There seems to be no end to the drain of talent from Gaelic football to rival codes on foreign shores, among that number a Down man who made a name for himself at the weekend in the NFL, and an Australia-bound Offaly native who is hoping to do the same in the AFL.
The former, Charlie Smyth, had one heck of a debut for the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, David Gorman bringing you the ex-Down goalkeeper’s reaction to a very special day, while Gordon Manning talks to highly rated Offaly teenager Cillian Bourke who set off for Australia on Sunday after signing with the Essendon Bombers in Melbourne.
In contrast, Senan Kilbride returned to Ireland from Abu Dhabi this year, where he was working as a teacher, and at the ripe old age of 40 is back playing with Roscommon’s St Brigids who won the Connacht football title at the weekend.
In rugby, the next World Cup is just under two years away, but the draw for the pool phase of the tournament takes place tomorrow in Sydney (9am Irish time), Gerry Thornley taking you through Ireland’s potential opponents. Worst case scenario? A Group of Death featuring Australia, Georgia and Samoa. Gulp.
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Jacques Nienaber knows a thing or two about winning World Cups but having recently talked about how he misses working with the Springboks, Johnny Watterson heard him commit himself to seeing out his contract with Leinster.
One Springbok who is in a world of bother is Eben Etzebeth after his red card for alleged eye-gouging against Wales on Saturday. “Rugby cannot afford its judiciary to tread lightly on this one, there’s too much to lose,” says Owen Doyle of the disciplinary hearing Etzebeth now faces.
Back home, Munster are hopeful that Jack Crowley, who picked up a leg injury in their defeat by the Stormers, will be fit to play in their Champions Cup opener away to Bath on Saturday. And Leinster, who open their campaign against Harlequins, have been boosted by the availability of Joe McCarthy, Tommy O’Brien and All Black Rieko Ioane.
In swimming, Ian O’Riordan previews the European Short-Course Championships in Poland where Ireland have sent a 12-strong team, among them Daniel Wiffen who will be making his first competitive appearance since July. And David Gorman looks forward to this week’s Australian Open where Rory McIlroy will round off “arguably the best year of his career”.
And in racing, Brian O’Connor has news on jockey Ryan Moore making his long-awaited comeback having fractured his leg in August, and he looks ahead to Saturday’s Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown, Willie Mullins’ Il Etait Temps the favourite to triumph in that one.
TV Watch: There are three Premier League games on this evening and Sky has live coverage of them all - Bournemouth v Everton and Fulham v Manchester City at 7.30 and Newcastle v Spurs at 8.15. And at 8pm, Premier Sports has the La Liga meeting of Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.
