Subscriber OnlySports Briefing

Mary Hannigan: Ruesha Littlejohn and Ireland ready for World Cup kick-off

Jim McGuinness breaks down the tactics of the All-Ireland finalists; Derek Lyng can get one up on Brian Cody; British Open build-up

Ruesha Littlejohn and Kyra Carusa in action during an Ireland training session at Meakin Park in Brisbane. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho

Mary Hannigan's face
Mary Hannigan
Tue Jul 18 2023 - 10:40

And it’s g’day from Gavin Cummiskey down in Brisbane where he’s counting down the hours to Ireland’s opening World Cup game on Thursday against co-hosts Australia in front of a sell-out crowd of 82,500 in Sydney.

Ruesha Littlejohn can’t wait, by now the build-up feeling interminable for the players. The 33-year-old is one of those hoping for a slot in Vera Pauw’s midfield, while dreaming of emulating her fellow Glaswegian Ray Houghton by scoring in the World Cup. Mind you, it’s six years since her last goal for Ireland, so “a ball might need to smack off me in the box and go in”.

While Pauw will be working on “finding the right balance between risk and reward” when Ireland take on one of the tournament favourites, Dessie Farrell and Jack O’Connor both opted for a higher-risk approach in the latter stages of Dublin and Kerry’s All-Ireland semi-finals to ensure they could finally shake off the respective challenges of Monaghan and Derry. Jim McGuinness talks us through how their tactics-tweaking saw their teams get over the line.

Farrell and O’Connor’s success means that “for the 22nd consecutive year the All-Ireland senior football championship will be claimed by a team managed by one of their own”. Gordon Manning looks at how going local is still the most profitable route, despite the increasing “cross-pollination of intercounty management teams”.

READ MORE

In hurling, Ian O’Riordan hears from Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng who, for all the talk of the pressure on him taking over from Brian Cody, is aiming to achieve what Cody failed to do: win an All Ireland in his first year in charge of his county.

Among those standing between Lyng and that achievement is David Reidy, the Limerick man talking to Stephen Barry about how much he is relishing his current starting role for his county after years of having to settle for coming off the bench.

In horse racing, Brian O’Connor talks to Brian Kavanagh, the former chief executive of Horse Racing Ireland and now boss at the Curragh, about his concerns regarding the Government’s proposed new gambling bill and how it might impact the sport, notably the mooted watershed ban on betting advertising between 5.30am and 9pm.

Philip Reid, meanwhile, has been busy previewing this week’s British Open, hearing from defending champion Cameron Smith, who very reluctantly returned the Claret Jug this week, and Alex Maguire, the Laytown amateur who was mightily impressed by the location of his locker at Royal Liverpool Golf Club – in between those of his heroes, Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy.

Telly watch: After Monday’s rest day, the Tour de France is up and pedalling again today with reigning champion Jonas Vingegaard defending a sliver of a lead – 10 seconds, to be exact – over Tadej Pogacar, winner in 2020 and 2021. Today’s challenge is a 22.4km time-trial from Passy to Combloux (TG4 1.05-5.10, Eurosport 1 11.45-5.0, ITV4 1.0-5.05).