A noisy day for the quiet man

THEY’LL be painting the toon broon today, yet another full house at St James’ Park rising to acclaim the handing over of the Football League trophy and a return to the top-flight next season.

It was almost impossible to imagine such scenes in July of last year when Newcastle, relegated from the Premier League in typically chaotic and humiliating circumstances, turned up in Tallaght for a friendly against Shamrock Rovers.

True, the Magpies did rather better than Real Madrid that day, running out comfortable 3-0 winners, but when Damien Duff talked afterwards about one day finishing his career at Tallaght Stadium, the thought struck that he might be better off staying put now that he was actually there.