Would Barry Murphy have been happy for two of his four appearances for Ireland to have taken place in Belfast, “and you have to sing God Save The Queen before them,” Andrew Trimble asked him in Monday’s For Ulster and Ireland documentary. “No way, not a hope in hell,” the Munster man laughed. “I’ll put you down as a maybe,” the Ulster man smiled. For Johnny Watterson, the scene was one of many in Trimble’s “gentle exploration of identity” that illustrated “how it is possible to acknowledge different cultural, political and religious realities without rancour”. It was a beautiful piece of work, among the highlights Trimble’s chat with Antrim hurling captain Neil McManus who possesses “a voice as articulate as his own”. If you missed it, dig it out on the RTÉ Player.
John O’Sullivan, meanwhile, talks to Trimble’s former comrade Paul O’Connell, the Ireland forwards coach reflecting on the Six Nations campaign so far, the marked improvement in the Irish lineout and life after Johnny Sexton.
In football, Gavin Cummiskey is mightily relieved that the new League of Ireland season gets under way this evening. “Following three long, dark months of FAI board meetings, Oireachtas hearings and swirls of rumour, the game takes centre stage again,” he writes in his preview. He also has a club-by-club guide where he rates the prospects of the five-in-a-row seeking Shamrock Rovers and their rivals. Also in football, we have news of Eileen Gleeson’s first Republic of Ireland squad since she became the permanent successor to Vera Pauw.
In Gaelic games, Seán Moran brings news of the smallest list of motions being put to the GAA’s annual congress in 20 years, while Paul Keane talks to Kerry’s Seán O’Shea about his county’s hopes of adding to their “solitary All-Ireland win across almost a decade”.
Ian O’Riordan updates us on Mona McSharry’s progress at the World Championships in Doha, while Brian O’Connor ponders the use of “genius” to describe Willie Mullins’ exploits. “It mightn’t be curing a disease, teasing out a theorem or working out the bass line to Jumping Jack Flash. But some definitions allow for transforming the face of a particular field and by any measure WP Mullins has done that.”
And in athletics, Ian talks to long jumper Reece Ademola, all 6ft 9in of him, ahead of this weekend’s National Indoor Championships. One thing’s for sure, the 21-year-old has no regrets about not choosing a different sporting route. “I was told if I played rugby, I was going to dominate in the sport ... but I couldn’t hurt this pretty face!” A wise man.
TV Watch: It’s day two at the Aramco Saudi International in Riyadh (10am-2pm) and The Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles (3.30pm-1am), both on Sky Sports Golf, while at 7.15 there’s the top-of-the-table WSL meeting of Chelsea and Manchester City (BBC 2). Munster are in URC action away to Scarlets at 7.35 (TG4 and Premier Sports 1), and Shamrock Rovers open the defence of their league title in Tallaght at 7.45, Dundalk their visitors (RTÉ 2).
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