QuoteForgot you were coming over here...what do you think?Originally Posted by Fixer82
Also, which bar did you go to?
Have a sneaking suspicion Weldoninhio is Yapster reincarnated. Damn the internet.
No Somos muchos pero estamos locos.
Forgot you were coming over here...what do you think?
My Guarantee
Am looking for old Irish matches on VHS, PM me if you have some and I'll upload them here
They won the Euros in 1992, so that irrelevant, and as soon as they came up against an above average team in the WC they got hammered.
It's a pity Ireland aren't sixth seeds like Wales. Then we'd only have the opportunity to play proper nations, unlike all those fake ones Keane scores against.
So who then is going to beat Robbie's record shortly? Long? Doyle?
Fact is that Keane was and still is Ireland's greatest goalscorer. I'd even bet that he will score more than Long and Doyle in the remainder of this campaign. Combined.
"Jacques Santini...will be greeted in every dugout of the country by "one-nil, one-nil" - Clive Tyldsley, 89th minute of France-England June 13, 2004.
"Ooooohhhh Nooooooo" Bobby Robson 91st minute.
I'd bet that too. Doyle and Long will get a goal each, while Robbie will get 3. Kilbane to score the winner on Friday though.
If we use this standard to judge our strikers, then Niall Quinn only scored five goals against "proper" opposition, John Aldridge probably fewer and I'd be surprised if Frank Stapleton got into double figures
Agreed.
Aldridge's competitive record was pretty mediocre, aside from a hat-trick against Turkey (who were very mediocre themselves pre-1996) and the consolation goal against Mexico in 1994. The remainder of his competitive goals came against Malta, Albania, Latvia, Lithuania and Northern Ireland.
Quinn scored competitive goals against Holland, Turkey, England, Northern Ireland (2), Denmark, Liechtenstein (4), Malta, Macedonia and Cyprus. Thirteen in all; quite a mixed bag.
Stapo scored competitively against Denmark (2), Cyprus, Holland, France, Iceland, Spain (2), Malta (2), Switzerland, Belgium, Bulgaria, and Luxembourg. 14 altogether. Better record than Quinn and Aldridge in terms of quality of opposition.
Keane has scored competitively against Malta (3), Yugoslavia, Turkey, Holland, Iran, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Albania, Georgia (3), Israel, Cyprus (3), Faroe Islands (2), San Marino (3), Wales, Italy, France, Andorra, Russia and Macedonia (3). 32 goals. There are a few very poor teams there, but even leaving out the nine goals against San Marino, Malta, Andorra and the Faroes, it's still 23 - an excellent record, which includes three in playoffs and three in Ireland's four major tournament games. The goals scored against Cyprus, Georgia and Macedonia are also very creditable, as they were tight games that Ireland struggled to win, and may have drawn or lost without Keane's goals.
Just to compare, Kevin Doyle has scored competitively against San Marino, Slovakia (2), Wales, Georgia, Andorra and Cyprus.
Hard to compare with past eras, as there are slightly more games in the qualifying groups these days, by virtue of having more teams in UEFA. However, Ireland's two biggest all-time wins - against Malta 8-0 and Cyprus 6-0 - both came in the 1980s. Also, back then, Turkey, Norway and Switzerland were regarded as minnows/banana skin teams in the same vein as, say, Georgia, Macedonia and Cyprus are today. Turkey lost 8-0 to England during the 1988 qualifiers, for instance. There have always been 'minnows' and 'low-profile-but-awkward' teams in qualifying groups. I don't think it's really any 'easier' to score at international level now than it ever was, and Keane's record is obviously commendable.
Not sure about the headline but here is Robbie's interview with the Sunday Independent from yesterday's paper. For some reason they only added it to the online archive this morning...
http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...e-2860332.html
"There's man all over for you, blaming on his boots the fault of his feet" - Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
Good article. I've no problem with Robbie's move, in fact I think it's genuinely good. Landon Donovan is a class act and if LA Galaxy is good enough for him, it's good enough for Robbie. Robbie's justification of the move holds a lot of water, for me. Good on him. Would any of us not have done the same? We can't all say that English football is over-rated and not good for our more stylish players, and then berate Robbie for settling for some second-rate opportunity in England.
Exactly and $9 million a year and a lifestyle you can only dream of. Yeah, we'd all day no to that at the age of 31!
Mouth Ulther?
Srsly though, Ye are both right. Though I expect to be on at least that at 31. Fair is fair.
It's getting close to matchday so I reckoned a pointless dig by David Kelly must be due. True to form, the miserable **** obliged.
http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...s-2863678.html
Last edited by Stuttgart88; 01/09/2011 at 8:55 AM.
Couldnt agree more, what a load of rubbish, I will very soon be ticking the independant off my reading list. 'Pointless' I think is a great summation of the article.
David Kelly's article is as bad. Again what a waste if 5 minutes of my life. There was nothing in that article of note at all.
Two things though...
Keane the human being? Is David jealous that Keane doesn't want to be his buddy?While Keane the professional footballer's unswerving loyalty to Ireland remains unquestioned, and his goalscoring record demands respect, Keane the human being remains as misconstrued as ever.
Keane is our top goal scorer and captain. Once he does his job I could careless that he isn't as insightful as Mr Kelly would like. Keane's private life is just that. Private. I'm not one of those people who goes in for the whole "if they are in the public eye they are public property idea". The pettiness knows no bounds.
Yes, the fabled voices of reason that are barstoolers. The very same people who won't have any interest in Keane until November if we are in a play off.Now that he has decamped to what Emmylou Harris once described as a "whole new world," Keane has been pilloried from all quarters of opinion, from bar stool to news print, for supplanting one hotbed of vulgar excess for another, albeit sunnier.
I find it interesting that the former Captain R Keane was never subjected to as much vitriol despite his lack of willingness to engage sometimes and of course because of Saipan.
Last edited by BonnieShels; 01/09/2011 at 8:48 AM.
shouldnt such an article be in the social section of this rag rather than sport? you could count on one or two fingers the decent honest football writers in this country
couldnt agree more with this. spot on
Last edited by jbyrne; 01/09/2011 at 8:42 AM.
I think Kelly fails to notice the major flaw in his piece. How O'Driscoll has failed on the world's biggest stage, but Keane has not. But he makes only minor mention of World Cup 2002. I don't care if Robbie's not grounded or an open book. He's got 51 goals in 109 appearances. O'Driscoll (8th in the world) has 45 tries in 118. Which one is the bigger match-winner?
also, odriscoll lives and plays here and is our best ever rugby player. that keeps him firmly in the public eye all the time.
Imagine being confronted by the likes of that miserable gobs (Kelly) on your doorstep, cajoling a few words in response to accusations of vulgar excess.
AF, I think that its unfair to criticise BOD in all this. Kelly us making that connection which is needless and just an attempt at vitriol.
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