27/06 The Morning JOE

TDs who have perfected the trick of being in two places at once, Rosanna Davison’s “horse-face” tweets and Jim Stynes’s brave battle with cancer – all in the Morning JOE.

The Front Pages

It’s a mix-and-match on the front pages of Sunday’s papers with a host of different stories receiving the large-font treatment.

In the Sunday Business Post, the focus is on the paper’s latest opinion poll in conjunction with RedC, which sees Fine Gael and Labour surge in popularity once again.

Following the resolution of last week’s leadership heave in favour of resident party leader Enda Kenny, Fine Gael remain the most popular party in the state, up three percentage points to 33%. Labour are also on the up from the previous SBB/RedC poll, five points better off at 27%.

Fianna Fail are unchanged at 24%, with Government coalition partners Green Party devastated, dropping three points to just two per cent in the latest poll. Sinn Fein and Independents are also down to 8% and 6%respectively.

Also on the front page of the Post, there’s a report that a new Countryside Alliance representing a dozen groups involving hunting and shooting enthusiasts intends to select candidates to run in the next General Election.

Elsewhere a lot of the stories relate to the thorny subject of Nama and Irish developers. The Sunday Independent details the story of Bernard McNamara, the fallen millionaire developer, who has had his art collection and other valuables seized by the Dublin city sheriff. Everything will be sold in order to pay off some of McNamara’s mountainous debts.

The paper says that this “marks a new low for McNamara, once one of Ireland’s richest men but who now owes €1.5bn.”

There’s an intriguing story about political expenses on the front page of the Sunday Times, which outlines how TDs can now be in two places at the one time.

Documents seen by the paper, the report states, “show that TDs and senators travelling on overseas parliamentary delegations will be marked present in Leinster House for attendance purposes, and will still be able to claim the expenses incurred on their foreign trip.”

One would imagine they’ll get away with it, too, unless some of them actually try to claim travel expenses required to make it to Leinster House for the days they’re marked present for but when they’re actually out of the country. Which, given the events of the past, is not an impossible scenario to imagine.

Tales From The Tabs

Former Miss World Rosanna Davison has hit the headlines this morning for her internet tirade against an unnamed rival model.

The outburst, posted on social networking sites Twitter and Facebook, included: “You would not believe what she said to Wes [Quirke, Davison’s boyfriend]. Is it possible to be that ugly and stupid? Surely God made some terrible mistake?” and, “Life must be tough when you look like a horse. Hey, we all know who I’m talking about. Shoulders ‘r’ us.”

JOE’s betting partner Paddy Power has opened a market on the identity of the unnamed horse-like “beauty”.

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, Glenda Gilson is listed as the 5/4 favourite, with Pippa O’Connor next best at 3/1, Kathryn Thomas installed as 4/1 and Louise Kavanagh marked up at 6/1 fourth-favourite.

Kavanagh, meanwhile, reckons it’s not her. She told the Irish Daily Star Sunday, “I really don’t know who Rosanna is talking about but Dublin is so small and there are plenty of backstabbers. Anywhere there is a group of girls there’s always a bit of bitchiness and drama behind the scenes.”

Girls, bitchiness, drama. Go figure.

Elsewhere, actress Amy Huberman is delighted that husband-to-be Brian O’Driscoll will be returning home from the Ireland rugby side’s tour of Australia and New Zealand unsullied by his experiences. The pair are to be married in Co Leitrim this coming Friday.

Ever the fatalist, Huberman says (on page 17 of the Star), “It’s one of those things – he played one of the most physical teams in the world and came away fine but will probably snot himself on some steps the night before the wedding.”

The Sports Pages

It’s one of the busiest sports weekends of the year and the papers are spoilt for choice when it comes to their leading stories.

Under a headline of “Tired Ireland run out of steam”, the Sunday Times analyses the final game of an unsuccessful rugby tour which saw defeats to New Zealand, New Zealand Maori and, on Saturday, to Australia.

Surprisingly, on a day which sees England face Germany in the last 16 of the World Cup, the Sunday Independent leads with a story about Diego Maradona, who leads his Argentina side into action against Mexico tonight.

“Maradona feels the hand of history on his shoulders” reads the headline above a piece culled from Maradona’s press conference in Pretoria on Saturday. Endearingly, El Diego is never one to avoid a sweeping statement and that was again the case this weekend. “This is where history begins,” he said.

In a front-page sidebar, the Sunday Independent also carries a report into the demise of Mayo’s much-maligned footballers. Beaten finalists in Division 1 of the National Football League two months ago, Mayo bowed out of the Connacht championship to Sligo last month and were put out of their misery by little Longford in the first round of the qualifiers on Saturday evening.

Their manager, John O’Mahony, also stepped down at the end of the game. Nevertheless, O’Mahony is convinced that Mayo have the players to deliver glory to their county in time: “I do think those lads will have their day in the sun. It’s not an easy thing to say after losing to a perceived weaker county, but I’m absolutely convinced of that.”

With Germany-England in mind, the Sunday Times have a piece written by Everton manager David Moyes on the way to win in penalty shoot-outs. Moyes admits he may not be a penalty guru – he took just one during his playing career, and missed it, but his Everton side overcame Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-finals a year ago and he has had a bit to say about penalty preparation.

If all players know exactly what type of penalty they’re going to take, and have practised it rigorously, then the pressure of the shoot-out situation is eased, he says. “When your players walk up to the spot, they – and, more importantly, you – have decided exactly what they’re going to do … I feel you take pressure away from individuals that way. If it doesn’t go in, then fine. We score together, we miss together when we take penalties.”

You can follow all the action from Germany v England LIVE with JOE’s tracker Conor Hogan from 3pm. That will be over at the World Cup 2010 section. We’ll be leaving no stone unturned this afternoon – over at our GAA section, Shane Breslin will be in the chair for the clash of Dublin v Meath in the Leinster SFC semi-finals at Croke Park.

One story that will be of interest to sports fans but which doesn’t appear in the sports supplements is the story of Dublin and Aussie Rules legend, Jim Stynes.

The 43-year-old, Ireland’s greatest export to the Australian game, tells the Star Sunday of his battle against incurable cancer, which has seen him undergo surgery to remove 16 tumours from his back, lungs and brain over the past 12 months.

“I’ve had this for 13 months and I’ve done very well to survive as long as I have,” says Stynes, who adds, “There’s no point worrying about the future. Life is there to be grabbed and I’ll do everything I can to stay around as long as I can.”