Laois and Westmeath will go head-to-head in the Leinster Senior Football Championship on Sunday, 4th, July 2021 at O’Connor Park in Tullamore live on GAAGO.
Both teams played in Division two during their league campaign, however, they suffered greatly. Enduring terrible league runs with both sides getting relegated. Boasting an identical league record.
Jack Cooney’s men will be hoping to lay the foundations for a potential semi-final and beyond.
Form – last three results
Laois – LLL (Loss, Loss, Loss) – Includes League Form
Westmeath – LLL (Win, Loss, Loss) -Includes League Form
Lucas Herbert still holds the lead after day three of the 2021 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.
Herbert, who has led since Thursday, holds a one-stroke lead. He bids to become just the third Australian winner in the event’s 94-year history, and the first wire-to-wire winner since 2014.
The 25-year-old had his maiden European Tour victory at the 2020 Omega Dubai Desert Classic last year. He now stands on the brink of winning one of the Europe’s most historic national opens. He would join Ossie Pickworth (1950) and Brett Rumford (2004) as Australian winners of the prestigious title.
Herbert opened up a three-stroke advantage at one stage on Saturday. In his opening ten holes he achieved four birdies without a single dropped shot.
The Victoria player struggled to adjust to the swirling winds in the late afternoon. Bogeys on the 11th and 14th holes pulled him back to the field. He eventually signed for a 70, for a 15 under par total.
Herbert’s reaction
“I played okay,” admitted Herbert. “In one aspect, it’s kind of frustrating. I could have really put a good one away and felt like I got too far away from the majority of the field, but 15 probably has just left the door open a touch.”
Looking ahead to round 4 on Sunday, the Australian said:
“So tomorrow is a massive chance, and obviously I think in time to come I’ll probably look back on it and realise it more, but at the moment, I’m trying to stay pretty focused on the moment and really feel like I just play my game and let that sort of take care of itself.”
American Johannes Veerman is only a shot behind after shooting a 67. South African Justin Harding is two shots further back on 12 under after a 65 today.
Former Ryder Cup players Tommy Fleetwood and Thomas Pieters lie six shots off the pace in a share of 12th position.
Cormac Sharvin is leading Irishman
Ardglass golfer Cormac Sharvin is the leading Irish player. He carded a 69 for a seven under total. He lies two shots ahead of Graeme McDowell on five under while Rory McIlroy carded a one over par 73 for a four under total.
Third Round Scores
201 L HERBERT (AUS) 64 67 70,
202 J VEERMAN (USA) 65 70 67,
204 J HARDING (RSA) 69 70 65,
205 R KARLBERG (SWE) 71 67 67, F LAPORTA (ITA) 68 69 68, D WHITNELL (ENG) 67 67 71,
206 A JOHNSTON (ENG) 67 70 69, R RAMSAY (SCO) 67 69 70, J SCRIVENER (AUS) 67 69 70, G FORREST (SCO) 66 67 73, A SULLIVAN (ENG) 67 66 73,
207 A RAI (ENG) 69 71 67, T PIETERS (BEL) 70 69 68, T FLEETWOOD (ENG) 67 72 68, S CROCKER (USA) 67 70 70, A ROZNER (FRA) 68 68 71, R BLAND (ENG) 69 66 72,
208 J MORRISON (ENG) 70 68 70, S BROWN (ENG) 68 69 71, A OTAEGUI (ESP) 69 66 73,
209 M ANTCLIFF (AUS) 69 72 68, C SHARVIN 73 67 69, Z LOMBARD (RSA) 69 71 69, G BHULLAR (IND) 71 68 70, C PAISLEY (ENG) 68 71 70, W BESSELING (NED) 69 69 71, J WINTHER (DEN) 70 68 71, J CATLIN (USA) 69 68 72, M LEE (AUS) 68 68 73, C BEZUIDENHOUT (RSA) 67 68 74,
210 K APHIBARNRAT (THA) 68 72 70, T KANAYA (JPN) 71 68 71, M KAYMER (GER) 67 70 73, J GUERRIER (FRA) 68 68 74,
211 M WARREN (SCO) 71 70 70, G MCDOWELL 74 67 70, D FICHARDT (RSA) 73 68 70, C SYME (SCO) 69 71 71, D VAN DRIEL (NED) 72 68 71, F ZANOTTI (PAR) 68 72 71, J SENIOR (ENG) 72 68 71, D LAW (SCO) 73 66 72, M JORDAN (ENG) 69 69 73, J SMITH (ENG) 69 69 73, D HOWELL (ENG) 71 67 73, A COCKERILL (CAN) 68 70 73, A ARNAUS (ESP) 67 69 75,
212 T TREE (ENG) 72 69 71, P LARRAZ?BAL (ESP) 69 72 71, J WALTERS (RSA) 69 71 72, S KIM (USA) 72 68 72, B HEBERT (FRA) 70 69 73, R MCILROY 72 67 73, M KIEFFER (GER) 71 67 74, G HAVRET (FRA) 67 69 76, M ARMITAGE (ENG) 68 68 76,
213 S SHARMA (IND) 74 67 72, D COUPLAND (ENG) 73 68 72, N COLSAERTS (BEL) 67 73 73, S LOWRY 70 69 74,
214 R H?JGAARD (DEN) 70 71 73, V NORRMAN (SWE) 68 72 74, O FARR (WAL) 72 66 76, A BJORK (SWE) 72 66 76,
215 G PORTEOUS (ENG) 70 70 75,
216 A LEVY (FRA) 68 73 75,
218 S JAMIESON (SCO) 68 73 77,
223 K KITAYAMA (USA) 69 72 82, R JACQUELIN (FRA) 70 70 83,
Australian Lucas Herbert finished strongly on the final day at Mount Juliet to lift the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open title. Three birdies on the back nine in a round of -4 saw him finish on -19, three shots clear of Rikard Karlberg on -16. Herbert had held a slender lead overnight
Irish Challengers
Shane Lowry hit an impressive 66 today for an overall tally of nine under. He will hope to carry that form into his defence of the Open title in Royal St.George. His round was blemish free as he recorded six birdies for a round of -6 today. Cormac Sharvin had been the best placed of the home challengers overnight. The Ardglass man went around in even par today for a -7 finish overall. Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy both recorded rounds of +2 for today and scores of -3 & -2 respectively.
Lucas Herbert lift the Irish Open trophy at Mount Juliet. Photo credit: Shane Tighe
Third Aussie winner of Irish Open
Lucas Herbert emulated his compatriots Ossie Pickworth (1950 at Royal Dublin) and Brett Rumford (2004 at County Louth) as only the third Australian winner of the Irish Open. It is his second European Tour victory in 65 appearances. It is also his first on European soil as his previous win came at the 2019 Omega Dubai Desert Classic.
Ireland’s baseball team were outscored and outclassed by a better Slovakian team for the second time in two days
Both Ireland and Slovakia qualified for the final after finishing in the top two places of a group that also had Finland and Hungary. The winner of this final would qualify for the European Champions in Italy this year.
Frank Andrews needed to lift his team back up after a demoralizing defeat to Slovakia yesterday.
Privileged to be a part of the @baseballireland roster for the European Qualifiers in Bratislava.
Representing with pride and honour the country of my father and family.
Smithers was reinstated at pitcher, he brought back the form he had in the Finland game, claiming three strikeouts in the first round.
Ireland started brightly this time but couldn’t find a good bat after filling the bases. After the first inning, the game remained scoreless.
Jakub Izold caught a sweet single for Slovakia which was enough for them to get their first man home. Smithers’ game had a low point as he let the bases fill before they got another run from an error.
Another misunderstanding between Smithers and Tim Shea led to a third point for the Slovaks. Defensive woes continued as Slovakia managed the fourth point before the end of the second.
Ireland had no response with three outs leaving the score at 4-0 to Slovakia going in the top of the third.
Smithers and the defense steadied the ship holding their opponents out for the third inning.
In the fourth inning, Slovakia wanted more points on the board and a brilliant home run by Mario Brunograf (that may have smashed a neighbor’s window) added three more to the scoreboard. Slovakia finished with two more men home giving them a nine-point lead.
The Slovakians showed their defensive class to get a double knockout leaving Ireland scoreless again after the fourth inning.
The score was 9-0 to Slovakia after the fourth
The classy defending continued with six outs in a row between the teams in the fifth.
David Gallagher got the games first single in two innings when Mike McGee finally brought some Irish magic with a home run to get Ireland two points.
In the seventh inning, Ireland swapped in Brendan Scott at pitcher, but he couldn’t stop Slovakia getting a score on his first pitch. The Slovakian attack became relentless with them next grabbing a double for two more scores. Defensive mistakes re-emerged in the Irish with McGee now at pitcher and Slovakia finished the inning with a ten-point lead.
The score now 12-2 to Slovakia
Ireland would need scores in this eighth inning to keep this game alive. JP Dolan started with a single but that is all the Irish could muster.
With the deficit too much for Ireland to climb the game was called at the top of the eighth inning. Slovakia left as deserved winners with a score of 12-2, qualifying for the European Championships in Piemonte.
It was a sad end to a good tournament for Irish baseball
As Slovakia lifted the trophy, Ireland could only wonder what could’ve been after their two comfortable wins in the opening games.
To finish on happy note, Ireland’s Smithers won the award for best pitcher at the competition. Hopefully, Ireland can build on these performances to go one step further in the next tournament.
Here is all you need to know about Saturday’s Euro 2020 quarterfinal battle between Ukraine and England
This be the last quarter-final of the competition and RTE 2 will be showing the match at 20:00, today, Saturday 3rd July, and on RTE Player.
Both nations will have to travel the same distance to the game in the Olympic Stadium in Rome, Italy.
Ukraine has been a relatively decent side in the competition with a narrow loss to the Netherlands and wins over Austria and Sweden. Their Round of 16 victory will give them confidence but they needed a red card and 121st-minute winner to do it.
Andrey Shevchenko’s team has some very talented players but there is no doubt that this will be their biggest challenge to date.
England has now cemented itself as one of the biggest favourites of the competition with France, Portugal and the Netherlands all knocked out. They also managed to professionally defeat Germany by two goals.
They are now on the ‘easier’ side of the knockout rounds, but this valiant Ukraine team will throw everything at them
These countries very rarely face each other with their last game being a 0-0 draw in World Cup qualifying in 2013. They also faced off in Euro 2012 with England won 1-0.
Both squads are very different from the ones nearly ten years ago, expect fluid passing and attacking chances for both sides, but more for the English.
✅Scored Ukraine's first ever goal at the Euros ✅Ukraine's all-time top goalscorer ✅Only Ukrainian to ever win the Ballon d'Or ✅Took Ukraine to 2006 World Cup quarterfinals ✅Leads Ukraine to EURO 2020 quarterfinals for the very first time
With the English believing that the trophy is ‘Coming Home’ they are also this games favourites with odds of 2/5 to win in normal time.
A stalemate after 90 mins, needing extra time has odds of 10/3.
Ukraine would give a great payout with odds of 8/1 to win in 90 mins making them major underdogs.
Score Prediction
Zinchenko and Ukraine have been entertaining to watch at some instances of this Euros, but this will be a bridge too far for them. They have been lucky in the tournament to get all this way, but England’s quality will beat them.
This will be another good confidence booster for Gareth Southgate’s men with a chance for Raheem Sterling to add a few more goals to his tally. Expect a 3-0 victory for the three lions.
Denmark will take on the Czech Republic in Saturday’s Euro 2020 quarterfinal and here is all the information you will need to know about it
This be the third quarter-final of the European Championships and RTE 2 will be showing the match at 17:00, today, Saturday 3rd July, and on RTE Player.
Denmark will have a slightly longer journey to reach the Olympic Stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan for the match.
The Czech Republic is now the lowest-ranked team remaining at the Euros being 40th in the FIFA World Rankings. But with the magic this team has created in the competition already rank does not matter.
The Czechs produced the upset of the tournament by beating the Netherlands 2-0 in the Round of 16. They will be relying on striker Patrik Schick to continue his great form in front of the goal as he aims for the tournament’s golden boot.
Denmark have been the team that every neutral has supported in this competition and they also have the talent and quality to garner that support.
After narrowly making it out of their group on the last day, they comprehensively beat Wales in the Round of 16, 4-0. This team likes to attack scoring nine goals in their last three games, Tomas Vaclik will be busy in the Czech goal.
The last time this pair faced each other was a friendly in 2016 which ended 1-1. Both teams struggle to dominate in this fixture with three of their last four games ending in draws.
Denmark and Czech Republic both like to have rigid defenses with strong ball winners in the attack. This game will come down to a little spark of creativity that can break open a backline.
🇨🇿 Holeš & Schick on target as the Czech Republic book their place in the quarter-finals 👏 🇳🇱 Netherlands exit after defeat in the round of 16#EURO2020
Denmark is the clear favorite in this tie with odds of 11/10 to win after 90 mins.
The odds of this game needing extra time are 21/10.
The Czech Republic is the underdog with odds of 11/4 to win.
Score Prediction
Both teams have made it further in the competition than they would have hoped to be, so be sure that neither of them will want to lose this. Nerves will be high, and this might turn into a slow and cautious game.
At least extra time will be needed to split the two teams with Denmark having the advantage of just a bit more experience. A low-scoring game that will end 1-0 to Denmark after 120 minutes.
The Irish baseball team faced their toughest opponents in Slovakia, losing in a game that relied on a busy third inning
Ireland had already got the wins needed for the qualification final after their first two comfortable victories against Finland and Hungary. Slovakia had also qualified so this was to be an interesting game, who would show their cards and who wanted to win more.
Today they faced a much tougher opponent in Slovakia who beat also beat the Finnish and Hungarians in their first two games. Slovakia also has the advantage of being the home team with the competition being hosted in Bratislava.
Congratulations to Fionn Gallaher-Hall on being named to the Irish Men's National Baseball Team! Fionn came to America in 2017 to attend a Nike Baseball camp as part of our Baseball Exchange Program. Here's a video of Fionn after getting off his flight at JFK! Good luck Fionn! pic.twitter.com/zj20xTD0el
— Baseball United Foundation (@Share_Baseball) June 22, 2021
Slovakia (15) v Ireland (5), Bratislava
Ireland started the game with some nerves, it didn’t help that Slovakia had a very capable pitcher, knocking three Irish batters out comfortably.
Brendan Scott was chosen to start pitcher for this game, and he continued the strikeouts. A quick first inning ended with no singles, just outs.
Ireland pushed on in this inning getting all three bases filled with two outs, but the Slovakians caught Brendan Power before he could make it home.
The home team batting improved as well but they only managed a single. Going into the top of the third, the quality pitching contest heated up.
After a quiet start, the third inning would set the tie alight.
Fionn Gallahar-Hall and captain Leo Farrell managed a lovely double steal at the start of the round. Ireland got the bases loaded again and a Jamie Cuevas hit got the two base stealers home for the first two points of the game.
Patrick Mitchell, Cuevas, and Power followed them home after some questionable Slovakian catching and defending.
An early double by Adam Zacko left Slovakia in a fruitful position with two on the bases, they capitalized with Grandzadonsky getting their first point. A double by Gotshall next let two more Slovakians make it home.
Slovakia got four more men home due to some poor Irish defending errors before a brilliant triple by Brunegraf got two more points for the Slovakians. They added one more to get their tenth of the round.
The third inning finished at 5-10 to Slovakia.
Ireland needed to bounce back but they found it hard against some strong Slovak pitching with Farrell only making it to third base.
Scott had troubles with his pitching in the last inning and tried to steady the ship at the bottom of the fourth. Power also improved with some clean defensive catches.
The game continued in the same vein with Ireland and Slovakia failing to score in the fifth and sixth innings. The boys in green switched pitching duties to Liam Shier.
It took until the bottom of the seventh inning for the game to liven up a bit again. Another new pitcher Patrick Mitchell was struggling to get into the game and let a Slovakian walk home. Next another great hit by Mario Gotshall sent three more Slovakians to home base.
The inning ended 5-14 to Slovakia.
Matt Dutton tried to give Ireland some energy in the eighth with a good double and then stealing third, but they couldn’t find a finishing touch to grab some points.
The game slowed as the clouds covered the field in Bratislava. Slovakia had the first two bases filled for Brunegraf to hit a great double and put the game out of Ireland’s reach.
With too much of a deficit for Ireland to overcome in one inning, the game was called one round early with a scoreline of 5-15 to Slovakia.
This Irish performance lacked any real energy and bite, it’s a good thing that the final tomorrow is the game that counts. The winner of the final will get a place at the European Baseball Championships in Piemonte, Italy.
Frank Andrews will have to pick his team up and give them some belief for their next meeting with Slovakia.
The final will be streamed live on YouTube at 15:00 with Ireland in need of some home support.
Irish Show Jumping team is in five-star Longines FEI Nations Cup action in Rotterdam today.
Team manager Michael Blake has named Shane Sweetnam, Bertram Allen, Michael G Duffy and Eoin McMahon for Ireland’s Longines FEI Nations Cup team.
Ireland have been drawn fourth to jump in the 10-team contest.
Cork’s Shane Sweetnam will partner Karlin Van’t Vennehof.
Wexford’s Bertram Allen is aboard the Irish Sport Horse Pacino Amiro.
Mayo’s Michael G Duffy rides the Irish Sport Horse Lapuccino 2.
Clare’s Eoin McMahon partners Chacon 2.
Ireland finished fifth in their opening Longines FEI Nations Cup in Europe Division 1 at La Baule in France. The Irish team was third last time out at Sopot in Poland.
Rotterdam is the last Nations Cup in Europe Division 1 before the 2021 final in Barcelona for which Ireland have already qualified.
The Longines FEI Nations Cup of The Netherlands starts at 4pm Irish time with live coverage on FEITV.
The date for the 2021/22 Heineken Champions Cup pool draw has been announced.
The draw will take place at 9 pm on Wednesday, July 21st and is staged in Lausanne, Switzerland.
It will be streamed live on HeinekenChampionsCup.com and will include the winners of the three domestic leagues involved in the competition – Top 14 and Champions Cup holders Stade Toulousain, Gallagher Premiership winners Harlequins and Pro14 winners Leinster.
The draw will consist of eight teams from the three leagues mentioned above, as it did last season.
The teams who have qualified from the three leagues will be listed from one to eight for the draw, with number one being the champions.
Clubs from the same league in the same tier will not be drawn into the same pool.
Tier 1 will have numbers one and two on the qualifiers in it with Tier 2 having numbers three and four.
Tier 3 will have numbers five and six while Tier 4 will have numbers seven and eight.
The Tier 1 and the Tier 4 clubs which have been drawn in the same pool, but which are not in the same league, will play one another home and away during the pool stage.
Tier 2 and Tier 3 sides that are in the same pool but not from the same domestic league will do the same.
Once the draw is concluded, clubs will know their pool stage opponents and EPCR will begin work on the fixture schedule with an announcement of exact dates, venues, kick-off times and TV coverage following as soon as practicable.
The 2021/22 tournament will be played over nine weekends with four rounds of matches in the pool stage starting in December when Stade Toulousain begin the defence of their title.
The eight highest-ranked clubs from each pool will qualify for the knockout stage which will consist of a Round of 16 on a home and away basis, quarter-finals and semi-finals, with the final in Marseille on 28 May 2022.
Leinster Rugby scrum-half Hugh O’Sullivan has agrees a move to London Irish.
O’Sullivan made 30 appearances in the blue of Leinster, which included appearances in the Guinness PRO14, the Heineken Champions Cup and the Guinness PRO14 Rainbow Cup.
A two-time Leinster School’s Senior Cup winner with Belvedere College, O’Sullivan progressed through the Leinster Rugby Academy.
O’Sullivan “really excited” about Exiles move
O’Sullivan has expressed his delight at the opportunity to play for The Exiles, stating:
“I am delighted to have signed on with London Irish. I’m really excited to begin working under the likes of Declan Kidney and Les Kiss. I’m looking forward to contributing to the squad effort as best I can. It will be an excellent opportunity to develop my game while playing in the competitive league that is the Premiership.
“I can’t wait to get going in pre-season and to link up with my new teammates. I’m eagerly awaiting what will hopefully be a successful season for the Club.”
Declan Kidney on signing O’Sullivan
Former Ireland Grand Slam-winning coach Declan Kidney, now Director of Rugby at London Irish, said of O’Sullivan’s signing:
“Hugh will add great competition in the scrum-half position and will be joining an already hungry group of players vying for the starting 9 jersey. He has picked up some good experience in Ireland with Leinster, and we look forward to seeing his progress continue with us at London Irish.”
Cookies are used for ads personalisation, This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Manage Cookie Consent
Cookies are used for ads personalisation on SportsNewsIreland.com. To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
