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Mary Hannigan: Australia and England all set for World Cup semi-final clash

Owen Farrell decision ‘beggars belief’; Keith Earls on ‘monumental day’ of 100th cap; Seán Moran on Kerry’s final fall-off

Fans arrive before the Women's World Cup semi-final match between Australia and England at Stadium Australia in Sydney. Photograph: Zac Goodwin/PA Wire RESTRICTIONS: Use subject to restrictions. Editorial use only, no commercial use without prior consent from rights holder.

Mary Hannigan's face
Mary Hannigan
Wed Aug 16 2023 - 09:23

With Spain putting their off-the-field troubles behind them to reach their first ever World Cup final by beating Sweden on Tuesday, they now await the outcome of this morning’s second semi-final between old buddies Australia and England.

Jonathan Drennan captures the mood down under where, he writes, “Australia has finally become a football country, and it is all thanks to the irrepressible Matildas”. They will, though, go in to this game as underdogs against the European champions in the same venue where Cathy Freeman won her 400m Olympic gold medal in 2000. “On that night, Australia believed that anything was possible. The Matildas are ready to make the country dream again.”

Owen Farrell, meanwhile, was in dreamland himself on Tuesday when the red card he received at the weekend for a dangerous tackle on Wales’ Taine Basham was not upheld by a disciplinary panel. Robert Kitson is flabbergasted. The decision, he writes, “beggars belief”, the sport’s “entire disciplinary system now looking totally unfit for purpose”.

Farrell is, then, free to play at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday when Keith Earls will become just the ninth Irish player to win 100 caps. It will, writes Malachy Clerkin, “be a monumental day for him, for his family, for everyone who helped him along the way”.

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Whether or not Jack Conan will be available for the game, after suffering a foot injury, remains to be seen. “The news about Conan’s injury is that there is no news,” says Malachy. “Or if there is, the Ireland set-up isn’t ready to release it yet.”

In Gaelic games, Seán Moran reflects on a sobering year for Kerry’s men and women, both of them suffering defeat at the hands of Dublin in their All-Ireland finals. It was, he says, “a downbeat conclusion to a year that had started with the promise of more”.

Andrew Coscoran’s year has been full of promise too, the Dubliner running inside Ray Flynn’s 41-year-old national 1,500m record four time this season “when for years few Irish men could run even close”. Ian O’Riordan talks to Coscoran’s coach Feidhlim Kelly ahead of his appearance at the World Championships in Budapest which begin on Saturday.

Telly watch: England are two wins away from winning their first ever World Cup. But so are Australia. They meet in Sydney this morning in their semi-final (kick-off 11.0am), one of them destined to have their dreams reduced to, well, Ashes. Later in the evening, Virgin Media Two and TNT Sports 1 have live coverage of one of football’s more pointless fixtures: the Super Cup. Manchester City meet Sevilla (kick-off 8.0) in the clash of last season’s Champions League and Europa League winners.