Irish player of the week

It's looking increasingly likely that Sheffield Wednesday's Alan Quinn will be playing first division football next season, unless his first senior goal for the club, that gave them a 1-1 draw away to Everton on Saturday, heralds the start of an extraordinary escape from the relegation zone.

If they do go down it won't be for a lack of trying from the 20-year-old midfielder, one of the few at the club to escape the wrath of the weary supporters this season. "There is more beef on a butcher's pencil," said one internet report on Quinn after the game at Goodison Park, "but he is blessed with the tenacity and desire that is ominously lacking among too many of Wednesday's under-performing overseas imports."