Whisper it quietly, but Ireland are on the brink of a World Cup semi-final. Today the women's hockey team take on India at London's Lee Valley with a place in the competition's last four on the line (6.0pm, RTÉ 2). And Graham Shaw's side can head into the fixture with plenty of confidence having already beaten today's opposition - as well as the USA - during the pool stages. The game represents Ireland's maiden World Cup quarter-final, and while the team have already comfortably met pre-tournament expectations by reaching the last-eight, they are set to go one better this evening. 10,600 supporters - mainly neutral - are expected to be in attendance as Ireland bid to make history. Ahead of the game, forward Katie Mullan said: "It's something that all of us have only ever dreamed of, so it's really exciting but also we are really focused and ready for it come Thursday evening." Mullan is one of an 18-strong squad whose professions range from students to motor racing engineers - Johnny Watterson has profiled the women bidding to make history.
The line-up for this year's All-Ireland SFC semi-finals will be decided this weekend, as the inaugural Super 8s reach their conclusion. Dublin and Galway have already booked their place in the last four, with Kerry, Monaghan, Donegal and Tyrone bidding to join them. And four of those sides have players who are one black card away from missing an All-Ireland semi-final or final, as Eamon Donoghue explains in today's GAA Statistics column. He writes: "Any player who receives three black cards within that year's league and championship campaign, three double yellow cards, three instances of a black card following a yellow card in a match, or any combination of the previous three will be suspended for one match." This means a black cloud is hanging over four players heading into the weekend - Dublin's Niall Scully, Kerry's Gavin Crowley, Monaghan's Barry Kerr and Galway's prodigious fullback Seán Andy Ó Ceallaighin. So far this summer there has been an average of one black card per Championship fixture - 61 awarded in 61 fixtures - meaning a big name suspension could await between now and September 2nd.
Mark Enright landed a sensational winner for Gordon Elliott in yesterday's Galway Plate, as Clarcam thrashed the field to the €250,000 feature. Earlier Enright had partnered Jessica Harrington's Rovetta to success in the Mares' Hurdle at 33-1 - giving him a staggering 1,155-1 double on the day. And after his plate victory Enright, who in 2015 had openly spoken about his struggles with depression, talked of a career revived. He said: "Around last Christmas the freelance thing wasn't working out for me so I approached Gordon at the races one day and asked for a job. Gordon's been brilliant to me. I go in there four or five mornings a week and he gives you so much confidence." Today's feature in an earlier card is the Galway Hurdle (4.35), in which JP McManus saddles nine of the 20 runners. However, Rachael Blackmore is currently favourite to land the race for John Joe Walsh aboard Davids Charm (7-1).
Celtic are through to the third Champions League qualifying round after they ground out a 0-0 draw away to Norwegian side Rosenborg last night, the Scottish champions emerging 3-1 on aggregate after first leg success at Parkhead. Rosenborg will now face Cork City in the third round of Europa League qualifying, with Dundalk aiming to join them when they take on AEK Larnaca tonight. Stephen Kenny's side travel to Cyprus on the back of a 0-0 draw at Oriel Park in the first leg.
The WGC-Bridgestone Invitational gets underway today - the last to be played at Akron before the tournament is rebranded and moved to Tennessee. Rory McIlroy tees off at 3.10pm Irish Time, while Tiger Woods - looking for a staggering ninth success in the competition - gets underway at 3.20pm (Irish Time).
And in today's Women in Sport section Ian O'Riordan has looked ahead to the European Athletics Championships and at Ireland's four female marathon contenders - Lizzie Lee, Laura Graham, Breege Connolly and Gladys Daniel - who with an average age of 38, will have experience on their side in Berlin.
