Sports
Jamie Mulgrew, an 11th league title with Linfield and the thirst for further success
“My phone kept buzzing with messages, but I was so tired, I went straight to sleep — I hadn’t realised I’d set the record!”
For Linfield captain Jamie Mulgrew, last Tuesday night was just like any other. The 38-year-old midfielder spent the evening coaching the club’s under-18s. Once home, he watched the football, then went to bed. Yet for Mulgrew and Linfield, this was a record-breaking evening.
The televised match was between Linfield’s two closest rivals: Glentoran drew against Larne, confirming Linfield as champions for the 57th time, a world record. That success confirmed Mulgrew’s 11th league winner’s medal — setting a national record and joining an exclusive global club. It was an extraordinary achievement in the most ordinary of circumstances.
“In some ways, it was an anti-climax,” Mulgrew admits. “You would always prefer to win it on the pitch.” The title was confirmed with six matchdays remaining.
Only four active professional footballers — Dinamo Zagreb’s Arijan Ademi (13), Bayern Munich’s Thomas Muller, James Forrest of Celtic and former TNS full-back Chris Marriott (all 12) — have won more league titles than Mulgrew’s at one European club. Yet there is one key difference: Linfield have been significantly less dominant domestically than any of those clubs. Larne entered this season as back-to-back champions and, since 2013, Crusaders had won three league titles and Cliftonville two.
Mulgrew, who turns 39 in July, insists those title-less campaigns make his successes more enjoyable, highlighting the five-year gap between titles from 2012 to 2017.
“You never know if it’s going to be your last one and that makes them sweeter,” he offers. “The hunger for more never disappears.”
Mulgrew celebrates winning last season’s League Cup with his children (Published with the permission of Jamie Mulgrew)
Mulgrew began his career at Glentoran, Linfield’s primary Belfast rivals.
He made two first-team appearances, including during their 2004-05 league success. Linfield approached Mulgrew that summer, with the 19-year-old’s contract expiring, and he decided to join the club he had supported in his youth. That 2005-06 season saw Linfield complete a clean sweep of all four domestic trophies, but a recurring medial knee injury limited Mulgrew’s game time.
For successive seasons, the midfielder was involved in title-winning squads but missed the minimum appearance threshold to claim a winner’s medal.
Mulgrew, who has 26 trophies and counting at Linfield, believes his ascent to the captaincy was born of having to fight for recognition in a dressing room of serial winners. “That squad I joined was full of leaders and big personalities,” he explains. “You had to adapt to those standards. Back then, it was only 14-player matchday squads, so you constantly had that pressure of performing and working hard.”
His longevity is made more remarkable given his playing style; Mulgrew is a combative midfielder comfortable at carrying the ball, shuffling past opponents and drawing free kicks due to his low centre of gravity. While no statistical measurement is available, he is widely considered to be the Irish League’s most fouled player.
Yet he has other qualities that are arguably more important: constantly instructing team-mates on positioning, what runs to make, when to push up the pitch and when to slow a game down. He credits his leadership to his early years at the club.
“I was shaped by that pressure to win and perform, of needing to know how to train, to set an example on and off the pitch, to have the right combination between confidence and staying humble… and that hunger,” he says. “To use criticism as fuel. That is what I try to instil in my team-mates and the youngsters I coach.”
Mulgrew swaps pennants with Celtic’s Scott Brown ahead of a Champions League qualifier in 2017 (Craig Williamson – SNS GroupSNS Group via Getty Images)
One of the midfielder’s biggest tasks is helping new players integrate into a winning culture.
“The pressures at Linfield are unique — winning trophies is everything,” says Mulgrew. “I joined the club so young, that environment is all I have ever known. But others take time to adjust. It is our job to make them comfortable, but our responsibility for them is more than that — we need to win for them. If they join a winning team, that pressure lifts.”
Mulgrew will almost certainly not surpass the remarkable tally of 1,013 Linfield appearances set by his former team-mate, Noel Bailie, but he is closing in on the 800-game landmark. There has previously been interest from elsewhere. In 2011, a year after his two international appearances for Northern Ireland, Mulgrew’s Linfield contract was expiring and he attracted interest from Colombus Crew and Portland Timbers in Major League Soccer. The midfielder travelled to the United States for separate trial periods but decided against a move.
In 2021, Linfield went full-time; an upgrade from their previous semi-professional status. This was not without risk, with several of Mulgrew’s long-term team-mates deciding to move elsewhere due to personal circumstances. Yet, for Mulgrew, the opportunity to become full-time, aged 34, was too good to turn down.
His work outside football was centred on afternoons, with the new model freeing up his evenings to spend with his wife and three young children. “That decision, without doubt, has prolonged my career.”
Mulgrew fires off a shot during a UEFA Conference League play-off in 2022 (Liam McBurney/PA Images via Getty Images)
For Mulgrew and his team-mates, this season’s trophy lift will have added poignance.
In June 2024, the club’s physiotherapist, Paul Butler, passed away suddenly aged 37. Six months later, Michael Newberry — the defender who spent three and a half seasons at Linfield before joining Cliftonville last summer — died on his 27th birthday.
“What has happened in the past year is hard to come to terms with,” says Mulgrew, whose brother-in-law passed away in 2023. “We can forget how anyone, no matter how famous or successful, are just people and we all go through the same emotions.
“For us, being in a team environment and going in to train every day together is an important support network. Everyone here has helped each other. We have a really strong changing room, you can maintain the normality with the banter and the support. We genuinely enjoy spending time with each other.
“This squad has great character and resilience, too, that is borne out through our results this season but also coming through everything we have together.”
Mulgrew has already committed himself to Linfield for next season, which will take him up to his 40th birthday. “I won’t outstay my welcome,” he says. “I will know when it’s time to move aside.”
He believes he needs to listen to his body more, admitting to playing through muscular pain earlier in the campaign. That is indicative of his relentless desire to be involved but, these days, he has to compromise.
Mulgrew begins his UEFA Pro coaching licence next week and while current Linfield manager David Healy has previously said he is “keeping the seat warm for him” and often consults his captain as he “knows the club inside out”, the midfielder insists his focus is on adding to his success on the pitch.
Mulgrew adds: “I already want my 12th title.”
(Top photo: Matthew Ashton – AMA/Getty Images)
Sports
‘Demon’ Finn Balor settles score with Dominik Mysterio at WrestleMania 42
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
LAS VEGAS – Finn Balor and Dominik Mysterio were once brothers in arms in the Judgment Day. The two helped the faction run “Monday Night Raw” for several years.
As championships and opportunities came and went, the rift between Balor and Mysterio grew. It came to a head when Balor caused Mysterio to lose the Intercontinental Championship to Penta. Balor leaving the Judgment Day left Mysterio and Liv Morgan as the leaders with JD McDonagh, Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez sticking around.
Finn Balor is introduced before his match against Dominik Mysterio during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The latter four chose to ride with Mysterio and attacked Balor on one episode of Raw.
The bitter war led to a match Sunday night at WrestleMania 42. To make matters more interesting, Raw General Manager Adam Pearce made the match a street fight hours before the show was set to begin.
Balor had vowed to bring the “Demon” out and he certainly did.
JACOB FATU PUTS DREW MCINTYRE IN THE ‘REAR VIEW’ IN UNSANCTIONED MATCH AT WRESTLEMANIA 42
Finn Balor is introduced before his match against Dominik Mysterio during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Balor made his way to the ring in his “Demon” gear, dripping with red and black paint. Mysterio was in a mask with other Mysterio supporters.
The two then proceeded to beat the crud out of each other.
Mysterio wrapped Balor’s head in between a chair and hit a 619 on him. He tried to pin Balor, but to no avail. At another point, Mysterio tossed Balor through a table set up in the corner.
As many have learned, it’s hard to keep your demons down. Mysterio learned the hard way.
Balor would not give up. Balor clotheslined Mysterio, hit him with a chair multiple times before wrapping his head in between the chair and drop-kicking him into the corner. Balor put Mysterio onto a table and hit the Coup de Grâce for the win.
Dominik Mysterio is introduced before his match against Finn Balor during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Balor excised his own demons, while Mysterio is still haunted.
Sports
Ryan Ward has a solid debut, but bullpen blows it again as Dodgers lose to Rockies
DENVER — What do you know? The once-stampeding Dodgers have been caged by the Colorado Rockies.
With a 9-6 loss Sunday at Coors Field, the two-time defending World Series champions lost back-to-back games for the first time this season. The Dodgers again couldn’t hold a lead, letting the Rockies tee off for 15 hits.
Nor could the Dodgers keep up offensively at the hitter-friendly park — though they put some pressure on in the ninth inning, when Shohei Ohtani led off with a ground-rule double and the Dodgers scored twice to cut the lead to three runs. Then the new guy, Ryan Ward, made the final out in his big league debut, robbed of a hit and a chance to keep chipping away by a diving Troy Johnston in right field.
Before that, the Rockies — who beat the Dodgers twice in 13 meetings all of last season — chased starter Roki Sasaki from the game in the fifth inning and then ruffled the Dodgers’ relievers. That included closer Edwin Díaz, who came on in the eighth and promptly gave up three singles, a walk and two runs before being pulled with the Dodgers trailing 8-4.
Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki gave up three runs on seven hits in 4-2/3 innings Sunday against the Rockies in Denver.
(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)
He and Blake Treinen combined to face eight batters without getting an out.
“They both weren’t sharp,” said manager Dave Roberts, who had theories but not many answers — though he did have real concern, especially about Díaz, who recently had his right knee checked out by the medical staff.
Roberts said the closer wanted to pitch after nine days off, even though it wasn’t a save situation. But his velocity was slightly down (95.4 mph vs. 95.8) and so, “today was a tough evaluation,” the manager said.
“It really was,” Roberts said. “Because, you know, I know what it’s supposed to look like, and when it doesn’t look like that, it gets a little concerning, really.”
And losing for the second time to the Rockies, who are now 9-13? Being in danger of losing their four-game series, after arriving in Denver without having lost to a National League opponent, against a club that hasn’t made the postseason since 2018?
It’s well below the bar the Dodgers have set, and it added a bitter note to Ward’s otherwise sweet debut.
Ward punched a big league clock for the first time wearing No. 67 and cranked his first hit off Rockies starter Michael Lorenzen in the fourth inning, lining a changeup to right field for a single that scored Andy Pages, made it 3-0 and got the 20-some members of Ward’s party up, jumping in place, hugging and high-fiving.
“When I was on first base, I got to see them all jumping around up there,” Ward said. “That was a pretty special moment.”
He also singled in the sixth and swung on the first pitch in his first at-bat, a fly out in the third inning.
The Dodgers gave Sasaki a 2-0 lead in the third. Alex Freeland drove in Hyeseong Kim, and Shohei Ohtani doubled in Freeland — and extended his career-best on-base streak to 51 games, moving past Willie Keeler into third place in Dodgers history.
Sasaki went 4-2/3 innings, threw 78 pitches and gave up three runs on seven hits, striking out two and walking two. His ERA after his fourth start: 6.11, worst in the six-man rotation.
The Dodgers fell behind 6-5 in the seventh when Treinen — who was cleared Friday after he was struck in the head by a batted ball during batting practice — gave up four consecutive hits, including a two-run home run by Mickey Moniak.
The result likely will be a minor detail when Ward tells the story years from now about getting the call after first baseman Freddie Freeman was placed on the paternity list.
The Dodgers’ No. 19 prospect and reigning Pacific Coast League MVP spent the last seven years in the minors. Last season, he hit 36 home runs and drove in 122 runs with a .937 on-base-plus-slugging percentage for triple-A Oklahoma City, and he has a 1.020 OPS and four homers this year.
Ward made it a point to improve his chase rate, draw more walks and get on base more frequently, everything the Dodgers asked of him. He also passed the broadest patience test.
“The plate discipline, being a better hitter … he’s done all that,” Roberts said. “He’s improved his defense. But honestly, for me, just not to let his lack of opportunity in the big leagues deter him. That’s easy when you get frustrated and let it affect performance, and he hasn’t done that.”
If anything, Ward said, the waiting made him better.
“I used it to keep going. ‘OK, if I’m not there yet, what do I have to do to get there?’” he said. “‘What part of my game do I need to work on to keep getting better?’
“I used it as fire to keep working.”
That will be the Dodgers’ assignment too.
In the finale of the four-game series Monday, the Dodgers are expected to start left-hander Justin Wrobleski (2-0, 2.12) against Colorado left-hander Jose Quintana (0-1, 5.63).
Sports
ESPN’s Stephen A Smith hears boos from WrestleMania 42 crowd
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
LAS VEGAS – Danhausen’s curse may be real after all – just ask Stephen A. Smith and the New York Mets.
While the latter dropped their 10th game in a row, Smith got his share of the curse on Saturday night during Night 1 of WrestleMania 42. Smith was in attendance for WWE’s premier event of the year and heard massive boos from the crowd.
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith was sitting ringside to watch the action. The ESPN star appeared on the videoboard above the ring at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. He appeared to embrace the reaction and smiled through it.
The boos came after Danhausen appeared on “First Take” on Friday – much to the chagrin of the sports pundit. Smith appeared perplexed by Danhausen’s appearance. Smith said he heard about Danhausen and called him a “bad luck charm.”
Danhausen said Smith had been “rude” to him and put the dreaded “curse” on the commentator.
WWE STAR DANHAUSEN SAYS METS ‘CURSE’ ISN’T EXACTLY LIFTED AS TEAM DROPS NINTH STRAIGHT GAME
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith is far from the only one dealing with the effects of the “curse.”
Danhausen agreed to “un-curse” the Mets during their losing streak. However, he told Fox News Digital earlier this week that there was a reason why the curse’s removal didn’t take full effect.
“I did un-curse the Mets. But it didn’t work because, I believe it was Brian Gewirtz who did not pay Danhausen. He did not send me my money so it did not take full effect,” Danhausen said. “Once I have the money, perhaps it will actually work because right now it’s probably about a half of an un-cursing. It’s like a layaway situation.”
Danhausen enters the arena before his match against Kit Wilson during SmackDown at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on April 10, 2026. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
On “Friday Night SmackDown,” WWE stars like The Miz and Kit Wilson were also targets of Danhausen’s curse.
-
Pennsylvania5 minutes agoMother, 6 children die in Central Pennsylvania house explosion, state police say
-
Rhode Island11 minutes agoThe Real Housewives of Rhode Island Recap: Wrong Side of the Tracks
-
South-Carolina17 minutes agoSouth Carolina Lottery Pick 3, Pick 4 results for April 19, 2026
-
South Dakota23 minutes agoFCS Football Recruiting Roundup: South Dakota, Montana State Target 2027 Defensive Standouts
-
Tennessee29 minutes agoNashville Sounds and Autism Tennessee partner to host inclusive Beyond the Label Day for local children
-
Texas35 minutes agoTexas A&M Forward Transfer Seemingly on Visit to See Lady Vols Basketball | Rocky Top Insider
-
Utah41 minutes agoGolden Knights vs. Mammoth Game 1 prediction: NHL odds, picks, best bets for Stanley Cup Playoffs
-
Vermont47 minutes agoVermont lawmakers reject digital lottery initiative – Valley News