Kerry can’t make injury excuses after Meath defeat, says Darragh Ó Sé

After they lost to Meath last weekend, how optimistic are Darragh Ó Sé and his fellow county folk about Kerry’s championship prospects? “The mood isn’t great,” he writes, “there’s a sense of finality about the place this week.” The notion is that they’ll get past Cavan on Saturday but then Armagh will put an end to their season the following weekend. One fella Darragh bumped in to even said, “isn’t it a pity we didn’t draw Galway and have done with it?”

Now, this, of course, wouldn’t be the first time we’ve heard this class of talk from the Kingdom, Paul Geaney, who missed the Meath game through injury, among those who are intent on defying the pessimists. Gordon Manning talks to him ahead of the Cavan game.

Gordon also heard GAA president Jarlath Burns offer praise to the association’s Central Competitions Control Committee following Jim McGuinness’s criticism of the choice of Roscommon’s Dr Hyde Park as the venue for Donegal’s game against Mayo at the weekend. “I think they do an incredible job,” he said.

In rugby, Gordon D’Arcy salutes Leinster for their “throwback performance” in the URC final, one that brought a “fulfilling and frustrating” season to an end. “A title won, a bigger one lost but there’s learning in both experiences,” he writes.

Five things we learned from the Lions’ loss to Argentina

Why the record-breaking heights of Mondo Duplantis are truly out of this world

Olympians give a splash course in the art of high-speed sailing

A good chunk of their squad now turn their attention to Lions duty, as Scotland’s Scott Cummings is doing too, Johnny Watterson talking to the secondrow who missed the entire Six Nations campaign with a fractured arm. Johnny also hears from Argentina’s Matías Moroni in the build-up to Friday’s game at the Aviva Stadium.

In racing, Colin Keane enjoyed a dream start to his reign as Juddmonte’s number one jockey, Brian O’Connor reporting on his first Royal Ascot Group One success with Field Of Gold. “Without a doubt, he’s the best I’ve ridden,” said Keane. And Brian previews today’s Royal Ascot action, Aidan O’Brien’s top older horse, Los Angeles, going in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes.

In soccer, Shelbourne and Linfield won’t have too far to travel for their Champions League qualifiers next month - they were drawn against each other on Tuesday. Ciarán Kirk has all the details, including St Patrick’s Athletic’s pairing with Lithuanian side FC Hemmelberg in the first qualifying round of the Conference League.

How much interest was there in September’s NFL game at Croke Park between Pittsburgh Steelers and the Minnesota Vikings when tickets went on sale on Tuesday? As David Gorman tells us, 600,000 - 600,000! - joined the queue on Ticketmaster. And when some reached the top of that queue after several hours, technical issues prevented them from making a purchase. At which point, you’d guess, they turned the air blue. Understandably, too.

TV Watch: There’s more coverage from Royal Ascot today on Virgin Media One and Two, UTV and ITV4 (from 1.30). And DAZN continues its coverage of football’s Club World Cup (which isn’t exactly capturing the imagination). Manchester City open their tournament against Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca at 5.0 while Trent Alexander-Arnold is expected to make his debut for Real Madrid in their meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal at 8.0.