
Indo Sport podcast: Ken Doherty Snooker's newest star The reality of match-fixing
Former World Champion Ken Doherty joins Joe to recap that historic triumph, the scintillating play which made it possible, and the context of the match-fixing case which cast a shadow over his earlier career.
The lads also discuss the styles of play which flourish in the modern game, the potential staying power of elder statesmen like Mark Williams & Ronnie O'Sullivan, and whether the tournament's future will remain in Sheffield.
If you'd like to get in touch with the show, email us at indosportpodcast@independent.ie.
You can subscribe to our dedicated Indo Sport YouTube page here.
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Irish Examiner
5 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
'It went from my least favorite major to my favorite' - Rory McIlroy's mind sharpens as Oakmont looms
Plans and targets, goals and motivations, the driving why, the guiding north star. Rory McIlroy, it is clear, doesn't really have any of the above right now. Not like he had them before April 13, anyway. But eight-plus weeks of shrugging and pausing and pensive pondering, hasn't stopped McIlroy being pressed on all of the above either. Tuesday at Oakmont was another such occasion. In its setting and presentation it's a pre-tournament press conference but for the post-Augusta 2025 version of McIlroy, such things have become something else. Lifestyle therapy session meets corporate job interview meets high-performance podcast. Interspersed between the enquiries around his driver, the devilish rough around Oakmont and strength versus length, McIlroy was pushed on a 'five-year plan for this next phase of Rory' and 'resetting difficulties' and 'regaining motivation' in his professional life. The tone is such that McIlroy might swivel in his chair and see he was in fact joined at the top table by fellow panellists such as Tony Robbins or Marie Kondo. The Japanese organisational guru may love mess. McIlroy doesn't. But on the course things have been messy since the Masters. Last week in Toronto they were a holy show. This week, Oakmont's wild fringes are primed to make a shambles of US Open scorecards for those who aren't completely locked in. That's something McIlroy knows this all too well. In between the pauses and deep-ish thoughts, he revealed that he needed back-to-back closing birdies to avoid carding an 81 during a practice session at the Pittsburgh course last week. Tuesday's nine-hole tune-up alongside Shane Lowry, the friends setting off at first light, had thankfully gone a good bit better. But back to that five-year plan? "I don't have one,' McIlroy replied. 'I have no idea.' At Augusta McIlroy lifted 11 years of slow-seeping existential dread. Then he lifted a replica of the clubhouse and put on a green jacket. Since, he's not had so much as a five-day plan. Last weekend, when a first missed cut of the year gave him unexpected time off, he spent some of it playing tennis with Harry Diamond. Hobbies are more important to him now. He's been travelling with the family too. Motivations, quirky things at the best of times, have changed. It was striking that after McIlroy left the interview room, Bryson DeChambeau followed him in. The tone was…different. The reigning champion, who held strong when McIlroy imploded at Pinehurst last year, was asked about his motivations. "Doing it for the fans, patrons and the people that are viewing myself on YouTube,' DeChambeau replied. 'That's really what gets me up in the morning.' More YouTube then, Rory. Yet the McIlroy mind has sharpened. Landing in to the week of a tournament which 'went from probably my least favorite major to probably my favorite because of what it asks from you' does that. 'I think it's [about] trying to have a little bit of amnesia and forget about what happened six weeks ago,' McIlroy said. 'I worked incredibly hard on my game from October last year all the way up until April this year. It was nice to sort of see the fruits of my labour come to fruition and have everything happen. You have to enjoy that. 'At some point, you have to realize that there's a little bit more golf left to play this season: here, Portrush, Ryder Cup. Those are obviously the three big things that I'm looking at.' Oakmont wasn't kind to him in 2016. It kicked off a run of three-straight missed US Open cuts. Since, he has six top-10s in a row with back-to-back second-place finishes. To extend that run, many things have to be fixed. But first thing's first. The opening tee shot and the biggest club in the bag which will be used to hit it. Having quickly returned to Florida from Toronto Friday, McIlroy was asked what he had learned at home? 'I learned that I wasn't using the right driver,' he replied to laughter. During his back nine practice with Lowry, McIlroy used a TaylorMade Qi10 driver. That was the model he swung to success at the Masters only to see his favoured one fail a compliance test prior to the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. Since then things have been far from reliable as he cycled between replacements and the Qi35 model which let him down in Canada. 'Every driver has its own character and you're trying to manage the misses,' McIlroy said. 'As the last few weeks go, I learnt a lot on Thursday and Friday last week and did a good bit of practice at home and feel like I'm in a better place with everything going into this week.' Asked how big an impact it had made at Quail Hollow not to have his 'gamer' driver, McIlroy pointed to the eventual winner: 'it wasn't a big deal for Scottie, so it shouldn't have been a big deal for me.' On Tuesday morning he found some fairways. The course had mercifully been giving a soaking since the week before. 'There's definitely been a little bit of rain since. Last Monday felt impossible. I birdied the last two holes for 81. It didn't feel like I played that bad,' he said. "I'm glad we have spotters up there because I played last Monday and you hit a ball off the fairway and you were looking for a good couple of minutes just to find it. It's very penal if you miss. "But the person with the most patience and the best attitude this week is the one that's going to win.'


Irish Independent
14 hours ago
- Irish Independent
McIlroy's form, Lowry's Oakmont history and Scheffler v the field
Joe is joined by Conor McKeon and Brian Keogh to preview this week's US Open as Scottie Scheffler looks to continue his dominant run of form.


Irish Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
GAA club selling commemorative Shane MacGowan jerseys ahead of All-Ireland clash
A GAA Club is flogging commemorative Shane MacGowan jerseys ahead of Tipperary's clash with Laois in the All-Ireland quarter finals. Priced at €54, Shannon Rovers GAA Club are selling the blue and yellow jerseys, with the late Pogues singer's face emblazoned across the bottom. In a statement on their Facebook page, Shannon Rovers GAA Club wrote: 'We have had a lot of people looking to get their hands on the Tipperary Shane MacGowan Commemorative jerseys as Tipp enter the All-Ireland series next weekend. 'Hopefully we will get a few days out in Croke Park and an opportunity to wear our commemorative jerseys. 'To answer the call, we will now be selling our jerseys in a number of locations from this Monday coming. Check out the poster for more info. "We will also have a pop up shop for one day only in Nenagh (beside Easons) on Saturday June 14th. Please note stock is limited! 'As always you can still order online through our web-shop. Alan Tynan, O' Reilly Sports and of course the Tipperary senior hurling team are showing off the commemorative jersey in the image.' Shane's sister Siobhan also backed the initiative. She recently opened up in a YouTube documentary called The Local about Shane's love for Tipperary and how Ireland 'shaped' his identity. She said Shane – who died in November 2023 – found Ireland's way of life much easier to live in. She said: 'I think if Shane would describe his connection to Nenagh in Tipperary to people that he just had loved them since he was a child like you know, I think that Shane's connection to Tipperary and Ireland in general, really shaped Shane's identity, because when we were in England, dad made it very clear to us that we were Irish. 'We weren't brought up as English, so we had a lot of Irish culture in England, even so, between music and books and the culture exposed to at home. 'But when Shane came over to Ireland, I think he really fit in. He found the way of life much easier. 'He didn't like the strictness in school, I suppose, everywhere, but the schools in England were very strict. Life was more strict, more structured, more ordered. And he actually loved the freedom of Tipperary and the easiness of the Irish people.'