Golf: British Open
In the absence of World number One Rory McIlroy the spotlight falls heavily on young Jordan Spieth ahead of today's opening day of the British Open.
The 21-year-old winner of the US Masters in April and the US Open last month is fully set to take centre stage as the 144th Open gets under way on the Old Course, without its defending champion.
With heavy rain and strong winds forecast for the week the American says; “I understand that there’s a possibility for a lot to be dependent on the draw for the first two days, at least for a few strokes. It doesn’t mean you can’t make it up if you get the bad end of it, but it will be harder.”
Shane Lowry carries much of the Irish hope and in his column in today's Irish Times he explain what would be a good week for him; "Genuinely, I probably wouldn't be happy unless I have left here with a chance to win. Golf's a funny game. You could come second and you'd be leaving disappointed, or you could shoot 65 in the last round to finish second and you'd be leaving delighted..."
Soccer: Champions League
They may have tasted defeat in Belarus on Wednesday night but Dundalk will host BATE Borisov in the second leg of their Champions League qualifier at Oriel Park next week fully confident of turning the tie around after a fine display.
Their 2-1 defeat leaves them with a crucial away goal and a fine opportunity of upsetting the odds.
There's little in the way of surprises, or creative thinking in the shortlist for this year's Best Player in Europe - it's completely dominated by the two sides that met in the Champions League final last month with Barcelona and Juventus taking eight of the 10 places available. The other two contenders for the award are Chelsea's Eden Hazard and of course last year's winner, Ronaldo.
Everton manager Roberto Martínez says Irish international James McCarthy is not for sale at any price after Manchester City showed an interest in signing his young midfielder.
City want to bolster their stock of homegrown players after failing to sign Fabian Delph from Aston Villa. McCarthy is a similar fit in the middle of the park but Martinez says “we’re not in a position where we have to sell to balance the books and want to create a winning team.”
GAA: Under-21 hurling
2012,2013 and 2014 All-Ireland champions Clare continue to set the bench mark for Under-21 hurling, with thirteen Bobby Duggan points helping them past a fancied Waterford and into their fourth Munster Under-21 hurling final in a row last night.
Ahead of the Connacht football final on Sunday Sligo have a bit of a kickout conundrum to resolve. The decision to deploy young forwards Cian Breheny and Niall Murphy at midfield may have turned around their season but after losing 83 per cent of the opposition kickouts in the semi-final can they afford to ignore their aerial weakness again, against Aidan O'Shea and co.
Cycling: Tour de France
Dan Martin finished fourth on stage three and then second on stage eight last week, and he went agonisingly close to a Tour de France stage victory once again on the 11th stage of the race yesterday.
The Irish climber put in a solo pursuit of the Polish rider Rafal Majka towards the end of the most difficult stage thus far, but while he was closing in on him he ran out of time and crossed the line one minute back in Cauterets.
“We just wanted to show we were still in the race. It was a dark day yesterday (Tuesday’s stage to La Pierre Saint-Martin) for the whole team,” he said at the finish.
What to watch out for:
Day one of the British Open at St Andrews is live on Setanta and BBC, you can also stay up to date with our Live Blog which is already underway.
BBC 2, 9am-8pm
Setanta, 9am-8pm
The second Ashes Test is underway at Lord’s this afternoon, with England hoping to build don their first test victory .
Sky Sports 2 from 10am
Tour de France Stage 12: To Plateau de Beille
TG4, 10.05am-4.20pm
The second Munster hurling semi-final is again live on TG4 tonight too, Limerick versus Tipperary.
TG4 from 7.15pm
