46

weeks since I found out I was going is a bit sensational,

1:27:48

so I brought him back some treats just because

1:27:50

I felt so bad. No,

1:27:51

that's only right. He's a mug. I

1:27:54

got a F-ring. Magazine, oh wow.

1:27:56

The official programme. Yeah, I said the merch isn't

1:27:58

cheap over there either. Well. luck, you know, when

1:28:01

you're on the big books, you know, I wasn't on a junket.

1:28:03

So I was doing journalism. Sorry, of course.

1:28:05

Well, you can journalism on junkets as well. The merch shop

1:28:08

in Wimbledon is kind of hilarious and stuff you can buy

1:28:10

there. Like, so, you know, they have the official towels.

1:28:12

You can get that sort of stuff, but you can actually buy like full

1:28:14

tennis outfits. People were doing that.

1:28:16

Yeah. Like buying them and like changing

1:28:19

in them in the shop and then coming out wearing their

1:28:21

full tennis gear. Like

1:28:22

it's so bizarre. I'd probably do that. That's, I could see

1:28:24

you doing that. Yeah. Do many stag is

1:28:26

a stag and hen location or is it to, is

1:28:28

it to like

1:28:29

posh? It's not as notion as

1:28:31

I thought it was going to be, cause I'd never been before. And I

1:28:33

was so excited to go. The

1:28:36

whole thing is the operation is just

1:28:38

run so well. I think it's very

1:28:40

difficult to get the access to the tickets.

1:28:42

There were thousands of people yesterday morning,

1:28:45

queuing in Wimbledon park, hoping to get a return

1:28:47

ticket. So actually what you guys were just talking about

1:28:49

there by Tala stadium. So say if

1:28:51

I went yesterday morning to Wimbledon, I stayed

1:28:53

for like an hour. Yeah. I could then scan

1:28:55

my ticket on the way out and they would then resell

1:28:58

my ticket. So somebody else could get access. That's

1:29:00

the good thing about this. They don't want empty seats. They don't

1:29:02

want empty seats, but also it's about giving as many

1:29:04

people an opportunity to go as possible. I was actually telling

1:29:07

someone about this about Crope park at the weekend. So they

1:29:09

had the double headers. Um, there was a lot of people that went

1:29:11

to the first games who maybe didn't have any interest in the second

1:29:13

games, but also

1:29:15

learned vice versa. Like it would have been so good if you had someone

1:29:17

exactly like that standing outside, re scanning

1:29:19

your ticket and then it went on sale and

1:29:21

someone could just pick it up. That's where the tech coming into

1:29:23

this sports as a whole is

1:29:26

a really good thing because it'd be very difficult

1:29:28

to do that manually. You know, to take a ticket back

1:29:30

right down one to try

1:29:32

and resell them. The fact that it's all done on

1:29:35

this tech platform makes it pretty seamless.

1:29:37

Like tech has been ingrained into pretty much every

1:29:39

element of Wimbledon. Now, you know, if you're

1:29:41

watching on the BBC and you see the stats on the screen

1:29:43

and all the rest,

1:29:44

so quick, I know it's supposed to be quick, but

1:29:46

like, but it's, it's remarkable. So what I was given

1:29:48

access yesterday morning at half 11 to

1:29:51

the tech hub of Wimbledon. So

1:29:53

I went downstairs beneath

1:29:56

the court level. So we were like underground.

1:29:58

There's all these secret little

1:29:59

tunnels where the players can walk by and the journalists

1:30:02

can walk by so they don't have to like mingle with

1:30:04

the public. Very important

1:30:06

like that. It suited me down to the

1:30:08

ground. But you go in and

1:30:11

there are three rooms dedicated to

1:30:13

using artificial intelligence to analyse

1:30:15

pretty much every single element of the

1:30:17

game. Like my brain nearly exploded.

1:30:20

So if you download the official Wimbledon app or

1:30:22

if you go to the Wimbledon website, there

1:30:24

are different elements that you can interact

1:30:26

with. The thing that's different this year is they're using AI

1:30:28

commentary. So they're using generative

1:30:31

AI to produce commentary.

1:30:33

It's just fascinating. It's bonkers Shane, like

1:30:35

it is utterly bonkers to provide insights

1:30:37

to the game. So in one of the rooms I was in, I

1:30:40

was watching this screen that

1:30:42

was analysing one of the matches

1:30:44

and it was tracking in little green boxes

1:30:47

every single move that a player made. And

1:30:50

it could identify, it was coming up on the screen

1:30:52

if it was a forehand or if it was a backhand.

1:30:54

We have

1:30:54

on the screen there, likelihood to win. So this from IBM.

1:30:57

This is IBM. So IBM are the tech partner. They've

1:30:59

been working with Wimbledon for 30 years. But obviously

1:31:01

as technology has developed, they've started using different

1:31:03

things and they've really embraced AI.

1:31:06

So the two key ways are the

1:31:08

analysis. They're taking things like a

1:31:10

player's previous performance as well as

1:31:13

their age, their weight, their data,

1:31:15

all the different elements about them to try

1:31:18

and provide insights and predict who's likely

1:31:20

to progress well in the competition. So

1:31:22

it can look at who's playing who

1:31:24

and how likely each

1:31:26

player is to win in that and then

1:31:28

map it the whole way through the competition. But

1:31:31

it's not just based on the obvious stats

1:31:33

or things like their previous three

1:31:36

or four matches. It's also taking what's

1:31:38

called unstructured data. So they can

1:31:40

scan all across social media, all

1:31:42

across news articles, see what's been

1:31:45

written about them, see what the sentiment is

1:31:47

towards them. And all of this information

1:31:50

is meshed together, for want of a better phrase,

1:31:52

to create these sort

1:31:54

of predictions. But I want to go back to the AI

1:31:56

commentary thing

1:31:57

because some people don't like the idea

1:31:59

of...

1:31:59

AI doing our jobs. But

1:32:04

the way it works is it analyzes games, but it's also

1:32:06

giving access to commentary for

1:32:08

people to have commentary on games that wouldn't be on

1:32:10

some of the show courts. So if you're at a

1:32:12

court that's not getting

1:32:15

the full BBC treatment, you may

1:32:17

not get the insights. Now the AI

1:32:19

is able to do it. It's taken a

1:32:22

ton of language-based

1:32:24

learning, and then it's also just generated

1:32:26

voices so you can choose to have a man or a woman. Being

1:32:29

the AI commentator, it's trained

1:32:31

in how to pronounce the names. It's also trained...

1:32:34

Which

1:32:34

is the toughest part of a tennis commentary, I'd imagine.

1:32:36

Yeah, I would say so. And also

1:32:38

it's been given a proper posh

1:32:40

British accent as well to keep sweeping with the

1:32:42

tone of Wimbledon. But it is

1:32:45

incredible when you see what it can do. The

1:32:47

only thing that's missing from it is, if you

1:32:50

are someone who watches Wimbledon every year, you

1:32:52

know the little bit of flair or colour that you

1:32:54

get from a John McEnroe or someone like that who's

1:32:57

in the commentary box? You don't have that

1:32:59

because it's purely factual. There's no

1:33:01

crack. It's kind of funny if it got

1:33:03

to a stage where it observed so many matches

1:33:05

that it

1:33:06

could start recounting other things

1:33:08

that it commented on. That's what it can do. Yeah. So

1:33:10

I often see, if Nathan's

1:33:13

at a match or whatever, he'll post a picture of his little

1:33:15

notebook with his highlighter and his seven different colour pens

1:33:18

and all the rest of his little OCD system,

1:33:20

which makes me really happy. AI

1:33:22

doesn't need to do that. It doesn't need the notebook

1:33:24

because it's learning the entire time.

1:33:27

So not only can it take in all of the data

1:33:29

from everything that's ever happened in a player's

1:33:31

life, never mind just their career, it can

1:33:33

then also say, well, half an hour ago, this happened.

1:33:36

So it's learning the entire time and

1:33:38

it's taking a lot of the pressure

1:33:40

off the individuals

1:33:43

trying to collate all this data. But

1:33:46

I know that some people are slightly

1:33:48

allergic to the idea of too much technology

1:33:50

coming into sports. Like obviously Hawkeye

1:33:52

has been there for quite a while and some of the insights

1:33:55

produced by IBM for this use

1:33:57

the Hawkeye, but it's gone.

1:33:59

17 layers above that now in terms of this

1:34:02

is a quick as in is it literally

1:34:04

as you're watching is the commentary as quick as It would be with

1:34:07

you know, so at the moment what's happening now is

1:34:09

that this the AI commentary is for

1:34:11

the highlights of games so if you

1:34:13

say if you sit down at 7 o'clock tonight and you want to watch

1:34:16

back the action and

1:34:18

It does take a bit of time to generate Also,

1:34:20

what's really cool is within the app if

1:34:22

there are certain pairs that you're really interested

1:34:25

in You can select them as your favorites

1:34:27

and it'll compile your own little highlights

1:34:29

real So it's like your own version of

1:34:31

you know And this is gonna come for every

1:34:33

sport So if you can curate your own version of match of

1:34:35

the day or whatever it is Where you're getting

1:34:38

insights into the matches and to the players

1:34:40

and the athletes that you're most interested in Like

1:34:43

it's all happening

1:34:44

Yeah For people who watch Wimbledon

1:34:46

People will know that obviously center court and court number one and

1:34:48

two are the main ones and then you've got the Essentially

1:34:51

there's six show courts. Yeah, and outside of that

1:34:53

you'd be doing well to recognize some of the names

1:34:55

on the six show courts But for some people who want to see that some

1:34:57

of those matches are players This technology

1:34:59

will come in you

1:35:00

yeah And the other thing with the AI and they

1:35:02

have draw analysis and they also have power

1:35:04

rankings their own I think they ripped you guys off a little

1:35:06

bit. Yeah, watch out Tommy But

1:35:09

what they do is they're saying that the AI

1:35:11

can help identify up and

1:35:13

coming talent So because

1:35:16

it's looking at the trends. It's looking at people's form

1:35:18

and all the rest. So if you are a proper tennis

1:35:21

nerd You know if you're a column

1:35:23

boo basically and you are going to really

1:35:26

get the benefit of having all this data And

1:35:28

but yeah, I just found it utterly fascinating

1:35:30

Like after this lot called was just

1:35:32

not gonna come into work next week And we're just gonna get a picture

1:35:34

of him and Wimbledon queuing outside the gates

1:35:38

He should give it a go. Did you

1:35:39

have strawberries and cream? No the queue was bananas

1:35:41

and I'm too impatient I did have a pin so for the first

1:35:43

time ever What is this you know have access since

1:35:45

your media to the media restaurant there

1:35:48

as so I was given a grounds pass Okay,

1:35:51

so there's like a special restaurant for all

1:35:54

the media that work Yeah, I

1:35:56