IT'S unlikely the Irish rugby team will hit any bum notes during the national anthems at Murrayfield tomorrow after spending some of this week getting singing lessons from folk legend Christy Moore.
Ireland lock Donncha O'Callaghan has revealed that an evening with Moore has helped the Grand Slam-chasing squad relax ahead of this weekend's crunch RBS Six Nations clash with Scotland.
Moore performed for the Irish camp at their Killiney base on
Monday night, with several players singing alongside one of the nation's most popular musicians. "We were lucky enough that Patrick O'Reilly, our bag man, was able to get on to Christy Moore who came in and did a private gig for the squad," said O'Callaghan.
"A few guys sang with him and I was lucky enough to be one of those – as was Luke Fitzgerald, Denis Leamy and Ronan O'Gara.
"It was a great night. I sang City of Chicago with him. It was a great honour. Sometimes you need distractions during a big championship like the Six Nations."
O'Callaghan added: "Christy sings the music of the soul and we all rolled in behind him – it was Irish to the core."
Life isn't a beech for Brechin CityONE of the most iconic features of the Scottish game is under threat after the SFA threw out Brechin City's appeal against an order to widen their pitch to meet Uefa rules.
The only way the Second Division outfit insist they can comply is by removing the short terracing and uprooting the beech hedge which runs the length of Glebe Park and has stood there for over 200 years.
Chairman Ken Ferguson said: "The hedge is a big part of the ground and, technically, we share it with our neighbours and only own half of it, which causes its own difficulties."
From Glasgow to Ghana for skierIN A tale that seems just as bizarre as a Jamaican bobsleigh team called Cool Runnings, a Scots-born skier is set to fulfil his Winter Olympics dream by representing Ghana.
Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, who was born in Glasgow while his dad was studying in Scotland, only saw snow for the first time five years ago. But he is set to become the first-ever member of Ghana's skiing team at the Olympics in Vancouver next year, competing in the slalom and giant slalom events. "It has been four years of sweat and tears to qualify," said an excited Kwame.
TALES FROM THE TABS
BOYD IN FIRING LINETHERE was no shortage of former players lining up to advise Kris Boyd following the Rangers' striker's fall-out with manager Walter Smith earlier this week. The Daily Record spoke to Mark Hateley, while the Sun carried an interview with the man the tabloid likes to call 'Big Bad John Hartson'.
Hateley (pictured) believes the spat with Smith should act as a wake-up call to Boyd. "Trust me, if Boyd doesn't have the brains to realise just how close he has come to throwing his entire career down the pan I'm afraid he is a lost cause already," said the former Ibrox forward. "If he doesn't smart up his act immediately and sort out his attitude then he'll be remembered as one of the biggest wasters this country has ever produced."
Big Bad John couldn't believe Boyd's timing and was amazed he had gone in the huff in the week of an Old Firm cup final. "Throwing the toys out the pram has only gone and given his critics more ammunition," said the former Celtic striker. "That's not the actions of a man who should be going all-out to impress his manager in Co-operative Insurance Cup final week."
