England v Ireland.
It doesn’t matter if it’s tiddlywinks because as long as we’re up against the noisy neighbours, it’s always going to be full blooded and it’s always going to have a little bit of bite about it.
The Star Sixes going on this weekend on Sky Sports carry about as much weight as tiddlywinks but those playing are former greats of the game and they wouldn’t have got to where they made it to in their career without a competitive edge.
And no matter what age you are, that never leaves you.
It certainly hasn’t left either Michael Owen or Jason McAteer.
With only two minutes left on the clock, the game was deadlocked and the game was poised.
That was when McAteer put in the hard yards to make a brilliant, fair tackle on the former speedster. McAteer grabbed onto Owen afterwards to let him know all about it, but still, there was nothing malicious or nothing overzealous in his actions.
Then Owen lashed out with a wild kick across McAteer’s ankle and to be quite honest about it, you could hardly blame McAteer for giving him one back in response.
Then the referee inexplicably sent off McAteer and gave Owen a yellow in one of the most hometown decisions of all time.
As you would expect, it all kicked off from there.
😡 @MCATEER4 v @themichaelowen 😡
It has all kicked off in the @StarSixes, but England go on to beat Ireland 1-0 and book their place in the final later this evening.
Watch now on Sky Sports Football pic.twitter.com/5Zog89Axxl
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) January 6, 2019
Speaking after the game – which Ireland went onto lose 1-0, the red card obviously proving crucial, McAteer was like a briar.
"The officials are that bad…"@MCATEER4 not impressed with his game-changing red card in the @StarSixes
Watch now on Sky Sports Football pic.twitter.com/SUfsvKKpxx
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) January 6, 2019
You can hardly blame him.
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