Kinsella to keep eye on Croke Park after Russia tie

IRELAND’S midfield dynamo, Mark Kinsella, will have one major question on his lips when Ireland step off their plane at Dublin Airport on Sunday, ideally with a European Championship win over Russia in Moscow already achieved: “Who is winning the hurling final?”

Kinsella is a self-confessed GAA fan who played hurling and football with St Aidan’s of Whitehall while at school and he and his family have a particular interest in the Croke Park final: His mother, Theresa, came from Scarriff in Co Clare, and his father was born in Graiguenamanagh, Co Kilkenny.

Kinsella, a comparatively late bloomer in football terms, this season began a new career at club level with Aston Villa and, at 30 years of age, he said yesterday he had not expected such a development.