Should Cian Healy enter the fray from the bench at Twickenham on Saturday, he will draw level with Ronan O’Gara on 128 caps, and just five shy of Brian O’Driscoll’s record total. How excited is he about this prospect? “I take a lot more pride in what we have won with Ireland,” he tells Johnny Watterson. “Come the end of my career I’ll count medals, not caps.” Not hugely, then, Johnny likening him to “a latter-day Edmund Hillary eyeing a summit he would prefer not to discuss”. Instead, says Healy, he’s “just trying to make use of the minutes I get”, those minutes restricted by the fact that “Ports [Andrew Porter] is a physical freak and he’s being used as much as possible”. No player has been used more by Andy Farrell, though, than Hugo Keenan and the fullback looks set to return to the starting line-up having missed the game against Wales through injury. And another possible returnee, writes Gerry Thornley, is that 6-2 split on the bench, which will include Healy.
Like Healy, Rhasidat Adeleke is in the business of winning medals. What colour one is she aiming to collect in Paris this summer? “Gold,” she tells Ian O’Riordan, without hesitation. A busy few months it will be too for the Dubliner who is due to graduate from the University of Texas in May, while also fine-tuning her Olympic preparations.
Rory Beggan is stateside this weather too, the Monaghan goalkeeper one of four Irishmen – along with Wicklow’s Mark Jackson, Down’s Charlie Smyth and former Connacht rugby full-back Darragh Leader – seeking professional NFL contracts. Ciarán Murphy looks at the challenges facing the quartet in that journey. And Gordon Manning examines the findings of the report in to the two experimental hurling rules, related to the handpass and puckout, that were trialled last year.
In golf, Philip Reid previews the Arnold Palmer Invitational where Shane Lowry, who has received a sponsor’s invitation for the event, is one of three Irish players in the field, along with Rory McIlroy and Séamus Power.
Your complete guide to all the festive sporting action including TV details
Irish Times Sportswoman of the Year Awards: ‘The greatest collection of women in Irish sport in one place ever assembled’
Two-time Olympic champion Kellie Harrington named Irish Times/Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Year 2024
Pub staff struggled to keep up with giddy Shamrock Rovers fans who enjoyed every moment of Chelsea trip
And Dave Hannigan looks back at the life and times of comedian Richard Lewis, who died last week at the age of 76, his two greatest passions the New York Knicks and finding a woman “who won’t inevitably find the right moment to pour lamb’s blood over my head in front of close friends”. One of a kind.
TV Watch: After winning their first ever Test against Afghanistan last week, Ireland are in ODI action against the same opposition today (Premier Sports 1 from 11.30am). In golf, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy headline a stellar field at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Florida (Sky Sports Golf, 12.30pm-11pm), while later in the day there are a bunch of Europa League and Europa Conference League games to choose from – eg Sparta Prague v Liverpool (Virgin Media Two and TNT Sports 1, 5.45), Roma v Brighton (TNT Sports 2, 5.45), Ajax v Aston Villa (TNT Sports 3, 5.45) and Freiburg v West Ham (Virgin Media Two and TNT Sports 2, 8pm).
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