Eamonn FEnnEll will play for Dublin again tonight despite the uncertainty over his club future. Dublins oByrne Cup quarter-final replay tie with meath has been overshadowed by the transfer saga involving the highly rated midfielder. Fennells two-year attempt to move from oTooles, whom he says he will never play for again, to St Vincents was once again rejected on monday night. Fennell (pictured) has yet to confirm his next move though it is possible he will pursue his case all the way to the Disputes Resolution authority. Until then, Dublin have selected the player for the third time this month as it is the club off-season and, technically, he has not missed any oTooles fixtures nor contravened any Dublin by-laws. meanwhile, defenders Eoghan Harrington and Seamus Kenny are meaths chief injury concerns for tonights tie (7.45pm) after picking up knocks in Sundays drawn game. 22 sport Wednesday, January 27, 2010 D20 SOCCER CARLING CUP SEMI-FINAL Rio reprimand rocks United SiR alEx Fergusons Carling Cup plans have been thrown into disarray after Rio Ferdinand was hit with a Football association charge that could rule him out of tonights semi-final decider against manchester City. manchester Uniteds England defender has until 6pm today to either accept a three-match ban or contest the violent conduct allegation at a disciplinary hearing tomorrow. United boss Ferguson had praised the impact the 31-year-old had made on his return against Hull on Saturday after a three-month absence with a back injury. But now, if Ferdinand accepts his punishment for apparently swinging an arm into the face of Tigers Craig Fagan, Ferguson will have to do without his central defensive linchpin again. The problem for the Scot is, should United lodge what the Fa deems to be a frivolous appeal purely so Ferdinand can face City they risk him being handed an extended ban. meanwhile, Ferguson insists he will not have to keep his players on a tight leash at old Trafford. a highly charged first leg, which saw City take a 2-1 lead, with former United star Carlos Tevez scoring twice, has led to fears the return will get ugly but Ferguson said: i dont pay any attention to all that. The player behaviour has always been perfect. We have great players who play to the right rules of the game. We have never had any issues in big games. i am not worried about it. By Kevin Aitken Robinho hope alive for Mancini ROBERTO MANCINI believes Manchester City fans may not have seen the last of Robinho. The Brazil forward, 26, announced before Sundays FA Cup victory at Scunthorpe, in which he scored his first goal of the season, he was quitting the club. But it is taking longer than expected for the 32.5million British record signing (pictured) to secure his exit from Eastlands and he is likely to be on the bench for tonights Carling Cup semi-final, second leg with Manchester United. However, even if talks with Santos or Sao Paulo see him leave on loan, City boss Mancini alluding to former Inter Milan star Adriano is not convinced Robinho will be gone for good, saying: I remember another situation with a top player who didnt play for their club. He went somewhere else and played then came back and did well again. It is important for any player to be happy. If not, it is normal you can change clubs for six months. D-day: Ferdinand is awaiting the decision of his boss Smallings big move MANCHESTER United have beaten Arsenal in the race for Fulham defender Chris Smalling. The 20-year-old, who was playing non-league football with Maidstone two years ago, has agreed to join United this summer. Picture:Getty Fennell in Dubs side amid row GAA Horan and Best join the A team iRElanD front-rowers marcus Horan and Rory Best have been named in the ireland a squad for Sundays match against England Saxons in Bath. Both players are returning from lengthy injury absences, and the fixture gives head coach Declan Kidney the opportunity to hand Horan (pictured), who came off the bench in munsters win over northampton at the weekend, and Best, who played in the ail for Banbridge, some valuable game time before the Six nations. The a game is an opportunity for marcus and Rory because they havent been playing for the last two or three months, said irish team manager, Paul mcnaughton. u lonDon irish forward Chris Halaufia has been cited for an alleged punch on leinsters leo Cullen in Saturdays Heineken Cup game. Bath lock Danny Grewcock also faces a Dublin disciplinary hearing tomorrow for stamping on Ulsters Stephen Ferris, while Biarritzs France second-row Jerome Thion is charged with allegedly punching Glasgow lock Richie Gray. RUGBY INTERNATIONAL Fai chief John Delaney last night denied any truth in suggestions yesterday that Republic of ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni was in the running to take over as Juventus manager in a temporary capacity until the end of the Serie a season. Juve boss Ciro Ferrara is set to be sacked this week after they lost 2-1 at home to Roma on Saturday night. That was the Bianconeris third straight defeat, and their sixth loss in eight games, which sees them lie sixth in Serie a. Trapattoni is a legend at Juventus having managed them to six league titles and becoming the only manager to have won all three European cups and the World Club Cup with the same club. But Delaney stressed that 70-year- old Trapattoni, who signed a new two-year contract last autumn, is fully committed to ireland. ive been in contact with Giovanni today and there is nothing in it, said Delaney of the rumours. Hes the manager of the Republic of ireland. We renewed his contract for the European Championships and hes looking forward to the draw on February 7. Hes made it clear to me today that there is absolutely nothing in it and he fully intends to manage the Republic of ireland team for the next championships. Delaney deflects Giovanni rumours TENNIS Anguish: Nadal Murray through as Rafa calls it quits >Justine Henin moved a step closer to a remarkable return when she reached the semi-finals with a 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 victory over nadia Petrova yesterday. in doing so, Henin became just the third womens wild-card entry to reach the last four of a grand slam. the previous player to do so was her fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters when she returned from retirement, and becoming a mother, to win last years us Open. Henin faces Zheng Jie and admitted: What [Kim] did was just great. that will be a dream for me to do it also. ANdy MURRAy admitted he felt gutted for Rafael Nadal after the injured Spaniard was forced to retire when on the brink of defeat in their breathtaking quarter-final. Murray was already firmly on track to claim one of the most memorable victories of his career when the world No.2 called an end to the contest trailing 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), 3-0, setting the Scot up for a last-four clash against 14th seed Marin Cilic tomorrow. Nadal suffered a recurrence of a knee injury during the closing stages of the second set and soon after calling for a trainer early in the third, decided he could not go on. Im obviously disappointed that the match couldnt have finished as I would have liked, Murray said. But with the position I was in I feel like I would have had a chance of going on to finish the match. Spaniard Nadal admitted he was already a beaten man by the time his opponent took a decisive lead in the third set. I felt the pain at the end of the second set, a similar thing to what I had last year, he said. I knew I was going to lose. I said sorry to Andy for that. He has a big chance to win this tournament. index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html