Search Results for 'Frank Murphy'

Connacht 15

Finally. The long wait is over. Four years had passed since Connacht last recorded a victory over Leinster; three years since they overcome a fellow Irish province; and in between there had been a host of near misses, moral victories, but ulimately, defeats.

Connacht hopes of putting London Irish to the sword in a winner-takes-all meeting next January floundered in the Galway Sportsground on Friday evening.

The Cork saga has taken up a lot of paper space in the last month and by the looks of things a resolution seems further away now than it did in its initial stages.

Have you ever wondered about the effect a manager can have on a group of footballers? Let me highlight just one example of how a single individual has transformed the fortunes and the mood of a club in the space of a week. We are witnessing an astonishing turnaround in the fortunes of Spurs in a matter of days, since the arrival of new manager, Harry Redknapp. I take a casual interest in the fortunes of this particular team as my wife Audrey is a lifelong supporter of the Spurs. In the last few months we witnessed one of the biggest clubs in England with big star players struggling in the relegation zone of the Premier League and facing relegation if the fortunes of the club didn’t improve immediately. Harry arrives on the scene and within days these underperforming stars are like men inspired. They grabbed their second thrilling comeback in five days last weekend, this time against table toppers Liverpool. I am perplexed and slightly intrigued as to how Harry has got them into a team of believers, with the mood of the club changed considerably in the space of a few days. People within the club have suggested that the fun has returned to the training ground and now everyone feels part of the team. Another suggested that they are now treated with respect. Harry apparently told them they were good players! This would suggest that previous management didn’t tell them that! Under previous manager Ramos a number of first team regulars were banished to the reserves without explanation, in the process undermining the morale and camaraderie within the whole group. There is a lesson here for all managers. If you lose the dressing room, in other words the very people you are expected to inspire and develop into a winning team, they will lose confidence in your ability to lead them. This should be the signal for you to walk.

Little about this Magners League showdown in Ravenhill can help to put a positive spin on Connacht's performance on the night.

Connacht made sure they kept their European qualification hopes alive when they gained a merited maximum point haul from their visit to Italy on Saturday.

Connacht’s composure will be tested tomorrow night at the Galway Sportsground when they bid for a second successive bonus winning result against Italian side Rovigo.

Connacht 30

Connacht travel to Madrid this weekend looking to put the icing on the cake in their final Amlin Challenge Cup pool fixture.