Having been part of a group of friends who were mugged in Dublin by a gang of street hoods in the mid-90s (while on a school trip no less AND in McDonald’s on Grafton Street, the busiest shopping street in Dublin - note to Ronald McDonald, I WASN’T lovin’ it) I know first hand how crazy some of the undesirables from that neck of the woods can be. The only caps my friends had were the baseball ones on their heads that became part of the hoods haul so our distinguished reputations didn’t stretch too far in protecting us. Much like the 102 times capped current Republic of Ireland football manager Steve Staunton who was held up at gunpoint outside the team’s hotel in Portmarnock yesterday evening.

Staunton, displaying an uncharacteristic turn of pace, took to his heels and made it back to the team hotel, the Portmarnock Hotel, where he informed hotel staff and the Gardai of what had happened and the man was subsequently arrested on a nearby beach. The weapon has so far failed to turn up although the man arrested has got a history of psychiatric problems. I’ll say!

Now I know Stan wasn’t the unanimous choice to replace Brian Kerr as the Republic of Ireland manager but with a distinct lack of suitable Irish candidates and the usual collection of ragtag failed old timers from the UK and abroad lining up for a payday, the FAI decided to give him a chance. One win and one defeat from his two games is hardly form worth getting shot over but with seven players out of his selected squad through injury and his mentor Sir Bobby Robson missing through ill health, the signs aren’t good for Staunton’s next game against a strong Holland side.

As this latest gun threat is the second on the Portmarnock Hotel in three years while the Republic squad have been in residence, maybe it’s time they took themselves off to a more respectable establishment to prepare for their games. I mean if you can’t get some peace and quiet in your own capital city before a game without getting a gun shoved in your face then what’s the footballing world coming to? If you do fancy a change of scenery lads I would advise staying out of McDonald’s on Grafton Street, I hear it’s not much safer.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 15th, 2006 at 9:01 am and is filed under International Football - Republic of Ireland. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.