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Irish women’s success comes with greater scrutiny; Owen Doyle’s referee memoir

The Morning Sports Briefing: Keep ahead of the game with The Irish Times’ sports team

Irish international Chloe Mustaki. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins

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David Gorman
Fri Oct 14 2022 - 07:17

The fallout over the celebration of Ireland’s qualification to the World Cup and the singing of Celtic Symphony continues to linger in the aftermath and in today’s Subscriber Only piece, Lisa Fallon writes the Irish players and staff have acknowledged an error in judgment as they celebrated and we must lift them up and not kick them down. “With the increased visibility comes extra responsibility, greater scrutiny and harsher, even polarised judgments.”

Once the dust settles though there will be a lot of positives to take from this week. “These players and staff are going into a space that they have never been before. They are about to take Irish football to a level it has never been before. They are going to the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand,” writes Fallon. Chloe Mustaki believes there is a lot more to come from Ireland as the Bristol City stalwart expects players to face a fierce battle to claim a coveted place in Pauw’s Republic squad for next year’s World Cup. On the upcoming World Cup draw, Gavin Cummiskey writes beware the Portuguese in Pot 4. Ireland are confirmed third seeds ahead of the World Cup draw in Auckland on October 22nd.

Elsewhere in soccer, Shamrock Rovers saw their slim chances of advancement snuffed out by Molde in Tallaght as Stephen Bradley’s side were made to pay for failing to take early chances against their Norwegian visitors. Scott McTominay spared Manchester United’s blushes against Omonia Nicosia as a stoppage-time winner kept Erik ten Hag’s side in with a hope of winning their group and avoiding knock-out tie. And the final whistle has blown as Fifa 23 marks the end of an era, the last video game made in the way so familiar to fans after EA Sports and Fifa failed to reach an agreement over licensing fees for future games.

In rugby, Owen Doyle gives an extract of his memoir as a rugby referee and gives an example of a severe case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. “England lost narrowly to France 10-9 in Le Crunch in 1988 and my untimely intervention was blamed for butchering their second precious try-scoring opportunity,” he writes. Looking ahead to the URC match tonight, Connacht need to forget scars of last season as Leinster look to continue unbeaten start. Andy Friend’s side are back in the familiar role as underdogs after last week’s win over Munster. In boxing, Kellie Harrington comes in under the radar, Broadhurst doing the fighting talk ahead of Europeans as a team of 10 Irish women loaded with medals contest the European Championships in Montenegro.

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In Gaelic games, ju-jitsu and soccer keep Dublin’s Michael Fitzsimons fresh but his hunger for success never goes stale as his Cuala club extend novel sponsorship deal to include education and employment incentives. For Westmeath, Boidu Sayeh is keen to restart his career after finding the love again: “I needed a bit of a break from it, I needed to get my head right — to fall in love with playing GAA again.” And the issue of referee treatment within the GAA remains a pressing issue as GAA president Larry McCarthy launches a fight back against the mistreatment of referees. Dublin referee Thomas Gleeson can empathise with the recent University of Ulster survey that showed 94 per cent of match officials registering verbal abuse in the course of their duties and 23 per cent experiencing physical abuse. Gleeson was attacked early in his career but persevered and is on an upwards trajectory