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Mary Hannigan: Busy month of recruiting ahead for the FAI

Gordon D’Arcy on Irish pride in Rugby World Cup defeat; should Ireland take comfort if New Zealand go on to win it all?

FAI director of football Marc Canham is in the middle of a busy period where he likely has to look for two new Ireland managers. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho

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Mary Hannigan
Wed Oct 18 2023 - 10:18

There’s so much on Marc Canham’s plate it must be overflowing. The Football Association of Ireland’s director of football has spent the past six weeks interviewing candidates for Vera Pauw’s former job, and is now facing the likelihood of having to do the same to find a replacement for Stephen Kenny. Canham’s first task, Gavin Cummiskey reports, is to deliver his assessment of Ireland’s Euro 24 qualifying campaign - it won’t make for pretty reading - at which point the FAI’s board of directors will vote on Kenny’s position, the expectation being that he and the association will part company.

There’ll be no vote on Andy Farrell’s position, he’s safe as houses, Gordon D’Arcy saluting him for the manner in which he dealt with Ireland’s World Cup exit. And for all the disappointment of Saturday’s defeat, Gordon believes the future is bright. “The result at the Stade de France shouldn’t be a full stop for this group of Irish players, just another staging post on a journey.” Gregor Paul, The New Zealand Herald rugby columnist, tries to cheer us up too. “If the All Blacks go on to win this World Cup, Ireland can claim a little bit of it,” he writes, arguing that by exposing their frailties in that series win last year, frailties they then set about fixing, Ireland “played an integral role in helping the All Blacks become the team they now are”. Does that make you feel any better? No? Same.

The notion that the success of the rugby team over the last couple of years posed a threat to the GAA, “diverting youngsters towards the oval ball and away from the O’Neill’s football and sliotar”, doesn’t hold too much water for Seán Moran. And he’s at a loss to understand the “aggressive belittling of rugby and jubilation at the team’s defeat”. “Why get worked up over any of it? If it’s not your cup of tea, put the saucer down.”

Also in Gaelic games, Gordon Manning talks to former Cork hurling manager Kieran Kingston who would like to see a rejig of the Liam MacCarthy format, and he also brings news of an historic partnership in Wexford where the GAA, the Ladies’ Gaelic Football Association and the Camogie Association will share the county’s Centre of Excellence in Ferns.

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In horse racing, Brian O’Connor reports on the independent review being carried out on the sport’s financial governance, among the issues being examined “an apparent discrepancy in money provided to various charities that support injured riders”.

And Brian also previews Joseph O’Brien’s pursuit of a ‘Spring Slam’ in Australia, the trainer aiming to add the Caulfield Cup to a collection that already includes the Melbourne Cup (twice) and the Cox Plate. And he’s only thirty.

TV Watch: There’s not too much in the way of exhilarating live sport on your tellies today, but TG4 have an episode from Ken Burns’ brilliant documentary series on Muhammad Ali, this one starting with his epic 1974 victory over George Foreman in Zaire and concluding with the decline in his health (10.30pm).