Thursday night at Windsor Park belonged to Graham Burke, Gavin Cummiskey on hand to witness the former Republic of Ireland international remind everyone of his quality by creating three goals and scoring the fourth in Shamrock Rovers’ Conference League victory over Larne. The Dublin side now turn their attention to a league title race that had Gavin reaching for his calculator to figure out the permutations, four teams still in contention with just two games to go. Shelbourne are in the driving seat, but Rovers haven’t given up hope of a five-in-a-row, Derry City and St Patrick’s Athletic the other contenders. It’s squeaky-bottom time.
In contrast, Eileen Gleeson will hope that this afternoon’s meeting with Georgia in Tbilisi proves to be stress-free – which it should be, considering her Republic of Ireland side beat them 11-0 and 9-0 in their 2023 World Cup qualifying group. The second leg of the play-off is in Tallaght next Tuesday, the winners meeting Wales or Slovakia – whoever comes out on top of that contest will qualify for next summer’s European Championships in Switzerland.
In rugby, Johnny Watterson looks at the “cash cow” that the British and Irish Lions’ tours have become, “a franchise that clings to its long history”. “Nothing wrong with that, but how emotionally invested can you really be,” he asks.
Terence ‘Sambo’ McNaughton is emotionally invested in getting the better of Scotland in Saturday’s Hurling Shinty International, Gordon Manning hearing from the Antrim hurling great who is joint manager of the Irish team. And Gordon also talks to Cora Staunton who will be on the sideline for Saturday’s Mayo county final as part of the Ballina Stephenites management team.
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In athletics, Sonia O’Sullivan reflects on the humble beginnings of the Dublin Marathon, when “it was an achievable target for our best runners to win or at least get on to the podium”. It’s not so achievable now, with the race attracting top quality international competitors, but among the home crew hoping to vie for the national title is Hugh Armstrong, the Ballina native talking to Ian O’Riordan ahead of the race.
And in horse racing, Brian O’Connor writes about the age-old debate about the use of the whip in the aftermath of Jamie Powell’s disqualification from the Cesarewitch after striking the ‘winner’ Alphonse Le Grande 10 times.
TV Watch: The Republic of Ireland’s women are away to Georgia today (RTÉ 2, 5pm) in the first leg of their Euro 2025 qualifying play-off. And at 7.45 on the same channel league leaders Shelbourne can edge closer to the title if they beat Drogheda United at Tolka Park in their penultimate game of the season.
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