It’s time to continue our College Basketball odds series with a Northern Illinois-DePaul prediction and pick. Find out how to watch Northern Illinois-DePaul. There are some nonconference games involving Midwestern teams this week in college basketball, with this one having a distinctly lower profile. Nevertheless, it’s a chance for DePaul to continue its turnaround under […]
The post Northern Illinois vs DePaul prediction, odds, pick for College Basketball appeared first on ClutchPoints.
WALTER WALSH was unsure about quitting Kilkenny until an unexpected moment of clarity.
The Cats stalwart retired from inter-county hurling last week at 33, and had no intention of doing so when the season began.
But a groin injury in their NHL win over Offaly in February hampered his progress.
He returned for the championship, but was largely used as an impact sub.
His 58th minute introduction in their 0-24 to 2-16 All-Ireland semi-final loss to Clare proved to be his last, even if he did not know it himself.
But as the weeks passed, Tullogher-Rosbercon’s intermediate championship quarter-final loss to Mooncoin made up his mind.
He said: “Even after the Clare match you’d be down for a couple of weeks. It’s probably not a good time to be thinking of your future in the aftermath of losing an All-Ireland semi-final.
“It probably only really hit home after the club game – we got beaten in the intermediate quarter-final. Coming off the field that day, it was just ‘that’s me finished with Kilkenny’.
“That was my thought when the final whistle went, which was strange because I wasn’t that clear-cut after the Clare game.
“Maybe I didn’t have a great game – that was the other side of it. That kind of made my mind up.
“My priority this year was just getting back on the field. I injured my groin, tore the tendon off the bone against Offaly, I’d say it was my second league match coming on.
“After that, it was 16 or 17 weeks of getting that right. My priority was just trying to get on the field to train and play – there wasn’t much more going on.
“‘Am I retiring or am I not?’ I was just grateful that I was able to get back and I didn’t need surgery. That was where my mind was.”
Walsh’s senior Cats career started with a bang.
He was parachuted into Brian Cody’s squad ahead of their All-Ireland quarter-final win over Limerick, and looked on from the bench as they drew an epic final with Galway.
The Friday night before the replay, the 21-year-old was named to start.
48 hours later he was named man of the match – firing 1-3 in a dream debut as the Cats won back to back crowns.
His name was up in lights as they demolished the Tribes 3-22 to 3-11, and Walsh feared he would never match the expectation he had just arrived with.
He said: “I was 21 at the time. You’d be kind of maybe thinking that you’d go out and get man of the match every day then – you try to do that, and obviously that’s impossible.
“Maybe in my earlier career I would have said that maybe there was some negativity in it, but it was a positive thing – the stuff of dreams really.
“I don’t think it’s any way negative now, looking back. But at the time, maybe I was thinking, ‘how do you reach those heights again?’
“And then you’re playing with Kilkenny and that was a seriously competitive team. Just to even get a starting place on that was a challenge and you wouldn’t want to look too far ahead of that.
“I think I was extremely lucky to have Brian Cody as the manager in terms of he’d keep you grounded. Like, I was 21 years of age, I was in college in Dublin. He was really good in that sense.
“I suppose I’d have a lot of my role models around that would keep you grounded and would be looking out for you as well. It was an extremely positive experience.”
Nerves were not an issue as he performed on the biggest stage with no baggage, and Cody’s big gamble came up trumps.
Walsh swam when he was thrown into the deep end, but his youthful innocence helped – even when defender Paul Murphy rang him the day before the game to lend his support.
He said: “I was as shocked as everyone else, I’d never played. I’d only joined the panel for the quarter-final against Limerick in 2012 – I wasn’t even on the Leinster final panel. I joined it after that.
“I was playing Under-21 with Kilkenny at the time so I was in to make up the numbers in training. I was shocked. I didn’t think I’d be featuring in the game. To be starting then was mad.
“It worked out – we won the All-Ireland. I was young at the time. I actually think it would affect me more now if I was named to start in a match.
“Back then, sure I was 21. I’m easy-going enough as it is. I wasn’t overly nervous about it. I knew no different. It was a mad experience obviously, I had good lads around me.
“David Herity in particular was very good to me in my first year, in training and that. Paul Murphy actually rang me but I was told to not answer my phone on the Saturday.
“I didn’t have Paul Murphy’s number, sure I was only on the panel! I wasn’t particularly friendly with the older lads.
“The number ringing me – I only found out after that it was Paul Murphy ringing to see how I was, to offer a bit of support.
“I was terrified thinking it was the media or something so I didn’t answer my phone. I didn’t look at it for the day.
“Brian might have warned me not to be talking to anyone after the meeting. It was in the aftermath, during the celebrations, that Paul Murphy said to me he was ringing and I never answered.”
And Walsh always answered the call with his county on the field. He won three All-Irelands in his first four senior seasons with the Cats, but 2015 was their last title.
He enjoyed an All-Star season in 2016, but Tipperary reigned supreme that summer – and Kilkenny are still waiting for glory.
No Leinster player made the All-Star selection this year as Clare conquered in the All-Ireland final against Cork.
Walsh watched hurling’s biggest day with envy, but backs the Cats to end their famine sooner rather than later as the clock ticks into a decade since their last Liam MacCarthy.
He said: “I think they’re capable. Kilkenny are always knocking on the door. In my first four years I won three All-Irelands but I have been in four All-Ireland finals since then as well, so we’re not far away.
“There are some talented players coming up. I’m teaching in Good Counsel College in New Ross and there’s talent coming in from Kilkenny there.
“St Kieran’s and Kilkenny CBS, there’s talent in the county. Yes, I think they’re capable of winning an All-Ireland soon.”
Jon M. Chu’s highly-anticipated film Wicked finally hit the theatres on Friday, November 22, 2024. Starring Ariana Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, the Broadway musical adaptation also featured Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey. Releasing over two decades after the Tony-winning musical, the movie has so far attracted a fair share of audiences to […]
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
FOR most sportspeople, references to the road to Damascus are meant in a metaphorical sense.
For Sam Prendergast, it was a quirky diversion on a journey which has brought him to be Ireland’s starting out-half at the age of 21.
Prendergast made his Test debut off the bench against Argentina last week but has been handed the no 10 jersey against Fiji today.
Like former international Jamie Heaslip, who was born in Israel, Prendergast’s back story involves a spell in the Middle East on account of his parents, Mark and Ciara, being in the Irish Army.
He explained: “They were in the same cadet class, that’s how they met. I can only really remember from when she was retired in the army.
“He was a lieutenant colonel, he’s actually retired for a number of years now too.
“He was overseas a good bit and when I was five, Cian eight, and my sister two, we all moved over to Syria for a year and a half so we were over living in Damascus.
“I have great memories of it. I met Diarmuid Mangan, who I played under-20s with, over there.
“His family were over there at the same time so we spent a year over together, then we were living together when we left school, and were in the Leinster Academy together.
“So it was actually quite a bit of coincidence and it was quite special getting to share special days with him as well.”
Not quite as special, though, when brother – Connacht flanker Cian, who has played three Tests for Ireland – presented him with his jersey ahead of the Pumas game.
Prendergast said: “When I got named in the team, having the family come into the Shelbourne and then having Cian in camp, it was a special thing.
“It was a bit emotional at the time. I didn’t really know who was going to present it to me until the time.
“It was a weird one and having all my family there as well then, a few of them had a few tears. It was very special.
“Then getting to play in a full Aviva and getting to sing the national anthems for the first time. It was a nervous week but quite surreal.”
The nerves were not obvious when he entered the fray in a game in which Ireland had established a good first-half lead before being forced on the back foot.
That did not inhibit Prendergast from sticking to his guns and try things that other players, in his position and at his age, might shirk from doing at this level.
That was reinforced by Andy Farrell’s advice before his introduction. He said: “He just said to be myself really, just to trust what I had done to get this far and try and be the best version of myself.”
Asked to elaborate on various team-mates describing him doing things in training which are ‘unbelievable’, he said: I don’t know – a few spirals? – I’m not really sure what they mean by that.
“I maybe try a few things. Some days it doesn’t really go to plan, a wet and windy day and nothing comes off you walk off the pitch a bit dejected and days a lot of it comes off.
“That’s part of the learning as well. Then, when you get to play games it’s fun because you get to, not experiment, but see what different things from the training pitch can translate into in matches.”
With Johnny Sexton’s addition to the staff as a part-time mentor.
Prendergast has a good sounding board for what might or might not work and he says working with the former Ireland great’s brother Mark with the Under-20s gave him an insight into what to expect.
He said: “They would be quite similar in temperament. He’s quite positive. They’re quite supportive and quite encouraging. I just think that confidence rubs off on you a bit.
“He’s one of the best players to ever play for Ireland so, like, his mindset, his outlook on attack is very good. It’s been a lot of kicking stuff, which I’ve found very helpful anyway.”
At his jersey presentation, his brother had praised him for staying true to himself and not having that willingness to try things ‘coached out of him’.
But he said that, like Farrell, most rugby coaches had encouraged rather than dissuaded his creative trait.
He said: “In my younger years I would have been more into GAA and soccer and there would have been a few things like instead of bending your back to pick the ball up like in GAA, I just tried to flick it up.
“Stuff like that would be tried to be coached out of you but I just kind of enjoyed it.
“Never in rugby, I think a lot of the coaches and good influences I’ve had just wanted me to add other things to my game to complement it as well.
“I wouldn’t say I’ve done anything too crazy in a game anyway.
“There’s stuff that probably got you picked into camp but you are also constantly trying to get better at other things, defence, kicking.
“You are never really ‘ah I’m pretty good at everything’. You are constantly working on something.
“That’s what makes it quite exciting, you are constantly trying to get better at different things.
“I don’t think there is any player in the world that ticks every box. It’s trying to tick as many boxes as you can.”
One shortcoming that has been identified by pundits is a lack of physical presence but he baulked at how he has been described.
He said: “Slight? I think that’s a bit harsh, I’m just quite tall. I could definitely put on a bit of size.
“I’m not in a huge rush to do that. I think I’m decently heavy for the position I play. I’m definitely trying to get better at my defence. I’ve been working with coaches in Leinster and Ireland coaches on it.
“It’s obviously a huge part of the game. You spend half the game without the ball. You’ve got to be very good at it. I am really trying to get better at it. I think the ‘slight’ thing is a bit harsh.”
CAELAN DORIS hopes it is third time lucky for Ireland when it comes to getting their discipline right as they look to silence Fiji’s ‘vulnerable’ jibes.
Ireland racked up 13 penalties – when the aim is to keep them in single figures – against both New Zealand and Argentina.
And the Ireland captain admitted it would be unacceptable for them to rack up that number for the third game on the trot.
He said: “Definitely. It’s something we’ve spoken about a lot over the last couple of weeks.
“There’s no panic buttons being pushed but it’s just about not being desperate.
“I gave away two last week which were just sloppy offsides.
“There’s an onus on everyone to be a little bit more focused, a little bit sharper there. And take no chances.”
He reckons their high penalty-count might be why Fiji scrum-half Frank Lomani believes Ireland could be in danger of losing to his country for the first time.
Doris shrugged: “I remember the one a couple of years back for how physical it was. It’s going to be the same and I’m looking forward to the challenge of that.”
The back row believes that discipline is the fundamental issue behind them not scoring after the break in either of those two games.
He said: “We had five consecutive penalties against New Zealand in the second half and that gave them a ton of momentum, possession, field position.
“Against Argentina, between the 35th and the 65th we gave away a number of penalties as well. They had nine lineouts we didn’t have any.
“So it’s largely down to our discipline, when it’s coming and the effect of it more than anything to do with our attack, I believe.”
And he has warned his team-mates that they will have to adapt to whatever conditions Storm Bert throw at them.
He said: “Possession, territory become a lot more important. The breakdown, set-piece, discipline again, it’s going to be even more important.
“Building a score, if you go two scores clear then the opposition has to play the game a different way and start forcing things a little bit which will be tricky in the conditions.
“It’s still a little bit of an unknown how it’s going to be. It’s supposed to be lashing overnight,
“Whether it will be greasy or actually raining during the game I’m not sure but it’s definitely a factor we’ll have to consider.
The post Chandigarh: Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini meets Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla – #Gallery appeared first on Social News XYZ.
New Delhi, Nov 23 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) has the potential to boost 99.6 per cent of Indian exports with market access to European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries and drive...
The post India-EFTA trade pact to drive $100 bn investment, boost 99.6 pc of exports appeared first on Social News XYZ.