The 2022 Cheltenham festival is underway today and Honesysuckle leads the Irish charge in the day one feature, the Champion Hurdle. Honeysuckle arrives at Prestbury Park with a perfect 14 race career in the bag and a second championship apparently hers for the taking. As Irish horses look to dominate again this weekend, Brian O'Connor explains: "a rivalry only works if both sides have a shout and the Anglo-Irish element has always been central to Cheltenham. For the festival's own sake, the home side needs to score more often." Follow the action on our Cheltenham Festival liveblog from 1pm on The Irish Times' sports page.
Manchester City's lead at the top of the Premier League table could be down to a single point if Liverpool win their upcoming game in hand against Arsenal - City were held to a goalless draw by Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park last night. Ralf Rangnick wants Manchester United fans to be the "12th and 13th player" tonight at Old Trafford as the club host Atlético Madrid for their Champions League last-16 second leg. In League of Ireland action last night, Grant Horton scrambled a late equaliser to earn Bohemians a draw against Shelbourne, Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers also ended all square, St Patrick's Athletic were 2-0 winners over UCD, Aidan Keena's hat-trick secured a 3-1 win for Sligo Rovers over Finn Harps and Derry City's Jamie McGonigle was the hero in their 2-0 win over Drogheda United.
In his column this morning (Subscriber Only) former referee Owen Doyle explains what happened to the Irish scrum in last weekend's Six Nations win over England: "One particular tactic is to get a slight nudge forward, continuing to move illegally at the engagement. Then Ellis Genge at loosehead, steps out and pushes across Tadgh Furlong; while Kyle Sinckler, on the far side, stops shoving. With the rest of the English pack following Genge around at speed, there isn't a scrum in the world which can resist that unlawful action, not even South Africa's." Gerry Thornley explains why a Triple Crown in France's slipstream would constitute a positive Six Nations for Ireland.
Meanwhile, Cameron Smyth's closing round 66 for a 13-under-par total of 275 at The Players Championship gave him the biggest win of his career on Monday. Shane Lowry's bid came undone early in his final round with bogeys on the third and sixth to put him on the back foot and into a position of playing an impossible game of catch-up in the weather-delayed flagship event on the PGA Tour.
