Bolton Wanderers' 18 year-old Luca Connell will not follow the path of Declan Rice and Jack Grealish, because his grandmother Margaret Simpson wouldn't allow it. One minute on the pitch for the Liverpoudlian in either of the Republic of Ireland's Euro qualifiers next month, more likely against Gibraltar than the preceding trip to Denmark, would prevent another dual-eligibility saga. The 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be a 32-team tournament as originally planned, after the world governing body dropped plans to increase it to 48 teams.
In this week's GAA Statistics column, Eamon Donoghue explores how and why Dublin have been falling short in the Leinster round robin series despite being the provinces's best team after 50 minutes: "In their two matches thus far in the 2019 championship, they've converted 1-9 from a possible 3-17 in the final 20 minutes. That's a scoring efficiency rate of 46 per cent at the most decisive stage of the match." Donegal's Ryan McHugh has had to think about whether his experience with concussion might force him to change his style of play - he was sidelined for 10 weeks after back-to-back concussions towards the end of last summer.
Former rugby Test referee Owen Doyle writes that not enough is being done for player welfare: "If anyone proposed a draft law that resembled the situation currently being allowed it would read like a licence to assault." Gavin Cummiskey believes that James Ryan's statistics show he is as a backrow in lock's clothing: "Ryan's numbers soar over the backrowers, mainly because he is not one of them. In Newcastle he carried 19 times for 21 metres and made 19 tackles. Compare that to Seán O'Brien's 12 carries for one metre and 12 tackles."
Meanwhile in her column this morning (Subscriber Only), Sonia O'Sullivan explains why female athletes must remember that sponsorships are a privilege. She is writing after reading and listening to American 800m runner Alysia Montaño voice her complaints about the treatment of female athletes by certain shoe companies whenever the athlete decides to take time out to have a baby; "whenever an athlete's circumstances change, such as when a female athlete decides to have a baby, they must be willing to compromise . . ."
