Former Irish manager Martin O’Neill says will take stock as his future as Celtic boss came under further scrutiny following a 1-0 defeat to Rangers at Parkhead on Sunday. The loss came just 7 days after beat Rangers had beaten Celtic 3-0 in the League Cup at Ibrox. The 74-year-old Derryman is in his second spell as permanent manager after two stints as interim manager last season. He was under growing pressure going into Sunday’s game after the 3-1 loss to Ferencvaros in the Europa League at Parkhead on Thursday night. After another poor performance, O’Neill spoke about entering a period of self-reflection. He said: ‘‘I will reflect on the games. I will obviously speak to the board. And you never know, they may want to speak to me. But yeah, I will see. I have got some time to do that. I will have a look, try and get a couple of days away and see how it goes.’’
PARROTT USED
SPARINGLY
It looks like Spanish club Real Betis are using Irish international Troy Parrott sparingly. Last week he was an unused sub in their win over Villareal on Monday, on Thursday the Dubliner unselfishly teed up winger Abde Ezzalzouli for the only goal of the game. He was on the bench again on Sunday for the 1-1 draw away to Deportivo de A Coruna. After seven series of games in La Liga Betis now have 16 points, the same number as Atletico Madrid, and they are both 6 points behind leaders Barcelona.
FLAGS MUST BE
WAVED: COURELL
Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson says his Ireland team are “not playing with genocide”, but “against genocide” as they prepare to face Israel twice across the next fortnight. The Irish manager admits that nothing could have prepared him for the situation he and his team now face in the upcoming Nations League quadruple-header, which is set to be dominated by the controversy surrounding the two games against Israel. In recent months there has been growing calls on the FAI to boycott the two games against Israel. The FAI’s certainty that the games will go ahead has now placed scrutiny on the formalities around it, with players set to have a discussion around whether to shake hands with the Israeli players. FAI CEO David Courell says the waving of national flags and playing of anthems is mandatory as per the protocols laid down by Uefa and indicated the FAI will honor that for their closed-doors “home” encounter whereas the only FAI action around the Israeli ‘home’ game in Hungary next Sunday is to back away from the standard meet and greet with the opposing delegation.
Courell said that earlier this year the FAI had asked UEFA to keep the Republic of Ireland apart from Israel in future draws, but the request was rejected. He also pointed out that the FAI are the only one of the 54 other UEFA members who sought Israel’s suspension last year, and continue to do so.
With Seamus Coleman and Nathan Collins both unavailable, the captain’s armband tomorrow night is likely to go to Dara O’Shea, who is club captain at Ipswich Town.
The FAI has failed in their bid to host the 2029 Women’s Champions League final at the Aviva Stadium,. Cardiff's Millennium Stadium has been chosen to host the showpiece instead, after Uefa’s executive committee met in Thessaloniki. The FAI formally submitted their bid last June, with CEO David Courell stating at the time how he hoped the event would inspire the next generation of women’s footballers in Ireland. But the 51,700-capacity Aviva has missed out, with the much larger Millennium Stadium, the UK’s fourth-largest stadium at 73,931 capacity, given the green light instead.
Meanwhile, Uefa has also confirmed that the 2028 men’s Champions League final will be played at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena, with Barcelona’s Camp Nou hosting the 2029 final. Atlético de Madrid’s Estadio Metropolitano had earlier been confirmed as the venue for the 2027 Champions League final. In the Europa League, Bucharest’s National Arena will host the 2028 final with Belgrade’s National Stadium awarded the 2029 final. In the Conference League, the Juventus Stadium will host the 2028 final with Budapest’s Puskas Arena awarded the 2029 decider. Uefa also confirmed that the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam will host the 2027 Super Cup, while Kazakhstan’s Astana Arena will host the 2028 Super Cup final.
JJ WANTS OUT
OF M. UNITED
Highly-rated 15-year-old JJ Gabriel has requested to leave Manchester United. The forward, whose father Joe O’Cearuill played for St Patrick’s Athletic and was twice capped for the Republic of Ireland, has been tipped as a future star. He spent time training with United before making his first senior appearance off the bench in August’s friendly against Atletico Madrid. United had planned to include Gabriel in the squad for the first time in a competitive match in last weeks’ League Cup defeat to Brighton, putting him in line to become the club’s youngest ever player. But the Red Devils were rocked by a request from Gabriel’s camp to leave, raising huge doubts over his Old Trafford future. There is hope within the club that the situation can be rectified given his deal with United runs until the summer and he cannot be deregistered. However, there are reports that Barcelona are very interested in Gabriel, who holds an Irish passport and can therefore leave the UK to play in Europe when he turns 16.
CLUB APOLOGY
An English League club has apologized after it published images of a new clothing line with ‘‘United 93’’printed on the back, the call sign of one of the aircraft hijacked on 9/11.The clothing was supposed to make reference to Oxford United's founding year of 1893. However, the club it had been released ‘‘without understanding of the historical context and associations.’’ Oxford United was founded in 1893 as an amateur club called Headington and now play in League One, the third tier of the English football. In a statement, the club said its Campus Clothing range had been withdrawn and it sincerely apologises for the error, saying ‘‘It should not have reached the point of sale and we take full responsibility for not undertaking proper due diligence.’’
BLACK CATS
WIN VS. AZ
Sunderland made a winning return to European football last week after a 53-year wait when Enzo Le Fee’s penalty secured a 1-0 win over AZ Alkmaar at the Stadium of Light last Wednesday in the Europa League. The Black Cats first European games were played in the Cup Winners’s Cup in September 1973 after their shock win over Leeds in 1973 FA Cup final at Wembley.
MESSI TO PLAY
ONE LAST GAME
Lionel Messi is to make one final farewell appearance for Argentina against Benin next month. The eight-time Ballon d'Or inner who announced his retirement from international football after Argentina’s defeat to Spain in the World Cup final, has been invited to participate in the friendly against Benin on Oct. 6. The game in Buenos Aires is to be turned into a celebration of his career, with all his team-mates from Argentina’s 2022 World Cup winning squad invited. Messi has been named in Lionel Scaloni’s squad for the games in the international window, which also includes friendlies against Bolivia on Sept. 30 and Burkina Faso on Oct. 3. Messi along with midfielders Giovani Lo Celso and Rodrigo De Paul, will join the squad just for the Benin match. Also Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham reckons that Messi deserves to win this year’s Ballon d’Or after he scored his 100th goal for Miami in their 2-0 win over Cruz Azul in the Campeones Cup last week. Messi has won the global player of the year award eight times and has been nominated on the 30-player shortlist for 2026.
SHELS TAP LONG
Shelbourne have named former Bohemians and Waterford manager Keith Long as the club’s new academy director, with five-times League of Ireland winner Ollie Cahill coming in as head of player development. The appointments are being funded through the League of Ireland Academy Investment Programme a 3 million government funding measure that was announced in last year’s Budget. Long managed Bohs for eight years, departing in 2022 and later took over as Waterford manager. Now the 52-year-old has joined the Tolka Park set up, where he will oversee the coaching structures and player pathways across all of the academy boys and girls teams. Cahill made over 150 appearances for Shels winning leagues in 2003, 2004 and in 2006.He also won League with Drogheda United (2007) and Shamrock Rovers (2010), as well as an FAI Cup with Cork City in 1998.
PATS ARE TOP
The League of Ireland season will now have an extended break due to the two-week international window and St Patrick’s Athletic went into the break top of the table on goal difference, but with a game more played than Shamrock Rovers and Bohemians. Rovers beat Waterford 3-2 on Friday night in Tallaght and Bohemians, who have now postponed their move away from Dalymount until May 2027, picked up maximum points at home to Drogheda. But the Saints won on Saturday night with former Sligo Rovers player Aidan Keena scoring the winner against his old club at the Showgrounds. With just four series of games to be played Sligo now seem certain to be relegated as they are 11 points adrift of Drogheda at the foot of the table.
LOI results: Bohemians 2, Drogheda Utd 1; Derry City 1, Galway 0; Dundalk 2, Shelbourne 3; Shamrock Rover 3, Waterford 2; Sligo Rovers 0, St Patrick’s Ath. 1.
