That headline is not an exaggeration by the way; this is very, very bad.
When you hear the term ‘panenka’ penalty, you immediately think of all of the great players who have scored them over the years, from Pirlo to Zlatan to Zidane and, of course, the man after whom the kick is named, Antonin Panenka himself.
Because of the level of skill required and the huge potential for embarrassment involved, occasionally the kicks go wrong and when they do, they tend to do so in spectacular fashion, as was the case in a clash between Swords Celtic and Lorcan Celtic in Swords at the weekend.
We’ve seen some bad panenka penalties in our time but the one taken by Swords Celtic’s Mark O’Brien must be up there with the worst of them as he didn’t so much dink it down the middle but scuffed it so weakly that it bounced a couple of yards in front of him and into the hands of the bemused Lorcan Celtic ‘keeper.
Mark himself tried to defend himself with the following explanation on Twitter earlier this morning, but are we buying it? Not a chance…
@miamibyrne @JOEdotie @fcswordsceltic 4-0 up and our winger dived for a pen so I said I’d give it back to the keeper. #sportmanship
— Mark O Brien (@MarkOBrien16) March 25, 2014
The hysterical laugh immediately after the kick was taken says more than words ever could.
Hat-tip to @miamibyrne for sending us this one on Twitter
