
Meath hoping to give Dublin as good a game as Cork gave to Kerry
A week ago, Darragh Ó Sé 'couldn't make an argument for Cork getting anywhere close' to beating Kerry in their Munster championship meeting on Saturday, so today he's doffing his cap to them for taking the game in to extra-time. '
It was great to see some of that old fire back in the Cork bellies
,' he writes, having a notion that the team being written off helped put it there. The challenge now, though, is to kick on and prove that they don't need to see the Kerry jersey to keep that fire burning.
Another of football's great rivalries has been a wholly one-sided affair over the last 15 years, it being that long since Meath last beat Dublin. '
If it's not yet a dead rivalry, then it's certainly a dormant one
,' writes Gordon Manning in the build-up to Sunday's game in Portlaoise, which will be the first Dublin-Meath championship fixture outside Croke Park since 1980.
Seán Moran, meanwhile, has been reading through a discussion paper published last week, the subject the effect on Gaelic players' mental health when they're competing in
'an amateur sport in a professional context'
. The findings are stark, but Seán notes that the paper is based on data gathered in 2018 and wonders if matters have improved since then, particularly with the introduction of the split season.
In soccer, there is yet more upheaval at the FAI with the announcement on Tuesday that
Marc Canham is quitting his role as their chief football officer
. His three-year reign was an eventful and not altogether successful one, that 231-day search for a successor to Stephen Kenny especially shambolic.
READ MORE
In rugby,
Gordon D'Arcy wonders what impact Rieko Ioane will have for Leinster
when he arrives in November on a seven-month contract, attack coach
Tyler Bleyendaal looking forward to working with the New Zealander
. But his focus, he tells John O'Sullivan, is on this season's challenges, next up Scarlets in the URC on Saturday.
Connacht and Ulster both face South African opposition as they attempt to keep their top-eight hopes alive, Linley MacKenzie talking to Cullie Tucker ahead of
Connacht's game away to the Lions
, Michael Sadlier hearing from Richie Murphy whose
injury-ravaged Ulster
side host the Sharks.
And in golf, Philip Reid is
counting down to Royal Portrush hosting The Open
in July, when a record crowd of 278,000 spectators will attend the championship, but a lot of work needs to be done before Portmarnock gets the chance to become the first course outside the UK to host the sport's oldest Major.
TV Watch
: There's more coverage of snooker's world championships on BBC1, BBC Four and TNT Sports through the day and evening. At 8.0, Arsenal play Crystal Palace in the Premier League (Sky Sports) and Inter Milan meet AC Milan in the second leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final (Premier Sports 2).
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RTÉ News
an hour ago
- RTÉ News
Dublin hurlers need to keep foot down to find consistency
Dublin can be hurl as well as anybody at their best but need to find consistency, admits Daire Gray. The Dubs face surprise Joe McDonagh Cup champions Kildare in an All-Ireland SHC preliminary quarter-final in Newbridge on Saturday. Dublin did have a chance to reach the Leinster final for the second year in succession but were beaten by Galway in their last group game, 0-29 to 3-15. As in their four-point defeat to Kilkenny, the Dubs let the winners build up a big lead but finished strongly with two goals in the closing stages. "When we are [like that], anyone takes a step back," defender Gray told RTÉ Sport of the late rally against Galway. "When we're doing the things we talk about all the time, when we're playing our game the way we want to play it, you'd be very proud of the group. "We have a few results to show for it. I suppose there's a couple of things that have been left behind us, but when the group's at its best, it's some feeling you're part of it. "It's just about getting that the whole time, going into the end of the championship. The teams that are on top at the moment, they've probably put performances in as consistently as anybody, and they have something to show for it. "I think we saw at the weekend there [ Kilkenny's Leinster final win over Galway ], and even throughout the group stages that if you take the foot off, you'll know about it very shortly. We were a victim to that as well. But it's just so relentless out there, you just have to be on it the whole time." Dublin will be favoured to set up a quarter-final meeting with Munster runners-up Limerick but Gray is aware they are travelling to a Kildare side on the rise. "It's a huge challenge ahead of us there, and it's one we're really looking forward to. "Not every county is gearing up going training this week. We're very privileged to be in this position." Niall Ó Ceallacháin is in his first season with the Dubs since leading Na Fianna to the club All-Ireland title but Gray insists there has been an easy adjustment under the county's first native manager in seven years. "Niall made it his business to make sure that it was seamless and that we hit the ground running and we did," said the Whitehall Colmcille man. "He was part of the Na Fianna set up and the Dublin set up at the same time so you see he's just hurling mad. "When you see your management team bringing that passion, that drive and that ambition it comes right down to the players and we can all feel it. "We have David Curtin from Ballyboden St Enda's. He's as passionate a Dublin hurling man as I've ever seen.


Irish Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Update on Tadhg Furlong's Lions tour hopes - Andy Farrell on Finlay Bealham call
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Irish Independent
2 hours ago
- Irish Independent
‘It actually welled me up' – Andy Farrell reveals emotional phone conversation with Finlay Bealham for late Lions call
Glasgow Warriors tight head Fagerson has been ruled out of the summer tour to Australia by a calf problem. The news of Fagerson's withdrawal came a day before the squad – minus those involved in the Gallagher Premiership and United Rugby Championship finals – headed out to Portugal for a training camp. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review your details and accept them to load the content Farrell, though, accepts such situations are part of the game, with the group now looking to sharpen focus towards a warm-up fixture against Argentina in Dublin on June 20. 'It is heartbreaking, but at the same time, he (Fagerson) is a realist. All rugby players know that's the game,' Farrell told Sky Sports. 'He will work unbelievably hard to get himself fit and who knows what's going to happen down the track.' We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. On Connacht's Bealham being added to the squad, Farrell said: 'Finlay has been called up in his place and he is in good form. He is very good at what he does. 'He was certainly right up there in the conversation from the very start as well, and he would have been disappointed not to make the group. 'So we just know he will be a great fit for the group going forward. He is the only conversation that I was able to have because of the way we did the squad announcement. 'By giving him a phone call and telling him he was selected within the squad, unfortunately for Zander, but it was one of the best phone conversations I have ever had. 'The emotion that went through the phone actually welled me up. It was great to be able to do that.' ADVERTISEMENT With 15 of the selected players still on club duty – including 12 from Leinster – England duo Jamie George and Asher Opoku-Fordjour have also joined the five-day training camp at Quinta do Lago to provide some front-row cover. 'It is what it is,' said Farrell. 'You've just got to be open-minded enough to see what you end up with – what we have ended up with is a squad of 24. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review your details and accept them to load the content 'It is a new group that has come together for the first time, so to keep it small and tight gives plenty of time in this five-day camp for people to get in the saddle and get up to speed with new systems, a new way of playing. 'We will see what we need to add to the squad in the coming weeks.' The fixture against Argentina is set to be a first Lions game played in Ireland. The tour of Australia schedule – which features three Tests against the Wallabies – begins against Western Force in Perth on June 28.