Anyone switching on their television in the aftermath of the Ireland versus Macedonia game on Saturday night last could have been forgiven for thinking that Ireland had actually lost the match, such was the negativity in the RTÉ studio.
Eamon Dunphy and Johnny Giles seem to want Ireland to play like Barcelona, while Bill O'Herlihy opined that the sterile nature of the football played by Ireland had something to do with the small attendance.
Liam Brady really went for O'Herlihy after he made that remark and it was great television, though watching O'Herlihy dreesh his way through Brady's rant led the viewer to conclude that he only said it in the first place to draw Brady's reaction. If that's the case, then O'Herlihy should be ashamed of himself.
It's hard to understand where the panel, particularly Giles and Dunphy, are coming from when they go about analysing the Irish team. They complain that Ireland don't control games. They complain about team selection. They complain that the Italian manager picks Darren Gibson ahead of Keith Fahey.

Gibson sometimes plays for Manchester United and Fahey sometimes plays for Birmingham City. United are going to win the Premier League and are in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. Birmingham are in the bottom three of the Premier League and will struggle to stay up.
Fahey is a good footballer but Gibson has far more experience of big games and he should always start ahead of the Dubliner. End of story.
Dunphy felt that Ciaran Clarke could have started ahead of Glenn Whelan on Saturday night alongside Fahey. Clarke will be a very good international footballer but not in central midfield; he will play at left back or central defence.

The simple truth is that Trapattoni is doing as good a job as anyone could with the players he has at his disposal. In fact, he's doing better than most could.
Gibson and the injured John O'Shea apart, there are no Irish players in the top five Premier League teams. The team that played last Saturday had only one player, Darren Gibson, that played in the upper half of the Premier League. The bulk of the team plays its club football in the bottom half of the division, while the goalkeeper, one central defender and the left back from last Saturday either play in the Championship or League One.
Instead of being negatively criticised every time Ireland play a match, Trapattoni should be commended for getting so much from a squad that is severely limited on talent.

A few hours before Ireland beat Macedonia, England sauntered past Wales. The make up of the Welsh team was not that hugely dissimilar from that of Ireland; a sprinkling of Premier League players, some regulars, some not, and a handful of lower league players. The comparisons end there. Wales were a shambles, totally out of their depth, and if England were any good (they're not, by the way) they'd have won by a hatful.
The main difference between Ireland and Wales is that Ireland have an experienced manager who understands how to maximise his resources, whereas Wales are being managed by someone who's learning as he goes along. Wales are going to have a lot more days like last Saturday unless Gary Speed makes his players harder to beat than they look at the moment.

Ireland have had great players in the past, Giles and Brady among them, but there are no stand out players at the moment. James McCarthy has potential but that's all he has at the moment, and until he leaves Wigan and plays for a big team we'll never know just how good he can be.
Seamus Coleman has probably been Everton's best player this season but he's going to have to do it for more than one season before he can be regarded as a top player. We don't have a Jack Wilshere or Ashley Young coming through and it's time that those who are paid to analyse our games accepted that reality.
As things stand we are joint top of the qualifying group with Russia and Slovakia. That will do nicely at the moment for most people, but maybe not for those who are paid to talk about it all.

Miserable winter for ladies
It's not only the Mayo male footballers who are having difficulty in avoiding relegation in the national football league. That fate befell our female footballers at the weekend when a late Tyrone goal sent Mayo down to division two.
It's been a miserable enough winter for the ladies team, losing six matches on the trot. Of course, results don't always tell the entire story and a turning point may not be that far away.
But it's been a difficult couple of years for the game in the county, with as many off-field problems as disappointing on-field results.
The last thing that's needed this year is even more controversy and if all strands of the game in the county can pull together then the senior team should soon be able to start challenging at the top table again.

Hurling man Jim Hogan
Good  to see decent men giving their backing to the sport they love.
I see where Hogan Couriers from Westport are sponsoring the Mayo hurlers this year, and no more passionate a sponsor could any team have.
Jim Hogan loves his hurling (as a Tipperary man, he'd have to I suppose) and fair play to him for backing the team at a difficult time for all businesses.
Jim is a long time living in Westport but the Tipp twang remains. He has had other sporting associations since he moved to Mayo – he was secretary of Westport United for a time – but it's the GAA, and in particular hurling, that is his first love.

 

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