Inside Track: JJ Gabriel could be the Real deal in January
Inside Track with Joe Carroll
Soccer results from matches at home and abroad are scanned each Monday morning. First, to see how Ballinamallard, Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Accrington Stanley fared out.
Then it’s a peek through fingers to find out how far down Manchester United are in the table. After that, the crowd attendances at Scottish League Two are checked (It’s good if the best of them ever goes over 500.)
The scan is completed with a check on the La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1 tables and the goal scorers. Did Harry K score for Bayern? Or Yamal for Barcelona? Or Mbappe for Real Madrid?
Good to report that Ballinamallard and Accrington are in the top half of the respective tables. Not so ICT.
Though beaten by bottom-of-the-table Armagh City in the weekend under review, Fermanagh-based ‘Balla’ are in the top half of the Irish League First Division.
Same with Accrington. The Reds were done by a late equaliser in the game with Northampton, but the point was enough to keep them in ninth place in the English League Two. Don’t snigger, there are 24 teams in the line-up.
But Inverness? Having recovered from a poor start back in the Scottish Championship, they are now in 7th in a field of eleven, after taking a 5-1 thrashing from Dunfermline. And to think that they scored first.
Back to La Liga. What happens down in Spain is going to be scrutinised even further. That’s following the news that JJ Gabriel could be on the Real Madrid books from next January onwards.
You’ve read it all here before: JJ’s real name is Joseph Junior Ó Cearúill (the fada over the ‘u’ is never used when The Guardian, The London Times and other British publications print his name, and we over here we use just one ‘l’).
He’s son of Joe Ó Cearúill, formerly with dozens of club teams in England, Scotland and Ireland (St Patrick’s), and given two Republic of Ireland caps when Stephen Staunton was in charge.
He’s been on the Man U books since he was 11, and in the five years since then has developed to be one of the hottest properties in English soccer.
JJ fell out with United back in September, failing to turn up for training, even though he had been given a run-out with the senior team in a pre-season match with AC Milan. Seemingly, his handlers, Dad chief among them, thought he was deserving of greater recognition.
His fallout encouraged his suitors to chase his signature with greater zeal than ever. Now it’s reported that he’ll be teaming up with Real when the transfer window opens in January, though it’s also said – at the time of writing – that United that know nothing about the proposed change of clubs.
So, that could be something to look out for each Monday morning, to see if JJ lined out Real, but importantly, did he get among the scorers, as he did with frequency on United underage teams.
Real against Barcelona could be like a boys’ game, JJ in the white jersey and Yamal playing against him.