A late David McGoldrick header rescued a point for the Republic of Ireland in their Euro 2020 qualifier against Switzerland last night. Ken Early was at the Aviva, and he explains how with Mick McCarthy in charge, Roy Keane in the headlines, and a draw against Switzerland – it felt like little had changed: "Ireland's retro football might not make the Euro 2020 cut but on Thursday night it was enough to earn our traditional result and send the crowd home happy." After scoring his first international goal, McGoldrick is one of the top performers in Ruaidhrí Croke's player ratings, you can read them all here.
Joe Schmidt named a near full strength Ireland team for Saturday's final Rugby World Cup warm up match against Wales at the Aviva - Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray, Robbie Henshaw and Keith Earls all return to the starting XV. While South African Jean Kleyn has been named in the secondrow. In his column this morning, Liam Toland writes that Ireland need Kleyn whether you like it or not: "I watched lots of matches last season and have consistently noted the value of Kleyn to Munster's progression. They are a different team with him in it. He is pure dog in all the places you wouldn't put your family pet." A tropical cyclone heading for Tokyo has brought into focus the potential disruption at the Rugby World Cup in Japan with the prospect of cancelled games causing havoc in the pool stage. In the event of a pool match being cancelled tournament rules state that both teams will be awarded two points – effectively rendering the result a 0-0 draw.
While Kerry and Dublin are preparing for Saturday week's All-Ireland football final replay, the rest of the teams in the country are getting their house in order for 2020. Sean Moran explains there are just five vacancies left in the list of county football managers for the coming year. To date there has been a small reduction in the number of outside managers with seven as opposed to eight appointed so far but that may rise when the remaining vacancies have been filled. Football's managerial merry-go-round is on its final spin.
Meanwhile Steve Smith continues to dominate this Ashes series and his double ton put Australia in control on day two of the fourth Test at Old Trafford: "It is that man again. Currently he averages 147.25 in the series and the parallels with Bradman are no longer delivered with a wry grin. Steve Smith has done it again."
