European Preview 2016/2017

This weekend sees the return of the European Champions Cup and also the Challenge Cup. For the first time all 4 Irish provinces will play in the Champions Cup a first in the competition’s history.

Leinster will take Castres , Montpeillier and Northampton Saints in Pool 4 of this year’s Champions Cup. Leinster will be boosted by the return to form of a host of Irish International’s including Robbie Henshaw , Jonathan Sexton and Rob Kearney. In the forwards they have added to their locking options with Ian Nagle signing for the rest of the season. He will give them another Irish option.

Looking at what they have done so far this season with new adventure in attack and a real resolve in defence that saw them squeeze the life out of a number of sides and that resolute defence will be needed in Europe.

 I feel Leinster will catch fire this season and have probably the best Irish centre partnership since O Driscoll and D’arcy with the early signs for Henshaw and Ringrose being very positive. Although they face some tough tests in Pool 4 Leinster are beginning to find that spark that saw them win 3 Heineken Cups and they could go a long way this year and a Semi Final isn’t out of the question for Leinster.

For Ulster , this year will be huge for them after investing heavily in there playing squad with the capture of both Marcel Coetzee and Charles Piutau they have very little wriggle room and will be expected to challenge Clermont Auvergne , Exeter and Bordeaux Begles  for top spot in Pool 5. Les Kiss has Ulster playing an open expansive brand of rugby and they have the artillery to fire and cause trouble in the Champions Cup. They along with Leinster I expect to be playing European Rugby next April and a Semi Final spot is not a farfetched goal for Les Kiss and his squad.

Connacht will be a marked team this year in the Champions Cup , they face Toulouse , Wasps and Zebre. No disrespect to Zebre but this Pool could see two teams coming from Pool 2 , I expect Wasps , Connacht and Toulouse to take the full quota of points from Zebre and this will make it even trickier for other sides to come out of very tough Pools. Pat Lam will want his team to express themselves in the same way that saw them light up the Pro 12 last season and win a first ever trophy in the Provinces history.

They made history last season and they are well placed again this year after two positive results in the past few weeks they will lick their lips at the prospect of taking Toulouse on this weekend. They face stiff competition from both France and England for top spot but they have the players and the game plan to cause a few shocks and could sneak into the last 8 and take their chances then.

For Munster, it’s a case of de ja vu , with Leicester Tigers coming to Limerick again along with Racing 92 and Glasgow Warriors. All quality teams in their own right. Rassie Erasmus will have his work cut out to out think and out muscle these sides paired with Munster this year.

Munster will have a tough start going to Paris to face last season’s Top 14 Champions Racing 92 who have Dan Carter in there armoury along with some other real quality. Leicester for their part will want to inflict more pain on Munster after defeating them home and away last season.

Munster have the opportunity this season to right the wrongs of the last few years in Europe and put themselves in a position to fight for top spot in Pool 1. Erasmus has seen what the Pro 12 is all about in the opening weeks of the season and will get first-hand experience of what Europe’s top club competition is all about.

Can Munster recapture the spirit of 06 and 08 , only time will tell and a good start to the Pool is vital this weekend.

By

Cian Mc Gibney

11/10/2016

Mom

It is amazing how quick life can change, Last week everything was normal and then a faithful moment happened at around 6.40pm last Wednesday when the lives of my family changed forever. My dear mother suffered a catastrophic brain injury which she never recovered from and peacefully passed away 3 days later surrounded by her loving family.

What the last 8 days have proved is how fragile life is,  nobody knows when there time will come and how quickly the smallest of things can be forgotten about. All mistakes and family issues are set aside and everybody rallies around in a time of crisis. This was defiantly the case as from early last Thursday people began to arrive and offer help in any way they possibly could.

My Mom was a very strong willed person with a temper but also a heart of gold, she lost the three members of her immediate family by the age of 26. These body blows shaped the way my Mom looked at life and how she approached her work life also.

She spent all of her working life in Listowel and made many friends while working in the town. She was known as Anne in Tarbert and to family but in Listowel she was known one way and one way only “Anne Marie”.

She spent 11 years in Neodata and then 17 years with O Connor’s where friendships were cemented for the future. All her friends have recounted countless stories where her liking for a good time and laughter have brought comfort at a time when we as a family don’t know which way is up.

The same woman wouldn’t want anybody crying at her passing, she would want laughter and also  for people to get on with it. Many times I was told to just “dust myself off and get on with it no messing”.

She loved a good time, Irish music and also the many friends she had. There was always a warm welcome for each person. The one big thing I will take from the past week is that Life is so short and nothing lasts forever so if there one thing I’d like to say to people is if you are squabbling with somebody in your family at school or at work, fix it because you just never know what might happen.

My Mom taught me many things and I seem to have inherited her ability to talk and keep many conversations going. It’s a good thing because I am talking and writing for a living so hopefully this skill will keep me going long into the future.

Lastly I’d like to thank each person who has helped us through the last few days and also offered to help us through the next few months. I may have lost my Mom last weekend but she can rest assured that there have been plenty of offers to look after us and me in particular because my domestic skills leave a lot to be desired…..

I’ll have to sharpen up with the Iron and also learn not to just look at the cooker but actually take that faithful step and turn it on. She always wanted me to learn these things and now she has her wish, So in the coming weeks, I’ll be doing crash course in all things cooking, washing and cleaning….

Thank you Mom for everything over the past 26 years, you fought hard for me from minute one and never stopped. I will always be eternally grateful to you for your love and guidance in that time and I promise to keep your memory alive and not to let you down. Thank You for everything Mom until we met again, Sleep Well and God Bless.

By

Cian Mc Gibney

15/09/2016

Gatland Leads The Charge

Warren Gatland will again lead the 2017 British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand where his squad will be looking for a first Series win in the land of the long white cloud for the first time since a John Dawes lead side won the 1971 Series.

Many will say they don’t want Gatland as the man to lead this Tour for a number of different reasons but since the likes of Irish coach Joe Schmidt , England boss Eddie Jones and outgoing Scotland supremo Vern Cotter who is leaving his post when his contract expires in June ruled themselves out the short list was even shorter than it had been to start with.

Gatland did lead The Lions to a series win over Australia in 2013 although Australia were suffering a crisis of confidence very similar to the one they are currently facing now under Michael Cheika. Of course the task facing Gatland and the squad he assembles next April will be huge and a challenge to reverse the trend of losing Test Series against New Zealand.

2005 was the last time The Lions faced The All Blacks with Dan Carter giving an exhibition of out half play although the opening Test will be remembered for an incident 2 minutes into that game where Brian O Driscoll was lifted up and dumped on his head and his subsequent shoulder dislocation ruled him out of the final two Tests where New Zealand went on to comfortably win that Series.

Moving to 2017, Gatland will know he is already fighting against a number of coaches who have questioned the length of the Tour while a number of perspective Tourists could be ruled out of the first game due to club commitments.

Gatland will need to sit down with a number of people on his return from his time in New Zealand over the next two weeks and see can they come to some sort of agreement about the release of players and a number of other issues that have crept up in the weeks leading to his unveiling as the coach of the 2017 Lions.

These issues like scheduling and player availability have been around since the game went professional in 1995. Clubs feel they are being short changed but to represent The Lions is still even in the age of professionalism and commercialism it is still a huge honour and for the 37 lucky players who get the call next April along with the support staff, they will do all they can to finally win a Series and lay to rest the ghosts of past Tours.

The challenge facing The Lions is huge, since 2005 they have twice been crowned World Champions in 2011 and again in 2015. They have also won a number of Tri Nations and Rugby Championship crowns.

They have raised the bar even higher than it was in 2005 , Can the Lions come anywhere close to being good enough to toppling a team that is arguably stronger than the All Black side coached by Graham Henry back in 2005.

Warren Gatland and the squad he assembles will relish the chance to lower the colours of the country of his birth. This is Gatland’s greatest challenge and I am sure he will be ready to spring a few surprises on The All Blacks like he did to The Wallabies in 2013.

Who better than a son of New Zealand to try and crack the mighty All Blacks. What ever your feelings about “Gats” and the Tour as a whole let’s get behind this Tour to see can our best topple the very best New Zealand has to offer……

By

Cian Mc Gibney

07/09/2016

Ireland Vs Serbia

Ireland faced Serbia in their opening World Cup qualifier in Belgrade with question marks over the game until an hour before kick-off due to heavy rain throughout the day. Thankfully the game got the go ahead and Ireland had the perfect start to the post Robbie Keane era with a deflected Jeff Hendrick effort putting Ireland 1 up on 3 minutes.

Ireland started out with Robbie Brady and Jeff Hendrick teaming up in central midfield with James Mc Clean and John Walters picked in the wide positions to support Shane Long. After Ireland went a goal up they seemed to again stop playing and reverted back to the long ball game with Darren Randolph trying to find the head of Shane Long this tactic was never going to work and so it proved last night with Ireland under real pressure every time Serbia won possession they looked to get the ball wide and put balls into the box.

This caused Ireland all sorts of issues with the back four under real pressure. John O Shea and Richard Keogh were partnered together and they looked uncomfortable on occasion. The theory that a good Euros should mean you should be bang in form for the following campaign went out the window last night.

Why Ireland revert to type and play the long ball game is mind numbing and frustrating to watch , Yes Serbia are a good side and have some good players but so have Ireland , They showed at the Euros when they kept the ball which isn’t against the rules of football by the way they can create chances.

I am not calling for any major changes but we really do need to learn how to keep the ball, I don’t buy into this argument because we are Irish we have to play one way and one way only !! Time for change I think, we need to learn to use the ball when we have it and not to give it away as cheaply as happened last night in Belgrade.

Serbia showed how open this group will be becuase bar one or two moments didn’t look a million miles better than Ireland, they were incrediably fortunate to win a penalty after levelling the game at 1 all.

Typical of Ireland they started to keep the ball and bite into tackles when they went 2-1 down , it was like watching somebody flick a switch and Ireland kicked into gear and managed to rescue a point with a first goal at International level for Newcastle United front man Daryl Murphy.

This World Cup Qualifying campaign promised so much after the performances at the Euros , Here’s hoping that the hard fought point won in Belgrade can lead Ireland to a place in Russia in 2018….

By

Cian Mc Gibney

06/09/2016

Tarbert Festival 2016

Over the last week or so, there has been a Festival running in Tarbert with numerous events taking place over the duration of the week. Some old favourites made a return with the Tug Of War, Fancy Dress and Regatta making welcome returns after lengthy absences for a number of different reasons.  

Like so many community events this was not planned in a short number of weeks , it took a couple of months of planning and toing and froing with committee meetings taking place to decide what events were going to take place during the Festival.

Thankfully with all meetings out of the way the serious business of actually making each event take place started with a Kids Fairy Trail taking place in the John F Leslie Woodland Walk. It culminated  yesterday with the Regatta where Yacht racing , Dinghy racing , Kayaking and Rowing took place with a Bouncy Castle to keep the kids entertained while the bellies were catered for by a Barbeque ably manned by Niall Fitzgerald and Leo O Connor.

The Fancy Dress took place on Friday evening where our local Kerry footballer Shane Enright was guest of honour to hand out the prizes to each participate. It was great to see each person make an effort and we even had some late entries aswell that involved a tractor, trailer, a table and some slightly under the weather Bar guests…

The Tug Of War took place aswell with Tarbert beating Glin in the best of three pulls in the Final. Congrats to both teams along with their willing coaches Sean Normile and Maurice “Bear” Walsh. It was great to see such a turn at each event. Hopefully this Festival will grow legs over the coming years and just get bigger and bigger.

People always say there isn’t much done in Tarbert in terms of a Festival or something similar , but in 2016 that changed and here’s hoping the work that was done this year to pull this Festival together will be continued into the future.

It was great to see smiling faces and that community spirit is alive and well in Tarbert , So let’s congratulate the organising committee and volunteers who helped put each event on and get behind this Festival’s revival and make it bigger and better in 2017.

By

Cian Mc Gibney

29/08/2016