Another 90 minutes without the ball hitting the back of the opposition's net and more frustration for Ireland and Stephen Kenny. Last night's 1-0 defeat to Wales in the Nations League means that Ireland are nearly halfway to breaking Northern Ireland's world record of 1,298 minutes without a goal. This morning, Ken Early writes that the current circumstances make a mockery of Kenny's early travails in the job. After the game Kenny was in bullish form despite the latest blank on the goals front, saying that he has "no doubts" that he will be a success in the job. "It's difficult, you know how it is. Once you have a few bad results, people start talking and the pressure builds, it's just one of those things we have to deal with. But we all have enough games under our belt. Please God we get a win Wednesday and we can push on from there."
In golf, world number one Dustin Johnson finally got his hands on a second Major championship title yesterday when he blew the field away at Augusta National to win the Masters by five shots. Johnson's final round of 68 also gave him the tournament scoring record of 20 under par in what was a stunning performance. Meanwhile, Tiger Woods' defence of his title did not go to plan but the 15-time Major winner did remind us, as if we needed it, what he is made of down the stretch. At the treacherous Par 3 12th hole Woods racked up a scarcely believable 10 – the highest single hole score in his career – after putting three balls in the water. However, the ultimate competitor wasn't going to go out on that note as he responded by making birdie at five of the last six holes.
Moving on to GAA and Mayo arethe first team to book their place in the All-Ireland SFC semi-finals after they saw off Galway yesterday to win the Connacht title. It's been an impressive march from James Horan's side and leaves them two matches away from finally breaking the famous All-Ireland duck in this, the strangest of years. "They will face the winners of the Munster final between Cork and Tipperary and, irrespective of how low-key James Horan plays it, expectations will be rampant that Mayo can get to another All-Ireland final," writes Keith Duggan. Meanwhile, in the hurling, Limerick eventually shook off Waterford yesterday to claim the Munster hurling title and book their All-Ireland semi-final spot. On Saturday Clare beat Wexford and Tipperary beat Cork in the qualifiers to seal their quarter-final spots – the draw for which will take place this morning. Writing this morning, Nicky English says that the field has bunched as rivals close in on Limerick. Meanwhile, Malachy Clerkin writes this morning that being up close to the live sporting action is more of a privilege than ever in these strange times.
Moving to rugby and former IRFU referee director Owen Doyle writes this morning that Wales were lucky to escape heavier penalties on Friday night in their defeat to Ireland. "From an officiating point of view decisions were largely accurate, and that is fully acknowledged and appreciated. But we were treated to an unnecessary side-show by Wayne Barnes in the TMO booth, and referee Luke Pearce," he writes.
Finally, Katie Taylor once again showed on Saturday night that she is the undisputed women's world lightweight champion as she dominated Miriam Gutierrez from start to finish. In her TV View column this morning, Mary Hannigan writes that sporting Christmas came early as Taylor stole the show.
