Ireland's women's hockey team take the next step on their historic World Cup journey tomorrow night when they meet India in the quarter-finals in London. The Asian side swept aside Italy in Lee Valley Stadium with a comprehensive 3-0 win to set up the last eight clash with Ireland which will now take place at 6pm at the behest of BT Sport. Despite Ireland's heroics, however, they still face an uphill battle with players forced to pay a €550 levy each year to represent their country, as Johnny Watterson reports. The U-21 teams and schools teams are also asked to pay to play for Ireland. It is euphemistically called self-funding and goes right down to U-16 level.
Hold tight, the new rugby season is just around the corner. With the Pro14 set to kick off at the end of this month, the provinces are getting their respective houses in order and John O'Sullivan has been running the rule over the ins and outs. "Leinster's record breaking double of Champions Cup and Guinness Pro14 is now consigned to a fourth star on a jersey and a chapter in the history books, as the new season begins in earnest at the end of the month," he writes.
In GAA the heavyweight Super 8 Saturday is ticking ever closer with the fate of Kerry in their own hands but also in the hands of Monaghan. The Kingdom must beat Kildare and hope that Monaghan don't beat Galway or they will be out of the Championship. However, Darragh Ó Sé writes in his column this morning that Kerry are confident they can advance and then pose a real threat to Dublin's attempt at a fourth All-Ireland in a row. "We're feeling good down here. We have a championship game coming to Killarney, Puck Fair around the corner, the Kerry team starting to come together and still a bit of heat in the summer. Life could be a lot worse," he writes. Meanwhile, Seán Moran breaks down how hurling has overcome what was supposed to be its greatest challenge this summer – the Super 8s – to dominate the GAA summer with countless cracking encounters.
On to football and there is finally a chink of light on the horizon for Manchester United after they beat Real Madrid 2-1 in their final friendly on their US tour last night. Goals from Ander Hererra and Alexis Sanchez were enough to see of the champions of Europe and provide at least a bit of respite to the negativity that has been surrounding the camp in recent days and weeks.
Tonight Arsenal and Chelsea meet at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin with both teams under new management and looking to get on over on a Premier League rival before the season starts.
