VAR offsides ‘could be tweaked’ – Premier League chief executive Masters

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has questioned whether there might be a need to “build in a bit of tolerance” in the offside rule.

A YouGov poll on Tuesday found that 67 per cent of football fans surveyed felt that the introduction of VAR had made the Premier League less enjoyable, with the system given an average performance rating of four out of 10.

The poll found that 74 per cent were in favour of VAR being kept, but modified.

Masters said on Tuesday that VAR is here to stay in the Premier League but accepts there are tweaks to be made – and referred to some of the marginal offside calls which have led to goals being disallowed this season.

He said: “I think offsides is one (area that could be tweaked) and whether you want offsides that are precise to the armpit or the heel, or whether you want to build in a bit of tolerance. That is sort of a technical challenge.

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Cork county board to repay €1.2m for Páirc Uí Chaoimh ‘cash flow issue’

Cork County Board owes €1.2m to Central Council arising from a Páirc Uí Chaoimh cash flow problem dating back to 2017.

At tonight’s Cork County Board meeting, secretary Kevin O’Donovan informed delegates that the executive has agreed repayments to Central Council for money that should have been handed over three years ago.

Prior to Croke Park stepping in and taking over the running of Páirc Uí Chaoimh, a cash flow issue arose which led to €1.2m of Cork County Board money, owed to Central Council, being redirected towards the stadium redevelopment.

The stadium, such is its troubled financial position, has not been able to repay the money to the county board. And so while the board will now meet its outstanding debt to Central Council, there is no timeline as to when the board will be reimbursed by Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

“In 2017, a cash flow issue arose in relation to the construction costs of the stadium, [this was] prior to our later funding agreement with Croke Park which is called the framework agreement. €1.2m of county board payments due to Central Council were used as a cash flow measure, with the agreement of Croke Park,” O’Donovan revealed.

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Gout fails to stop Mark Williams progressing in Cheltenham

Mark Williams shrugged off a bout of gout to progress at the Coral World Grand Prix in Cheltenham with a 4-2 victory over Barry Hawkins.

The three-time world champion wore a slipper on his left foot and was in obvious pain as he limped around the table to play his shots.

But the 44-year-old Welshman still overpowered former Grand Prix champion Hawkins to book a second-round clash with Neil Robertson.

“I’ve never had gout before,” Williams told ITV 4. “I’ve heard people say how painful it is and now I know, it’s unbelievable.

“You can’t get a sock on it. You’re lying in bed and can’t even have the bed sheets touch you.

“You’re screaming in pain and you can’t do anything about it.”

Gout is a form of arthritis caused by excess uric acid in the bloodstream.

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Barcelona boss Setien not interested in Messi-Abidal spat

Barcelona manager Quique Setien believes there are problems at clubs all round the world in response to Lionel Messi’s row with Eric Abidal.

Club director Abidal claimed in a Spanish newspaper that a number of Barcelona players were not working hard enough under Ernesto Valverde, who was sacked last month.

But in a lengthy Instagram post, Messi, who played alongside Abidal, took aim at his former team-mate for his comments.

Messi, the six-time Ballon d’Or winner, wrote: “Honestly, I don’t like doing these things but I think that everyone has to be responsible for his acts and take responsibility for their own decisions.

“The players [are responsible for] what happens on the pitch, and we have been the first to recognise when we were not good. The people in the sporting directorate should also assume their responsibility and above all take ownership of the decisions they make.

“Finally, I think that when players are talked about, names should be given because, if not, we are all being dirtied and it feeds comments that are made and are not true.”

The row between Messi and Abidal has cast a cloud over the Spanish giants, who trail La Liga leaders’ Real Madrid by three points.

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Cork county board limited Páirc Uí Chaoimh training sessions

The Cork senior teams are being limited to one training session a week on the new Páirc Uí Chaoimh pitch — and only on the week of league games.

Cork County Board secretary Kevin O’Donovan has said the new surface is still “vulnerable” and so, for the moment, neither Cork senior team is permitted to train on the pitch on weeks when they do not have a league fixture.

No other Cork teams are currently being allowed to use the new pitch for training.

The Cork senior footballers, ahead of Sunday’s visit of Down in round three of the Allianz League, trained on the pitch on Tuesday evening.

“The pitch is still vulnerable, it is still a new pitch, and we are in the month of February, so it is not going to be carte blanche. The senior teams get access once a week, on the week of league games. Underage activities and so on are precluded at the moment,” said O’Donovan.

“We have a guarantee on that pitch, signed with SIS Pitches, who did the pitch [reconstruction]. Therefore, when we are asking people to step off the pitch at certain periods and we are restricting activity, we are doing so for good reason.

“The pitch was a big success over the past few weekends, and I thank everyone who made that possible. It hasn’t come cheap, everyone knows that, but it is the first time it is on a sound footing so we can [now] schedule more events.

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DCU need penalties to win Collingwood Cup for first time

History has been made tonight as DCU won the Irish Universities Collingwood Cup for the first time in the 100th staging of the competition.

The Dubliners came out on top 4-1 in the penalty shootout at Dalymount Park when a tense decider against Ulster University failed to produce a single goal following 20 minutes of extra time.

Neither side, who were playing their third game in as many days, managed to end the stalemate with chances few and far between.

DCU striker Jack O’Connor had the best of them in the closing minutes of the first half after he got past Nathan Best and Stephen Cairns and cut into the box from the left but after he rounded goalkeeper Matty McClurg his goal-bound effort was taken off the line by full-back Owen McConville.

Earlier, Dylan Connolly might have put DCU in front but after he was set up by Sean McCarthy’s low cross his finish was well off target.

The northern side looked stronger in midfield with Marc McKenna and Niall McGinley impressive while a couple of Craig Taylor free kicks tested DCU ‘keeper Imrich Toth but he did well to keep them out and McKenna was inches past the post with a cracking drive.

The pace noticeably slackened after the break and apart from another Connolly effort that cleared McClurg’s crossbar and a Taylor free neither side looked likely to come up with a winner.

Even extra time remained scoreless and DCU proved the more accurate from the penalty spot with David Mugulu, Tristan Noach Hofmann, Sean McCarthy and Jack O’Connor (pictured above) all beating McClurg to finally take the famous trophy to the Glasnevin university for the first time ever.

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Zidane wants Real Madrid to treat Sociedad quarter-final clash like a final

Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane has urged his stars to treat their last-eight Copa del Rey clash against Real Sociedad like a final.

Madrid, who are three points clear of Barcelona at the summit of La Liga, turn their attentions to progressing to the semi-final of the revamped cup tournament on Thursday.

Zidane’s side will be favourites to reach the last four after extending their unbeaten run to 21 matches following a 1-0 victory against Atletico Madrid last weekend.

Sociedad meanwhile head into Thursday’s clash at the Bernabeu with three defeats from their last four outings.

But Zidane said: “It’s a final, not a quarter-final. We have to be focused, concentrated and involved in the match from the start.

“It’s a single-leg game and they’re not going to give anything away. We’re up against a great team that plays very good football and is going to come and do things right.

“We are good and happy, but this is a long season. We haven’t won anything, and we have to continue in the same way.

“You can be happy when you have won something. I’m only working on this match, which is the next one and it’s coming now.”

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