Galway were crowned All-Ireland senior champions yesterday in Croke Park, but camogie was the real winner. The two teams' combined total of 3-31 made it the highest scoring final since 1988 in front of a healthy crowd of 24,703, the highest ever for a standalone final. Earlier Westmeath won the intermediate decider and Malachy Clerkin explains why Joe Dolan's finest - The Westmeath Bachelor wasn't the best choice of song to be played in their honour. Ahead of next Saturday's football final replay - Keith Duggan asks has spontaneity been coached out of the Dublin forwards?

The nerves are setting in for Irish head coach Joe Schmidt as the big event approaches - their are 13 days until Ireland's Rugby World Cup opener against Scotland. After Saturday's final warm-up match victory over Wales, Liam Toland writes that a determined looking Ireland were more like their best (Subscriber only): "Last Saturday's story centres on lineout management and spatial awareness feeding into the question – where are Ireland on their World Cup preparation cycle?"

In his column this morning Ken Early gives his opinion on why Irish soccer is stuck in a timewarp: "When Irish football fans think about the World Cups of 1990 or 2002, we're like elderly Brexiteers remembering the good old days before the empire dissolved and the sterling was decimalised and their knees started to make that awful crunching sound whenever they get up." As Northern Ireland prepare for tonight's Euro 2020 qualifier showdown with Germany at Windsor Park, their captain Steven Davis says the weight of expectation was on their opponents.

Meanwhile England will head to the Oval this week hoping to restore some pride after Australia retained the Ashes on Sunday. The hosts' battling rearguard in the fourth Test ultimately fell short as Australia claimed a hard-fought 185-run victory at Old Trafford to take a 2-1 lead in the series. As holders, that is enough for the tourists to retain the urn regardless of the result of the final Test in London.