Liverpool’s loss in the Champions League will leave a bitter taste on an inspired day for Real Madrid’s goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and Ken Early writes in today’s Subscriber Only article that convincing the Reds’ players the best has yet to come will be Klopp’s biggest test yet. Trent Alexander-Arnold is still young and has time to overcome his mistake but “many of his team-mates are not: Henderson is 31, van Dijk and Thiago 30, Matip, Firmino and Salah 29, and Mané is leaving. Now they are an experienced team at the top of their game, who allowed themselves to be beaten by an inferior side, losing out on a title that should have been theirs, and missing a chance that might never come again.”
Early also writes a first person account about the awful scenes before the Champions League final in Paris that saw the game delayed by half an hour, writing Uefa are lucky the Paris shambles did not have far worse consequences. Mary Hannigan describes the strange scenes from the TV perspective, where BT Sport did not acknowledge what was going on around the ground, lest it distract from The Occasion. Meanwhile, Nottingham Forest have returned to the Premier League after winning their Championship playoff against Huddersfield at Wembley.
Keith Duggan writes that Derry and Galway have brought fresh colour as the summer picture begins to sharpen on the GAA calendar, with all four provincial finals played this weekend. Derry won their first Ulster title since 1998, and Duggan writes it was a “fabulous crowning moment for Rory Gallagher, who has transformed Derry football less than three years after taking charge”. In his match report, Duggan writes “this may not have been a brilliant exhibition of football. But it was a sports contest of the very highest order” as Derry overcame Donegal in extra-time. Seán Moran writes Galway sparkled in Salthill sun to reclaim the Connacht title as late Roscommon scores can’t halt a Shane Walsh-inspired display. There were dominant wins for Kerry and for Dublin in one-sided affairs. In the Tailteann Cup, Offaly warmed Tailteann Cup task with a convincing win over Wicklow, while there were also wins for Carlow, Westmeath, Cavan, Leitrim, Fermanagh and Sligo.
Returning to base camp again this time is an even bigger ask for Leinster, writes Gerry Thornley, after their Champions Cup loss to La Rochelle on Saturday. He writes that coach Leo Cullen looks to the future but the disappointment of last-minute Champions Cup final defeat will be difficult to shake off. The final was a match of momentum swings and the big men called it, writes Johnny Watterson. The match swung several times for different reasons with La Rochelle timing perfect. Winning La Rochelle coach Ronan O’Gara appreciates the wafer thin margin at the final whistle. He said that leading La Rochelle to the “promised land” has been every bit as rewarding if different from doing so with Munster as a player. In France, O’Gara’s charges receive lavish praise for securing a first Champions Cup victory: “To defeat the Irish ogre at the Velodrome de Marseilles, Ronan O’Gara’s men went to the limit”.
In racing, the great Lester Piggott died on Sunday and Brian O’Connor writes he had strong Irish links over his career as the legendary jockey forged a great partnership with Vincent O’Brien. O’Brien labelled Piggott “a genius”, and added “he must be the greatest jockey of his generation, or indeed any generation”. In the Tipping Point column, Malachy Clerkin writes politicians leave themselves open when they take bookmakers’ hospitality as the TDs and senators hosted by the Irish Bookmakers Association at Punchestown knew they were doing wrong.
