Last Chance Saloon

I am just writing this piece for myself. This past few months have been extremely tough, but with this radio diploma course due to start in September I now finally have something to focus on and to aim for.

I have titled this piece last chance saloon to focus my mind on what could be my last chance at the career I have always wanted. Cian Mc Gibney , sports journalist does have a nice ring to it. Lets hope that I make the most of this last chance.

I have spent the last five years, wasting my time and not putting what skills I have to good use. Yes I have spent the last two years in the Listowel Family Resource Centre. People may say I am boring them by flooding Facebook with Video Blogs and articles but I only do that to get myself out there and I make no apologies for that.

I just hope my writing can help me make my dream come through. Also with this course starting, I can now act instead of talking crap all the time. Actions do really speak louder than words.  My website also has helped me hone my skills as a journalist and lets hope it will open doors for me into the future.

This is really my last chance at this and lets hope I break the habit of a lifetime and grab this chance with both hands and run with it. People will say that this is a pity me piece but I can say that it is not that sort of a piece at all.

I did break one major barrier down yesterday and took a major gamble instead of going for the safe optician I broke out and went with Plan B instead of the always safe Plan A. That is one thing about my character that I have made it my mission to change, stop going with the safe bet and take a risk from time to time. As I was told earlier this year, “You only live once” that should be the motto I take with me wherever I go.

Lets face it, the old Cian, took no gamble, played it safe and took no risk at all. From this point on I hope to change people’s opinion of me from being just a wannabe journalist to hopefully a fully-fledged journalist with real career prospects at the end of my course in Dublin.

By

Cian Mc Gibney.

09/07/2014.

My World Cup Eleven

1 Manuel Neuer

2 Philip Lahm

3 Raphael Varane

4 Thiago Silva

5 Jan Vertonghen  

6 Bryan Ruiz

7 Angel Di Maria

8 Thomas Muller

9 James Rodriguez

10 Lionel Messi

11 Arjen Robben

This is my World Cup eleven. I know we are a week away from the final. But this eleven will not change. It will be interesting to see what people think and what elevens they would come up with.

By

Cian Mc Gibney

07/07/2014.

Player Profile

This is a player profile of Wexford Camogie star Katrina Parrock , who shot to fame last year when she made a now famous appearance as a Maor Uisce for her Wexford colleges as she was out with a hand injury at the time. This caused most of the country to ask, who was this woman??  She is one of this country’s top camogie players with three All Ireland senior medals won in 2007, 2010 and 2011 and also three Leinster titles to her name. She also has three camogie league medals from 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Katrina Parrock

Club  St Ibar’s Shemailers

County Wexford

Honours  3 All Ireland Senior Titles , 3 Leinster Titles and 3 National League Titles. All Star Nominee in 2006 and 2009. Team Of The Championship in 2011.

Katrina has also played Hockey and Football for her country at underage level.

By

Cian Mc Gibney.

07/07/2014.

Women’s World Cup

Ireland’s women head to France to play in this year’s World Cup. They will face New Zealand, USA and Kazakhstan. This year will see Philip Doyle end his 16 year association with the Ireland Women’s team after the tournament. Can Ireland build on the 2013 Six Nations win and a decent 2014 campaign which saw them finish in 3^rd place behind England and France. 

Ireland will look to target all three games and will be aiming to win all three.  They will know all about their opponents. New Zealand are the defending champions and will be looking to win the World Cup on French soil.

From an Irish point of view, they are a vastly experienced squad and will look to draw on that experience throughout the three games in the pool. Can they create history and go further than before and even win the competition. They were only narrowly beaten by France and England this year in the Six Nations. They have had three tough training weekend’s and are in Spain to complete their preparations this weekend.

They seem really motivated to succeed at this year’s competition. Having spoken to a number of people over the past few days there seems to be great support around for the team and also having spoken to members of the team this past week, there seems to be a real confidence that they could go on to achieve something really special.

Also with the announcement by the IRFU that Philip Doyle will step down from his position as head coach, which should prove to be an extra motivation for the team to give him the perfect send off. He along with his team will not want to exit at the pool phase.

Here’s hoping that Fiona Coughlan and her troops can give Coach Philip Doyle the perfect send off and also do themselves justice and keep creating history as they have done over the last two years. A historic Grand Slam in 2013 and then a first appearance in the Aviva Stadium in March 2014 where the marked the appearance with a win over Italy.

They open there campaign against the USA on August 1^st and then face both New Zealand and Kazakhstan on August 5^th and 9^th respectively. All the games will be covered by TG4 and Sky Sports. So people have no reason to miss this campaign. Get behind this team. They deserve your support.

By

Cian Mc Gibney.

05/07/2014.

Diving In Sport

The topic of diving in sport has again come into focus since the 2014 World Cup began on June 12^th. Some analysts have said that diving in now entrenched in Football and no matter what you do to eradicate it from the sport it may never fully leave the game. In the past 24 hours we have seen Arjen Robben say he dived during the Netherlands vs Mexico last 16 tie. He also claimed he did not dive to win the crucial penalty that saw the Netherlands through to the quarter finals of the World Cup.

Since the World Cup started we have again seen a number of decisions made off the back of some questionable “Fouls”. Not everybody who goes to ground are guilty of diving but after hearing Arjen Robben last night say that yes he did in fact dive in the game. Does this mean that he could be sanctioned after admitting to diving during the game.

This may not happen, but it does open the argument for dealing with this in retrospect. Will FIFA have the “Balls” to deal with this if it happens again? It is refreshing in a strange way to hear a player admitting to diving in the game. We often hear players saying that they did not dive to win free kicks and penalties but after Arjen Robben last night admitted to doing this we know that it does happen quite often.

This could be detrimental to the rest of his career because he has now openly admitted to diving in a game. Will we now see most if not all referees taking a second or third look at every move that Robben makes in and around the box.

 It will again open the debate for a third official behind either goal which as we know was trialled in European games this season. FIFA do not want to go down the route of a Television Match Official to help make decisions like this. But again we are talking about a suspected “Diving” case instead of talking about the game between the Netherlands and Mexico.

To come away from football and to move to another sport that has seen a rise in “Diving” cases, Rugby Union has seen a fair share of these incidents in the last 18 months or so, with Bismark Du Plessis and Bryan Habana guilty of “diving” to have an opponent sin binned in different games. Rugby Union seems to be better equipped to deal with these cases on the field than Football at the moment.

You have referees who will tell the player in no uncertain terms to get up and get on with the game. In Football the referee does not have the same authority as he or she has in Rugby Union. They are two different sports but the discipline levels are worlds apart. In Football you can touch the referee and say what you like, but it is very different in Rugby Union. From an early age you are taught to respect the match official and understand that what he or she says goes.

Diving is a massive problem in Football, is it purely down to the pressure that is on the players in every game to win or is it a deeper problem and will it ever leave the game. It is not just happening at elite level. It also happens at grass root level which is not good to hear. We in Ireland seem to think that the game at grass roots level is perfect and that this does not happen but unfortunately it does happen!!

One solution that could be brought in at elite level that would eradicate “Diving” is severe penalties be they financial or by long term suspension. Yes this is a black and white solution but what else can the powers that be do the help get rid of” diving” from the game that the world adores.

By

Cian Mc Gibney.

30/06/2014.