IFB Media

Your home of EVERYTHING Irish Football 🇮🇪 Men's, women's, North & South, home & abroad. The stories and opinions others won't touch.

[IFB Media @IFBMedia]

Jimmy Dunne💚

Before you pile on Jimmy Dunne today, know who you're talking about.

Back in 2019, as a 21-year-old U21 international, the Dundalk native was linked with an approach from Northern Ireland. He shut it down straight away. He wanted to play for the Republic, and he waited years for his chance.

He earned it the hard way. Loans at Barrow, Accrington, Hearts, Sunderland and Fleetwood before making his name at QPR. In 2024-25 he swept the club's awards: Supporters' Player of the Year, Players' Player of the Year AND the Junior Hoops Player of the Year, voted for by the club's young fans.

Off the pitch, when 14-year-old Daniel Greer from Newry, a close family friend, was diagnosed with leukaemia and needed a bone marrow donor, Jimmy got DKMS to send testing kits to QPR, rallied his teammates and got the club to host a swab drive at Loftus Road. A donor was found weeks later🙏

And if you want to know what the green jersey means to him, look at him wrapped in his mam Sharon's arms after that heartbreaking night in Prague💔

Today he's been listed as Ireland's third-choice goalkeeper. Not because he asked to be. UEFA rules say every matchday squad needs three registered keepers, and he was the one asked to fill the spot.

He didn't make a fuss. He just did what the team needed.

The abuse he's getting for that is a disgrace. Whatever your view on this game, it shouldn't land on a player who has only ever given everything for this country.

The ultimate professional💚

[IFB Media @IFBMedia]

Brondby have made a move for Kian Leavy, per Neil O’Riordan.

The St Patrick’s Athletic midfielder has been one of the standout players in the League of Ireland this season.

Aberdeen, Hibernian and Shamrock Rovers had all been credited with interest.

We flagged the Danish Superliga as an ideal destination for Leavy earlier this off season, specifically FC Midtjylland. Brondby play in the same league.

Per Opta Analyst, Brondby sit 322nd globally. St Pat’s are 1,065th. That is not a marginal step up.

The concern with Leavy was always that he would end up absorbed by Rovers. A move to Denmark changes that conversation entirely.

Playing consistently at that level transforms his prospects for the Ireland squad.

He has the talent to be an option for Heimir. This is how that becomes realistic.

📸: @cmphotography2424

[IFB Media @IFBMedia]

Out of Context Glenn Whelan

[IFB Media @IFBMedia]

Shay Reid scores the Preston Goal of the Month! ☘️👀

[IFB Media @IFBMedia]

IFB Creator Academy loading… 🎨⏳

The Sunday Photographer Showcase on Instagram gave talented photographers a platform every week.

Now it's the turn of upcoming graphic designers, video editors and content creators.

Full details soon. DM us to be part of it from day one 💚

[IFB Media @IFBMedia]

Terrific from Philip Sanyaolu to score his first goal for Bristol Rovers last night!☘️

[IFB Media @IFBMedia]

Sweet as a nut from Dylan Duffy last night!

[IFB Media @IFBMedia]

Working in a café and coaching kids in Dublin. Years later, standing next to Marcelo Bielsa in the Premier League 🇮🇪

That's Diego Flores. Now managing in Argentina's top flight.

And the man who first let him in the door? Mauricio Pochettino, who's closing in on Man United 👀

[IFB Media @IFBMedia]

All-island football needs more than soundbites 🇮🇪

Taoiseach Micheál Martin wants the FAI and IFA working together to grow football across the whole island.

He was speaking at Tallaght Stadium ahead of an event for Oscar Traynor, the former Fianna Fáil minister and FAI president.

Unlike GAA and rugby, football here has had two governing bodies since 1921, when the Leinster FA split from the Belfast-based IFA over an Irish Cup semi-final being fixed for Belfast instead of Dublin.

When asked about an “All Island Team”, Micheál said he’d explore anything that helps the game grow. He believes football’s development here came before partition, rooted in working class communities.

He said Derry City’s FAI Cup win shows how competition lifts standards and creates chances for players North and South, but wants it done by agreement, with both associations keeping their own traditions and competitions.

On reviving a cross-border cup after the Setanta Sports Cup, he said there was potential. He was at the last final in Dundalk in 2014, and says the Shared Island Unit is ready to support it.

Since the inception of IFB, we’ve always spoken strongly about the need for a joined-up approach to football on this island. From cross-association work with the GAA, rugby and others, to a joined-up all-island approach to football itself.

That’s irrespective of whether you support “Ireland” or “Northern Ireland”. Fundamentally, the only way Irish football sees real, tangible progress is an All-Ireland League, regardless of what happens with either international team.

Naturally, there’s a lot of conjecture and noise from both ends of the “debate” whenever this is posted online, but it is what it is. We know it isn’t that simple.

But lip service is easy, and actions speak louder than words.

Micheál’s words are all well and good if you believe he holds those thoughts sincerely, and if they align with what you want to hear.

But if I’m honest, I genuinely believe it’s just another half-hearted soundbite for clout. Another photo op and headline, with no real planning or care behind it.

Until that changes, that’s all it is.

[IFB Media @IFBMedia]

Brondby have made a move for Kian Leavy, per Neil O’Riordan.

The St Patrick’s Athletic midfielder has been one of the standout players in the League of Ireland this season.

Aberdeen, Hibernian and Shamrock Rovers had all been credited with interest.

We flagged the Danish Superliga as an ideal destination for Leavy earlier this off season, specifically FC Midtjylland. Brondby play in the same league.

Per Opta Analyst, Brondby sit 322nd globally. St Pat’s are 1,065th. That is not a marginal step up.

The concern with Leavy was always that he would end up absorbed by Rovers. A move to Denmark changes that conversation entirely.

Playing consistently at that level transforms his prospects for the Ireland squad.

He has the talent to be an option for Heimir. This is how that becomes realistic.

📸: @cmphotography2424

[IFB Media @IFBMedia]

Out of Context Glenn Whelan

[IFB Media @IFBMedia]

Shay Reid scores the Preston Goal of the Month! ☘️👀

[IFB Media @IFBMedia]

@coachingbadges @marky01 Yes!!

[Coaching Badges @coachingbadges]

https://t.co/Vu7Wku3ver Could 2027 be the year of the come back? What says you @marky01 😉🤔💚⚽️

[IFB Media @IFBMedia]

IFB Creator Academy loading… 🎨⏳

The Sunday Photographer Showcase on Instagram gave talented photographers a platform every week.

Now it's the turn of upcoming graphic designers, video editors and content creators.

Full details soon. DM us to be part of it from day one 💚

[IFB Media @IFBMedia]

@carabini_10 At least Drogheda acknowledged that they were relegated 👀

[IFB Media @IFBMedia]

Terrific from Philip Sanyaolu to score his first goal for Bristol Rovers last night!☘️

[IFB Media @IFBMedia]

Sweet as a nut from Dylan Duffy last night!

[IFB Media @IFBMedia]

Working in a café and coaching kids in Dublin. Years later, standing next to Marcelo Bielsa in the Premier League 🇮🇪

That's Diego Flores. Now managing in Argentina's top flight.

And the man who first let him in the door? Mauricio Pochettino, who's closing in on Man United 👀

[IFB Media @IFBMedia]

All-island football needs more than soundbites 🇮🇪

Taoiseach Micheál Martin wants the FAI and IFA working together to grow football across the whole island.

He was speaking at Tallaght Stadium ahead of an event for Oscar Traynor, the former Fianna Fáil minister and FAI president.

Unlike GAA and rugby, football here has had two governing bodies since 1921, when the Leinster FA split from the Belfast-based IFA over an Irish Cup semi-final being fixed for Belfast instead of Dublin.

When asked about an “All Island Team”, Micheál said he’d explore anything that helps the game grow. He believes football’s development here came before partition, rooted in working class communities.

He said Derry City’s FAI Cup win shows how competition lifts standards and creates chances for players North and South, but wants it done by agreement, with both associations keeping their own traditions and competitions.

On reviving a cross-border cup after the Setanta Sports Cup, he said there was potential. He was at the last final in Dundalk in 2014, and says the Shared Island Unit is ready to support it.

Since the inception of IFB, we’ve always spoken strongly about the need for a joined-up approach to football on this island. From cross-association work with the GAA, rugby and others, to a joined-up all-island approach to football itself.

That’s irrespective of whether you support “Ireland” or “Northern Ireland”. Fundamentally, the only way Irish football sees real, tangible progress is an All-Ireland League, regardless of what happens with either international team.

Naturally, there’s a lot of conjecture and noise from both ends of the “debate” whenever this is posted online, but it is what it is. We know it isn’t that simple.

But lip service is easy, and actions speak louder than words.

Micheál’s words are all well and good if you believe he holds those thoughts sincerely, and if they align with what you want to hear.

But if I’m honest, I genuinely believe it’s just another half-hearted soundbite for clout. Another photo op and headline, with no real planning or care behind it.

Until that changes, that’s all it is.

[IFB Media @IFBMedia]

Credit where credit is due this video is excellent from Shamrock Rovers.