Three sporting events to watch this week: Your handy guide to sport on television

Grand Nationals

You wait all year and then two appear in one week. The Irish Grand National takes place on Monday in Fairyhouse, with the Aintree Grand National next Saturday. The two races have long histories stretching back to the 19th century, and both will draw big audiences – particularly from those who know nothing about racing and will pick a horse simply because they like the name. Annoyingly, they probably have as much chance of selecting the winner as the rest of us. - Monday & Saturday, RTE, ITV & Virgin Media

World Snooker Championship

Probably the most prestigious tournament in professional snooker - though some might argue the Masters is just as important - the 2023 edition begins on Saturday and runs until Monday, May 1st at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. Defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan will, of course, begin the tournament as hot favourite. It’s been a long time since we had an Irish champion (Ken Doherty in 1997), though Mark Allen - who claimed the UK Championship last November - is certainly capable of challenging for the £500,000 cheque. - From Saturday, Eurosport & BBC

Kerry v Galway

Next Saturday evening, the Division One final of the women’s football league takes place in Croke Park. What’s particularly interesting about the match-up is it features two sides who have been building and improving in recent years, and a trophy would be a huge boost ahead of the 2023 All-Ireland championship. Surprisingly, Galway have never won the league title, despite next weekend being the seventh time they will participate in the decider. Thanks to their domination of women’s football from the late 1970s until the early 1990s, Kerry have 11 league titles, though their last one was 32 years ago. – Saturday, TG4

MONDAY (April 10th)

• SOCCER - Sky Sports Football – Championship - 12.30pm Huddersfield v Blackburn; 3pm Coventry v Watford; 5.30pm Bristol City v Middlesbrough; 8pm Burnley v Sheffield Utd
• CYCLING - Eurosport 1, 2.15pm-4.15pm Tour of Mouscron
• HORSE RACING - RTE 2 & ITV4, 2.30pm-5.35pm - Fairyhouse (Including the Irish Grand National)
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Football Red Button – Championship - 3pm Birmingham v Stoke; 3pm Cardiff v Sunderland; 3pm Luton v Blackpool; 3pm Norwich v Rotherham; 3pm Preston NE v Reading; 3pm West Brom v QPR; 3pm Wigan v Swansea
• SOCCER - LaLigaTV & Premier Sports 1 - La Liga - 8pm Barcelona v Girona
• GAA - TG4, 8pm-9pm League highlights

TUESDAY (April 11th)

• CYCLING - Eurosport 1, 12.50pm-2.45pm - Stage 1 Tour of Sicily
• SOCCER - ITV4 - Women’s International - 7.45pm England v Australia
• SOCCER - BT Sport 2 & LiveScore - Champions League Quarter-final - 8pm Benfica v Inter Milan
• SOCCER - RTE 2, BT Sport 1 & LiveScore - Champions League Quarter-final - 8pm Manchester City v Bayern Munich

WEDNESDAY (April 12th)

• SOCCER - RTE 2 - Women’s International - 0.30am USA v Rep of Ireland
• CYCLING - Eurosport 1, 12.50pm-2.30pm - Stage 2 Tour of Sicily
• CYCLING - Eurosport 1, 2.30pm-4.45pm Brabantse Pijl
• GAA - TG4 YouTube - Connacht Under-20 Football Semi-final - 7pm Mayo v Sligo; Munster Under-20 Hurling (Round 4) - 7pm Waterford v Clare; Ulster Under-20 Football Semi-final - 7.30pm Down v Monaghan
• SOCCER - BT Sport 2 & LiveScore - Champions League Quarter-final - 8pm AC Milan v Napoli
• SOCCER - Virgin Media Two, BT Sport 1 & LiveScore - Champions League Quarter-final - 8pm Real Madrid v Chelsea

THURSDAY (April 13th)

• NBA - Sky Sports Arena - Midnight Bulls @ Raptors; 2.30pm Thunder @ Pelicans
• GOLF - Sky Sports Golf, noon-11pm RBC Heritage
• CYCLING - Eurosport 1, 12.50pm-2.45pm - Stage 3 Tour of Sicily
• GYMNASTICS - BBC 2, 2pm-4.45pm - Antalya European Championships
• HORSE RACING - UTV & Virgin Media One, 2pm-5pm - Aintree (Including the WH Aintree Hurdle)
• SOCCER - BT Sport 3 - Europa League Quarter-final - 5.45pm Feyenoord v Roma; 8pm Juventus v Sporting Lisbon
• SOCCER - Virgin Media Two & BT Sport 2 - Europa Conference League Quarter-final - 5.45pm Gent v West Ham Utd
• DARTS - Sky Sports Action, 7pm-10.45pm - Brighton Premier League
• SOCCER - Virgin Media Two & BT Sport 1 - Europa League Quarter-final - 8pm Manchester Utd v Sevilla
• SOCCER - BT Sport 2 - Europa Conference League - 8pm Anderlecht v AZ Alkmaar
• SOCCER - BT Sport 4 - Europa Conference League - 8pm Lech Poznan v Fiorentina
• RUGBY LEAGUE - Sky Sports Arena - Super League - 8pm Salford RD v Castleford

FRIDAY (April 14th)

• RUGBY - Sky Sports Action - Super Rugby - 5.05am Moana Pasifika v Reds
• RUGBY - Sky Sports Action - Super Rugby - 10.35am Brumbies v Fijian Drua
• GOLF - Sky Sports Golf, noon-11pm RBC Heritage
• CYCLING - Eurosport 1, 12.50pm-2.45pm - Final stage Tour of Sicily
• GYMNASTICS - BBC 2, 2pm-4pm - Antalya European Championships
• HORSE RACING - UTV & Virgin Media One, 2pm-5pm - Aintree (Including the Topham Chase)
• CRICKET - Sky Sports Mix from 3.20pm - 1st T20 Pakistan v New Zealand
• SOCCER - BT Sport 3 - Serie A - 5.30pm Cremonese v Empoli; 7.45pm Spezia v Lazio
• RUGBY - Premier Sports 1 – URC - 5.30pm Sharks v Benetton; 7.35pm Ulster v Dragons
• RUGBY - TG4 & Premier Sports 2 – URC - 7.35pm Glasgow v Scarlets
• RUGBY - BT Sport 1 - English Premiership - 7.45pm Bristol v Sale
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Football - Scottish Premiership - 7.45pm Ross County v Aberdeen
• SOCCER - RTE 2 - Airtricity League, Premier Division - 8pm Shamrock Rovers v Shelbourne
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Football – Championship - 8pm Middlesbrough v Norwich City
• SOCCER – LaLigaTV - La Liga - 8pm Rayo Vallecano v Osasuna
• SOCCER - BT Sport 4 - Ligue 1 - 8pm Toulouse v Lyon
• RUGBY LEAGUE - Sky Sports Arena - Super League - 8pm Warrington v Wigan

SATURDAY (April 15th)

• RUGBY - Sky Sports Action - Super Rugby - 8.05am Hurricanes v Chiefs; 10.35am Waratahs v Western Force
• SNOOKER - Eurosport 1, 10am-1pm, 2.30pm-10pm; BBC 2, 10am-11.30am; BBC 1, 1.15pm-4.30pm; BBC Four, 7pm-9pm World Championship
• GYMNASTICS - BBC 2, 11.30am-2pm - Antalya European Championships
• RUGBY - TG4 & Premier Sports 1 – URC - Noon Bulls v Zebre
• SOCCER - BT Sport 1 - Premier League - 12.30pm Aston Villa v Newcastle
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Football – Championship - 12.30pm Sheffield Utd v Cardiff
• SOCCER – LaLigaTV & Premier Sports 2 - La Liga - 1pm Villarreal v Real Valladolid;
• GOLF - Sky Sports Golf, 1.30pm-11pm RBC Heritage
• HORSE RACING - UTV & Virgin Media One, 2pm-6.15pm Aintree (Including the Grand National)
• RUGBY - BBC 2 - Women’s Six Nations - 2.15pm Wales v England
• GAA - TG4 - Women’s Football League - Division Two Final - 3pm Armagh v Laois; Division One Final - 5pm Kerry v Galway
• SOCCER - Premier Sports 1 - Premier League - 3pm Chelsea v Brighton
• RUGBY - BT Sport 3 - English Premiership - 3pm Northampton v Saracens
• SQUASH - BT Sport 4, 3pm-7.30pm British Open Semi-finals
• RUGBY - RTE 2 & Premier Sports 2 – URC - 3pm Lions v Leinster; 5.15pm Stormers v Munster
• SOCCER – LaLigaTV - La Liga - 3.15pm Athletic Bilbao v Real Sociedad
• CRICKET - Sky Sports Mix from 3.20pm - 2nd T20 Pakistan v New Zealand
• RUGBY - Virgin Media Two - Women’s Six Nations - 4.45pm Italy v Ireland
• GAA - BBC 2 - Ulster SFC - 5pm Fermanagh v Derry
• SOCCER - BT Sport 1 - Serie A - 5pm Napoli v Hellas Verona
• SOCCER - BBC 2 England - Women’s FA Cup Semi-final - 5.15pm Man Utd v Brighton
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Football – Bundesliga - 5.30pm Eintracht Frankfurt v M’gladbach
• SOCCER - Sky Sports PL - Premier League - 5.30pm Man City v Leicester
• SOCCER – LaLigaTV & Premier Sports 1 - La Liga - 5.30pm Real Betis v Espanyol
• BOXING - BT Sport 1 from 7pm - London Joe Joyce v Zhilei Zhang
• SOCCER - TG4 - Women’s Premier Division - 7.35pm Wexford Youths v Athlone Town
• RUGBY - RTE 2 & Premier Sports 1 – URC - 7.35pm Connacht v Cardiff
• RUGBY - Premier Sports 2 – URC - 7.35pm Edinburgh v Ospreys
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Football – Championship - 7.45pm Blackburn v Hull
• SOCCER - BT Sport 3 - Serie A - 7.45pm Inter Milan v Monza
• SOCCER - BT Sport 4 - Ligue 1 - 8pm PSG v Lens
• SOCCER – LaLigaTV - La Liga - 8pm Cádiz v Real Madrid
• SOCCER - BBC 1, 10.20pm-11.40pm Match of the Day

SUNDAY (April 16th)

• UFC - BT Sport 2 from 1.30am - Kansas City Max Holloway v Arnold Allen
• SNOOKER - Eurosport 1, 10am-noon, 4.15pm-10pm; BBC 2, 10am-11am, 1.30pm-3.45pm; BBC Four, 7pm-9pm - Sheffield World Championship
• GYMNASTICS - BBC 2, 11am-1.30pm - Antalya European Championships
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Football - Scottish Premiership - Noon Kilmarnock v Celtic
• SOCCER - BT Sport 2 - Ligue 1 - Noon Lille v Montpellier
• CYCLING - Eurosport 1, noon-4.15pm Amstel Gold Race
• SOCCER – LaLigaTV & Premier Sports 1 - La Liga - 1pm Girona v Elche; 3.15pm Getafe v Barcelona; 5.30pm Atlético Madrid v Almería; 8pm Valencia v Sevilla
• GOLF - Sky Sports Golf, 1.30pm-11pm RBC Heritage
• CAMOGIE - RTE 2 - League Finals - Noon Division 2A: Kerry v Meath; 1.50pm Division 1A: Cork v Galway
• GAA - TG4 YouTube - Women’s Football League - Division 4 Final - 2pm Antrim v Leitrim; Division 3 Final - 4pm Clare v Kildare
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Premier League - 2pm West Ham Utd v Arsenal; 4.30pm Nottingham Forest v Manchester Utd
• SOCCER - BT Sport 3 - Serie A - 2pm Torino v Salernitana; 5pm Sassuolo v Juventus
• SOCCER - BBC 1 - Women’s FA Cup Semi-final - 2.15pm Aston Villa v Chelsea
• SOCCER - Sky Sports Football – Bundesliga - 2.30pm Werder Bremen v SC Freiburg; 4.30pm Union Berlin v Bochum; 6.30pm Wolfsburg v Bayer Leverkusen
• RUGBY - UTV & BT Sport 1 - English Premiership - 3pm Leicester v Exeter
• SQUASH - BT Sport 4, 3pm-5.30pm British Open Finals
• RUGBY - Virgin Media Two - Women’s Six Nations - 3.15pm France v Scotland
• GAA - RTE 2 & BBC 2 - Ulster SFC - 4pm Tyrone v Monaghan
• MOTOGP - BT Sport 2 from 7.30pm - Austin GP of the Americas
• SOCCER - BT Sport 1 - Serie A - 7.45pm Roma v Udinese
• SOCCER - BT Sport 3 - Ligue 1 - 7.45pm Marseille v Troyes
• GAA - RTE 2, 9.30pm-10.30pm League Sunday
• SOCCER - BBC 1, 10.30pm-11.30pm Match of the Day 2