Emmet Malone in Paris
The European Championships start tomorrow and today the Republic of Ireland will hold their first training session on French soil ahead of Monday’s opener against Sweden at the Stade de France.
But while the continent gears up for the football party of the year, a darker cloud looms over the tournament. Emmet Malone is on the ground in France, he writes: "Security, and the underlying threat of an attack, is, of course, the bigger issue for visitors.
“Organisers have made another plea for fans to show up very early for games in order to avoid the sort of problems encountered at the French Cup final a few weeks ago. That game was used as a dry run for Euro 2016 games - with decidedly disappointing results.”
Football feast on the box
With 24 teams at the tournament this time round a football feast awaits us, writes Mary Hannigan: "So, this time around we have a whole extra week in front of the telly, 51 games over 31 days, which amounts to 4,590 minutes, plus added time, of football on our screens, so long as you record the clashing matches and watch them later."
Jared Payne to start at fullback
Joe Schmidt will name his Ireland side for Saturday's opening Test against South Africa at 1pm today, and Jared Payne is set to start at fullback in the absence of Rob Kearney and Simon Zebo, allowing Robbie Henshaw to continue in midfield.
Sonia O’Sullivan
In her column today Sonia O'Sullivan looks at the issue of intersex athletes such as Caster Semenya and their higher levels of testosterone, she writes: "It's through no fault of their own that these athletes have been born with more male genes and hormones than female; but this doesn't mean they can simply be classified as women, and allowed to take part in women's events."
GAA Statistics
Elsewhere in today's GAA statistics column Eamon Donoghue writes that Monaghan's win over Down reemphasised the enduring importance in football of winning breaking ball.
What to watch out for:
Cricket
England play Sri Lanka in the third and final Test of the series at Lord’s. (SS2 11am)
Golf
Paul Dunne is among the Irish in action in the Lyoness Open in Austria (SS4 from 10am)
And Padraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell are both in the field at the St Jude Classic (SS4 10.30pm)
