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Fuck the U-21s!
Why isn't michael Keane in the FULL Ireland squad? Due to injury Keano couldn't make the recent trip to Poland (where the U-21s hammered Poland 5-1). What is the story?? Brian Kerr is suppised to be a day-sant manager! Mark ("mostly crap") Kinsella is still being considered for call-up to the full squad?? Give us a break! Keano is only MASSIVE!!!
Quinn signs for Preston
Dundalk teenager Paddy Quinn has swopped the eircom League's First Division for the Nationwide league after agreeing to sign for Preston North End.
The midfielder impressed on his second trial with the Deepdale club ane he is expected to sign for David Moyes side this week. "We've agreed almost everything with Preston but there's a couple of minor things to sort out," said Dundalk manager Martin Murray.
"I expect the deal to go through in the next couple of days. Paddy wants to try and make a career in English football and I think he has the talent and character to do it. "He has been part of the first team squad at Dundalk for a couple of years now and I'm convinced he has the ability to make it as a professional.
"Preston are a very go-ahead club and have had a superb season in Division One. I know Paddy was very impressed with Deepdale and he will be well looked after there," added Murray. Quinn, who turned 19 last December, made 13 starts for Dundalk last season but played only nine times this term as he struggled to make an impact in Murray's promotion-chasing side.
The move was arranged when Dundalk player Aaron Callaghan, a former Preston player, tipped off his old club about Quinn's ability. A number of players have left Dundalk to try their luck cross channel, but the most successful was Steve Staunton, who played a handful of reserve games for the Lilywhites before making a move to Liverpool in 1987.
After a succession of decent performances coming on as a second-half substitute for manager David Moyes at Deepdale, Brian Barry-Murphy feels that he is beginning to fit in at Preston, at last.
"My contract is up at the end of the season and I will be going in for talks with the gaffer in the very near future" said Brian. This is my second full year at Preston and I feel I have made real progress in the last six months. I was out injured for a fair bit of the time in my first year but things have picked up a bit this year."
"I want to try and get a bit more stability this time around when it comes to my contract and I am hoping they will offer me a two, or even three, year deal this time" he said.
Barry-Murphy, a naturally left-footed player, made his senior debut in the third round of the FA Cup when Preston lost 1-0 to Stockport, but he has played in the last five or six games, coming on as a second half substitute.
"It's going really well for me just now and I got to play against Wolves, Sheffield United, Wimbledon and Portsmouth. I had 45 minutes against Wolves, 40 minutes against Sheffield United and another 30 minutes against Wimbledon. We had a big win over Portsmouth last weekend beating them 1-0 away from home and again I got to to see 25 or 30 minutes action in the second half. We have bombed in the Cup competitions but we still have an outside chance of making the play-offs" said Brian.
"We dropped down the table in December, losing five games on the trot, but that was a combination of injuries and a loss of form. We are back up there now and on the fringes of the play-offs and with a bit of luck we can make the promotion race OK. I think when we won promotion, the expectations were high and some of the fans seemed to think we would win promotion again this season. They felt we were good enough to come up on the bounce but that's not been the case and this is a tough league to win" said Brian who is well used to the demands of first team football now.
"I had no problems adjusting to the training schedule when I came over first of all but I missed a lot of last season because of injury. Touch wood, I have been free of injuries by and large this time around and it's worked to my advantage. All I need now is to be offered that two or three-year deal and I will have arrived, as it were."
The above article, by Noel Spillane, originally appeared in the Evening Echo 7th February 2001
Brian Barry-Murphy, son of legendary Cork hurling manager Jimmy, is beginning to create his own sporting niche in cross-channel football. Less than six months into his one-year contract with Preston, young Brian has already been made captain of the reserve team at Deepdale.
And with six goals in his last ten games from a wide midfield role first team boss David Moyes cannot but be impressed with his latest acquisition. And the 21-year-old Barry-Murphy, a former Irish U-21 star with Ian Evans side, is hoping to secure a new two-year contract inside the next few weeks.
"When I came back from my cartilage operation, I was made captain of the reserves and I think that extra responsibility has stood to me. I am very happy with the way things are going and to be honest, it's the best move I could have made" said Brian.
"I have been scoring goals too from midfield and I think six from ten games so far. The majority of our games are in the Pontin's league and we play in the northern section which cuts down on travel."
"Our last outing ended in a 4-1 win at Stoke and we are in a solid mid-table position. I have played in the first team as well and I made my debut against Wrexham and Brian Carey in the Worthington Cup and we won 4-1 that night."
"I played against Wrexham again in the Auto Windscreen Shield and we won again."
"I've also been on the bench for the first team in the FA Cup when we won down in Cardiff" added Brian who also made the squad for Preston's excellent 3-0 away win over Plymouth Argyle at the weekend.
"We are unbeaten in 22 games and lie second to Wigan Athletic in the Second Division but even now I think we are a good bet for promotion. We are unbeaten away from home and that's why we fancied our chances at Plymouth on Saturday. It's great that we've been rewarded with one of the 'big guns' in the fifth round."
Brian is sharing a house with eight of the club's top apprentices at Fulwood - just a stone's throw from the ground.
"It's great for me and the lads and the house is just a few minutes walk from the ground. There's one Dublin lad here, Michael Keane, and we have someone who comes in to cook and tidy-up for us every day" he added.
"All the lads play with the reserves as well so we have a good bond, a good team spirit and the grub is good too" quipped Brian.
"I have settled in well and I could not be happier. It's a first class club and while I was surprised by the sheer size of the club, there is a great tradition here and we are certainly on the up again".
Much of what is good about Preston's revival is down to team boss David Moyes, the 35-year-old ex-Celtic man who has been in charge at Deepdale for the last two years and swelled home gates to an average of over 16,000.
"David puts a lot of emphasis in training on working with you as an individual and I know that my own game has come on in leaps and bounds. I have certainly developed as a player since I moved here but it's been hard work too."
"He has made every effort to get me settled as has his assistant Kelham O'Hanlon, the ex-Irish goalkeeper. We train twice a day and the schedule is energy-sapping but very rewarding."
"We work on technique and the variation is good. I usually have Wednesday's off but we train most Sunday's as Monday night is our slot for the competitive stuff" explained Brian who hopes he will be offered that new contract sooner rather than later.
Brian's goals have come from his attacking midfield role and he's netted twice from spot-kicks and once from a direct free kick.
"I don't know what it is but when you have the captain's armband on your sleeve you want to take everything on offer , free kicks, corners, throw-ins and even the spot-kicks" added the ex-Cork City star who is loving every minute of being a professional footballer.
The interview originally appeared in the Cork Evening Echo (11th January 2000). Interview by Noel Spillane.
Since the interview Brian was out injured (cartilage) for two months.
Brian made a full recovery and scored for Preston's reserves when they completed the double over Wolves on Wednesday April 5 th with a 2-0 win at Bamber Bridge's Irongate ground. Julian Darby opened the scoring for North End with a short range header after 29 minutes. Two minutes into the second half Brian doubled North End's lead with a strike from 20 yards.
There's also a rumour being going around for a while that "The Greegoid" is going to Everton. Enough It's only a rumour. Enough already!! Still it shows you how highly rated Sean is.
A brief bio of Don:
Born in Dublin in 1957. He played for Derby, Middlesbrough, Preston, Carlisle, Grimsby, Notts
County and he had a few loan spells along the way. He was player manager of Torquay and his biggest honour was getting promoted to the old English division 2 with Notts Co. in
1990.
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Gone are the cameo roles in the Worthington Cup and FA Cup and now the former Cork City star is making more first team appearances. And this increasing first team experience could not be happenning at a better time for the 23-year-old Corkman, who is in only his second season with the promotion-chasing Nationwide first division side.
"I tend to get a run in the middle of the park or wide left but I haven't actually started a game since the FA Cup tie with Stockport" added Brian whose role model in the professional game is Manchester United's Roy Keane.
Speculation is mounting (down boy!) that Sean Greegan is on the verge of a call up for the Republic of Ireland. The Gregoid would join Teuvo ("Tepi") Moilanen (Finland) and Bjarki ("The Iceman") Gunnlaugsson (Iceland) who play for their countries also. 
Don O'Riordan, who played with North End in the early 80's is now manager of