As Malachy Clerkin writes, “putting one foot in front of the other is an achievement for most people the day after losing a parent, never mind a couple of boys in their 20s”. But just over 24 hours after the death of their mother Ellen, the Clifford brothers, David and Paudie, lined out – and starred – in Kerry’s Munster final win over Clare. As they left the pitch, arms around each other, they were “brothers in victory, brothers in loss”.
Malachy was at the Gaelic Grounds to witness what was a poignant occasion, and he also rounds up the rest of the GAA action, including Galway’s Connacht final victory over Sligo. “On a weekend of coronations elsewhere, it was a procession in Castlebar,” as Gordon Manning describes it.
Nicky English, meanwhile, looks back at the weekend’s hurling contests, hailing the “fireworks and relentless scoring” in the draw between Cork and Tipperary. Denis Walsh, though, had the task of explaining the last 15 minutes of that encounter, which were “an assault on the senses”, ending up asking Chatbot to help him out.
Once he recovered from that challenge, Denis turned his attention to “the fine art of benching big-name players”, using Pep Guardiola’s handling of Kevin De Bruyne this season and John Kiely’s efforts to reinvigorate Gearoid Hegarty as examples.
Guardiola hasn’t got much – if anything – wrong with his treble-seeking Manchester City side, but after watching their less than smooth victory over Big Sam Allardyce’s Leeds on Saturday, Ken Early wonders if they’ll go in to their Champions League showdown with Real Madrid on Tuesday “less sure of themselves”.
In rugby, Gerry Thornley reflects on the weekend’s games, saluting the efforts of Leinster, Munster and Connacht who all advanced to the URC semi-finals, as well as Terenure College who won their first ever All-Ireland League title. John O’Sullivan was at the Aviva to see them beat Clontarf, with Caolan Dooley’s boot working its magic.
And Ian O’Riordan brings us part three of his ‘lessons in marathon running’ series, noting that although some of us might have the desire to run the 26.2 miles, “there is no law of nature that will make our body immediately capable of delivering the energy to do the job.” Tell us about it, Ian.
Telly watch: There’ll be an almighty scramble for the play-off places in the final round of English Championship games today, Millwall and Blackburn among those in contention – Sky have live coverage of their meeting at The Den (kick-off 3.0). In the Premier League, BT Sport bring us Brighton v Everton (kick-off 5.30) and Sky have Nottingham Forest v Southampton (kick-off 8.0).
