Inside Track: Joe Carroll's Curiosity corner

KNOW YOUR INITIALS

It’s GC this week

1: There are hundreds of these throughout the country
2: Wicklow
3: Referees rarely get credit for these
4: Kevin Moran’s GAA club team
5: Its two soccer teams are the worst of enemies
6: An Englishman who could lift huge weights
7: They have one at Cheltenham
8: A score or the introduction of a reserve can be this
9: A Dublin feature which gave its name to an Irish-trained winner of the English Greyhound Derby
10: An Irish jockey who’s been in good form of late

MARIA’S MEMORY
Maria McShane has memories of a Louth trip to Tralee for a National League match in 1998.
It wasn’t a high profile fixture, but like most others over the years it still ended in a win for the Kingdom, 1-9 to 1-4.
Like her father, Lannleire’s Jimmy McShane, before her, Maria served on the Louth County Board, and it was during this time that she travelled to Tralee. She’s asks for the Louth line-up.
It read: Colm Nally; Breen Phillips, Brian Keenan, Gareth O’Neill; Jonathon Clerkin, John Donaldson, Aaron Hoey; Sean O’Neill, Stephen Melia; Ollie McDonnell, Colin Kelly, Martin Farrelly; Stefan White, Cathal O’Hanlon, Niall Sharkey.
Alan Doherty, Colin Fitzpatrick, Val Gargan came in as reserves.

HE HAS PLAYED FOR IRELAND AND ENGLAND
Cried Clear (6,4)

SOME FACTS AND FIGURES
Italy has won soccer’s World Cup four times, 1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006. None of the squads included a player operating with a club in another country, nor beyond Serie A.....

The 1989 Ryder Cup didn’t go well in the early stages for the Irish pair, Christy O’Connor Jnr and Ronan Rafferty. Bernhard Langer had Rafferty as his partner in the foursomes on the first day, and together they were no match for Mark Calcavecchia and Chip Beck.

It was no better for Rafferty when he teamed up with O’Connor for the foursomes on the second day, Calcavecchi, this time coupled with Ken Green, once again proving to be the Warrenpoint lad’s Nemises.

However when it came to the singles, Rafferty got his revenge on the American, winning at the death. His win, however, was, like everything else on the day, put in the the penny-haepenny place by O’Connor’s win over Freddie Couples.

Whenever the story of the Ryder Cup is being told, a special place is reserved for O’Connor’s iron the within four feet on the 18th. He sank the putt, helping Europe to a 14-all draw, and, because they were holders, retention of the game’s great team trophy. The Belfry, in Sutton Coldfield, was the venue....

Des “Snitchie” Ferguson and his son, Terry, are the only father and son to have won All-Ireland senior football medals with different counties. Each of them were victorious on two occasions, Des with Dublin in 1958 and 1963, and Terry, lining out with Meath in 1987 and again the following year....

HE SAID
“Too many times in the past the (Ryder) Cup has been run, it seemed, more for officials than players. Priorities had been in the wrong places. If I was captain it would be run and organised with the players in mind”. Tony Jacklin, one of England’s greatest golfers, the first from this part of the world to with the US Open. You can be sure that there was a change, when, in 1985, ‘Jacko’ was made captain of the Europe team. He got the perfect response from his charges, Europe beating the US by a decisive 5 pts.
And they retained the trophy two years later (See above).....

It was on this day, July 11, that England opened their 1966 World Cup finals campaign.

It wasn’t a very auspicious start – a 0-0 draw with Uruguay. And immediately the pundits began to question the team’s ability to make any significant progress.

They were particularly scathing of manager, Alf Ramsey, who had madfe the prediction before a ball was kicked: “England will win the World Cup.”

Ramsey, however, had got it right. His team beat Mexico and France in the remaining group games, and then had the famous 4-2 extra-time win over West Germany in the final.

ANSWERS
Know Your Initials: 1 Golf Courses, 2 Garden County, 3 Good Calls, 4 Good Counsel, 5 Glasgow City, 6 Geoff Capes, 7 Gold Cup, 8 Game Changer, 9 (The) Grand Canal, 10; Gary Carroll. Played for Ireland and England: Declan Rice.