Cork City have officially confirmed that former Shelbourne manager Colin Murphy will take over from Dave Barry as manager of the club. Murphy will immediately set about the task of putting together a squad for the club's forthcoming European games and the start of next season's league campaign.
Murphy, who has also managed Derby County, Lincoln City and the Vietnamese national team during his career, had been expected to be appointed a couple of weeks ago but delays in interviewing some of the candidates for the job and his need to obtain his release from his current contract as a coach with the English FA held up the announcement.
The Soccer Writers' Association of Ireland has included Shelbourne manager Dermot Keely and three of his players in the short list for their Opel-sponsored Personality of the Year award. Pat Scully, Pat Fenlon and Richie Baker are all on the six-strong list which is completed by Cork City striker Pat Morley and Bohemians midfielder Kevin Hunt. The overall winner will be announced next week.
Captain Gareth Southgate returns to take command of Aston Villa's defence against Sunderland tomorrow after missing the last six Premiership games with an Achilles tendon injury.
Manager John Gregory is delighted to have the England international back as Villa attempt to pick up maximum points from their last three games to win a spot in Europe.
Gregory said: "We have conceded four goals in our last two games and we need to have Gareth back because our team is built on a solid defence."
Gregory feels that his target of a maximum nine points is achievable despite playing Manchester United in their final league game.
The Tony Reid Cup five-a-side tournament, a competition which commemorates a respected football journalist of another era, is to be revived at the Rivermount club in Finglas.
Eight National League teams and a similar number from Junior clubs will form the entry for the tournament, which will be staged on June 10th and 11th.
Argentina hit another four goals in the South American World Cup qualifiers on Wednesday while Chile's bad start to the competition continued as they were held at home by Peru in a tense 1-1 draw.
Juan Jayo fired Peru ahead in the 38th minute with a long-range shot before West Ham defender Javier Margas equalised three minutes later from a free-kick. Peru now go second with four points. Argentina, who beat Chile 4-1 in their opening game, repeated the dose in Maracaibo where two goals from Ariel Ortega and one apiece from Roberto Ayala and Hernan Crespo gave them a 4-0 win over minnows Venezuela and a maximum six points.
Trouble erupted in La Paz where a linesman was struck by a bottle thrown from the crowd during Bolivia's 1-1 draw with Colombia, and there was controversy when Colombia coach Luis Augusto Garcia later complained that playing at mid-day and at 3,600 metres above sea level was "inhuman".
Bolivia captain Erwin Sanchez, who had scored his team's goal, was sent off for headbutting the referee.
Brazil suffered a huge fright as they fell behind at home to modest Ecuador before fighting back to win 3-2, helped by two goals from Barcelona's Rivaldo, and claim their first win of the tournament. Paraguay beat Uruguay 1-0 in Asuncion to leave both sides with three points.
The Argentinian Footballers Union (FAA) has decided to strike this weekend because of the violent scenes that marred matches in the third and fourth divisions last week.
