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FOCUS
New-look Limerick take next step with online lotto
Limerick FC was once a case study in League of Ireland mismanagement but the new powers-that-be have hauled the club into the brave new world, with a major online lotto initiative to be launched next month. Club media officer Joe Sweeney spoke to eleven-a-side.com.
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FOCUS
Club Med calls for Fabio
Having left the League of Ireland for the short-term at least, Declan O’Brien is looking forward to making a mark in the Mediterranean with Maltese league leaders Valletta.
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FOCUS
The World Cup play-off picture
There are several World Cup qualifiers taking place throughout Europe on Wednesday night. How could they affect the play-off picture, and Ireland’s place therein? eleven-a-side.com took a closer look.
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BOOK REVIEW
Trapattoni: A Life in Football
Written by two Austrian journalists and appended with a relevant foreword and epilogue for the Irish audience, this biography of Ireland’s manager is slight but nevertheless worthwhile.
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FOCUS
A day with the Croatians
It’s early Thursday evening in Temple Bar. The anarchy of the weekend, when Dublin’s condensed nightlife district bubbles with stags and cackling hens, is still a day or two away but Fitzsimons’ pub is bustling as I step inside for a possible rendezvous with “30 or 40 Croatians”.
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FOCUS
Watertight Swiss fancied to bounce Czechs
Switzerland have been preparing for this tournament for years – bank on them to edge the over-rated Czech Republic in Saturday’s Euro 2008 opener.
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FOCUS
Group A: Czech mate for old-stagers
They may have topped their qualification group but the Czech Republic could be one of the flops of the Euro 2008 finals.
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FOCUS
France, Holland provide Euro value
It’s a big if, but if France and Holland successfully negotiate the pitfalls of Euro 2008’s most precarious group, have the class – and prolific young strikers – to become leading contenders for outright glory over the next three weeks.
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BOOK REVIEW
Banter & Bustle, by Jeff Scott
Banter & Bustle is an enlightening insight into the Saturday afternoon experiences of the football-supporting Everyman – a breed which, due to the impact of an authorised mass media, may well become an endangered species.
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BOOK REVIEW
Freestaters, by Donal Cullen
With talk of an All-Ireland League in the offing again in 2008, Donal Cullen’s Freestaters – which includes a detailed history of the split between Belfast and Dublin football associations almost a century ago – is a welcome addition to the canon of work on the history of the game on these shores.
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FOCUS
League on cusp of Drogs dynasty
Having coasted to the League of Ireland title with three weeks to spare, despite their captain and best player spending most of the season on the sidelines, Drogheda United could be on the brink of a period of domestic dominance.
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ANALYSIS
The player ratings
The Republic of Ireland’s unbeaten and unbreached record at Croke Park continued with a 0-0 draw against Group D leaders Germany on Saturday night. So who was best for the boys in green in an encouraging overall performance? Read on for the eleven-a-side.com player ratings.
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