Ken Early takes a wander down memory lane to the nostalgia-filled days of the 1990s, before dynamic pricing was a thing, after ticket prices for next year’s Fifa World Cup were revealed last week. Comparing prices from the 1994 iteration, the first time the tournament was staged in the US, Ken writes: “A Category 3 ticket for the 1994 final cost $180, equivalent to $395 today. The same ticket in 2026 will cost $4,185: more than 10 times as much, in real terms.”
In athletics, Ian O’Riordan shares the good news of Ireland’s marvellous showing at the European Cross-Country Championships in Portugal. Nick Griggs, a nearly-man no more with his gold in the men’s under-23 race while 16-year-old Emma Hickey nabbed bronze in the women’s under-20 race, as well as medals for our senior and under-23 men’s teams. “Before the first race was run in Lagoa, the popular tourist spot in the Algarve,” Ian writes, “Irish athletes had already won 21 international medals in 2025, surpassing the previous best of 14 from 2019. Four more won here have wrapped up the year in suitably dazzling style.”
Back at home, Munster finally got firing in the Champions Cup over the weekend, recovering from a first round defeat against Bath to get a much-needed bonus-point win over Gloucester in front of a “slightly restless and somewhat subdued 36,208 crowd” at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Gerry Thornley was on the scene, hearing from Munster head coach Clayton McMillan after the game. “There is no magic pill. There’s no magic player,” the Kiwi said of his side’s recent struggles. “We’ve just got to stick in the grind, enjoy that, and commit each day to getting better, and we know that if we do that, it’ll manifest into better performances on the next day.”
Denis Walsh, meanwhile, leads us in a few bars of Morrissey’s My Hurling Days Are Done. Asking if Mohamed Salah and Liverpool have reached the sticking point of knowing when the time is right to let go. “All of Salah and part of Liverpool are transfixed by the mirage of the player Salah used to be,” Denis writes. After two storming seasons on the trot from the Egyptian, this time out “has been like Maria Callas in the early 1960s, fighting the loss of her voice.”
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And in the world of Gaelic games, Gordon Manning was treated to a great watch in Sunday’s All-Ireland Senior Club Camogie final at Croke Park, as well as a historic result over the road at Parnell Park in the All-Ireland women’s junior club football decider. “There are days when all logic is lost and the unpredictable glory of sport wins out,” Gordon writes. “A Kilkenny club won an All-Ireland football title and Athenry staged a camogie comeback for the ages, inspired by a 44-year-old mother of three and a Rabbitte playing on one leg.”
The supplier of the late point for the Galway champions was Kayla Madden, sending the game against St Finbarr’s of Cork to a replay. That’ll surely put a halt to much of their Christmas festivities, the game set for the first weekend of January. No such worries for Muckalee, who’ll surely be celebrating until this time next year after seeing off Kerry’s Cromane in what was “the first time a Kilkenny club – male or female – had even contested an All-Ireland football decider.”
TV Watch: The PDC World Darts Championship is continuing over at the Ally Pally (Sky Sports Main Event 12.30pm & 7pm), while there’s an 8pm kick-off in the Premier League as Manchester United host Bournemouth (Sky Sports Main Event), the same time as TG4 have highlights from the weekend’s GAA club action.
