After playing 45 minutes against Arsenal reserves, Steve Finnan may be given a start tomorrow for the whites of Fulham, in their first game of the Premiership season at home to Bolton. The Republic of Ireland right back made his return to action and had a successful half without any reaction to his injury, in Fulham’s 1-5 battering of the Arsenal reserves. If Finnan returns to first team tomorrow, there’s no reason why he should not travel to Helsinki with the Senior Irish squad for next Wednesdays clash with Finland.
John O’Shea, not available for Republic of Ireland U21 v Finland U21
As for John O’Shea , has he played his last game for the Republic of Ireland at U21 level? One thing for sure is that he has ruled himself out of the U21s clash with Finland next week, as Alex Ferguson’s defence is stretched with a mass of injuries, including injuries to Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville and more recently Wes Brown. O’Shea was expected to fast track to the Senior Irish squad, and with his place guaranteed for the first team at Old Trafford for the moment, surely rewards will be there for the taking. Mick McCarthy will be watching closely, that’s for sure!
Thornton shoots Black Cats to the final
If the media has had its criticisms about the Sunderland squad, the same Cannot be said for the Black Cats U21s'. For it was none other than Sean Thornton who sealed the Wearsider's 4-2 victory over Sporting Lisbon U21s, from the penalty spot in the Jersey Football Tournament in St. Helier last night. This result comes after the Black Cats 1-0 win over Celtic on Tuesday, which now means they top their group, and progress to the final. There were no fewer that seven Irish Black Cats who travelled to Sunderland that now face either Barcelona or Spurs in the Final this coming Sunday.
And finally Sunderland have been instructed to pay Tranmere GBP£275.00, for the services of Sean Thornton. Drogheda born Thornton is now a premiership player with the Black Cats, but the 19 year old Irish midfielder originally agreed terms with the Black Cats in April. His contract with Tranmere Rovers did not expire until June of this year, and this is when the controversy began. Thornton claimed to have trained with Sunderland last season when he was still a Rovers player, and this caused out-rage from the Merseyside Club.
Because of the Irishman's age a financial settlement was still required by Sunderland. Talks between the two clubs were unsuccessful up until now, and it is believed that the fee was be set by a tribunal. Along with the Fee advised, Sunderland will pay Tranmere another GBP£5k for every appearance made by Sean.
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