Dundalk have a place in the Champions League third qualifying round in their sights ahead of their second leg against Qarabag in Azerbaijan tonight. Gurban Gurbanov's side are the hot favourites to advance having reached the group stages of the Europa League in four of the last five seasons and the Champions League group stages in the other in 2017/18. The tie is evenly poised after last week's 1-1 draw in the first leg at Oriel Park and Vinny Perth, the Dundalk manager, believes all the pressure is on the hosts. Last night Celtic completed their Tallinn job by easing past Nomme Kalju to move a step closer to the group stages of the competition.
John Sugrue is the latest intercounty football manager to have stepped down, as he departs Laois after just two seasons in charge. The ninth managerial departure of the summer so far, he had some notable progress during those two seasons but decided against seeking another term. Seán Moran is writing about taking the pressure off referees and focusing on hurling: "The more the assistance, the better, as epic days like these deserve to be celebrations of the game rather than obsessive routines of finding fault with officials." In his column this morning (Subscriber Only), Darragh Ó Sé explains that holding back against Dublin is a luxury Tyrone cannot afford this weekend: "All that stuff would be fine and you'd nearly see the sense in it if you were talking about a game between equals. If it was a pair of teams that regularly beat each other or there was only a kick of a ball between them, then you'd be right to keep a bit up your sleeve for later on down the line."
It's 30 years since Sarah Collen became the only woman to ride the winner of Irish racing's midsummer steeplechase highlight - and Rachael Blackmore and Bryony Frost, jump racing's highest-profile female jockeys, have history in their sights in this evening's Tote Galway Plate. Yesterday, Colin Keane and Saltonstall emerged victorious in Galway's day two feature race. The Ado McGuinness-trained horse was a 9-1 winner of the €120,000 Colm Quinn BMW Mile, pouncing late under Keane to beat Innamorare with Quizical in third.
Meanwhile former Ireland player Shane Horgan believes we must not be too 'Johnnycentric' at the upcoming Rugby World Cup. He explains that Leinster were more effective on the edges and had another arrow in their quiver when Joey Carbery last worked consistently in tandem with Johnny Sexton three seasons ago: "I think we've become too 'Johnnycentric'. And if you look at when he goes down, all we're doing is waiting for him to get back up again, as opposed to exploiting an opportunity that could be there."
