Night of history awaits Ireland; Thornley on grassroots financial struggles

Tonight may well be a historic night for Ireland, but you wouldn’t necessarily know it from listening to those in camp as they stand on the precipice of potentially booking their ticket to a first ever World Cup. Katie McCabe is relaxed, batting off questions about the significance of the evening as “deep”. Of course, Scotland stand in the way of Vera Pauw’s side in the playoff in Hampden Park, Gavin Cummiskey has all you need to know about the Scots. Due to the ridiculously complicated nature of the playoff system, there is a chance Ireland win tonight and still actually need to jump through one more hoop to reach the World Cup. Mary Hannigan breaks down all the permutations here. For Ireland boss Pauw, tonight could well see her era come full circle as she returns to face the side that gave her a start in international coaching. We take a look back at the Pauw’s career.

“The average cost of an away 2B match is circa €4,000 and with the spiralling cost of heating, lighting, insurance, staffing etc, the annual expense in running their clubs is circa €250,000, of which IRFU grants defray about 10 per cent.” In his Tuesday column, Gerry Thornley looks at Corinthians and Galwegians in the club game out west. It’s getting harder and harder for the grassroots ot survive these days, but survive they do even if creative solutions such as mergers or partnerships with a local university are sometimes put on the table. In the pro game, Leinster are counting the cost of their thrilling win over the Sharks. A number of players are now in the graduated return to play protocols after picking up concussions, while Jordan Larmour is set to be out for six weeks with a foot issue. The province has made a recent signing, bringing in Tadgh McElroy to compete with John McKee as backup to Dan Sheehan and Rónan Kelleher.

As the Gaelic Players’ Association post-AGM meeting took place, two things became abundantly clear. They want a chief medical officer put in place over the three Gaelic games organisations, and they would like to see and end to preseason competition. Here’s Ciarán Barr, the GPA’s head of finance and operations: “Look at the way rugby has changed the nature of its game from 20 years ago to today and what is a red card offence in rugby is completely different to what it was 20 years ago. And where does that all come from? It came from medical professionals saying this is the outcome of this activity so you need to change the activity to get a different outcome, whether that’s in the tackle or in contact.”

All amateur golfers can spare a moment to sympathise wish Ashun Wu. After signing for a 63 in the opening round of the Spanish Open, his efforts on the 16th remind us all of a day out that just wasn’t our day. His drive clattered into a tree, felled a branch, and rebounded into heavy rough. The tee shot was measured at having travelled 56 yards on the DP world Tour’s website - 56 yards! He eventually double-bogeyed the hole, before returning to his elevated professional form with a pair of 68s over the weekend to finish 13th.