This Republic of Ireland women’s team would put years on you - 2-0 down in Leuven, their Nations League play-off against Belgium turning in to the shape of a pear, and then Abbie Larkin pops up in injury time to score the goal that promoted the side to the A division of the competition. “Extra-time was calling until Larkin’s 90th-minute dink,” as Gavin Cummiskey tells us in his match report. “Blew a kiss to my mam,” said Larkin after, her severely proud mother watching from the stands.
Stephen Bradley will be severely proud too if his Shamrock Rovers team can get the point they need to wrap up their fifth League of Ireland title in six seasons when they play Galway United in Tallaght this evening. Gavin sets the scene.
Another set of Hoops are experiencing no little turbulence this weather, Celtic on the hunt for a new manager following Brendan Rodgers’ resignation. Kieran McKenna has emerged as a leading candidate to replace him, with Martin O’Neill insisting that his return to the club is only short term.
In rugby, Gerry Thornley has the latest news from the Irish camp ahead of the meeting with New Zealand in Chicago, Andy Farrell’s squad hale and hearty. Among them is Josh van der Flier who describes as “surreal” that 2016 victory over the All Blacks, when he was 22 and winning just his third cap.
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Gordon D’Arcy experienced no such joy against New Zealand during his career and never imagined that, one day, Ireland would “stand shoulder to shoulder with them”. Their place “among the best didn’t happen by accident, and it won’t stay by luck,” he writes, “it will need to be defended the same way it was built, with humility, hard work”.
Johnny Watterson looks at Rieko Ioane’s current status in the All Blacks’ set-up, the Leinster-bound man “not the potent force he once was”, while Gerry hears from New Zealand’s Simon Parker who credits Munster coach Clayton McMillan with his development as a young player.
In Gaelic games, Seán Moran attended the Gaelic Writers’ Association (GWA) awards dinner last week, an occasion with “an underlying air of melancholy” due to the departure of valued colleagues and further news of job losses in the media.
And Paul Keane talks to Tom Parsons, head of the Gaelic Players Association, about the growing number of players heading for Australia. It is, Parsons says, “a huge blow”, not least to his own county of Mayo - seven of their women’s team are competing in this season’s AFLW campaign.
TV Watch: There are a bunch of English League Cup games on tonight, including Liverpool v Crystal Palace (Sky Premier League), Arsenal v Brighton, Swansea v Manchester City and Wolves v Chelsea (Sky Plus), all kicking off at 7.45, and Newcastle v Tottenham (UTV and Sky Main Event, 8.0).
