Rugby: World Cup
On a day billed as one of the biggest in the Irish sporting year, if not in Irish sporting history, it was Joe Schmidt's rugby team that took the bull by the horns and claimed a famous 24-9 victory over France in Cardiff to avoid the All-Blacks and set up a tie with Argentina in the playoffs.
But, unfortunately, it came at somewhat of a cost. That, most namely, is in the shape of Paul O'Connell. The Ireland captain is set to miss the remainder of the tournament after suffering a serious hamstring injury on the stroke of half-time. Yet more disappointing is the fact that O'Connell now looks to have played his last match for Ireland. Add to it the injuries sustained by Johnny Sexton, Peter O'Mahony and Keith Earls, and you wouldn't be incorrect in saying that it was a bittersweet night for Ireland in Cardiff.
But it was the fighting spirit and resilience of this Ireland side that shone through at the Millennium Stadium – exhibited no more so than by Rory Best. Both Best and winger Dave Kearney were quick to point out the hugely important role played by the Ireland bench in the win and those replacement players could again prove to be crucial next Sunday.
"One of the more eccentric Irish flags in Cardiff bore the message "There's a crane gone up in Carlow – the boom is back." We'll return to that in a moment. But on a famous day for Irish rugby, it was a human bulldozer from Carlow, not a crane, who epitomised the spirit that saw an Irish team humble a major European power for the second time this week" – that's the take of Frank McNally in Cardiff who put much of Ireland's win down to Sean O'Brien.
In his column today Liam Toland is full of praise for Joe Schmidt and points to Ireland's hard work on the training ground as being the key factor in yesterday's win.
Soccer: Euro qualifiers
Sadly Martin O'Neill's soccer team couldn't make it a historic sporting double for Ireland as his side were condemned to the Euro 2016 playoffs after a 2-1 defeat to Poland in Warsaw.
After the win over Germany on Thursday Ireland were quickly brought crashing down to earth by the harsh realities of the game – the disappointment compounded by the losses of John O'Shea and Jon Walters for the opening leg of the playoffs.
Ken Early looks at how Poland's main man, Robert Lewandowski, more than lived up to his star billing on a bitterly cold night in Warsaw.
“In international football, even more so than in the club game, world class individuals make all the difference. It was no surprise in the end that this match was decided by Lewandowski, the only world-class player on the field.”
Elsewhere, Ruaidhri Croke runs the rule over Martin O'Neill's side with his player ratings while Malachy Clerkin reflects on a thoroughly nervewracking day for Irish sports fans perched in front of the TV.
Boxing: World Championships
If not the soccer players then Ireland can always rely on its boxers to bring home success and this year’s World Championships in Doha have proved to be no different.
Michael Conlan was at his imperious best in beating Dzmitry Asanau of Belarus to reach the 56kg final and, with it, guarentee himself a at least a silver medal.
Things didn’t go as well for Michael O’Reilly, however. The Portlaoise middleweight lost out to Uzbekistan’s Bektemir Melikuziev in his semi-final and must now go through a third-place Olympic qualification box-off against Hosam Abdin of Egypt on Thursday.
Golf: British Masters
Shane Lowry's return to tournament play after a long absence continues to improve and yesterday he banked another €300,000 for his second place finish at the British Masters.
20-year-old Matthew Fitzpatrick got over the line to claim his first tour victory in what was a good week for the Irish contingent.
Both Paul Dunne and Niall Kearney finished well at Woburn while Graeme McDowell slipped back somewhat on the final day.
What to watch out for
Boxing: Joe Ward takes on Ishod Rasulov of Uzbekistan this evening as he attempts to follow Michael Conlan into the world final. RTE 2 from 7pm.
Soccer: The Euro 2016 qualifiers continue this evening with a number of games affecting possible playoff opponents for Ireland.
Sweden v Moldova, Austria v Lichtenstein and Russia v Montenegro kicks off the action on Sky Sports 1 at 5pm before Ukraine take on Spain, Belarus clash with Macedonia, Estonia welcome Switzerland, Luxembourg take on Slovakia and San Marino play Slovenia.
