If you’ve even a drop of Tyrone blood running through your veins, and if Gaelic football is your passion, then there’s some decidedly pleasant reading for you in the sports pages today. First, Paul Keane reports on the county securing back-to-back under-20 All Ireland titles by beating Louth at the Athletic Grounds last night. It was an evening that “red-hot forward duo Noah Grimes and Eoin McElholm will not forget any time soon,” the pair scoring 4-10 between them.
Second, Ciarán Murphy salutes Tyrone’s performance against Donegal in Ballybofey last weekend, in particular their brilliance in those breathless closing minutes when we saw “some of the new ways the rule enhancements have brought the game forward”.
Laois goalkeeper Killian Roche, who’ll be in action against Offaly on Saturday in the final round of Tailteann Cup group games, is happy enough with most of the new rules, conceding that the “game needed changing”. But “taking away the back-pass from the keeper is one thing, still insisting on the kickout going long is another layer”.
In rugby, John O’Sullivan has word on Tadhg Beirne and Aoife Dalton winning the Players’ Players of the Year awards, Beirne, of course, unable to accept his in the flesh – he has URC business to attend to in South Africa. Johnny Watterson talks to Beirne’s Munster comrade Calvin Nash ahead of their quarter-final match against the Sharks on Saturday.
And John hears from James Lowe in the build-up to Leinster’s URC quarter-final against Scarlets, Lowe determined that the departing Cian Healy and Ross Byrne – Healy in to retirement, Byrne off to Gloucester – leave with another medal around their necks.
In football, the latest stage of Robbie Keane’s managerial career saw him lead Ferencváros to their seventh consecutive Hungarian league title last weekend. For once, they actually had some competition, in the form of prime minister Viktor Orban’s club, Puskas Akademia, recipients of “state funding on a staggering scale”. Tom Mortimer details the wild and wacky landscape of Hungarian football.
As Dave Hannigan tells us, Jim Irsay’s life was a bit on the wild and wacky side too, the Indianapolis Colts owner, who died last week at the age of 65, “adored by fans, players, and coaches alike”. He leaves behind “an eclectic collection of artefacts”, including Muhammad Ali’s Rumble in the Jungle championship belt and the guitar Kurt Cobain wielded in the Smells like Teen Spirit video. How much did he love his collection? He once turned down an offer of $1 billion for it.
TV Watch: Shane Lowry is the sole Irish player in the field at the Memorial, which gets under way today at Muirfield Village (Sky Sports Golf, 4.30pm), while Leona Maguire flies the flag at the US Open, the second Major of the year on the LPGA Tour (Sky Sports Mix, 5pm). Philip Reid previews both tournaments.
