This is the new Ireland and this is an international football match

This is the new Ireland and this is an international football match. From Cork to Chicago and Ballyporeen to Birmingham, the Irish will be glued to the screen. All that a deserted O'Connell Street in Dublin will lack to complete the image is some tumbleweed blowing past the GPO and the sound of a creaking saloon door. As the Republic of Ireland run on to the pitch to face England at Lansdowne Road tomorrow evening, every town and village in Ireland will once more become a ghost town. "But with only four weeks to go time is against us and, although I haven't fully decided, I think we are leaning towards retiring her to the paddocks.''n.

A final decision on her participation in this year's race is expected to be made by her trainer, Richard Price, later this week. "If the race was two months away then she would have every chance of running," Price said yesterday. Last year's Champion Hurdle winner Flakey Dove, who had recently been backed for a repeat win at Cheltenham next month, may have to be retired after injuring herself on the gallops. Maguire was still nursing a foot bruised when Viking Flagship fell at Newbury on Saturday. But his day off proved expensive because one horse he had been due to ride, Rainham, won the sixth race.

Maguire is still one adrift of Dunwoody. Dave Roberts, Maguire's agent, said the jockey would be returning at Folkestone tomorrow. On Monday, Dunwoody is due to return from a month- long suspension.Despite Viking Flagship's spill, Ladbrokes yesterday reported solid support for him in the Champion Chase and his odds are now 11-8 from 7-4.n. Adrian Maguire missed an opportunity to draw level with Richard Dunwoody in the jump jockeys' title race yesterday when he gave up his intended mounts at Hereford. How can anyone say there was something wrong with the horse until it has been examined by a vet?"David Pipe, head of Public Affairs at the Jockey Club, was unavailable for comment.. Lobilio, heavily-backed for the Ledbury Handicap Hurdle at Hereford yesterday, collapsed and died on the way to the start.

The six-year-old's death led to a call to by Mark Coton, chairman of the National Association for the Protection of Punters, for a drastic improvement in stable security. Coton, who also runs a tipping service named the Winning Line which had selected the horse, received telephone calls regarding the well-being of Lobilio in the paddock before the race."Someone called me from the racecourse this afternoon and said that the horse could not win, because he had just seen it in the paddock and it was distressed,'' Coton said."A lot of people have rung the Racing Post to voice their concerns that Lobilio was doped and I share their suspicions.''But Lobilio's trainer, Dai Burchell, said: "As far as I am concerned, there is nothing untoward about the death of the horse.``I don't know where these rumours have come from. A 5-5 draw with Bracknell, the only club below them, was followed by an unlikely victory at Whitley Warriors, who led 3-0 before Doug McCarthy's hat-trick brought the scores level, Kings eventually running out 7-5 winners.. Their import, Rick Brebant, was also out injured but Panthers showed their strength in depth with an 8-4 win, taking a 3-2 lead and weathering a Hawks revival which saw them pull back to within a goal. They showed the same resilience against Bracknell Bees: it was 2-2 after the first period but four goals in the second secured a 6-3 win.Panthers are still leading Sheffield Steelers at the top of the Premier Division, but now by four points and with their two-game advantage gone.Milton Keynes Kings, second from bottom with six wins in 33 outings, took a welcome three points from their two weekend outings. Nottingham Panthers began the weekend facing Humberside Hawks without their coach, Mike Blaisdell, who was suspended after an outburst directed at the referee during Thursday's draw against Peterborough Pirates. The destroyer was again Courtney Walsh, who took 5 for 13 on the day, 6 for 18 in the innings and 13 for 55 in the match. Those figures represented the best return in a Test at the Basin Reserve Ground and only Michael Holding has done better in a Test, with his celebrated 14 for 142 against England at The Oval in the drought summer of 1976.Walsh accepted the man of the match award and the series trophy, announcing at the same time that his temporary captaincy was over now that Ritchie Richardson was back to full fitness.(Fourth day; West Indies won toss)West Indies - First Innings 660 for 5 dec (J C Adams 151, B C Lara 147, J R Murray 101no).New Zealand - First Innings 216 (D J Murray 52, C A Walsh 7-37).New Zealand - Second Innings(Overnight: 52 for 3)D J Murray b Walsh 43S P Fleming b Walsh 30S A Thomson b Dhanraj 8A C Parore not out 5M N Hart c Ambrose b Dhanraj 1M L Su'a c Adams b Walsh 8S B Doull lbw Walsh 0D K Morrison c Murray b Walsh 14Extras (nb4 lb2) 6Total 122Fall (continued): 4-70 5-93 6-93 7-97 8-106 9-106.Bowling: Walsh 15.2-18-6; Benjamin 8-0-36-1 (nb4); Ambrose 5-1-17-1; Dhanraj 12-2-49-2..