In his column this morning Kevin McStay looks at the state of play ahead of the Super 8s, which get underway on Saturday following the final round of qualifiers last weekend. And after seeing off rivals Galway in impressive fashion in Limerick - running out 2-13 to 1-13 winners - he believes things are opening up nicely for James Horan's Mayo. He writes: "The other big winner at the weekend was my own county Mayo, because they're down for a Round Three match against Donegal in MacHale Park having played Meath in Croke Park a fortnight earlier. . .Mayo's resurgence spells difficulty for Kerry too. If James Horan's team get something down in Killarney they will leave Kerry going to Croke Park to face Donegal with everything on the line." Dublin's pursuit of five-in-a-row continues with an opening Group 2 clash against Cork in Croke Park on Saturday - and McStay asks if it is fair Jim Gavin's side are allowed to use HQ as their home venue during the round-robin stages: "Motion 39 came down to fairness or finance. It ruled out Croke Park as a home venue for any team in the Championship and, of course, that was directed at Dublin. No one has an issue with it as a neutral venue for the traditional games between provincial champions and for the later stages of the All-Ireland."
Coco Gauff's dream run to the last-16 of Wimbledon came to an end yesterday, as she was beaten in straight sets, 6-3 6-3, by Simona Halep. The 15-year-old seemed off-colour against Romania's Halep, with the world number seven delivering a clinical performance to bring an end to the story of the tournament - for now. Prior to Gauff's defeat on Court One, Serena Williams needed just 64 minutes to blow away Carla Suárez Navarro in straight sets, 6-2 6-2. Williams will face compatriot Alison Riske on Centre Court in the quarter-finals today, after Riske beat world number one Ashleigh Barty in straight sets. There were no upsets in the men's draw however, with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic all cruising to into the last eight after straight set victories.
Elsewhere this morning Ruaidhrí Croke continues to fight the good fight for sports consumers as he investigates the eye-watering prices fans need to pay in order to subscribe and watch live sport on television. "To offer a speculatory figure: if you were to sign up to Sky TV as a new customer today and purchase the Sky Sports pack you would pay €44-a-month for the first six months, rising to €77 thereafter. Previously, when Eir distributed the BT Sport pack, it would cost €29.99 a month if you were not an Eir customer. That means that, for what Sky's new Sports Extra pack will consist of, you would previously have paid €106.99 per month or €1,283.88 per year." And he asks if such prices are sustainable, given the limited reach subscription channels have compared to the exposure sport receives on terrestrial television: "Over 11 million people watched Phil Neville's side lose 2-1 in France last week in what was the most viewed television programme on UK television so far this year. In Ireland, RTÉ's coverage peaked at 316,700 for a women's match which involved two foreign teams." And he has also put together a neat guide on how to attend this summer's Galway Races, which gets underway at the end of July.
Today India take on New Zealand at Old Trafford in the first Cricket World Cup semi-final - a meeting of two of the world’s finest batsmen and captains in Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson. The winners will face England or Australia in Sunday’s final at Lord’s.
And French rider Julian Alaphilippe has the Yellow Jersey in the Tour de France after he delivered an explosive attack to take yesterday's third stage. Afterwards, he said: "I'm speechless. I knew this stage suited me. I managed to avoid any pitfalls and crashes. I felt good so I accelerated on the Cote de Mutigny climb, but I didn't think I'd go alone."
