Birdie-eagle-par-birdie-birdie-birdie over the last six holes, and with that Leona Maguire had herself her second LPGA Tour victory, winning the Meijer LPGA Classic in Michigan by two strokes. “A golfing assassin,” as Philip Reid describes her.
What Rory McIlroy wouldn’t have given for a finish like that at the US Open, where he fell short of winner Wyndham Clark “by a single, measly stroke”. His wait for a fifth major now stretches to eight years and 10 months.
Galway and Roscommon lost their games by a single, measly point on a day, writes Malachy Clerkin, that “didn’t so much light a fire under the football championship as plunge an adrenaline syringe into its heart”.
Seán Moran was in Tullamore to see Kevin Feely’s late, late free give Kildare victory over Roscommon, while Malachy was up in Carrick-on-Shannon to witness Armagh’s Rory Grugan inflict similar pain on Galway.
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There was no shortage of drama either in Limerick where Denis Walsh saw Cork come from six points down in the final quarter to beat Mayo, while Ian O’Riordan saw a stellar first-half performance from Donegal send them on their way to a two point win over Monaghan.
Dublin and Kerry, though, barely had to break in to a sweat as they cruised to thumping wins over Sligo and Louth, respectively, the margins of their victories 24 and 28 points. Oooof.
While the group winners can put their feet up for a bit, the counties who finished second and third now go in to the preliminary quarter-finals, the draw for which was made this morning.
In soccer, there’s a considerable amount of gloom and doom in the air ahead of tonight’s European Championship qualifier against Gibraltar in Dublin, Gavin Cummiskey hearing from Stephen Kenny at a spiky enough press conference, and from James McClean who will captain Ireland on the occasion of his 100th cap.
Meanwhile, in his Tipping Point column, Denis writes about the continuing contrast between male and female sports when it comes to its participants being able to come out as gay. “Women can be open and comfortable about their sexuality without the fear of not being accepted,” he says, “male sports are still a million miles from that place.”
Telly watch: Rain stopped play on day three of the first Ashes test between England and Australia on Sunday, so they’ll hope for bluer skies over Edgbaston today (Sky Sports Cricket from 10.15am). If the Republic of Ireland’s Euro qualifier against Gibraltar doesn’t start well tonight (RTÉ 2 and Premier Sports 1, kick-off 7.45), the crowd in the Aviva might be hoping rain will stop play too.
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