For a good chunk of the last few years there were nothing but bad-news-stories when it came to the Irish women’s rugby team, on and off-the-field matters leaving a decidedly dark cloud hanging over the whole set-up. Now? As Johnny Watterson points out, qualification for the World Cup, beating Australia a few weeks ago in Belfast, and, in the early hours of Monday morning, stunning world champions New Zealand in Vancouver makes for “verifiable progress”. A further measure of the team’s rise is that when Scott Bemand was appointed as coach in July 2023, Ireland were ranked 10th in the world – they’re now up to sixth. They will, then, go in to next Saturday’s WXV1 game against Canada with a sizeable spring in their step.
In soccer, Gavin Cummiskey was fortunate enough to be in Tolka Park on Monday evening to witness one of the games of this or any other season. League leaders Shelbourne, severely misfiring of late, “feeling the weight of 19 years since last winning a title”, were 2-0 down against St Patrick’s Athletic, got it back to 2-2, before conceding again in the 89th minute. Gavin reports on a brilliantly bonkers game.
In rugby, Leinster are hopeful that RG Snyman can make his debut for the province in Saturday’s URC meeting with Benetton, the double World Cup-winning Springbok having returned to full training after a foot injury. They will also have a slew of Irish internationals available for the trip to Italy, but John O’Sullivan heard Jacques Nienaber forecast that their form will be on the “clunky” side having not played for eight weeks.
Gerry Thornley, meanwhile, looks at the rise and rise of Galway club Corinthians whose youthful side – average age: 19 – is making quite an impression in the new All-Ireland League season, having been promoted in the last campaign.
In Gaelic games, it’s been a bitter sweet couple of days for All Ireland champions Kerry, Gordon Manning reporting on the decision of Declan Quill and Darragh Long to step down from their roles as joint managers of the women’s team less than two months after leading them to their first senior title since 1993. The pick-me-up came on Monday afternoon with the news that all 15 of their All-Ireland winning side had been included in the nominations for the 2024 TG4 All Stars.
It might seem like the 2024 men’s football Championship only ended a wet week ago, but the draw for the 2025 provincial championships takes place on ... Saturday. Gordon answers any questions you might have about it all, including: “Is there any point in the provincial championships these days?”
TV Watch: Champions League fans will be worn out from channel-hopping this evening – among the offerings: Borussia Dortmund v Celtic (Virgin Media Two and TNT Sports 2), Slovan Bratislava v Manchester City (Virgin Media More and TNT Sports 1) and Arsenal v PSG (Premier Sports 1), all kicking off at 8.0.
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