Leinster pales in comparison to spectacular Munster decider

Some weekend, that. Top billing? You’d be torn between Carlos and Cork, the former, Señor Alcaraz, for his astounding comeback against Jannik Sinner in the French Open final, the latter, the hurley-wielding Rebels, for their part in a Munster final that won’t soon be forgotten.

“Everything about it was staggering,” writes Denis Walsh of the game at the Gaelic Grounds. “The suffocating intensity, the twists, the spectacular scores and the crazy misses.” It was, says Seán Moran in his match report, “a smouldering, frantic affair”, one that was decided by the first ever shoot-out in a provincial final.

As Ian O Riordan puts it in his round-up of the weekend’s hurling, nothing Kilkenny and Galway could produce on Sunday was ever going to outdo what was served up the day before. Nicky English agrees. The Leinster decider was, he writes, “a pale imitation of the Munster final”, but while Kilkenny prevailed, he’s not convinced they are contenders this year.

They did, though, survive a late Galway rally to win their sixth successive Leinster title, Ian in Croke Park to witness their triumph. Paul Keane heard from Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng after, and Paul was on hand too earlier in the day to see Kildare produce a breathless second-half display against Laois in the Joe McDonagh Cup.

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There wasn’t too much drama in the Tailteann Cup, the form guide holding as Sligo, Wexford, Offaly and Westmeath all progressed, but there was plenty of it on the opening weekend of the women’s football All-Ireland championship, Dublin and Meath both needing last second equalisers against Waterford and Armagh, respectively. Kerry opened the defence of their crown with a win over Mayo in Tralee, while last year’s runners-up Galway saw off Tipperary in Tuam.

Denis, meanwhile, previews RTÉ’s five-part series on the history and nature of Gaelic football, the first episode of Hell for Leather airing tonight. Its timing, he says, “couldn’t have been more opportune because this has been the most spectacular football season in living memory” – thanks in no small part to the new rules.

In rugby, after enduring three straight URC semi-final defeats, Leinster finally broke the code, comfortably beating Glasgow on Saturday to set up a meeting with the Pretoria Bulls at Croke Park in next Saturday’s final. Gerry Thornley reports on the game and hears from Leo Cullen and Jack Conan, while Johnny Watterson analyses a performance that was far superior to Leinster’s last outing.

And in racing, Brian O’Connor looks back at Lambourn’s Epsom Derby success, one that gave Aidan O’Brien a record-extending 11th win in the classic. Lambourn is now odds-on to become the 20th horse to complete the Epsom-Curragh Derby double at the end of this month.

TV Watch: There are highlights from the GAA and rugby weekends on TG4 and RTÉ 2, respectively, at 8pm, while the pick of the night’s football action is Wales’ World Cup qualifier away to Belgium (Virgin Media Three, 7.45pm). And at 9.35pm, there’s the first episode of Hell for Leather, a history of Gaelic football, on RTÉ One.