No, you haven’t suddenly been transported to the Dear Deirdre page, I speak of course of the end of the relationship between the out-spoken Eamon Dunphy and former Ireland and Man United captain and now Sunderland boss, Roy Keane.

Of course Eamo was one of the Cork man’s main defendants when the whole Siapan debate grabbed this country in a vice like grip back in 2002 and later of course he ghost wrote Keane’s autobiography which topped the best sellers list, but a few years on and it seems that the love has gone between the two.

Last week in his weekly column in a National tabloid Dunphy called Keane a bullsh****er and that he had succumbed to the Premier League managers syndrome and that he had turned into a ‘rent a quote manager.’

Then at his weekly press conference towards the end of the week Roy had a go back saying that Eamon was a good friend of his, they last spoke four or five years ago, He went on “maybe I should give him a call, maybe that’s why he’s so upset with me’ get that man a saucer of milk. He went on to say, ‘Eamon is Eamon, and good luck to him,’ with his tongue firmly in his cheek I suspect.

Roy also had a go at John Delaney and the FAI, after the Waterford man had questioned Roy’s continuing remarks on the Irish setup.

While I have always been a massive fan of Roy and still am, I sometimes feel that he should keep his mouth shut a little more. Does he really need to make a comment on everything as he currently does?

Maybe Kieran Mulvey could act as the go between and bring back the love between Roy and Eamo.

STUMBLING ON SUCCESS While I was very happy with Ireland’s big win over Scotland and by a lot of the rugby Ireland played in their five tries to one win over our Celtic cousins, I can’t help but reflect on the fact that Ireland’s current team makeup is down to circumstances and not due to the design of our coach.

The obvious example is Geordan Murphy who was the man of the match at fullback on Saturday. We have seen this man give these displays on a weekly basis for Leicester over the years but when it comes to Ireland, Murphy has never enjoyed much luck under Eddie, mainly being played out of position on the wing. On Saturday he showed his class at fullback and was a real catalyst in our attacking performance.

The arrival of Kearney, Bowe and Heaslip (all due to injuries) have breathed fresh life into our team and now we are two games away from another Triple Crown, but I wouldn’t be getting too carried away by that prospect just yet. But at least we’re winning.

CHELTENHAM NIGHT

For any of you with an interest in the upcoming Cheltenham Festival, you will be well aware that the big kickoff is now less than two weeks away. I for one can’t wait. To get yourself more ready for the biggest week in racing in the year then why not get yourself off to the Woodlands Hotel on this Thursday night (February 28th) for the now annual Cheltenham Preview Night.

This year all the proceeds will go to St Patrick’s Hospital on John’s Hill and admission is just •20. As well as supporting a great cause, it should be a very enjoyable night and you should learn plenty about what the experts thing about this year’s Festival. And a top class panel it is too. Former champion jockey and Channel 4 pundit, John Francome, Mike Cattermole, also from Channel 4, Irish jockey’s championship leader, Davy Russell, Noel O’Brien, Turf Club Handicapper, Henry De Bromhead, Waterford trainer of Champion Hurdle favourite, Sizing Europe, Justin Carthy of Chronicle Bookmakers, Waterford bookie, Noel Cummins and Pat Keane of the Irish Examiner. RTE and BBC racing pundit, Brian Gleeson will chair the event.

Tickets are available from the Woodlands Hotel.

EDUARDO HORROR TACKLE The unknown nature of sport was shown once again on Saturday when Arsenal’s Eduardo’s season (at least) was ended when he was subjected to a horrific injury when he was tackled, just two minutes into the game, by Martin Taylor. While it didn’t look desperate from the angles it was reshown on Sky, the pictures on the papers on Sunday showed the full awful damage. Arsene Wenger let go in his immediate post match comments but later rowed back and said that he was emotional straight after the game and retracted the statement that he felt Taylor should be banned from the game. Unfortunately these things happen in football and I wold be almost certain that Taylor had no intent of inflicting such a horrific tackle on the Arsenal striker when he went in for that tackle.

In the match itself Arsenal let another two points slip against Birmingham as a penalty in the fifth minute of injury time earned the Brummies a two two draw. But in all truth Arsenal should have had it well wrapped up by then and it should never have come down to that. But plenty of twists and turns to come in the title race yet I’d say so we won’t wave the white flag just yet.

COUNIHAN IN AT THE DEEP END After the whole Teddy Holland mess in Cork was finally sorted out early last week when the board at last removed him and his selectors from their positions, the board then wasted no time in appointing a new manager. Some people are of the opinion that the new man, Conor Counihan, was in place before Holland ever got the push but I would of course not pedal such beliefs.

I must say I’m delighted for the Aghada man, having known him for many years. He was a great player and should bring plenty of much needed passion back to Cork football. However his job wasn’t made easier by the decision on the day of his appointment by Croke Park to award the points to Meath and Dublin for the games that Cork didn’t play during the strike. This means that Counihan and his team will have to hit the ground running if they are to avoid relegation. The Cork hurlers also lost the points for the NHL matches they didn’t play against Kilkenny and of course Waterford.

While I can see the merits of both sides of the argument on why Cork should and should not have been docked the points without playing the matches, what caught my attention was the different attitudes of the hurling and football counties before and after the decision was announced.

Meath and Dublin both came out strongly to say that they wouldn’t play Cork because it would mess up their fixtures schedule, which will further fuel the rivalry between Cork and both of these counties, while in hurling both Kilkenny and Waterford said that they would be willing to refix their cancelled games with Cork. Brian Cody and Kilkenny even went so far as to appeal the decision of Croke Park and appealed once again for their match to be replayed.

While many skeptics out there will say that this was Brian Cody looking for a meaningful match ahead of his sides walk through Leinster, I prefer to see this as a demonstration of the class of the man and will enhance the respect that already exists on Leeside for great rivals, Kilkenny.

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