Ross Byrne is expected to be named at outhalf for his full Test debut against England on Saturday, with Jack Carty on the bench. Joe Schmidt will announce the Irish team for the warm-up game later today, but this morning Gerry Thornley has named his probable XV. Dan Leavy says he was "humbled" by the support and thoughtfulness shown to him following his horrific knee injury, and after a number of surgeries in London that included repairing his anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments, he's in the rehab process and it may take over a year. He told John O'Sullivan: "Everyone has said the surgeries went really well. Even in the window between my first and second surgery, I felt great. My knee felt great. I have full faith that I will back."
This morning's GAA Statistics column poses the question, could Jack Barry be the first to nullify Brian Fenton? "Kerry's last four clashes with Dublin have all been in the league – and in all of them Jack Barry has marked Fenton. The Kingdom have won two, drawn one, and lost the other. Barry has held Fenton to 0–1 across the four contests." Eamon Donoghue breaks how the Dublin midfielder is at his most dangerous during the final quarter, and why he is Dublin's most important player. Former Galway hurler Jeffrey Lynskey previously guided Galway to three minor All-Irelands in four years, before being succeeded by Brian Hanley, and both will also be considered a contender for the vacant Galway senior hurling manager position.
In her column this morning Sonia O'Sullivan is looking for a bit of grey in the black and white rule book regarding the curious case of Sinéad Kane and the 24-hour race. Kane has less than five per cent vision and as a result is in the visually impaired category. She would be running with a guide and this meant she could not run in the championship event: "It seems contradictory that Sinéad is allowed to compete in a number of qualifying events, achieve the qualifying standard yet not when it comes to the actual championship which is being held on a course that is not tight and could cope with just one pair running side by side. There should at least be more discussion and consideration to what appears to be an exception to the rule." Mark English had to settle for fourth in the 800m at the Morton Games in Santry last night, and Ian O'Riordan reports on an evening that was not for fast running in any event.
Meanwhile Eddie Nketiah came from the bench to fire Leeds back to the top of the Sky Bet Championship table on his league debut for the club last night. Read our championship round up here, on a night where Swansea and Fulham also continued their strong starts.
