“Lift-off in three days,” writes Seán Moran as he looks ahead to the start of the football championship this weekend, with nine games taking place across four provinces and three countries. And in league with Gordon Manning, he goes through each of the runners and riders and how they’re shaping up, looking back at their league form and the route they’ll have to take if they are to reach then final.
Galway, of course, will hope to go one better than last time around, when they lost by a point to Armagh in the final. Their 2025 journey starts in New York, Ian O’Riordan talking to Rob Finnerty who’ll be making his first appearance in Gaelic Park.
Wexford’s commute to their opener against Laois is somewhat shorter – they’re on home turf – and despite losing last weekend’s Division Four league final to Limerick, they’ll take impressive form in to the contest having been the only team in the country to win all seven of their group games. Gordon talks to their captain Liam Coleman.
In rugby, Gordon D’Arcy has a notion that Munster might just ruffle the feathers of an out-of-sorts La Rochelle in Saturday’s Champions Cup showdown. Gerry Thornley talks to Munster attack coach Mike Prendergast about the challenge, and he also heard from captain Tadhg Beirne who vehemently denied that he sought to intentionally hurt Antoine Dupont in that Six Nations meeting. “The last thing I want to do is injure the best player in the world,” he said.
Robert Kitson, meanwhile, looks at an intriguing subplot in Leinster’s meeting with Harlequins at Croke Park – Sam Prendergast v Marcus Smith, the outhalves with Lions aspirations. One game won’t shape “selectorial opinion”, he says, but it will be a big chance for both men to boost their credentials for the job.
Michael Sadlier previews Ulster’s Champions Cup trip to take on the mighty Bordeaux Bègles, while Linley MacKenzie brings news from the Connacht camp in the build-up to their Challenge Cup tussle with familiar foes Cardiff.
In soccer, Gavin Cummiskey hears from Republic of Ireland assistant coach Alan Mahon ahead of Friday’s Nations League game against Greece in Crete, the team desperate to erase memories of that sobering 4-0 defeat by Slovenia in February.
And in horse racing, Brian O’Connor’s build-up to Saturday’s Grand National includes news that Mark Walsh, JP McManus’s number one rider, will attempt to make it 13th time lucky in the race on board Perceval Legallois.
TV Watch: Ulster has a representative in each of the big two women’s tournaments getting under way in the States today, Down’s Beth Coulter in the field for the Augusta National Women’s Amateur (Sky Sports Golf, 6.30pm) and Cavan’s Leona Maguire in action at the LPGA T-Mobile Match Play in Nevada (Sky Sports Golf, 11pm).
And there are a couple of tasty football derbies on your screens this evening at 8.0, AC Milan meeting Inter Milan in the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia (Premier Sports 2) and Liverpool hosting Everton in the Premier League (Sky Sports). Match of the Day will have highlights of all six Premier League games (BBC 1, 10.40pm).
