There was no little gloom and doom at the end of Ireland’s Six Nations campaign with, as Gordon D’Arcy notes, plenty of talk about the team now being in “a state of chaos”. But he argues that “Ireland are far from a crisis”, that there is a chance now “to take stock and move forward with clarity”.
The women’s team have had to take stock too in recent years after a slump in their Six Nations’ form, but after an encouraging year they go into Saturday’s opening game against France in Belfast with “new optimism”, Gerry Thornley talking to assistant coach Hugh Hogan about their prospects.
Gavin Cummiskey continues the build-up to the Republic of Ireland’s Nations League relegation play-off against Bulgaria, the first leg taking place tomorrow in Plovdiv. He talks to squad newcomer James Abankwah, while James McDermott looks back at the history of meetings between the two nations, Bulgaria the Irish Free State’s opponents in their first ever competitive match in 1924.
In Gaelic games, Seán Moran believes it’s high time to revisit the proposal, rejected two years ago, to scrap the football league finals. Simply award the title to the team that finishes top of the table and cut out a final that some counties aren’t all that sure they want to reach.
James Abankwah catches Hallgrímsson’s eye, and Ireland rugby team ‘far from a crisis’
Lord of the Rings: All you need to know about the race to become the next IOC president
Gerry Thornley’s Six Nations Team of the Tournament: Three Irish players make the cut
Leitrim’s forfeit to Fermanagh a symptom of a much greater ill in the GAA
Tyrone won’t be reaching the final this season after a mixed bag of a campaign, Gordon Manning talking to their goalkeeper Niall Morgan ahead of Sunday’s meeting with Dublin in Omagh. The Cork hurlers, though, will book their slot in the final if they can beat Galway on Saturday, thereby earning themselves a shot at their first Division One triumph in 27 years. Gordon hears from Patrick Horgan about the challenge of turning big performances into silverware.
In boxing, after no end of “bitter exchanges” between the International Olympic Committee and the International Boxing Association, there’s renewed hope that the sport will feature at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles after the IOC’s executive board recommended its inclusion. Good news for Ireland, it being our most successful Olympic sport? In his Q&A, Johnny Watterson explains why it’s not quite that straightforward.
And Ian O’Riordan looks at the race to become the next president of the IOC, “the most powerful position in global sport”, seven candidates putting themselves forward for tomorrow’s vote in Greece. The favourite to become “Lord of the Rings” is Sebastian Coe, but, as Ian points out, “the opaque election process and notoriously nebulous IOC politics leave plenty of scope for a surprise”.
TV Watch: There’s more from snooker’s Players Championship on ITV4 through the day (12.45-5.0, 6.45-10.15), and this evening there’s the last of the quarter-finals in the women’s Champions League - holders Barcelona take on Wolfsburg at 5.45 (TNT Sports 2 and DAZN) in a repeat of the 2023 final, and later there’s an all-English affair, Manchester City hosting Chelsea (TNT Sports 1 and DAZN, 8.0).
