It’s been a successful few days for two of our international rugby teams, Emerging Ireland getting their tour of South Africa off to a winning start on Wednesday by beating the Pumas in Bloemfontein. John O’Sullivan brings you all the details from a game that saw Ireland run in six tries in a 36-24 victory. And having helped themselves to a stunner of a win over New Zealand in the WVX1 tournament, the senior Irish women’s team is now preparing for Saturday’s meeting with Canada. As Muireann Duffy points out, that won’t be a walk in the park either – the Canadians are ranked second in the world. But, need it be said, confidence is high in the Irish camp.
Confidence might well be at the other end of the scale in the Munster camp after that defeat by Zebre last weekend, leaving them in severe need of a big performance when Ospreys visit on Saturday. Johnny Watterson hears from Tadhg Beirne ahead of the game, Munster’s new captain determined to lead by example on and off the field.
In Gaelic games, Gordon Manning reports on hurling’s managerial merry-go-round, with three leading names having moved dressingrooms in advance of the 2025 campaign – Darren Gleeson, Davy Fitzgerald and Micheál Donoghue. Not surprisingly, Kieran McGeeney is staying put in Armagh having led them to only their second ever All-Ireland football title in July. As Ciarán Murphy notes, the unanimous support he received from club delegates was in contrast to a year ago when a few had their doubts about him remaining in the role.
Shamrock Rovers begin their Uefa Conference League group campaign in Tallaght this evening against Apoel Nicosia, and it could prove to be a highly lucrative one. “They have already received €3 million for making it this far,” writes Gavin Cummiskey, with plenty more loot up for grabs if they can pick up a couple of wins. On the international front, Will Smallbone is set to miss Ireland’s upcoming Nations League games against Finland and Greece.
Muireann has news of an increase in funding for Sport Ireland, “including more than €1 million in extra funds for high-performance programmes”, while David Gorman and Phil Casey preview the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship which gets under way today. The pro-am event will feature “the key figures in golf’s civil war”, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan in the same group as Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund – which bankrolls LIV Golf. Oh to be a fly on the wall.
TV Watch: Sky Sports has live coverage of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (12pm-5pm), Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, Padraig Harrington and Tom McKibbin among those in the field. Later, Premier Sports 2 brings us Shamrock Rovers’ Conference League game against Apoel Nicosia (8pm), while in the Europa League Spurs are away to Ferencváros (Premier Sports 1 & TNT Sports 2, 5.45pm) and Porto are at home to minnows Manchester United (Premier Sports 1 and TNT Sports 1, 8pm).
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