Women’s final at Lansdowne Road

THE FAI announced yesterday that the women’s FAI Cup final will be played as a curtain-raiser to the Carlsberg FAI Cup final in Lansdowne Road on Sunday - but the announcement might be overshadowed by an off-the-cuff comment by FAI chief executive Fran Rooney.

Commenting on the boost to women’s soccer that the decision to host the Cup final at Lansdowne will be, Mr Rooney remarked, “some would say I played football like a woman,” when he was talking about the women’s game.

Although it was a harmless, self-deprecating assertion, in light of other comments from the chief executive in recent days, it could land him in more hot water.

Mr Rooney has already been criticised by Sammy McIlroy, among others, for a joke he made about Northern Ireland football last week.