While the Football Association of Ireland continues its search for a permanent successor to Vera Pauw as manager of the women’s team, a long list of 12 candidates currently being whittled down to three, Gavin Cummiskey is wondering if “the solution could be the most obvious one” - namely, the current interim manager. Despite Eileen Gleeson having ruled herself out of the running before, insisting she remained committed to her role as the FAI’s head of women’s and girls football, there were hints from her on Thursday that she’s having a rethink. “If I wanted to manage any team, it’s this team,” she said. “It’s a super difficult decision.” With a home and away double-header against Albania next in the schedule, starting today in Tallaght, Gleeson should make it four Nations League wins out of four following last month’s wins over Northern Ireland and Hungary. And there’s a fair chance that the crowd will witness a Katie McCabe “banger” or two, as Denise O’Sullivan describes the bulk of her goals, the Cork woman saluting her Ballon d’Or-nominated captain who’s in the form of her life.
Gerry Thornley, meanwhile, brings us the team news ahead of Saturday’s World Cup final, “the Springboks rolling the dice with a 7-1 bench split”, while also in rugby Nathan Johns talks to Irish international Kathryn Dane about her PhD research in to “women’s tackling safety” in the game. The findings so far are alarming: “There are women players who never made a tackle before their first game of rugby. Not just at grassroots club matches; this has happened at international level.”
In Gaelic games, Seán Moran doffs his cap to the work put in by Colm Keys and Dermot Reilly to their newly launched book ‘Chasing Sam Maguire: The All-Ireland football championship 1928-1977′, “a ground-breaking account of the early evolution of the competition for Ireland’s most famous sporting trophy”.
Speaking of ground-breakers: in her column today, Sonia O’Sullivan reflects on her first ever marathon, in Dublin back in 2000, which, of course, she won. She “experienced soreness like never before” after the race, but, in an effort to encourage the participants in this Sunday’s Dublin Marathon, she promises that “once you find your groove …. it can at times feel effortless”. Hmm.
Your complete guide to all the festive sporting action including TV details
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Also on Sunday is the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre race, Pamela Lee not anticipating the 4,350 nautical mile trip from France to Brazil to feel effortless at all. Louise Lawless talks to the Irish sailor ahead of her participation in the race, the Greystones woman admitting that “there’s definitely that little voice in the back of your head [going] ‘what the f**k are you doing?’”
And in horse racing, Brian O’Connor writes about the increasing pressure on jump racing to make safety improvements “in the face of allegations of cruelty by animal rights groups”. “The sport will come under more and more scrutiny in relation to the cost of providing thrills which by their very nature result in spills.”
TV Watch: The Republic of Ireland’s women take on Albania in the Nations League in Tallaght today (RTÉ 2, 5.45), while immediately after Shamrock Rovers will look to nudge ever closer to a fourth league title in a row when they take on St Patrick’s Athletic, their closest challengers, at Richmond Park (RTÉ 2, 8.0). English Premier League leaders Spurs kick off at the same time away to Crystal Palace (Sky Sports), as do England and Argentina in their third place play-off at the rugby World Cup (Virgin Media One & UTV).
