One Night in Bray

 This is a longer version of the piece I wrote for the Irish Daily Star after watching Shamrock Rovers bid to seal the 2010 Airtricity League title among their fans in Bray Wanderers' Carlisle Grounds on Friday, October 29.

Hooperman and friends (© Irish Times)

The performance wasn’t pretty but Rovers fans didn’t care. Champions again after 16 years.

“This is right up there with the birth of my kids,” said lifelong fan Michael Glackin.

“Words don’t do justice to how good this feels. Sixteen years and all we’ve been through; losing Glenmalure, losing Milltown. It’s just unbelievable.”

Rovers never make things easy for their fans and so it had proved once again. They’d done enough and no more.

Drizzle, Dmitri Kharine and The Three Amigos: Ireland v Russia I, 1993

Oleg Salenko

 Irish football fans rightly look back on the 1993/94 football season with a great deal of fondness

Celebrations started on November 17 1993 when Ireland secured World Cup qualification in the family-friendly atmosphere of Windsor Park thanks to a 1-1 draw with Billy Bingham's Northern Ireland.

Alan McLoughlin’s fine equaliser proved to be the key that night as was a heroic performance from Spanish debutant Santiago Canizares who single-handedly kept Denmark at bay in the other group decider in Sevilla. The hosts snuck a 1-0 victory through a Fernando Hierro header, despite playing with 10 men for 80 minutes after Andoni Zubizaretta was sent off for a professional foul on Michael Laudrup.

The journey to the USA included memorable meaningless victories away against Holland and Germany, but Ireland's first match after the fun and games in Belfast was their first ever meeting with a Russian side that was still in its youth as an independent footballing nation.

Delap: Perfect for Trap?

Picture the scene. It’s St James’s Park, there are 83 minutes on the clock and Newcastle are drawing 1-1 with Stoke City. Suddenly, the home side are on the back foot, camped deep inside their own half, all because they’ve conceded a throw-in a full 50 yards from goal.

Rory Delap steps up and fires a trademark a missile that is cleared for another throw and a nervous-looking Newcastle side retreat even further. Delap launches the ball once again and gains some more vital yards for his team when the ball is cleared behind for a corner.

Matthew Etherington swings the ball menacingly into the penalty area and Newcastle collapse under the sheer weight of territorial pressure, with Jamie Perch nodding into his own net to win the match for Stoke.