Irish player of the week

It's been a funny old season for David Connolly who, despite not having kicked a ball in anger for Feyenoord, who loaned him …

It's been a funny old season for David Connolly who, despite not having kicked a ball in anger for Feyenoord, who loaned him out to second division Excelsior, is causing ructions in the camp of the Dutch first division club.

Connolly is one of Holland's highest paid players and earns almost twice as much (a reported £20,000 a week) as two of Feyenoord's leading stars, Julio Cruz and Paul Bosvelt, and they're none too happy about it. Not that any of the fuss is effecting Connolly's form - on Saturday he scored his 22nd goal in 23 league games for Excelsior in their 3-1 win over Eindhoven.

Our player of the week, though, is Shay Given, whose performance for Newcastle against Watford on Saturday should do no harm to his hopes of keeping Steve Harper out of the first team. Given, making only his seventh appearance of the season, "made two almost unbelievable saves for us," according to his manager Bobby Robson, the second a stunning reflex save from Allan Smart. Newcastle went on to win the game 1-0, all but securing their Premiership future and ending Watford's.

Mary Hannigan

Mary Hannigan

Mary Hannigan is a sports writer with The Irish Times