And then there were eight. After a weekend that “provided a few twists and turns before the big show pitches its tent at the big house”, Louth, Derry, Roscommon and Galway are all Croke Park bound having come through their preliminary quarter-finals in the football championship. And after this morning’s quarter-final draw, they all now know the shape of the challenge that awaits them next weekend. For Cork, Mayo, Tyrone and Monaghan, though, the summer has, writes Gordon Manning in his round-up, petered out, Mayo “slinking off into a winter’s torture” after their defeat by Derry on penalties. “For Derry, rapture. For Mayo, oblivion,” as Malachy Clerkin puts it. Louth experienced their own rapture in Inniskeen, beating Cork by a point to reach the All-Ireland quarter-finals for the first time, while Roscommon’s maiden championship triumph over Tyrone and Galway’s win over Monaghan also sent them in to the last eight.
Nicky English talks us through Saturday’s two hurling quarter-finals, reckoning that Clare should go in to their semi-final against Kilkenny “feeling buoyant” after their comfortable win over Wexford, Cork less so despite seeing off Dublin. Because, as Denis Walsh notes, “the momentum that Cork surfed for a glorious week in mid-May has subsided to a flat calm”. Still, they’ll have “a puncher’s chance” against Limerick in a fortnight’s time.
Over at Euro 2024, Gavin Cummiskey saw Scotland’s dreams of advancing in the tournament die on Sunday evening with a stoppage-time goal from Hungary, but Portugal march on, Gavin in Dortmund on Saturday to see them cruise to a 3-0 win over Turkey. The hosts had a tougher time of it, though, Ken Early seeing them need an injury-time header to snatch a draw from their game against Switzerland.
In golf, Pádraig Harrington has forgotten how to lose at the Dick’s Open in New York, Philip Reid reporting on the Dubliner’s third successive triumph at the Champions Tour event. In rugby, ahead of Ireland’s two Test matches in South Africa next month, John O’Sullivan wonders what they can learn from the Springboks’ 41-13 win over Wales on Saturday.
Your complete guide to all the festive sporting action including TV details
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In racing, Brian O’Connor reports on the growing importance of Tote World Pool betting to the Irish Derby which will feature on the first modern era nine-race programme at the Curragh next Sunday.
And in his Tipping Point column, Denis Walsh writes about an Olympian who passes his window most days, namely Brendan Boyce, a veteran of several Olympic Games in race walking. “Every time he passed, I wondered and marvelled how he put one foot in front of the other on such a long and lonely road. Sport is full of stuff that makes our eyes glaze over. I’m glad I saw that.”
TV Watch: Your Euro 2024 offerings today are the final games in group B – Croatia v Italy (RTÉ 2 and BBC 1) and Albania v Spain (RTÉ News Channel and BBC 2), both kicking off at 8.0. Spain are already through, but the other three nations can still make the knock-out phase. TG4, meanwhile, have highlights of the weekend’s GAA championship games (8.0pm).
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