Yesterday Joe Schmidt named his 42-man Ireland squad for next month's four-Test window, which includes three new faces and one major absentee. Leinster's Ross Byrne, Ulster's Will Addison and Munster's Sammy Arnold could all earn their first caps during the November series, while frontrow duo David Kilcoyne and Finlay Bealham have both earned recalls on the back of strong starts to the domestic season. As Gerry Thornley writes this morning, the announcement of Schmidt's squad feels "like a significant landmark on the road to the 2019 World Cup in Japan." Conor Murray, however, will miss the autumn internationals - including the showdown with the All Blacks in Dublin on November 17th. The 29-year-old continues his rehabilitation from a neck injury, and hopes to return to action with Munster, "in and around the end of November, or the start of December hopefully."
Tottenham's hopes of progressing into the last-16 of the Champions League took another hit last night, as they drew 2-2 away to PSV Eindhoven. Mauricio Pochettino's side looked to have a vital three points in the bag until captain Hugo Lloris was sent off in the 79th minute, and Spurs were then pegged back by Luuk de Jong's equaliser with three minutes of normal time left to play. Elsewhere in Group B, Barcelona defied the absence of Lionel Messi to beat Internazionale 2-0 at the Camp Nou, while Liverpool top Group C after a comfortable 4-0 win over Red Star Belgrade at Anfield. Tonight in the Europa League Celtic travel to Leipzig, Chelsea are at home to BATE Borisov and Arsenal take on Sporting in Lisbon.
In her column today Sonia O'Sullivan reflects on finally being able to grace the hallowed turf of Croke Park - wearing a pair of boots - as she took part in a charity football game at HQ. And it was more than just a football game, she writes: "This was a real game-day experience organised by former Galway footballer and hurler Alan Kerins and the Self Help Africa project, giving us all a proper sense of perspective in other ways too." The experience included being bussed into the ground under a police escort, before various celebrities took to the field representing Mayo and Cork. "Once we ran out to the pitch, then you immediately realise you are just one of 15 on such a huge field of play. You start to feel very small and intimidated by the distance from one end of the ground to the other and also across the middle."
Elsewhere St Jude's take on Kilmacud Crokes on Monday as they bid to lift the Dublin SFC title for the first time in their 40-year history. Jude's have already upset the odds en-route to just their second final appearance, with Ballymun and St Vincent's beaten in the last-eight and semi-finals respectively. And Dublin's Kevin McManamon is confident his side can go one more: "I don't really know how you'd make either side a favourite or an underdog to be honest. Neither team really has a pedigree. I suppose Crokes have a bit of history on their side but that won't count for much on Monday."
And in today's rugby statistics column John O'Sullivan suggests that World Rugby's crackdown on high tackles is understandable, using disciplinary data from the last five years of the Champions Cup, and the first two rounds of this season's competition. There have been 20 red cards shown during that period, and he writes: "Nine of the 20 red cards were for offences in which the perpetrator was deemed to have caught an opponent with a shoulder or arm to the head, neck or jaw."
