Big boys do best to live up to spin

IT was in Dublin and there was a cup at the end of it but only the most impressionable would describe it as super.

Ireland’s new pre-season club tournament, the Dublin Super Cup, was not short of glamour names but it still failed to set the public imagination alight. Had Celtic not attracted their usual committed Irish following, the Aviva Stadium would have played host to even more empty seats than it did. As it was, the official attendances supplied by the PR representatives of organisers Endemol — 22,000 yesterday and 20,000 on Saturday — struck many of the media people present as being decidedly on the generous side.

Yesterday, after Celtic had brushed aside the Airtricity League 5-0 helped by goals from the Glasgow Irish contingent of Anthony Stokes (two) and Daryl Murphy (one) — it looked like the interval act, Dublin soul belter Mary Byrne, would be as close as we would come to getting a little X Factor out of the tournament.

But once the competition’s heavyweights, Inter Milan and Manchester City, entered the arena, we didn’t have to wait long for the competitive standard and general quality of the fare to rise appreciably.

Inside the first 20 minutes alone, City had the ball in the net twice but each time were undone by the offside flag, as the quicksilver David Silva provided a constant threat and Edin Dzeko and Mario Balotelli hinted at a goalfest.

And it was by no means one-way traffic, as one of Inter’s own big guns, Samuel Eto’o, showed touches of the kind of predatory class which has seen him linked with a move to City as a replacement for Carlos Tevez.

Hugely impressive City captain Vincent Kompany, however, was not to be outfoxed.

The only puzzle was that an entertaining game produced no goals for all of 45 minutes — but Balotelli solved that one too, right on the stroke of half time, by powering home a bullet header.

Almost straight from the restart it was two. Man of the match Silva threaded a sublime reverse pass which split open the Inter defence and allowed Dzeko to power home.

Inter, who the previous day had comfortably held on to a two-goal lead against Celtic despite going down to 10 men, were finding an almost full-strength City a much more challenging proposition.

Wesley Sneijder, who could yet join City’s, er, noisy neighbours, drew a generous ovation from the Inter fans when he was substituted with 15 minutes to go but it was City who had the last word when substitute Adam Johnson netted a third in time added on.

Inter coach Gian Piero Gasperino later responded to reports of a direct United approach for Sneijder by saying: “I appreciate there’s been an offer but it is with Inter that negotiations should take place.

“It’s normal for big clubs to want certain players and for them to get different offers but both Eto’o and Sneijder are important players for Inter Milan and, as far as I know, they are both contracted to Inter Milan at this moment.”

As they say, watch this space.

Meantime, let the record show that Manchester City — who look ready to offload Craig Bellamy in a loan deal to Celtic — have another trophy, the Dublin Super Cup, to put alongside the FA Cup which they brought with them to display in Dublin.

Roberto Mancini insisted that beating Inter 3-0 to win a friendly competition counts for little as a pointer to the serious stuff that awaits City in England and Europe this year.

Just as fans of the Airtricity League are equally entitled to view this friendly competition as not much more than a cosmetic distraction when set against the important European games involving Shamrock Rovers, Sligo and St Pat’s this week.