Ireland's cricketers enjoyed a dream first day at Lord's yesterday, as they bowled out hapless hosts England for just 85 before moving into a 122-run first innings lead in their maiden Test match at the home of cricket. Tim Murtagh - who plies his trade at Lord's for Middlesex - did the damage for the tourists, using his military medium pace to great effect as he took a stunning 5-13 to leave Joe Root's side reeling. Having won the toss Root elected to bat on a green pitch, with next week's first Ashes Test against Australia at Edgbaston in mind. And the hosts were soon in disarray, with Murtagh and Mark Adair reducing them to 43-7, before they were eventually dismissed for 85 off just 23.4 overs. Ireland's response got off to a strong start, with Andrew Balbirnie (55) and Paul Stirling (36) guiding their side to 132-2. However England fought back in the late afternoon sun, with debutant Olly Stone among the wickets as Ireland collapsed to 207 all out - a lead of 122. England will resume on 0-0 at 11am this morning, with temperatures as high as 38 degrees expected in London.
Elsewhere in today's GAA Statistics column Eamon Donoghue has looked at the number of players in the football championship who are walking a disciplinary tightrope heading into the final round of the Super 8s - a relatively low figure compared to previous seasons. Indeed, Tyrone's Peter Harte is the only player who is running the risk of missing an All-Ireland semi-final due to a black card suspension. In total, the number of black cards shown during this year's championship is lower than in previous seasons: "A count of 47 in 63 gives an average of 0.74 per match. That's well down on the 2018 match average of 0.94; in 2017 there were 69 handed out in 63 matches (average of 1.09 per match), in 2016 80 were shown in 65 encounters (1.23 cards per match) and in 2015 it was 1.02 per match with 64 shown in 63 matches."
Dundalk will head to Baku with plenty to play for next week after they fought their way to a 1-1 draw with Qarabag in the first leg of their Champions League play-off at Oriel Park last night. Vinny Perth's side got off to the worst possible start as the Azerbaijani visitors took the lead after four minutes through Mahir Emreli. However the Irish champions dug in and equalised in the 78th minute through Pat Hoban's header, keeping the tie alive ahead of next week's second leg. Elsewhere Celtic are all but through to the next round of qualifiers after they thrashed Talinn's Nomme Kalju 5-0 at Parkhead, with the returning Leigh Griffiths on the scoresheet.
The Ryder Cup is set to return to Ireland, with Adare Manor set to be confirmed at the venue for the 2026 competition later this morning. It will be just the second time the Ryder Cup has been held in Ireland, following Europe's famous victory at the K Club in 2006.
And Ireland Under-19s saw their European Championship dream ended by a classy Portugal side in Yerevan yesterday, with Tom Mohan's side left to rue their early profligacy as they were beaten 4-0 by the defending champions, who progress to a second-consecutive final.
