Soccer: Internationals
Keith Duggan writes from Lansdowne Road yesterday on the dull affair that was Ireland and England.
“O’Neill learned little from this: he already knows that Seamus Coleman is among the nimblest full backs in English football, that Glenn Whelan can mix it comfortably with the jazzier midfield names and that Robbie Keane may have to line out for Ireland until he is 50 if the plan is to score more goals.”
Brian Kerr echoes those sentiments but feels that O’Neill will have gained from the friendly and that Wes Hoolahan and Aiden McGeady will be the key men in Saturday’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Scotland.
GAA: Championship 2015
Waterford continue to put it up to the sceptics as their remarkable run shows no signs of stopping. Maurice Shanahan scored 1-9 as the Déise beat Cork by four points at Semple Stadium to book their place in the Munster final.
Malachy Clerkin writes about Derek McGrath’s side and what it will take to stop their current run.
“They did it after a nervous start, they did it without the free-taking crutch of Pauric Mahony. What else can they do? Are you willing to take a stab at what they can’t?”
In a much more dull affair at Celtic Park Derry edged Down by a point to reach the Ulster Championship quarter-final. They now await the winners of Donegal and Armagh who meet next week.
Tennis: French Open
Despite being priced at 5/1 before yesterday’s French Open final Stan Wawrinka stunned Novak Djokovic with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 victory to win his second grand slam title.
Wawrinka struck nine aces and three double faults with 60 clean winners. That was twice as many as Djokovic, as was his €1.8m winner’s purse.
Soccer: Fifa scandal
Emmet Malone writes that the man trusted with overseeing the reform of Fifa has claimed that Russia and Qatar could lose the rights to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups if evidence of bribery in the bidding process is found.
Domenico Scala was speaking to a Swiss newspaper when he made the comments. Also in the article is Jose Mourinho’s take on the deal made between the FAI and Fifa.
Rugby: Leinster
Kurt McQuilkin has stepped down as head coach with his home province in New Zealand, King Country Rams, to take up the two-month contract as a defence coach with Leinster.
Golf: PGA Tour
Overnight, Sweden’s David Lingmerth chased down Justin Rose at the top of The Memorial leaderboard in Dublin, Ohio before beating the Englishman in a playoff to claim his first PGA Tour title.
Tiger Woods bettered his Saturday score of 85 by 11 shots but still finished bottom of the leaderboard on his own after two double bogeys in his last four holes.
Golf: European Tour
In Sweden the galleries were rewarded with a home winner as Alexander Noren cruised to a four shot win at the Nordea Masters.
Noren played just two tournaments in 2014 due to tendonitis in both wrists but proved that he is very much back to his best with an impressive performance at the windswept PGA Sweden National.
What to watch out for:
Day three of the Women’s World Cup gets underway in Canada when Sweden take on Nigeria at 9.00pm. After that Cameroon play Ecuador at midnight while the USA and Australia clash a half an hour later.
Eurosport from 8.45pm and BBC2 from 11.50pm.
