Sports
Nations League: Dominik Szoboszlai’s Hungary the latest side to draw blank against Northern Ireland in Belfast
Northern Ireland were the markedly better team in the first half against Hungary, although after a 5,000-mile round trip to Tbilisi appeared to tire as the game worn on.
Again, however, they struggled to create chances throughout. According to Opta, their xG on Monday night was just 0.55, their lowest in a Nations League game since September 2022.
The side’s record goalscorer David Healy pointed to the side’s lack of threat from set-pieces with Balazs Toth easily gathering a few corners. The presence of Ballard in the opposing box was missed too.
“The set pieces were really poor,” said Healy on BBC NI’s coverage.
“We pride ourselves in them but we did not threat at all. Hungary did not really have many chances. Overall, coming away with a clean sheet against the opposition, O’Neill will be pleased.
“The frustration will be if we had been bang at it, it was an opportunity.”
Jamie Donley, who is on loan at Luton Town from Tottenham Hotspur, again led the line but did not have much in the way of opportunities.
Isaac Price and Patrick Kelly started in behind the striker, with the latter hitting the bar in the first half, but were backed up by a trio of promising yet untried teenagers, none of whom were brought on in a second half when Hungary wrestled back control.
“When we look at the top end of the pitch, we’re looking at much younger players,” said O’Neill.
“Kieran Morrison, Ceadach O’Neill, Braiden Graham – we don’t have the same options in terms of what we can do at the top end of the pitch, in terms of experience, and being a little bit more accustomed to international football and first-team football.”
It should be remembered that O’Neill is still without Conor Bradley who has missed the past six games through the serious knee injury he sustained with Liverpool in January.
For all the talk of how to stop Kvaratskhelia and Szoboszlai over recent weeks, opposition have not had to give any thought as to how to account for Northern Ireland’s own talisman.
Even allowing for the small and spread sample sizes afforded by international football, Northern Ireland have scored 24 times in Bradley’s past 16 caps. In the nine games played without him during that span, they have found the net on just six occasions.
With the 23-year-old expected to miss the rest of this Nations League campaign, the Hungarian stalemate again showed that replacing his attacking impetus remains O’Neill’s biggest short-term challenge.
Again, though, his side showed against Hungary that their defensive solidity is a platform to build upon.
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Sports
Barney's Bears – the Warwickshire captain who commands respect
How Shropshire lad Ed Barnard skippered Warwickshire to a title triumph in his first season as a county captain.
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Sports
Phil Taylor to come out of retirement and reunite with Adrian Lewis
Sixteen-time world champion Phil Taylor will return to darts eight years after retiring to play in the Modus Super Series’ International Pairs tournament in November.
Taylor will play alongside another former world champion, Adrian Lewis, who himself has not played professionally on the PDC circuit since April 2023.
Taylor, 66, is the most-decorated player in the sport’s history. ‘The Power’ won 214 professional tournaments and a record 87 major tournaments between 1987 and 2018.
The doubles tournament takes place between 23 and 28 November in Portsmouth.
Nicknamed ‘Jackpot’, 41-year-old Lewis won the World Darts Championship in 2011 and 2012 and has faced Taylor in five Professional Darts Corporation major title finals, all of which were won by Taylor.
The duo are the most successful pairing in the history of the PDC’s World Cup of Darts, winning it four times as Team England in their six outings together.
“I’ve been asked plenty of times about coming back, but it would have to be for the right reason,” said Taylor.
“Adrian is one of the very few people I’d come out of retirement to play alongside, and the Modus Super Series is the place I wanted to do it.
“We’ve got a lot of history together, we know each other’s games inside out and I’m looking forward to getting back up there with him.”
While Taylor has not played professionally since 2018, he did feature at the World Seniors Darts Championship in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Lewis featured at Modus’ International Pairs Tournament for England last year alongside Steve Beaton, having announced he was taking a break from darts in April 2023.
“Phil and I have shared some brilliant moments playing together over the years, so to get the chance to do it again is really special,” said Lewis.
“We know what it takes to win as a pair and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do together.”
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Sports
Scotland: Life after World Cup heartache is bright for Billy Gilmour
Gilmour was still in Miami when news broke of Clarke’s resignation as Scotland head coach. He’s a man the Napoli midfielder acknowledges he owes so much to after giving him his debut in 2001.
Now, however, it’s the Sebastien Pocognoli era and the former Rangers, Chelsea and Brighton & Hove Albion man seems central to it.
In the 0-0 draw in Slovenia on Saturday, it was Gilmour who caught the attention during a resurgent second half for the Scots.
He is often seen as more of a deep-lying central midfielder, but there was a different dynamic to his game with the absence of club-mate Scott McTominay, who is recovering from a heart procedure.
“When I was younger, I really liked playing higher up, trying to be among it,” Gilmour, who is set to feature at Hampden on Tuesday against Switzerland – live on the BBC, said.
“Whenever I get asked to play on the pitch, as long as I’m on the pitch, I’m happy. I just want to play football and enjoy it.”
Now 25, there is plenty time to make new memories in a Scotland shirt. Yet, with so many young faces coming into the squad, the Ayrshire man is probably now a senior figure in the group.
It’s something he says he embraces, although Gilmour is coy about the prospect of maybe taking on the armband whenever current captain Robertson decides to pass it on.
“For me, it’s everyone’s dream to be a captain at a club or a country,” he said.
“Of course I’d be really proud to, but Robbo’s my captain and he’s a really good captain as well.
“What he’s done for Scotland is incredible and he’s very close on the record [most caps held by Kenny Dalglish] and I’m sure he’ll get it.”
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