Airtricity League

The FAI and Dublin City Council have teamed-up to promote the Airtricity League as part of the European Capital of Sport campaign for 2010.

Read more: Airtricity League billboards promote European Capital of Sport

St Patrick's Athletic midfielder David Mulcahy is the Airtricity/Soccer Writers Association of Ireland Player of the Month for July.

The award was presented to the Saints star by Airtricity managing director Kevin Greenhorn. Kevin Greenhorn said, "I am delighted for Dave - as well as having a great July, he went on to score against Manchester United in the Airtricity Challenge".

Kilkenny native Mulcahy was in outstanding form during the month of July as the Inchicore outfit marched to the summit of the Premier Division.

The most memorable of Mulcahy's four goals came in stoppage time during the big Dublin derby against Bohemians at Dalymount Park.

In addition to that goal against Bohs, Mulcahy netted in the one-all draw against Sporting Fingal and also bagged a brace as Pat's defeated Dundalk 3-0.

"It's like anything, you might hit a barren spell for a while but once a bit of luck comes your way it's great to get a few goals", said Mulcahy who spent his formative years at Evergreen.

"It's nice to have scored the goals I did and while it's good to get goals at any time in the season, you can't beat scoring in really important games against the likes of Bohs.

"The run we have put together of late has been terrific, we've worked hard and I'm delighted for the fans and management as much as anyone else."The 32-year-old also enjoyed spells at Bray Wanderers and Cork City, but chose to return to the banks of the Camac before the start of the 2010 season.

"It's a real closely knit-community club at Pat's and when the call came from Pete Mahon and John Gill about coming back to Pat's, well, it was an easy decision for me to make."I'm really enjoying my football, and hopefully we can continue to build on the run we've put together", concluded Mulcahy.

Juventus 1-0 Shamrock Rovers (Agg 3-0)

One moment of magic by World Cup winner Alessandro Del Piero was the difference between Italian giants Juventus and the Airtricity League's Shamrock Rovers in the second leg of the Europa League Third Qualifying Round at the Stadio Braglia in Modena on Thursday.

The Irish side had it all to do going into the return leg two goals behind and the encounter was almost ruined by incessant torrential downpours.

Battle gamely that did in front of their 1,000 supporters, Rovers were unable to unhinge the Juve rearguard and it was left to interval substitute Del Piero to marvel the audience with a delightful free-kick 16 minutes from the end.

Either Gary Twigg and Billy Dennehy might have applied the finishing touch to Dan Murray's downward header in the first half for Rovers' best chance.

And unlike the Tallaght tie last week, striker Amauri was quietened for much of the contest by Aidan Price and Murray in the back.
Claudio Marchisio was denied by Mannus as the home side upped a gear and Mohamed Sissoko had an effort hacked off the goal-line.

But up stepped Del Piero's on 74 minutes to bury a 25-yard free kick over the ball and beyond the Northern Ireland goalkeeper to leave the aggregate score at 3-0.

Juventus: Storari; Motta, Chiellini, Bonucci, De Ceglie; Pepe, Sissoko, Marchisio, Lanzafame; Diego (Del Piero, h/t), Amauri (Trezeguet, 81 mins.).
Shamrock Rovers: Mannus; Flynn, Murray, Price, Murphy; Kavanagh (Stewart, h/t), Rice (Bayly, 59 mins.), Bradley, Chambers (Turner, h/t), Dennehy; Twigg.
Referee: Georgios Daloukas (Greece).

The Hoops lost the first leg of the Third Round qualifier 2-0 at Tallaght Stadium, although they registered a performance that suggested they can cause damage to the Italian giants.

With a large travelling support present in Modena for the game, the Premier Division outfit remain hopeful of coming out of the game with something positive to cling to with a victory being the dream result.

Rovers boss Michael O'Neill accepts that it is mission impossible in many ways, but his squad of players won't be giving up their place in the competition without a fight and he is trying to stay optimistic.

"It will be difficult, but the aim is to get a victory. [But] we're not under any illusion. The quality Juve have and the cost to assemble it and cost of individual players," said O'Neill.

"It's a different planet from the environment we operate in. We have to have belief. We never gave ourselves a chance to get that when losing an early goal in the first game.

"We have to be patient, we have to recognise the quality of the system. When we changed the system to 4-4-2 we had a period of the game where we had the upper hand.

"It'll be difficult to score, but we'll aim to do that. There's no expectation on us. Sometimes, that's a nice position to be in.

"It'll be a good experience to play away from home against opposition of this quality, and it can only add to players' game knowledge and education to play them at this level."

The Hoops are again missing the services of Pat Sullivan (knee) and Dessie Baker (Achilles), although they should have a full roster other than those two absentees.

*Tonght's game will be broadcast live on RTÉ Two television and RTÉ.ie (Island of Ireland) on Thursday.

Darragh Maloney will be joined by Liam Brady and Damien Richardson for analysis of the action from the Alberto Braglia Stadium. The coverage on RTÉ Two and RTÉ.ie will begin at 7.30pm with commentary by Adrian Eames and Eoin Hand.