Summer brings different vibes for Waterford and Tyrone

“This year,” Denis Walsh reminds us, “the group stages of the hurling championship started before the end of Lent and finished before Gary Lineker”. For those, like Waterford, who didn’t make it through, it’s brutal. Their manager Peter Queally “had conversations with players who couldn’t face a winter of training and meaningless league matches, only for their year to be over in the last month of spring”. He’s pining for a format change that would at least send their season in to summer.

Tyrone’s footballers are heading for summer with a pep in their step after beating Donegal in Ballybofey last Saturday, Conor McManus reckoning that, once again, you could see the impact of the new rules. And after turning out for his club side, he got “a bit of hands-on experience” with them himself.

Next up for Tyrone is Mayo in Omagh on Saturday, but the latter, reports Seán Moran, will be without Kevin McStay at the helm after he stepped back from his managerial role due to “some personal health issues”.

In camogie, Gordon Manning talks to Katie Power about the two-week protest against skorts that, for the Kilkenny captain, “felt like two months”. She and her Dublin counterpart Aisling Maher “emerged as the embodiment of the campaign” after they were photographed wearing shorts prior to their Leinster semi-final.

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In rugby, we have, writes Gerry Thornley, arrived at “the era of the French”, Bordeaux Bègles’ Champions Cup triumph the fifth in a row for a country this is now “the heartbeat” of the European game. Who can challenge them? Leinster, with their financial might, “remain the most viable contender by a distance”.

Gerry also hears from Leinster old-boy Ross Molony who collected a Challenge Cup winner’s medal after Bath’s victory over Lyon. “It’s done wonders for my career,” he says of his move to the English club.

His old chums face Scarlets in the quarter-finals of the URC on Saturday, but John O’Sullivan brings news that they will do so without the injured Tadhg Furlong and Robbie Henshaw. Jordan Larmour is, though, closing in on a return.

And in his Whistleblower column, Owen Doyle is not impressed by news from World Rugby that the 20-minute red card, long in place in southern hemisphere rugby, will now be trialled globally - including during this summer’s Lions tour.

In football, we hear from the-soon-to-retire Louise Quinn and new recruit Erin Healy in the build-up to Ireland’s Nations League meetings with Turkey and Slovenia, and in athletics, Ian O’Riordan talks to Sarah Healy about her improving her 3,000m best by almost four seconds at the Diamond League in Morocco.

In his Different Strokes column, Philip Reid rounds up the golf news, including a frustrated Pádraig Harrington’s reflections on tying for second at the US Senior PGA Championship, having led by two strokes in the final round.

And in racing, Brian O’Connor has word on Ted Walsh’s successful appeal against a €3,000 fine imposed on him under “Non-Trier” rules earlier this month. The alleged non-trying horse, Ta Na La, remains banned for 60 days, though.

TV Watch: There’s more coverage from the French tennis Open through the day on TNT Sports (from 10am), and TNT Sports 3 has the 16th stage of cycling’s Giro d’Italia, Mexico’s Isaac del Toro leading the overall standings.