Soccer: Champions League
Manchester United are on the cusp of a return to the Champions League, with Belgian side Club Brugge standing between them and a place in the group stages.
Two wins from two in the Premier League means Louis van Gaal's team come into tonight's first leg qualifier game with steady momentum already gained. Nonetheless two 1-0 wins, and two less than convincing attacking performances have mounted the pressure on the Dutch man.
In his pre-match press conference yesterday he took issue with recent criticism of his captain and striker Wayne Rooney, and of questions asked about the opportunities afforded to young talent Adnan Januzaj. Nonetheless, another win tonight and Louis will no doubt be back laughing again.
Back in the Premier League though and Liverpool continued their winning start to the season against Bournemouth at Anfield. Christian Benteke grabbed the winner on his home debut, a contentious effort which should have been ruled out for offside. Nevertheless Liverpool now head to the Emirates next weekend with two wins under their belt.
League of Ireland
Damien Duff made his Shamrock Rovers debut last night against Cork City, helping them to a 3-0 win that puts them notionally in the driving seat to take second place and on the evidence of their display, they might even retain hopes of doing even better.
GAA: Championship
“I do feel that Dublin unveiled a system in the Leinster semi-final against Kildare and it was obvious they’d an awful lot of work done over a long period. We know they’ve engaged a basketball coach, Mark Ingle, with a view to developing their structure – how you pass people on, pushing up on your man, dropping off your man and defending the D. You’ve got to conclude that Dublin have more work done on this than Mayo. Then again I’m not in the Mayo dressing-room.”
Jim McGuinness is looking at Dublin versus Mayo and giving his expert views on who might just edge it.
Rugby: World Cup
Gerry Thornley is discussing the mercurial French this morning and why they are the major obstacle to Irish World Cup hopes.
He says this may well be the strongest and fittest French squad ever sent to a World Cup, following six weeks of intensive training, which incorporated a week-long camp in Tignes in the Alps, with 70 per cent of their focus heretofore on fitness, weights, strength and speed.
Number 10 remains France’s most problematic position. The expectation is either François Trinh-Duc or Frederic Michalak will be culled. And Ireland will hope to exploit any weakness they can.
Golf: Amateur
Ireland's trio of US Amateur Championship contenders last night finished inside the top 64 who will qualify for the matchplay stage - doing so in less than spectacular fashion.
A one-over 71 for Greystones’ Paul Dunne and two-over 72s for West Waterford’s Maynooth University graduate Gary Hurley and Ardglass’ Cormac Sharvin did not result in calls from the local press to hold the back page.
“The goal is just to get to take it one day at a time and get into the matchplay, which is a lottery,” said an optimistic Dunne.
Racing
Hopes for greater global harmonisation of racing's interference rules are unlikely to be realised anytime soon according to Horse Racing Ireland's chief executive Brian Kavanagh.
The issue of different regulatory rules in different countries was highlighted again at the weekend when Secret Gesture was disqualified from first in the Grade One Beverly D Stakes after causing minimal interference that wouldn’t have resulted in demotion in either Ireland or Britain.
“There are fundamental differences for instance between the rules in Ireland and Britain compared to France. It goes back to a different culture.”
What to watch out for:
Manchester United versus Club Brugge is live from Old Trafford on TV3, kick-off time 7.45pm.
TV3 from 7.30pm
Elsewhere in the Champions League qualifying rounds is the, somewhat, heavyweight clash of Lazio and Bayern Leverkusen.
Setanta from 7.30pm
