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Chat With Champions Webinar on Thursday 10th September

Ahead of Longines Irish Champions Weekend on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th September, a Chat With Champions webinar is being organised for Thursday evening,10th September, at 7.30pm.

Journalist Daragh Ó Conchúir will chat during the event with Classic-winning trainer Donnacha O’Brien, top jockey Shane Foley as well as other guests ahead of an exciting weekend of racing action.

The virtual event will be hosted online via Zoom and is free to view but registration in advance is necessary.

Register free of charge for the event on The Curragh Racecourse’s website.

Once registered a confirmation email will then be sent.

2020 Women’s National League – Week 6 Results & Reports

There were first wins of the 2020 Women’s National League season for both Athlone Town and Cork City, while the title race took an interesting turn. With the top two teams – Shelbourne and Peamount United – not winning, Wexford Youths and Galway WFC took a giant leap forward by picking up positive results.

Athlone Town 3-2 Treaty United

There was a lot of talk about the goalscoring potential of Aoife Horgan ahead of this fixture and the Treaty United forward responded by doubling her tally for the season. However, this day belonged to Athlone, who responded to Horgan’s first goal after three minutes with a goal of their own through Katelyn Keogh – poking the ball home from close range. Horgan hit back when she pounced on a parry from goalkeeper Niamh Coombes, but it was all square by the interval when Athlone captain Paula Doran chipped the ball into the back of the net from the edge of the penalty area. Treaty will be disappointed in how they ultimately lost this one as the third goal came from defensive errors that eventually saw Kellie Brennan score. This is a big win for Athlone that will give them a lot of confidence.

Bohemians 3-4 Cork City

Even though they haven’t played Week 2, Cork City made a fast start to this game by scoring two goals inside the opening half hour through Lauren Egbuloniu and Christina Dring. Bohs have been making steady improvements and they scrapped their way back into the contest due to goals from Aoife Robinson and Alannah Maxwell. Cork retook the lead when Lauren Shine netted a brace late on and that proved to be too much for the home side, even though Maxwell got another goal back. For Ronan Collins’ Cork side, this is an important win as it gets them off the mark for the season and shows that their young side can score goals.

Galway WFC 1-1 Shelbourne

It was always going to take something special to separate these two teams considering their competitive nature. And it looked as though that arrived through Chloe Singleton’s thunderbolt strike on 27 minutes, The hosts needed to register an early blow to their opponents and Singleton provided exactly that to put Billy Clery’s team in front. Shels, who went into this game as League leaders, knew that they had to respond. Their goal did not arrive until the hour mark when Jessica Ziu got enough space to fire in. While both teams will be disappointed not to have secured a win, a point apiece will boost their chances of being in the top half of the table when the season splits.

Wexford Youths 3-0 Peamount United

Ellen Molloy will be hoping to make the final cut for the Republic of Ireland Women’s National Team squad following her first call-up and a brace of goals here will certainly have helped. The Kilkenny native netted one in each half after Nicola Sinnott opened the scoring on 12 minutes when finding herself in the right place to meet a delivery from a corner kick and head in. Peamount had not conceded a goal in their previous four games this season, but they fell further behind when Molloy showed her alertness to steal possession from Dearbhaile Beirne and then fire into the back of the net. Tom Elmes’ team were looking for a reaction following a narrow defeat to Shelbourne and this was it as Molloy wrapped things up when curling in a left-footed effort after her first shot was blocked by keeper Niamh Reid-Burke.

Next Fixtures

Tuesday, September 8th
Treaty United v Cork City, Jackman Park, KO 19:45

Saturday, September 12th
DLR Waves v Bohemians, Jackson Park, KO 18:30
Peamount United v Galway WFC, PRL Park, KO 18:30

Sunday, September 13th
Cork City v Athlone Town, Bishopstown Stadium, KO 14:00
Treaty United v Wexford Youths, Markets Field, KO 14:00

5 medals for Ireland at European Rowing U23 Championships

Ireland’s eight crews at the 2020 European Rowing U23 Championships in Duisburg won 5 medals over the weekend – 2 gold, 1 silver, and 2 bronze.

Lydia Heaphy and Cliodhna Nolan secured a Gold Medal in the A Final of the BLW2- as they held off competition from Germany and Italy to secure gold.

The BM2x Crew of Ronan Byrne and Daire Lynch won their A Final, beating the Belarus boat for gold, by 3.93 seconds.

The BLW2x– crew of Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey took silver in the A Final, remaining ahead of Germany (bronze) from the beginning, finishing with a time difference of 6.78 seconds.

The BM4+ crew of Alex Byrne, Ross Corrigan, Jack Dorney, John Kearney and Leah O’Regan were 3rd in the A Final, taking home the bronze medal. There was only .64 of a second between second and third.

The BW2– crew of Tara Hanlon and Emily Hegarty also finished 3rd in their A Final, beating out Czech Republic (4th) by 3.35 seconds. Ireland finished behind the Romanian and Greek crews in gold and silver positions respectively.

Rowing Ireland’s High-Performance Director, Antonio Maurogiovanni said of the weekend’s successes:

“We are delighted with the results from our crews at the 2020 European Rowing U23 Championships. Winning two Gold, one Silver and two Bronze medals is an excellent result for Irish Rowing this weekend. We entered eight crews, and all of our athletes represented Ireland proudly throughout the weekend. We had seven crews progress to the A Final in their categories, and this is a testament to the effort that was put in during training in the National Rowing Centre by the athletes over the last few weeks.”

Other Irish results:

BW1X- Claire Feerick: fourth in the A Final with a time of 08:00.86

BLM4X- Hugh Sutton, Hugh Moore, Eoin Gaffney, and Will Ronayne: fifth in the A Final with a time of 06:13.31

BLM1x- Samuel O’Neill: second in the C Final with a time of 07:27.25

Rugby media rights getting out of control

Watching rugby games live is more accessible than ever. The rise of the sport in the professional era has been meteoric. However, every tv channel wants in on the action. As a result, the rights to screen rugby games are dispersed across seven different channels for Irish viewers. This has actually hindered viewing for fans of the game instead of making it easier.

By comparison, soccer fans are often put out by the BT Sport and Sky rivalry. Having to choose between two is a blessing though. Rugby fans have to invest much more to ensure they don’t miss any action. Specifically, you would have to be subscribed to Sky Sports, BT Sports, Eir Sport, Premier Sports, TG4, RTE, and Virgin to be able to watch every rugby game available. Amazon could potentially join this list in the near future.

International games are easily the most popular. In rugby though, they don’t come around all that often. When they do, they take centre stage. For example, a record 44.9 million people watched South Africa prevail over England in the 2019 Rugby World Cup final. Luckily, the annual 6 nations goes to free-to-air Virgin.

Yet, the November and Summer test games are a huge draw. To avail of these mouthwatering fixtures, you need to be a Sky customer. This may not be the case for much longer. Amazon is currently looking to buy the rights to screen these November internationals.

Fans the ones who suffer

Club rugby is what most of the calendar comprises of. There is no shortage of games and likewise, there is no shortage of places to watch them. The Pro14 is spread out across Eir Sport, Premier Sports, and TG4. If you fancy watching the English Premiership though, you need BT.

The Champions Cup is arguably the biggest competition in the club game. Unfortunately, fans who follow their team through the league could be deprived of watching this competition. Free-to-air channels lose out to BT Sports to show these headline games. Meanwhile, those attracted to the more open Super Rugby championship or Mitre Cup must have Sky.

Here is a full breakdown of the dispersion of TV rights for Rugby Union games.

Six Nations: Virgin

November/Summer Internationals: Sky Sports.

Pro14: Eir Sport, TG4, Premier Sports.

English Premiership: BT Sports

Champions Cup: BT Sports

Women’s Rugby: RTE

U20 Internationals: RTE

Super Rugby: Sky Sports

School’s Rugby: Premier Sports

Mitre Cup : Sky Sports

Womens Internationals : RTE

Rugby World Cup: Eir sport, Virgin Sports

Possibly

November internationals – Amazon

Perhaps rugby is a victim of its own success. With so many fans of the game, it is a big task to keep everyone happy. Nonetheless, very few people have access to watch any competition that comes around. It’s clear that watching rugby has grown out of control and seems to only be continuing that way.

https://twitter.com/SixNationsRugby/status/1301941848450236417

http://34.245.76.62/rugby/rugby_irish/leinster-rugby-13-munster-rugby-3/

http://34.245.76.62/rugby/rugby_irish/leinster-rugby-13-munster-rugby-3/

Niall Quinn leaves his role with FAI

Niall Quinn has today written to his FAI colleagues to inform them that he will be stepping away from the role of Deputy Interim CEO of the Football Association of Ireland.

The decision was taken by the former Ireland international in the wake of last week’s announcement that Interim CEO Gary Owens will not be seeking appointment to the permanent CEO role.

Niall told FAI.ie: “I have really enjoyed my time working with the talented and dedicated staff in Abbottstown and I now have a better understanding of just how much great work they do for Irish football, often unheralded and seemingly always amidst a cloud of job uncertainty.

“When I joined the Association with Gary back at the end of January, we wanted to protect jobs and help implement real structural change within the FAI for the betterment of the Irish game. With the successful vote for change at last Monday’s EGM and the completed restructuring of day to day roles in HQ, the game can now look forward to a more productive future.

“Even though these changes were met with resistance by a small minority of constituents, the way is now clear for a new incoming CEO to drive football forward again. I will remain close to Irish football and I wish all of my colleagues the very best of luck in the coming weeks and months as more important changes are implemented to make our game and our association strong again. I will remain available to the FAI, as required, until the new CEO is in situ.”

3 March 2020; FAI Interim Deputy CEO Niall Quinn joined ex Republic of Ireland Women’s international Olivia O’Toole as well as representatives from the UEFA EURO 2020 volunteers and mascot Skillzy to mark the ‘100 Days To Go’ milestone in Dublin today. Over 1,400 volunteers have already signed up and UEFA EURO 2020 are calling on the general public to be a part of the EURO 2020 City Volunteer Team here: https://euro2020.fai.ie/2020/02/27/be-part-of-euro-2020-city-volunteer-team/. In attendance at the launch are FAI Interim Deputy CEO Niall Quinn, centre, ex Republic of Ireland Women’s international Olivia O’Toole, and official UEFA EURO 2020 mascot Skillzy, pictured alongside UEFA EURO 2020 Volunteers, from left, Vito Moloney Burke, Stephen O’Halloran, Alan O’Halloran, Kasia Salek, Yash Nabar and Cynthia Rivera. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile *** NO REPRODUCTION FEE ***

Slovenian Pogačar becomes youngest Tour stage winner this century

Twenty-one year old Tadej Pogačar won his first Tour de France stage in Laruns as UAE Team Emirates claimed their second stage of this year’s race.

Pogačar, who took three stages in the 2019 Vuelta a Espana, claimed stage 9 this afternoon, a 153 kilometres stage from Pau to Lauruns. The Slovenian outsprinted a group containing the new yellow jersey Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), Marc Hirschi (Sunweb), Egan Bernal (Ineos-Grenadiers) and Mikel Landa (Bahrain-McLaren).

“It is incredible to have won at the end of such a hectic day,” admitted Pogačar, “I am very happy, in the final my goal was to recover as many seconds as possible in the general classification, also aiming for bonuses, but the concentration was then turned to the sprint: I don’t remember exactly how I won the sprint, I just thought about pushing as hard as possible.”

The UAE Team Emirates rider becomes the youngest Tour stage winner in the 21st century.

Nicolas Roche’s teammate Mark Hirschi had led the race for 80 kilometres, before being caught by the chasing quartet with the finishing line in sight on the ascent of the Col de Marie Blanque.

The group of the favourites was influenced by two attacks of Pogačar, with only Roglic, Bernal and Landa able to follow the UAE Team Emirates leader who had a near crash when he made contact with Roglic over the top of the climb.

Adam Yates surrendered the yellow jersey to pre-race favourite Primoz Roglic as the Briton lost touch with the main group of contenders late on the 153km stage.

In the general classification, Pogačar gains another two positions and climbs back to 7th place (+44″ from Roglic), while in the youth ranking the Slovenian is 23″ behind Egan Bernal (Ineos-Grenadiers).

Ireland’s Sam Bennett finished 153rd on stage nine and remains second in the race for the green jersey on 131 points, seven behind Slovakia’s Peter Sagan.

Stage 9 results:
1. Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) 3:55:17
2. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) s.t.
3. Marc Hirschi (Sunweb) s.t.

General classification after the 9th stage:
1. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 38:40:01
2. Egan Bernal (Ineos-Grenadiers) @ 21 ”
3. Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) @ 28 ”

Preview, Starting teams and how to watch Ireland v Finland

We preview Stephen Kenny’s first home match as Ireland manager, as they face Finland on Sunday evening, how to watch the match plus starting teams. 

How to Watch Match

You can watch the match with a Sky Sports day pass for £9.99

Existing Sky Sports customers can live stream the game via the Sky Go app on a variety of devices.

Probable Starting Teams

Republic of Ireland predicted XI (4-3-3): Darren Randolph, Matt Doherty, Shane Duffy, John Egan, Enda Stevens, Jeff Hendrick, Robbie Brady, Conor Hourihane, Callum O’Dowda, Adam Idah, Aaron Connolly

Finland predicted XI (3-5-2): Lukas Hradecky, Leo Vaisanen, Juhani Ojala, Daniel O’Shaughnessy, Ilmari Niskanen, Glen Kamara, Tim Sparv, Joni Kauko, Jere Juhani Uronen, Joel Pohjanpalo, Teemu Pukki

Preview of Ireland v Finland

Shane Duffy’s late leveller in Bulgaria on Thursday gave Stephen Kenny a point from his first game as Ireland manager.

The old fashioned goal was a contrast from Ireland’s approach in the game, with Kenny trying to implement a new style of play. Finland’s visit to Dublin for a Sunday evening encounter is the opportunity to show what lessons were learned.

Finland were unlucky to kick off their campaign with a defeat to Wales. The Euro 2020 qualifiers created a number of opportunities that they failed to convert. Their historic achievement – the Euros will be their first ever major finals appearances – was built on the remarkable exploits of Norwich’s Teemu Pukki who scored ten times in their group. Pukki hasn’t scored since before the shutdown and endured a frustrating evening.

Kenny’s first game hinted at a work in progress and Ireland will fancy their chances here.

 

Possession game

 

His mission is to alter the perception of Irish sides and 59pc possession away from home in a competitive qualifier was a sign of what’s to come.

That said, there was an absence of real penetration and it was low tempo stuff for long spells, perhaps a product of the fact that the Irish side were coming back out of pre-season mode.

In normal circumstances, the cliched line would be that a lively home crowd in Dublin might stir the senses but Kenny will have to wait for a while to sample that atmosphere.

Still, the game attracted considerable scrutiny in Ireland, especially as the new manager wasn’t afraid to drop stalwarts such as Seamus Coleman and James McClean in favour of Matt Doherty and Aaron Connolly respectively.

David McGoldrick returns from injury and his wellbeing will determine if he gets the nod ahead of Norwich teenager Adam Idah who was pitched in for a senior debut in Sofia. The change of style and focus on youth hinted at a long term mission and that’s why there is perhaps a reluctance to get sucked into a strong play on the hosts in this fixture.

Finland have a poor record on their travels, with their Euros success built on their home form. And it’s probably understandable that Ireland would be priced in or around the 1.83 mark. Kenny should have his team fired up for this occasion and there’s no temptation to lay at those odds. But the lesson of Thursday is that it’s too soon to truly bet the hosts without any conviction either.

Video – Ulster into Pro14 final after dramatic win thanks to Madigan

It was an astonishing five minutes for the new Ulster rugby signing Ian Madigan as he kicked a conversion and penalty to secure a Pro14 final against Leinster.

Tries by Stuart McInally, Darcy Graham, and Chris Dean had given Richard Cockerill’s side a 19-7 lead.

But Rob Herring and John Andrew’s tries added to Rob Lyttle’s earlier score as the visitors drew level with only five minutes left.

And Ian Madigan’s 80th-minute penalty secured Dan McFarland’s team victory.

Ulster will take on six-time winners and current defending champions Leinster at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium in a repeat of the 2013 Pro12 final.

Edinburgh: Kinghorn, Graham, Bennett, Dean, Van Der Merwe, Van Der Walt, Groom, Sutherland, McInally, Nel, Toolis, Gilchrist, Bradbury, Watson, Mata.

Replacements: Taylor for Dean (59), Shiel for Groom (76), Schoeman for Sutherland (52), Willemse for McInally (69), Berghan for Nel (48), Davidson for Toolis (69), Ritchie for Mata (64). Not Used: Chamberlain.

Ulster: Stockdale, Ludik, Hume, McCloskey, Lyttle, Burns, Cooney, O’Sullivan, Herring, O’Toole, A. O’Connor, Carter, Rea, Murphy, Coetzee.

Replacements: Lowry for Ludik (41), Madigan for Burns (70), Mathewson for Cooney (41), McGrath for O’Sullivan (52), Andrew for Herring (70), M. Moore for O’Toole (52), Treadwell for Carter (49). Not Used: Reidy.

Ref: Frank Murphy (Ireland).

Nans Peters wins stage 8 as Bennett narrows gap to Sagan

In 2019, he won a stage in the Giro d’Italia and in 2020 Frenchman Nans Peters has added to his Grand Tour victories with a solo success over the col de Peyresourde to impose himself at Loudenvielle this afternoon.

Stage 8 from Cazères-sur-Garonne saw early attacks as Benoît Cosnefroy and Nans Peters (AG2R-La Mondiale), Ilnur Zakarin (CCC), Kevin Reza and Quentin Pacher (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept), Michael Morkov (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Neilson Powless (EF), Fabien Grellier and Jérôme Cousin (Total Direct Energie), Carlos Verona (Movistar), Toms Skujins (Trek-Segrafredo), Soren Kragh Andersen (Sunweb) and Ben Hermans (Israel Start-Up Nation) formed a 13-man breakaway group which at one stage of the day’s race had an advantage of 14’15’.

On the climb of the Port de Balès, Cousin rode away from the breakaway with 60km remaining but was reeled in 9km before the top of Port de Balès. Peters, Zakarin and Pacher moved into position while Jumbo-Visma seized the reins of the peloton.

Eventual stage winner Peters crossed the Port de Balès in first position with 36.5km to go, along with Zakarin but the Russian didn’t manage to follow the Frenchman in the downhill.

Peters started the ascent to col de Peyresourde with an advantage of 45 seconds’ over his rival. Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma) worked hard at the front of the chase but Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) was first to attack, followed by Primoz Roglic and Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic).

Pogacar went again, so did Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) and Quintana at the beginning of the downhill. While Peters kept his advantage to win stage 8, the yellow jersey group was reunited behind Pogacar who reduced his deficit on General Classification.

Bardet gained two seconds to move up as well but Yates remained in the yellow jersey with Rogli content to stay in second place.

Ireland’s Sam Bennett did claw back two points in the green jersey race thanks to the day’s intermediate sprint.

The Carrick-on-Suir rider is now just seven points behind points classification leader Peter Sagan, with 131 points to the Slovakian’s 138.

Team Sunweb’s Nicolas Roche is in 59th place overall, 46 minutes and 36 seconds behind yellow jersey-wearer Adam Yates, while Israel Start-Up Nation’s Dan Martin in 71st, almost an hour down.

Leinster Rugby 13 Munster Rugby 3

Leinster are through to the 2020 Guinness Pro14 Final following a 13-3 defeat of Munster at the Aviva Stadium this evening.

It’s a case of another semi-final and another loss at that stage of the competition for the men in red who had their chances in a disappointing game in D4.

When the sides met recently in the competition, it produced a six-try game. As a result, more was expected of this semi-final but the experience of Leo Cullen’s men got them over the line in a low scoring game.

In a stark contrast to the provinces most recent meeting, a 27th minute try from Ronan Kelleher – which the officials decided did not involve a double movement – was the only five-pointer of the night.

Kelleher’s score put the eastern province into the lead for the first time in the game, after JJ Hanrahan had put Munster 3-0 up early on.

With Jonathan Sexton converting Kelleher’s try, Leinster found themselves 7-3 ahead on the scoreboard.

A Sexton penalty on the stroke of half-time sent his side in 10-3 to the good at the interval.

Though Munster had some penalty opportunities in the second half, some of which Hanrahan didn’t kick for goal, others he missed, the southern province never really looked like getting over the Leinster line to score a much-needed try to get them back into the game.

Another Sexton penalty thirteen minutes from the final whistle secured the win for his side and ended Johann van Graan’s men’s season as a 13-3 final score condemned Munster to a fifth straight semi-final defeat in all competitions.

Leinster now await the winners of the second Guinness Pro14 semi-final between Edinburgh and Ulster.

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