Eugene's Blog

So here it is, the World Cup Final, is football coming home? Will La Roja clinch it? We will see on Sunday morning. England It's not normal for Irish people to support England but my feelings towards them are neutral. Bar the Nigeria game their path to the final has been smooth. I see from social media that the English have been getting behind their team. Some have called for the women's coach to coach the men's team and some have called for a Bank Holiday if England win. Spain Spain, on the other hand have already lost in the tournament, going down 4-0 to Japan. I watched their game with The Netherlands and they played well, it was a good game. Too close to call The bookies have made Spain slight favourites    I'm not going to support either team but looking forward to what should be a good game. I've watched a fair bit of the tournament and it has been of a decent standard.

  So Derry lose on penalties. Gutted for the Candystripes. Grateful to LOITV who, at the last minute, gave fans around the world access to the game. Grateful to my daughter too who slept through most of it. They had chances. It's stating the obvious but if they had got a 2nd goal in the first half they would have progressed.    Derry City v Tobol Kostanay     The team played well and were unlucky. There were many great performances. Duffy and Connolly did really well. Brian Maher has had such a good season, it's a shame he is the one that missed the decisive spot-kick, Ben Doherty didn't convert either of course so he is not alone.     A lot has already been said and written about having to play the game in Dublin. Tallaght Stadium looked rather empty. I wonder what the attendence was. The cost of tickets and travel on a Thursday night I'm sure put people off. Had it been played in Derry, with a full Brandywell roaring the team on, in my opinion t...

 1 5th August 1998. Omagh. 25 years ago. Rem ember the day well and hearing news of the bomb on that Saturday afternoon as I was having a cup of tea. It was the year of the Good Friday Agreement and we thought bombs were a thing of the past. The Manic Street Preachers had a sort out at the time, If you tolerate this your children will be next.   Hard to belive its 25 years, where does the time go? I wasn't in Omagh much in those days but in 1999 and from 2001 to 2005 I worked there. Great people, great town, great community. Thinking of all those affected by that dreadful day,

  Good luck to Derry City in Kazakstan as they try and get through another round of the UEFA Conference League. Derry have faced such a long trip and will be hoping to get a positive result to take back to Ireland next week   . It was disappointing that they were not allowed to play the second leg in Belfast, the IFA said yes, Linfield said yes, it was UEFA that said no. Playing the 2nd leg at Windsor Park would have been interesting given the history Derry has with Linfield and the IFA, but UEFA rules wouldn't allow it https://www.rte.ie/.../1398991-uefa-turn-down-derry.../   The idea of playing at Windsor Park make me think..What if Derry rejoined the Irish League? Wouldn't an All-Ireland football league be better than the current situation? Is a summer season or Friday night games really best for football in Ireland?   Playing the second leg in Dublin puts Derry at a major disadvantage in the tie and it takes away from the enjoyment of reaching this stage of the...