It wasn’t, alas, 2016 all over again, this time New Zealand taking the honours at Soldier Field after, as Gerry Thornley puts it in his match report, Ireland “ran out of punching power and energy” in that final quarter. There were, though, “zero excuses” from Andy Farrell after, instead he called on his players to “buckle down” ahead of the remainder of their Autumn international schedule.
But it was, writes Johnny Watterson, a tough watch, reminiscent of “the days when fans could set their watches by the moment Test matches began to crumble in front of their eyes”. Ireland weren’t helped, of course, by Tadhg Beirne’s red card, but as John O’Sullivan tells us, thems the new laws regarding incidents of that nature – and the officials simply observed them.
The New Zealand press, need it be said, was less than sympathetic about Beirne’s fate after that collision. “If you’re not expecting a ball-runner, what are you doing on the field, mate?”
Beirne’s brief stint on the pitch earned him just a four in Johnny’s player ratings, Ryan Baird and Stuart McCloskey faring considerably better after they did they their reputations no harm at all on an otherwise gloomy day for Ireland. How about Jack Crowley? As Johnny puts it in his ‘five things we learned from the match’ piece, Farrell needs to make a decision on the unending outhalf debate.
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In Gaelic games, Denis Walsh saw Waterford’s Ballygunner get the better of Limerick’s Na Piarsaigh in the Munster hurling quarter-finals, while John Fallon was at Pearse Stadium where a late goal pushed Loughrea over the line against St Thomas’ in the Galway final. Seán Moran took himself off to Páirc Tailteann to witness Meath’s Summerhill progress in the Leinster football championship, Paul Keane rounding up a busy club weekend.
It’s the time of year when intercounty panels are being selected, and for those omitted there can be “an element of unintentional brutality” to it all. “All over the country,” writes Denis, “there are players who feel chewed up and spat out”.
In soccer, Gavin Cummiskey rounds up the League of Ireland weekend while Conor McEvoy reports on how the Irish abroad fared – none better than Sligo man Johnny Kenny who sent Celtic on their way to a League Cup semi-final win over Rangers.
Down in London, all is not going swimmingly for Thomas Frank at Spurs – even though they’re fifth in the table. “A narrative has already formed that Frank is a small-club manager bringing a small-club mentality to Spurs,” writes Ken Early.
In athletics, Ian O’Riordan reports on yet another fine run by Fionnuala McCormack who finished in 10th place in the New York City Marathon, the best placing by any Irish woman in the event. And he traces the history of our women marathon runners down the years, young Ava Crean, the newly crowned Irish champion, aiming to join a distinguished roll of honour.
And in horse racing, Brian O’Connor looks back on the most valuable victory – €4.3 million! – of Willie Mullins’ career, Ethical Diamond producing one of the biggest shocks in Breeders’ Cup history on Saturday. And he could even trump that triumph if he’s successful in Tuesday morning’s Melbourne Cup.
TV Watch: A quiet enough night on the box, unless you’re all a-tingle at the prospects of Tamworth v Leyton Orient in the FA Cup (TNT Sports 1, 7.30pm), or Sunderland v Everton in the Premier League (Sky Sports, 8pm). Also at 8pm, TG4 has the highlights from the GAA club weekend.
