Padraic Halpin

"The naysayers have been silenced for good," read the lead of the Irish Times sports pages this morning after Leinster finally turned unrivalled potential into serious silverware by edging twice-champions Leicester to the Heineken Cup on Saturday.

After the humiliating semi-final defeat to Munster in 2006, the embarrassingly tame last-four exit to Perpignan three years earlier and only a couple of Celtic League titles either side, a beaming Brian O'Driscoll understandably said he'd been waiting ten years for such a day.

Leinster had been simply aching to prove their critics wrong for just as long. After a decade of underachievement, it had been thoroughly etched into the public consciousness that the province had no backbone, no heart, no bottle. They were individuals, never a team.

Essentially they weren't Munster. In a very definite urban-rural divide, Leinster were the fancy city boys -- all style and no substance while the southerners were the antitheses and had two Heineken Cups to prove it.

But out of the shadow of their powerhouse provincial rivals, Michael Cheika's men "put all that culture crap to bed" with three stunning knockout stage performances and weren't about to forget those who didn't think they had it them.

"We haven't forgotten the things that were said about us in December by certain quarters of the media," O'Driscoll said, referring to the 18-15 group stage loss to Castres that put their championship hopes in doubt and brought the knives out sharper than before.

"I could list off a name, a number of names, but I'm not going to do so. You don't forget that. We've gone and proved those people particularly wrong. There were some very distasteful things said."

If Cheika had been inclined to pin up a newspaper article to motivate his troops on Saturday, he would have had a raft to choose from when the wheels seemed to be coming off once more at the end of last year.

"Leinster's lacklustre ladyboys," ran a headline in the Sunday Tribune after that Castres defeat when ex-Leinster and Ireland lock turned analyst Neil Francis said definitively that his former province were out of the competition.

"It was a disgraceful, gutless, leaderless, spineless performance and one which embellishes the reputation they have all over Europe," Francis wrote, adding that none of the Leinster side would travel to South Africa as a Lion the following summer.

With some glee O'Driscoll, Luke Fitzgerald, Rob Kearney and Jamie Heaslip ducked out for an early night on Saturday ahead of their flight to Johannesburg the following morning, as Francis filed a vastly different headline: "Champions at last, ladyboys no more."

PHOTO: Leinster's Brian O'Driscoll celebrates after defeating Leicester in the Heineken Cup rugby final at Murrayfield, May 23, 2009. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne

Liverpool's 2-0 win over Chelsea will at least keep the Premier League interesting for the time being but it probably said more about the decline of this Chelsea team than it did about Liverpool chances of actually beating United in the title race.

Before Torres snuck in to head Liverpool back to within two points of United and Ashley Cole gifted the Spaniard a second goal, it was a case of same-old same-old for Rafa Benitez's men.

There was lots of pressure but little inspiration. Oodles of possession, but few chances apart from the long-range shots.

Can Liverpool match United's form and take 29 points from their next available 33? Can they turn over a side as comprehensively as their rivals did in last week's 5-0 pummeling of West Bromwich Albion?

It's doubtful, but at least Liverpool can say they've put that crazy January behind them and look forward to the next few games. Even the Robbie Keane situation will be resolved one way or the other by Monday.

So what do you think? Do Liverpool still have a chance? Is that it from Chelsea? And can anything stop United?

PHOTO: Liverpool's Fernando Torres celebrates a goal against Chelsea in their Premier League match at Anfield, Feb. 1, 2009. REUTERS/Phil Noble

Somebody must have bought Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger a calculator each for Christmas because both managers have done their sums and criticised the Premier League's fixture programme.

After the United boss wondered aloud if the league was handicapping his club through their fixture list, his Arsenal counterpart crunched the numbers over the weekend

"I saw Ferguson made the case about fixtures," Wenger said. "And we checked because we are always curious. And he has a case, and in this case so do we.

"If you take the international fixtures plus the Champions League, everybody has played ten games, six Champions League games and four internationals. And after those 10 games, we played eight away games and two at home. Manchester United played nine away games, Chelsea played six games at home and four away. And Liverpool played eight times at home and two away."

With domestic fixtures necessarily organised before those in Europe, it's difficult to completely follow their arguments but there'd certainly be one easy way to end the fixture problem in England.

It might be a bold suggestion in the current economic climate - and one which the Premier League would never accept - but never mind the 39th fixture, let's cut the top flight down to 18 teams and why not scrap the League Cup while we're at it.

In the Bundesliga (18 clubs) they get to put their feet up for six weeks every winter. And sure, there are 20 sides in the top divisions in Spain and Italy but they only have one domestic cup competition to distract them.

As for the League Cup, why not follow the German lead again and make it a pre-season tournament, an extension of the Community Shield. I doubt you'd hear a peep from Ferguson or Wenger.

Maybe then we could get down to tacking another tradition - the Boxing Day programme - and give these poor overworked players a few festive days off.

PHOTO: Arsene Wenger at Arsenal training, London Colney, Nov. 24, 2008. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

The British press are purring after Arsenal's clash with Manchester United was decided by French winger Samir Nasri’s two strikes.

“Onlookers across the world were reminded that this sport, in its modern form, can cause excitement and awe in equal measure,” wrote the Guardian’s Kevin McCarra of Arsenal’s breathless 2-1 win over the champions.

After Arsenal’s bonkers 4-4 draw with neighbours Tottenham Hotspur two weeks ago, Hull City’s unbelievable start to top-flight life and the fact that Liverpool might just be genuine title contenders, the Premier League is once again ‘the best league in the world’ TM.

Or is it?

For the few upsets so far (Hull and Stoke City beating Arsenal), the chasm between the top four and the rest remains as vast as ever. Give United their game in hand and the gap between Champions League and UEFA Cup football may only be three points but can anyone really see Aston Villa, 2-1 losers at home to Middlesbrough on Sunday, breaking into the exclusive club?

While the melee below promises a cracking relegation battle, it also resembles the tightness of the Championship in recent seasons. You could comfortably divide the English divisions into five and not four.

And for every exhilarating Arsenal win over Manchester United, there’s a cagey 1-0 Liverpool victory at Chelsea or a dogged 2-1 Liverpool success over United. If every big four clash was as good as Saturday, then onlookers across the world would rightly be excited. The fact is they’re not.

Away from the top four and things get steadily worse. Last month Sunderland beat Newcastle United 2-1 in a North east derby. It may have been a windy day, but it was awful stuff.  Sky Sports summariser Jamie Redknapp told us that this was in fact what English football “was all about”.

Haste over timing. Tempo over quality. A colleague simply remarked: “Is this the 39th game we want?”

Is the Premier League so good that the wider world wants to host a wretched midtable battle?

And on a weekend where Barcelona scored their 34th Primera Liga goal in 10 games and Real Madrid came back from a goal down three times, missed a penalty and still won 4-3, is it the best league in the world?

PHOTO: The Beautiful Game? Arsenal's Niklas Bendtner climbs above Manchester United's Michael Carrick in an aerial challenge during their Premier League match at Emirates Stadium Nov. 8, 2008. REUTERS/Toby Melville

Many pubgoers get a bit overzealous on an evening and hands are sometimes raised, but it doesn't force them out of the next four Friday nights on the town.

In contrast, Middlesbrough striker Jeremie Aliadiere earned a three-game suspension for his exchange of handbags with Liverpool's Javier Mascherano, before the ban was extended to four matches after the FA rejected Boro's "frivolous" appeal.

Boro chairman Steve Gibson has branded the FA "amateurs and silly little men" while chief executive Keith Lamb is "furious and astounded" at the lengthening of the ban.

Punishing a genuine appeal - Mascherano did in fact grab the Boro player's face prior to Aliadiere's petulant slap - gives the impression the FA simply doesn't want the hassle of dealing with such pleas and sets a worrying precedent.

Their decision is also inconsistent. As Lamb pointed out, Chelsea appealed a similar decision against Michael Essien last November and although it was dismissed, he was not punished further.

The greater problem lies in the "you can't raise your hands" line that means referees feel they have to show red cards for any little slap or poke.

Did Aliadiere's transgression initially deserve the same punishment as Martin Taylor's clumsy and far more damaging lunge on Eduardo? Certainly not.

If officials are allowed to give attackers the benefit of the doubt in a tight offside call then they should be permitted to use common sense when faced with a mere slap.

Like with most disciplinary procedures, the FA could do worse than speak to their counterparts in rugby or more particularly watch a re-run of Ireland's Six Nations clash with Scotland at the weekend.

An hour after Aliadiere saw red, the more powerful flailing arm of Scotland's Nathan Hines caught Denis Leamy while the Scots attempted to take a quick penalty on the Irish line. A reversal of the penalty was deemed sufficient with a letter of the law sin-binning not necessary.

Common sense, simple common sense....

Padraic Halpin, London

It's just gone 4 o'clock on an August Merseyside Sunday afternoon. Fernando Torres slips, slides, leaves Tal Ben Haim on his backside and fires Liverpool ahead of Chelsea in the season's first battle of the big four.

For the next hour Liverpool fans start to believe.

Five months later, it's a similar time of the day, Alfie Potter doesn't exactly slip or slide but he does leave Steve Finnan on his backside before his shot clips Martin Skrtel and gives part-timers Havant & Waterlooville a 2-1 lead at Anfield.

Liverpool fans had long since stopped believing...for another season at least.

Sunday's return fixture to August's 1-1 draw should have title repercussions written all over it but instead Liverpool lie 11 points behind Chelsea and 17 behind leaders Arsenal. And with those double digit margins, what's a game in hand between "big four" mates?

With Inter Milan ten days away, Rafa Benitez faces another one of his crucial do or die periods yet tossing all his eggs in the Champions League basket is now too dangerous a tactic even to contemplate.

No only could Liverpool be pipped to fourth spot by Everton as they were three years ago, there's a real threat they could finish outside the top six for only the third time in 43 years.

If only it were just the club's prestige at stake. With mounting debts to pay, failure to qualify for the next season's Champions League could be disastrous.

Liverpool must face facts: it's time to concentrate all their resources on the Premier League and if that hurts their European chances, so be it. At the very least it's a game in which the boss can't take the captain off with half an hour to go.

PHOTO: Benitez watches from the touchline before the match against Sunderland at Anfield, February 2, 2008. REUTERS/Phil Noble.

Just as David Beckham admitted he "half expected" to be left out of Fabio Capello's first England squad, the appointment of captain was even more predictable.

Naming Steven Gerrard in temporary charge, Capello has started the debate as to whether the Liverpool midfielder or his injured predecessor John Terry should be made permanent captain come September.

In Terry's absence, Gerrard is clearly the right man for the job. He's one of only two club captains in the 23-man squad to face Switzerland on Wednesday - the other being Gareth Barry - and as a poll on our soccer site confirmed, Rio Ferdinand and Michael Owen were outside shouts.

If this is a "new era" (how many new ones have we had now?), then should it have a new lieutenant? Should Terry now take his share of the flack that not even the sturdiest umbrella could shield Steve McClaren from?

Yet it must be remembered that it was Gerrard, and not the injury-troubled Terry, who looked decidedly lost when captaining the side that were humiliated by Croatia in November. On a day when 11 men went missing, he pulled the biggest Lord Lucan of all.

Whoever he chooses, Capello is no doubt aware he has bigger problems to solve. Certainly an international manager needs a good skipper - as World Cup winners Deschamps, Dunga, Moore and Matthaus demonstrate - but he also needs 10 other consistent performers to match.

Padraic Halpin, London

Cheryl Cole might disagree, but who says there's no romance left in English football?

The overly-ambitious money men, the behind the scenes wrangling, the loss of traditions, the dull games, the teenage trade... for 45 minutes on Saturday they were all forgotten.

Havant & Waterlooville's performance at Anfield was beyond remarkable. They didn't just have a day out or merely give it a go; they twice took the lead against Liverpool and nearly pulled off the biggest shock in the competition's history before losing 5-2.

The fact the minor league side are six divisions and 123 positions below Liverpool barely does the achievement justice. You could almost add another tier or two, given the game of 'haves versus havants' was against one of the ‘big four'.

The FA Cup has divided opinion on this blog over recent weeks, with some seeing it as an annoying sideshow and others believing it can still warm the heart. The tears of joy in the crowd and the 20 minute post-match celebrations on Saturday certainly did the latter.

It was just a pity only the lucky 42,556 in attendance saw it live. Mansfield and Sheffield United fans may disagree, but in an age where television dictates all, it seemed strange to have to rely solely on radio coverage. Perhaps that made it all the more romantic?

While it's back to normality with a full midweek Premier League programme, the real action continues next week when Havant travel to Hayes & Yeading in Saturday's midtable Blue Square South battle.

Padraic Halpin, London

PHOTO: Havant and Waterlooville's players show a banner to their fans following their FA Cup fourth round match at Liverpool REUTERS/Phil Noble

During a lively debate last week on whether Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world, one of our contributors, WSAS, raised the sort of question that's hard to resist: "This is the BEST ManU team since....?"  

The treble winning team of 1999? The double winning side of 1994? 1968's European champions? The Busby Babes, hit by tragedy 50 years ago next month.

Before we go on, let's get one thing clear. For the moment, when we talk about the current United team, it's all about potential rather than actual achievement. With just one league title in the trophy room, this crop have yet to amass the silverware to make a case for greatness. 

But could this United team, one day, eclipse the achievements of all the others? Vidic, Evra, Ronaldo, Anderson, Rooney and Tevez are all under 26 with the latter, thrillingly attacking foursome comfortably so.

Add the assumed progress of Nani and there aren't too many gaps to be filled. Man for man, they look better than '99. Peter Schmeichel and Roy Keane would walk into any United side but Ronny Johnsen and Jaap Stam? Would Andy Cole or Dwight Yorke trouble Rooney, Tevez or Ronaldo for a place up front?  

The same could be argued against '94 and, perhaps less clearly, '68 with the individual brilliance that marked both those sides - Eric Cantona and Ryan Giggs, George Best and Bobby Charlton - matched today by Ronaldo and Rooney (a 200 million pound partnership according to Red Rants).  

But great teams are measured by success as well as style. Back-to-back championships would be a start but hardly a unique achievement - the club have already managed the feat four times since 1993. The real test is in Europe and one bad performance, one bit of brilliance by a Raul or a Kaka, could see them come up short again (remember 2000 and 2007). 

I can't help feeling, though, that a European Cup win is just a matter of time for this team, perhaps even in Moscow in May. But what do you think about this United side? Are there weaknesses that will consign them to more disappointment, in Europe if not at home? Or do they truly have what it takes to become the best United team ever?

Padraic Halpin, London

PHOTO: Manchester United'sTevez celebrates after scoring during the 6-0 Premier league win over Newcastle United, Jan. 12 REUTERS/Phil Noble

"Cristiano Ronaldo is not only the best player in the world...but probably the single most gifted player to play in England since the Belfast Boy....What a *so and so* player. I am in awe..."

So wrote the curiously named Pimpy the Magic Elf on the RedCafe message board after Cristiano Ronaldo scored three of Manchester United's six goals in Saturday's second half demolition of Newcastle.

So just how good is Ronaldo? On current form, he must surely be the world's best.

He's always had the skill, talent, and particularly in the aftermath of that wink, the attitude to excel. Over the past season and a half however, he's maximised these attributes to become more indispensable than any other player.

The statistics are staggering. His 25 goals in all competitions last season led him to an unprecedented clean sweep of England's three major individual honours. This term he's scored 22 in all competitions, with 16 coming in the league. And remember, he's a winger and it's still January.

Comparatively, it gets scarier. He's already scored as many Premier League goals (51) as Steven Gerrard and is fast catching the league's highest scoring midfielders Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes (95). His team mates took a combined 737 games to reach their totals. Ronaldo has almost averaged a goal every other game in his 112.

But the best since Belfast Boy George Best?

There's still a bit to go. Question marks remain over a failure to yet light up the latter stages of the Champions League as Kaka did last season or indeed Best 39 years earlier. Despite performing well in major tournaments for Portugal, he was found wanting in both their Euro 2004 final and World Cup 2006 semi-final exits.

But you just get the feeling all that could change in the coming months. With United on course to crack the Champions League again and Euro 2008 on the horizon, he is on the verge of reaching the kind of heights last scaled by Zinedine Zidane 10 years ago.

First he must celebrate a birthday in February. His 23^rd. That is perhaps the most frightening statistic of all.

Click here to read an envy-filled tribute to Ronaldo by Mitch Phillips, but please leave your comments about the Manchester United maestro below.

Padraic Halpin, London

PHOTO: Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring his third goal in Manchester United's 6-0 win over Newcastle United in the Premier League, Jan 12 REUTERS/Phil Noble