This weekend sees the All-Ireland SHC semi-finals take centre stage as Limerick meet Kilkenny and Wexford take on Tipperary at Croke Park. It's hard to believe we're down to the last four already after a championship which has flown by but this Jackie Tyrrell writes that, as a player, he would rather have lost in a qualifier than an All-Ireland semi final. "You have earned nothing yet. Nobody owes you a place in an All-Ireland final and everything you've done up to that point counts for nothing," he writes. On Sunday Wexford will hope that their dream year so far will not count for nothing and former hurler of the year Larry O'Gorman believes they can go all the way and fulfill their potential. "Davy has brought the boys to a new level with the new skilful game and a plan to go with it but he has matched that with the traditional hard work and never-say-die attitude, something we haven't always had in recent years, even under Davy," he told Seán Moran yesterday.
On to cricket and a brilliant fightback from Ireland amidst thunderstorms at Lord's yesterday has left the four-day Test against England in the balance at the halfway point. At close of play England were 303-9 after they initially started well with night watchman Jack Leach racking up 92 before Ireland's bowlers began to get the visitors and Test cricket novices back on track. With one wicket remaining England lead by 181 runs going into today's play. Theresa May was among those watching from the stands yesterday. She was joined by Tory cabinet evictees Greg Clark, David Gauke, Gavin Barwell as they watched the bloody-minded Leach frustrate Ireland over the course of hours.
In golf the news finally broke yesterday that Adare Manor in Limerick will host the 2026 Ryder Cup.The Tom Fazio-redesigned course has long been expected to take on the hosting duties 20 years after the previous time the match was played in Ireland at the K Club but Philip Reid writes that it was the influence of JP McManus whichproved to be the big turning point. The resort has provided huge business for the Limerick town and yesterday evening billionaire owner McManus was all smiles as he spoke about how positive the news was. Meanwhile, on the course, Jon Rahm got off to a stunning start at TPC Southwind yesterday with a 62 to lead the WGC FedEx St Jude Classic by three shots. After the huge disappointment of his missed cut at Portrush last week, Rory McIlroy looked to be derailing but managed to pull his round back on track with four birdies in his last five holes.
Moving on and Jack Byrne once again inspired Shamrock Rovers last night as they managed to come away with a 2-1 home victory over Apollon Limassol in their Europa league second qualifying round encounter. Stephen Bradley's side now go to Cyprus in confident form after turning the tie around despite going behind early on.
