Martin O’Neill backs Jon Walters to shine for Ireland against Bosnia

Martin O’Neill is determined to reach Euro 2016 although he knows it is a relatively trivial pursuit. On Monday in Dublin his Republic of Ireland team contest the return leg of their qualification play-off against Bosnia-Herzegovina and O’Neill is hopeful a sporting contest, and nothing else, will unfold.

“I don’t feel uneasy about the game,” he said. “It was horrendous, the events in Paris, and obviously puts a lot of things into perspective including football matches. I’m hoping the stadium is well policed and I’m hoping we will be OK.”

The hope, then, is the night will bring as dramatic a reckoning as can be served by that wonderful frivolity, a football match. For O’Neill and Ireland a campaign that began 14 months ago with a win in Georgia and has also featured a dispiriting defeat in Scotland, an epic victory over Germany and that fog-cloaked 1-1 draw in Bosnia, will be definitively declared a triumph or a flop.

Ireland go in with a slim advantage thanks to Robbie Brady’s away goal in Bosnia but the tie could still take twists aplenty at the Aviva Stadium, with extra time and even a nerve-shredding penalty shootout among the possibilities. And at the end, Ireland will be going to Euro 2016 , or they will not. O’Neill will sign a new contract, or he may not.

To secure passage to France , O’Neill will probably have to get some difficult decisions right.

Cristiano Ronaldo: I want to retire with 'dignity', not in USA, Qatar or Dubai

Cristiano Ronaldo said Friday that he wants to end his career “with dignity” and not playing in “the United States, Qatar or Dubai”. The Real Madrid and Portugal star, the subject of a new documentary that premiered on Monday in London, said Thursday in an interview on ITV’s The Jonathan Ross Show that he expected to play six or seven more seasons and hoped to finish his career at the highest level. The remarks ostensibly referenced the recent wave of top players who have finished their careers outside of Europe’s top leagues, among them MLS imports Didier Drogba, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo and David Villa, along with Xavi, the lifelong Barcelona midfielder who signed with Qatari club Al Sadd in May. “That does not mean it’s bad play in the leagues of the United States, Qatar or Dubai, but I do not see myself there,” Ronaldo said. Ronaldo, who turns 31 in February, became Real Madrid’s all-time leading goalscorer last month and has th...

Young people to lose access to unemployment benefits as part of welfare reforms

YOUNG people will not be able to get unemployment benefits until they turn 25 under reforms introduced by the Turnbull Government today. The coalition has unveiled wide-ranging welfare reforms in parliament today, including changes to the Newstart program. It hopes to stop people aged 22 to 24 getting Newstart or the Sickness allowance, and they will instead be shifted to the Youth Allowance payment. This will reduce the amount of money that they will be able to get, costing a single person living away from home about $90 a fortnight. They will also be required to study in order to qualify for the payments. “The key aim of this measure is to provide incentives for young unemployed people to obtain the relevant education and training to increase employability,” according to an explanatory memorandum for the bill. However, it says Youth Allowance does allow students to earn a higher amount of money from part-time or casual work than Newstart, before this begins imp...

Battle to keep guns from former Queensland policeman with PTSD

IT’S been almost 10 years since Ben Alexander Ephraim Dyball left the Queensland police under a cloud of trauma and allegations of bizarre behaviour. He’s had a tough time letting go of the past. That was apparent when officers from Warwick Police — where Mr Dyball was once stationed — raided his Elbow Valley property and allegedly found a stash of old police uniforms, official police notepads, gun holsters (including one of the concealable variety), handgun and rifle ammunition, several police identification cards, two pairs of police handcuffs and 450g of marijuana. A weapons licence Mr Dyball had previously declared stolen and a number of rifle bolts were also seized. The officers had waited until the 49-year-old was at the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) in Toowoomba appealing the suspension of his weapons licence, to exercise their search warrant. The Queensland Weapons Licensing Unit revoked Mr Dyball’s licence in September 2015 following a bizarr...

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