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And so the most open and unpredictable football championship in years will end with the most predictable of final pairings: “Kerry and Dublin again, same as it ever was,” as Gordon Manning writes.
But oh boy, Derry and Monaghan didn’t half put it up to the pair of them. “In the end it looked comfortable, but it was anything but,” says Seán Moran of Dublin’s four point victory over Monaghan, while Derry were left with a headful of regrets because, as Malachy Clerkin notes, they didn’t make the scoreboard sing when they should have against Kerry.
“They were four minutes plus stoppage time away from it and now the snake goes all the way to the bottom of the board. Sport is so very brutal like that.”
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Gordon watched Saturday’s action, including the Tailteann Cup final between Meath and Down, from Hill 16, a place that has been under the spotlight lately after a couple of unsavoury incidents.
“Gregarious Monaghan heads to our right, expectant Dubs all around, excitable Meathies spreading like a bellicose vein through the palette of blues, and a pocket of skittish Down boys to our rear.” There is, Gordon concluded, no place like Hill 16.
There’ll be no place like Stadium Australia on Thursday morning when the Republic of Ireland open their World Cup qualifying campaign. Gavin Cummiskey has all the latest news from the camp, including a positive update on Denise O’Sullivan’s recovery from that shin injury she sustained in the less than friendly friendly against Colombia. He also talks to defender Louise Quinn about the not-so-small task of keeping Australia’s Sam Kerr quiet on Thursday.
In rugby, John O’Sullivan brings news of Johnny Sexton’s three-match ban, his punishment for having a word with the match officials after May’s Champions Cup final. Mercifully, he’ll be available for the World Cup, though.
Johnny Watterson reports on a changing of the guard at Wimbledon after Carlos Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic, 16 years his senior, on Sunday, while Philip Reid tells us about how Rory McIlroy limbered up for this week’s British Open – by winning the Scottish Open. And in athletics, Ian O’Riordan looks at Rhasidat Adeleke’s decision to turn professional in the midst of a stunning season for the 20-year-old.
And in his Tipping Point column, Denis Walsh reflects on last week’s US Senate hearing on the proposed merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, noting how most high-profile PGA Tour players continue to duck talking about Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses, demonstrating that they know ‘the price of putting and the value of nothing’.
Telly watch: After a weekend jammed with near-ceaseless and wholly epic sporting action, the Gods have ordained that today will be a decidedly quiet one on the television front. The best we can offer, then – and don’t laugh – is eight hours of practice at the British Open (Sky Sports Golf, 10am-6pm).
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