It was back in 1982 that Hugh Russell and Davy Larmour met in a brutal bout at the Ulster Hall, Russell prevailing but both fighters left needing medical attention. Larmour, a taxi driver by night, drove himself to hospital – and brought Russell with him. “The pair joked about being stopped at a British army checkpoint and imagined the confusion of the soldiers,” writes Johnny Watterson, “a beaten-up Protestant driving to the hospital with a bloodied Catholic lying on the back seat.”
Russell died last month at the age of 63, Johnny reflecting on the life of the Belfast man who he recalls “being shouldered through the streets of the New Lodge, the red-headed kid with an Olympic medal brightening shredded streets”.
Meanwhile, down in Dublin, the FAI are busy trying to extract themselves from hot water yet again, erroneous payments to its CEO and an issue with ‘gender representation’ on its board threatening the withdrawal of Government funding. The timing couldn’t be worse because, as Michael Walker writes, “this feels like a moment of opportunity” in Irish football, the potential for the game here demonstrated by that record 43,881 crowd at last weekend’s FAI Cup final.
The first women’s final was played back in 1972, Kay Brennan among the players to line out for Kilkenny side Fit Remoulds that day. A force of nature, she has some stories to tell from her football career, not least the time “locked up” nuns got her drunk.
And ahead of tomorrow’s game against the Netherlands in Amsterdam, Gordon Manning hears from Celtic winger Mikey Johnston who has been going through a tough time at club level but is hoping to repay the faith the under-siege Stephen Kenny has shown in him.
In Gaelic games, Seán Moran takes a look at a “wide open” hurling club championship, now that champions Ballyhale Shamrocks have exited the competition, while Gordon previews Sunday’s Leinster club camogie final when two players, Aoife Prendergast and Aisling Maher, will wear a camera in their jerseys to capture the on-field action for an episode of the Meet The Toughest series.
In rugby, Johnny looks ahead to Ulster’s URC game against an out-of-sorts Lions in Belfast this evening, while in golf Philip Reid brings news of the first round of the DP World Tour Championship where Rory McIlroy experienced no little luck on the final hole on Thursday.
You need a bit more than luck to win Ireland’s Fittest Family. Having a coach like Sonia O’Sullivan would help. In her column today, Sonia gives us the inside track on the show, which is now in its 11th season.
TV Watch: Sky Sports Golf brings you the second rounds of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai (7am-1.0pm) and the Tour Championship in Florida (8pm-10pm) today. There’s plenty of football action too, the Republic of Ireland under-21 side aiming to make it four wins out of four in their Euro 2025 qualifying group when they travel to Oslo to take on Norway (RTÉ 2, 5.0). And at 7.45, England, who already have Euro 2024 qualification wrapped up, meet Malta at Wembley (Virgin Media Three). In rugby, Ulster host Lions in Belfast in the URC (TG4, BBC 2 and Premier Sports 1, 7.35).
