Stephen Kenny – Failure or saviour?

By Sean Kinehan

Stephen Kenny is a man who has never played a professional football game in his life. His highest level of managerial experience before working with the FAI was League of Ireland football. There are two sides to this argument and Irish football fans seem to be evenly split. Some fans want Kenny in others want to see Kenny out. Is it a footballing fairytale or is he a fraud?

Kenny Out fans argue that the former butcher who played little professional football at arguably the lowest possible level should never be the national team manager. Kenny’s CV consists of League of Ireland teams including Longford Town, Bohemians, Derry City, Shamrock Rovers and most famously Dundalk. Kenny also had a spell in Scotland with Dunfermline Athletic. He also coached the Ireland U21s. The majority of Kenny’s senior management career is at a low level considering he is now a national team manager. Some fans argue that based on his CV and the lack of good results so far mean that he is just simply not capable nor qualified to coach the Irish team.

The counter attack to that is that Kenny’s work during his six year spell at Dundalk is there for all to see. Kenny ended an eighteen-year title drought at Oriel Park. Kenny brought Dundalk on an unbelievable European adventure. He guided them to a 3-1 victory over Champions League regulars BATE Borisov securing a place in the Champions League playoff round against Polish giants Legia Warsaw. Although Kenny lost the first leg 2–0 in front of 30,000 supporters at the Aviva Stadium Kenny was reaching levels few League of Ireland managers had reached before. They lost the tie 2-1 after a shock win in Poland but after the disappointment of getting knocked out at the last hurdle they still qualified for the group stage of the Europa League. By doing so they became only the second Irish team to qualify for the competition.

The bottom line is Kenny did an incredible job at Dundalk. But some Irish fans feel his CV will never be to an international standard. But the truth is there is no right or wrong answer. Personally, I believe that Kenny should be given more time as he is trying to play a style of football that Ireland have never played before. But at the end of the day results matter and Michael O’Neill had a slow start to his Northern Ireland career before flourishing. And if Kenny is given time, I believe he could do the same.

Championship Predictions

By Conor Hall

West Brom

I think it’s clear to see that West Brom are favourites to win the league this season. While keeping hold of key players such as Sam Johnstone, Grady Diangana, Semi Ajayi and Robert Snodgrass, they also have great Championship players such as Karlan Grant, who in his last spell in the Championship with Huddersfield scoring an astonishing 19 goals in 43 Championship matches. Also, the two Irish men in West Brom's ranks have come into their own so far this season with Dara O’Shea looking like an experienced center back and Callum Robinson is flourishing in the Championship with 3 goals in 4 games so far for West Brom. They also brought in key additions such as former Barnsley star Alex Mowatt, Irish youngster, Jayson Molumby and Championship talisman Jordan Hugill. Biggest addition of all though is Valérien Ismaël from Barnsley who will demand his team to play each game with high intensity from start to finish. In my opinion, West Brom are top.

Fulham

Fulham has an amazing and smooth attacking side. They heavily bolstered their squad with the permanent signings of Harry Wilson from Liverpool for £13m and Rodrigo Muniz from Corinthians for £8m. With these additions and the emersion of Fábio Carvalho to an already star-studded Fulham team along with the guidance of new manager Marco Silva, Fulham looks like one of the ones to watch this season.

QPR

Although QPR might seem like an outside shot from the outside for people who watch the Championship, QPR are as likely to win the promotion race as anyone else. With the additions of Charlie Austin, Stefan Johansen, Jody De Wijs and Rob Dickie along with signing Andre Gray on loan for the season. So far, these signings have blended in seamlessly with other Ranger stars such as Lyndon Dykes, Chris Willock, Ilias Chair and Seny Dieng. Mark Warburton's QPR side looks ready to compete this season.

Bournemouth

Bournemouth look to be on fire so far this season with their attack looking like the best in the league. With blockbuster signings like Chris Mepham, Ryan Christie, Emiliano Marcondes, Garry Cahill and Jamal Lowe along with signing Morgan Rodgers and Örjan Nyland, the emersion of youngsters such as Gavin Kilkenny and Jaidon Anthony and keeping hold of all key players, Bournemouth under the organized Scott Parker look like one of the favorites to go up.

Cardiff

Cardiff's style of play is as simple as they come. With a towering team Cardiff try to lump balls into the box and see what sticks. Cardiff is usually among the best for headed goals in the league and I expect this season to be no different. With the addition of James Collins playing alongside Kiefer Moore Cardiff’s long throw in is even more of a danger than before. I suspect Cardiff to be quietly efficient this season and make it into the playoffs.

Birmingham City

The Blues under Lee Boyer look quality so far this season and I suspect they will look even better once the new signing Troy Deeney settles into the team. Tahith Chong came in on loan from Man United along with Adam Clayton from Middlesbrough, Birmingham looks solid, compact, hard to beat and I think will be able to seal a place in the playoffs.

The Bottom 3

24. Derby County

Although Derby and Wayne Rooney has started the season like a promotion contender, they have been struck with a possible 21-point deduction as well as a transfer ban, I think Derby will finish last with their thin, aging squad, manager with lack of experience and financial difficulties I think its certain that Derby fall into the third tier.

23. Blackpool

Blackpool are just a very average side. Besides Jerry Yates I can't see any players who will likely do well in the Championship. I don’t think they bolstered their squad enough by only bringing in the single edition of Jordan Gabriel from Nottingham Forest I think Neil Critchley will relegate Blackpool.

22. Hull City

I think Hull will be the final team to get relegated. Like Derby, Hull got hit with a transfer ban and with a team that looks like it belongs in League 1 and a manager who is mostly unaccomplished in his career I think Hull will go down near the backend of the season with stars Mallik Wilks, George Honeyman and John Magennis all likely to depart over the coming months.

Teams To Watch

Nottingham Forest

Although starting their season off with 4 points from 8 games I think this is a false position and most Championship fans will agree. With Championship stars such as Joe Lolley, Phillip Zinkernagel and Lewis Grabban with an amazing defensive line and a solid midfield with some big editions into the squad such as James Garner, Max Lowe, Djed Spence and Rodrigo Ely with new manager Steve Cooper who plays a possession game with organized attacks I think Forest will either make a playoff push or will be stuck in a relegation battle.

Peterborough

Peterborough has a tantalizing attack with a lackluster defense which means one thing for certain, when Peterborough plays there will be goals. Whether it's coming from Siriki Dembélé, Jorge Grant, Jordan Clarke-Harris or Jack Marriot or even if it's coming from the opposition owner thinks a certain, it will not end 0-0. I think this style of outscoring the opponent can either be a revelation or it can crash and burn, and we could see Darren Fergusen’s side go straight back down to League 1.

Shang-Chi: and the legend of the ten rings.

By Cian Kelly

Having been a big Marvel fan and enjoying watching the movies as they come out, I was excited to hear that they were releasing a Shang-chi movie seeing as I had never heard of this superhero before I was excited to learn a lot more about him by watching his movie.

Going in I was already happy with this movie because it was the first Asian led superhero movie in the MCU, and not only was the cast majority Asian, the production team that worked behind the scenes of the movie were also Asian. This was a good thing to hear about the movie even before I had seen it.

Now about the movie. The plot was intriguing, and I was never bored throughout the whole movie. The plot had a good fusion of the normal MFarvel feeling while also including the culture and the background that this movie and its characters are based on. They include many different forms of martial arts coming from various Asian cultures and even displayed many aspects of these cultures, through clothes, languages and the design of cities and villages.

The characters in this film were compelling and you really grown to care for them as the movie goes on, they have easily become some of my favorite characters throughout the whole MCU. The main actor, Simu Lui, really brought the comic book character to life and did an amazing job at it, he displayed the emotions of the character perfectly. Awkwafina did an amazing job at portraying the main character's comic relief of a best friend, all the jokes she made during the film really landed with the audience and helped the movie not get too serious at some points.

Top 5 Beaches to Visit on your summer staycations

By Niall Gillane

5. Dog’s Bay/Gurteen Bay, County Galway

The Connemara coastline is an iconic home for many beaches. the twins of the Errisbeg Peninsula are one of the prettier beaches. The white sand, unlike other beaches, the sand is not constructed from crushed rocks but in fact seashells. This creates a Caribbean atmosphere to the Irish coastline.

4. Bundoran Beach

The sandy beach facing Bundoran Town is an ideal spot for surfing. With only a 250m walk to the town centre, Bundoran beach is an ideal spot for a staycation. The beach is extremely popular with surfers, but beginners are recommended being aware of the rocks and reefs, which can be extremely dangerous so it is advisable to check with locals.

3. White Rocks Beach

This location is part of the Causeway Coastal Route. The limestone cliffs attract all types of vacationers with the sports enthusiast being most popular in the blue flag award winner, White rock beach. Therefore, I believe this beach is the place to be this summer.

2. Keem beach

This breath-taking sheltered beach is a picturesque beach located at the western end of Achill Island. The white fine sand creates a wonderful to the turquoise sea. This rural coastline is located on the Atlantic way creating a more popular reception for tourists.

1. Inchydoney Beach

The Blue Flag beach at Inchydoney Island, just a few miles from Clonakilty, is known not only as one of the most family friendly beaches in West Cork but also as one of the most beautiful. Therefore, I recommend this beach as the best beach for staycations.

How COVID-19 affected education

By Jason Tynne Grehan

As a student I know how covid-19 has affected education it has changed the whole way we get our education for example, before covid we never had to use these apps to get homework or submit photos of our work to teachers but now it is a regular part of our lives. It has affected people's grades and courses for the leaving cert as they got predicted grades and a lot of people got good grades and now the course points have skyrocketed up making it even harder for people to get the course that they had wanted, they are rightfully angry at this.

During the lockdown also people had to do home exams, which was a bit stupid as they went unsupervised, making it extremely easy for people to cheat in the exams and no one would know and would have no proof. In the lockdown it was also difficult to focus and learn as you could be watching movies and playing games and the teacher would never know and they did not really submit assignments, and no one cared and the WIFI was also a big problem as if students or teachers did not have a good connection they could not teach or engage in the class, or it would make it extremely difficult to do this. Also, since you were working at home it was extremely difficult to get motivated to get up and do schoolwork because you were at home and not in a work environment.

All in all it has been a challenging time but I am glad things are getting back to normal.