Meath, “the 2025 championship’s dragon-slayers”, as Gordon Manning describes them, “added another scalp to their list”, and Kerry, writes Seán Moran, “produced one of their best halves of football this century”. That was some Sunday in Croke Park. Come the end of the weekend, we were down to four All-Ireland contenders: Tyrone v Kerry and Donegal v Meath it will be in the semi-finals.
After Kerry produced a second-half performances for the ages to see off champions Armagh, Jack O’Connor was “in the mood to kick some ass and take some names”, Malachy Clerkin hearing the Kerry manager sling a few hooks at his team’s doubters.
As for the Royal County’s performance earlier in the day, when they ousted Galway – as Philip Reid quotes Tomás Ó Sé in his TV column, “where in the name of God have these Meath players come from?”
There were fewer fireworks on Saturday, Denis Walsh seeing Dublin capitulate to an efficient Tyrone side, after which Dessie Farrell announced he was stepping down as Dublin manager.
Donegal looked in a world of bother against Monaghan, but, writes Paul Keane, “what they came up with was so electric and effervescent” it suggested that “yes, they are worthy All-Ireland favourites”.
Waterford, meanwhile, are celebrating their first All-Ireland minor hurling title since 2013 after beating Clare at Semple Stadium, while in camogie, it’s Waterford v Clare and Tipperary v Kilkenny in next weekend’s quarter-finals, champions Cork and Galway already through to the last four.
In rugby, Gerry Thornley reports on the Lions’ 54-7 win over Western Force on Saturday, a performance that wasn’t “without its blemishes”, but eight tries and a victory by that margin was “something of a statement win”.
Mack Hansen’s work-rate, says Gerry, showed exactly why Andy Farrell made him a Lions player, while among his ‘five things we learned’ from the contest, Johnny Watterson picks out the displays of Joe McCarthy and Josh van der Flier, the pair among three players Johnny rated nine out of 10.
Hugo Keenan and Jamison Gibson-Park will get their first taste of action on the Lions Tour in Wednesday’s match against the Queensland Reds, a tour that Robert Kitson notes has been marked by an Australian focus on the birthplaces of some of the Lions squad. “Is it harmless banter or something more insidious?”
And Denis turns his eye to Ireland’s Test matches against Georgia and Portugal when sports psychologist Caroline Currid, who has enjoyed extraordinary success through her career, will be part of Paul O’Connell’s backroom team.
In golf, Pádraig Harrington continues to age like fine wine, Philip Reid reporting on his second US Senior Open success in Colorado Springs. No joy, though, for Ireland’s footballers over in Cincinnati, Carla Ward’s side losing 4-0 to the United States for the second time in three days.
And in racing, Brian O’Connor reports on a “workmanlike performance” by Lambourn in Sunday’s Irish Derby, one that yielded trainer Aidan O’Brien his 17th win in the race – 17th! – and completed “an unprecedented hat-trick of Europe’s three major Derby races in one season”.
TV Watch: It’s Wimbledon time, BBC1, BBC2 and Premier Sports bringing coverage of day one of the tournament from 10.30am, and at midnight on BBC2 there are highlights of the day’s action. At 8pm, TG4 has highlights from the weekend’s football and hurling championships games.
