Cian Healy has many strings to his bow - “DJ, artist, knifemaker and barbecue pitmaster/chef” - but above all, you’ll know him as a rather useful rugby player. He is likely to be named on the bench for Leinster’s Champions Cup semi-final against Northampton at Croke Park on Saturday, and should he enter the fray at any point he will stand alone as the player with the most appearances in the history of the competition - 111 not out. For now, he’s level with Ronan O’Gara on 110 matches. John O’Sullivan reflects on a remarkable career, Healy having made his debut for Leinster as a teenager a whole 17 years ago. “Come the end of my career I’ll count medals, not caps,” Healy said of his priorities. Thus far, he has four Champions Cup medals to his name, Northampton hellbent on ensuring that he doesn’t take a step closer to five on Saturday. Johnny Watterson talks to their England centre Fraser Dingwall ahead of the game.
Jude McAtamney was hellbent on making a career for himself as a kicker in the NFL, but for a while that looked like an unattainable dream for the former Derry underage footballer. Now? He’s signed a contract with the New York Giants giving him the chance to become the team’s starting kicker next season. Nathan Johns hears his story. Ciarán Murphy, meanwhile, dismisses any notion that Galway and Mayo would both quite like to lose Sunday’s Connacht final because it would put them in a less daunting All-Ireland group. There are, after all, “bragging rights” up for grabs, and “the simple joy of beating that other shower”. If the Munster hurling championship meeting of Tipperary and Waterford on Saturday wasn’t already a “spicy fixture”, the relationship between the respective managers, Liam Cahill and Davy Fitzgerald, adds some sizzle to it. Gordon Manning sets the scene.
Across the Atlantic, Mike Tyson and Jake Paul are limbering up for their “joke shop bout” in Texas in July, “a showdown,” writes Dave Hannigan, “that is the culmination of society’s inevitable descent into reality show”. He is not, safe to say, tingling with anticipation. Also in Texas - but in a somewhat contrasting sporting event - golf’s Byron Nelson tournament gets underway today. Séamus Power is in the field and, writes Philip Reid, he needs a good showing if he is to earn an exemption into the US PGA Championship at Valhalla in a fortnight’s time.
Back home, the Punchestown festival is entering its third day, Brian O’Connor pondering Teahupoo’s prospects of becoming the first horse in 25 years to pull off the Cheltenham-Punchestown Stayers double. And he looks back at Fastorslow’s triumph over his old rival Galopin Des Champs in Wednesday’s Gold Cup.
Your complete guide to all the festive sporting action including TV details
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TV Watch: RTÉ 2 brings further coverage of the Punchestown Festival from 4pm-7pm. There are three Europa League and Europa Conference League semi-finals on your screens this evening, all kicking off at 8.0 - Roma v Bayer Leverkusen (TNT Sports 2 and Virgin Media More), Aston Villa v Olympiakos Piraeus (TNT Sports 1 and Virgin Media Two) and Marseille v Atalanta (TNT Sports 3). And Sky Sports have the Premier League meeting of Chelsea and Spurs (7.30), both clubs rather eager for the season to end.
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