At this rate, Stephen Kenny must be feeling that if it wasn’t for bad luck, he’d have no luck at all. Evan Ferguson and Chiedozie Ogbene are probably the two players he would least want to be without when Ireland play the Netherlands in Amsterdam on Saturday, but injury concerns have put a doubt on the availability of both. For Kenny, the final group game of Ireland’s European Championships qualifying campaign could well be his last competitive outing in charge, with just a friendly against New Zealand to come.
“It’s tough because you know he loves the job so much, it’s the dream job for someone like him. It’s tough to see him go through that,” said Liam Scales. Gavin Cummiskey hears the Celtic man express his sympathy for Kenny and the situation he finds himself in.
Welsh rugby doesn’t find itself in a great situation either. And “it can still go from bad to worse,” writes Gordon D’Arcy. With the game there operating under huge financial constraints and experiencing an exodus of talent, “there are lean years on the horizon”. Connacht, says Gordon, “could empathise with their Welsh counterparts” after their own travails down the years, but should offer them “a glimmer of hope”, the province being “a shining example of what is possible both on and off the field”.
Also in rugby, Gerry Thornley talks to Munster defence coach Denis Leamy, who ranks their URC success last season right up there with his own Heineken Cup-winning triumphs in 2006 and 2008. Linley MacKenzie hears from Finlay Bealham ahead of his return for Connacht after his World Cup exploits, while Johnny Watterson spoke with Leinster scrum coach Robin McBryde about the imminent arrival of Jacques Nienaber.
Johnny Sexton won’t, of course, be there to greet Nienaber, although he’s been keeping himself busy in his retirement, teaming up with Rory McIlroy at the pre-DP World Tour Championship pro-am in Dubai. When he spoke with the media, McIlroy was tight-lipped about his involvement in discussions on the future of men’s professional golf, but having already wrapped up the DP World Tour order of merit, he was, writes Philip Reid, “smiling in contentment”.
Seán Moran, though, is probably frowning with anxiety ahead of his involvement in the selection of this year’s All Stars, this being his fourth decade of involvement in the process. “Selectors know that the best way to attract publicity is to make a questionable call and that prospect occasionally haunts meetings,” he writes, nerves not eased when “those in disagreement with a decision may sometimes make reference to us all ‘getting slaughtered’ unless it is changed”. Good luck Seán.
TV Watch: India’s cricket World Cup semi-final got under way this morning (Sky Sports Cricket from 8.30am), New Zealand supporters a touch outnumbered in Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. Later in the day, DAZN’s YouTube channel has more women’s Champions League action, among the games Chelsea’s trip to Real Madrid (kick-off 8.00pm).
