So then, has Gaelic football been reborn after that rule-tweaking interprovincial series at Croke Park over the weekend? Seán Moran gives us his verdict on how it all played out, analysing each of the seven key changes on show, while Darragh Ó Sé found “lots to like in them”, but worries how referees are going to handle it all, especially now that they’ll be “even more central figures in every game”.
The Dublin county final was played under the old rules, but we have new champions, Seán at Parnell Park to see Cuala win the title for the first time by ending Kilmacud Crokes’ four-in-a-row ambitions. And in hurling, Denis Walsh was in Páirc Uí Chaoimh where Imokilly won their sixth Cork county title, dethroning last year’s winners Sarsfields.
In rugby, RG Snyman shone for Leinster in their 33-12 URC win over Connacht. He “bestrode this game like a colossus,” writes Gerry Thornley, but on the downside for Leo Cullen was the sight of Ciarán Frawley limping out of the game after 17 minutes.
Connacht will, vowed their coach Pete Wilkins, dust themselves down ahead of their key game against the Dragons next Saturday, while Munster coach Graham Rowntree hopes his charges will do the same after their error-strewn defeat by the Stormers in Cape Town. There’s a spring in Ulster’s step, though, after their 36-12 win over Ospreys.
Liverpool will be feeling a bit chuffed with themselves too after Sunday’s 2-1 win over Chelsea saw them go back to the top of the Premier League. Under Arne Slot, though, Ken Early reckons they are a considerably less exciting watch than the Jürgen Klopp edition, “but with 10 wins in Slot’s first 11 matches, something seems to be working.”
Everything was working for Shelbourne on Sunday when they blew Athlone Town away in the FAI Cup final in Tallaght, a first half blitz of six goals ensuring they’d regain the trophy from the side that beat them on penalties the year before.
In horse racing, Aidan O’Brien was crowned champion trainer in Britain on Saturday for just the seventh time, Brian O’Connor reporting on that success as well as the fallout for Irish racing from the new Gambling Regulation Bill that passed through the Oireachtas last week.
In his Tipping Point column, Denis Walsh writes about the “comedown” athletes experience after competing at the Olympic Games, when they go from having each minute of their day planned for years, to having no plan at all.
On a happier note, King Conker David Jakins has been cleared of any wrongdoing at the World Conker Championships after he was found with a steel nut in his pocket. Mercifully, investigators found no evidence that he actually used it in the competition. Any of you who doubted him, hang your heads in shame.
TV Watch: Slim pickings today, alas, unless you’re enthused by the Premier League meeting of Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace (Sky Sports, 8.0). And at the same time, TG4 kicks off its recap of the weekend’s GAA club highlights.
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