Soccer
Ireland’s three-year unbeaten record at the Aviva Stadium was broken after last night’s international friendly was won 1-0 by Iceland.
Emmet Malone reports on a contest which never really took off: "Here, as usual after a friendly, you were left wondering whether anything justified the money or trouble from a paying spectator's point of view. Like the visitors' trademark "ThunderClap" you hoped that after a slow start it would gain a bit of momentum but, in truth, it rarely came to life really."
Ken Early believes that the display of the squad's second-string players shows that the talent pool is worryingly lacking in depth.
“Ireland learned that if most of their best players aren’t available again by the time they play Austria in June, their chances of getting to the World Cup are suddenly not looking so good.”
Not the ideal international break for the Irish; “One draw, one defeat, and a catastrophic injury”.
Rugby
In his column this morning Gordon D'Arcy explains why body language matters – even if you have to fake it.
“Talent is a distant relative of what’s needed when a game is in the balance. . . A huge element of controlling your body language is coping with mistakes. Subconscious gestures, hand or facial expressions – the slightest twitch – can be as simple as momentarily dropping your head after knocking the ball on.”
GAA
While Sean Moran's column discusses the Under-21 football championship - on it's last lap after 54 years – but it's race was already run he writes.
“Change creeps up slowly. This week we are watching the last ever provincial under-21 football finals in Munster and Leinster with the other provinces in the process of winding up in the weeks ahead.”
Tonight, Dublin take on Offaly in the Leinster final, Kerry and Cork meet in the Munster decider, and in Ulster the semi-finals see Donegal play Cavan and Derry play Armagh. The previews for those game are here.
Racing
Meanwhile Irish jockey Barry Geraghty will have to wait a few more days before finding out whether he will be given the all-clear to return to action in time for next week's Grand National meeting at Aintree.
