Rio 2016: Irish in Action on days eight and nine

This weekend there’s plenty of Irish in action - from the track and field to the golf course

Steven Donnelly is after a medal in the boxing this weekend. Photograph: Phil Walter/Getty Images
Steven Donnelly is after a medal in the boxing this weekend. Photograph: Phil Walter/Getty Images

SATURDAY

11.30am - Golf

Seamus Power will enjoy a late tee time after his round of 67 propelled him up the leaderboard on four under. Padraig Harrington should also enjoy a lie in this morning, the Dubliner finishing his third round on one under to remain in with an outside

2.05pm - Athletics

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The 3,000m steeplechase team of Kerry O'Flaherty, Sara Treacy and Michelle Finn - who all qualified for Rio in the same race in Letterkenny last summer - are in the Olympic for their respective heats in the morning session. All three made the European final in Amsterdam earlier in the summer but a place in an Olympic final is a tall order.

2pm - Track Cycling

Shannon McCurley will make history by becoming Ireland's first female track cyclist to compete at an Olympics. The Australian-born Irishwoman secured qualification for the Keirin - a sprint discipline where a motorised bike paces a group - of riders event after a long campaign. The heats begin at approximately 2pm Irish time and the best of those will qualify for the next round. Those who miss out will also aim to go through via the repechages.

3.15pm - Boxing

The youngest of the Irish boxing team, Brendan Irvine takes on Shakhobiddin Zoirov of Uzbekistan in the flyweight division at the Riocentro. Belfast's 'Wee Rooster', a silver medallist at the European Games last year, won't be lacking in confidence but faces an obdurate opponent in Zoirov.

4.15pm - Boxing

Steven Donnelly can secure Ireland's second medal of the games but must overcome the top ranked Mohamed Rabii of Morocco in the men's welter weight (69kg) division. The Co Antrim fighter will need to be at least as good as he was when dispatching Byamba Tuvshinbat if he is to prevail against the classy Rabii.

4.15pm - Rowing

After coming through the semi-finals on Friday, Sanita Puspure rounds off her single sculls campaign in the C/D final at the Lagoa Stadium.

5.05pm - Sailing

Another busy day for the Irish sailors in the Marina de Gloria. All eyes will be on Annalise Murphy, who will have her final two races before the medal race in the Laser Radial class still right at the business end of proceedings. Finn Lynch will wrap up his Laser campaign while the 49er and 49er FX crews of Ryan Seaton/Matt McGovern and Saskia Tidey/Andrea Brewster are also back in action.

11:55pm - Badminton

After his stunning opening victory over Germany's Marc Zwiebler on Friday, Scott Evans will be hoping to follow up against local favourite Ygor Oliviera with a place in the knockout stages on the line. Evans upset the odds against Zwiebler and now has a game against the group's lowest-ranked player for a place in the last 16.

2:08am - Athletics

A place in the final itself remains a long shot but after a composed run in the 800 metres, Donegal's Mark English has at the very least given himself a shot of advancing from Saturday night's semi-finals. The 23-year-old clocked a time of 1:46.40 on Friday but will probably need to run in the region of 1:44 to make the decider.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 14th

11am - Golf

The final round of the men’s golf competition gets underway at 11am. Tee-times for Padraig Harrington and Seamus Power will depend how they fare on Saturday.

2pm - Equestrian

Ireland's sole representative in showjumping, Greg Broderick's road to Rio was not entirely smooth with the Co Tipperary native selected ahead of Bertram Allen, who had secured Ireland's place at the Games. The 30-year-old will hope to repay team manager Robert Splaine's faith when jumping gets underway at 2pm.

3.10pm - Athletics

Lizzie Lee is the fastest Irish qualifier with her 2:32:51 in Berlin, the fifth fastest Irish woman ever, and after taking a break from her work with Apple in Cork to give Rio her best shot, is now primed for the run of her life. Fionnuala McCormack, however, has the credentials, her best of 2:31:46 from 2014 certainly open to improvement, her form boosted by a fourth place finish over 10,000m at the Europeans last month. A top-20 finish is certainly possible. While for Breege Connolly, at 38 the oldest Irish athlete on the team, her best goes back to April of last year, the 2:37:29 she in London, and she may struggle to reproduce that time here.

3.30pm - Boxing

After a long and often turbulent week for the Irish boxing team, bantamweight world champion Michael Conlan finally gets his first taste of action in these Games. A bronze medallist in London, Conlan has continued to improve over the last four years and the number one seed should have too much in his locker for Armenia's Aram Avagyan, who defeated Arashi Morisaka in his opening fight.

1.30am - Athletics

Ciara Mageean competes in the semi-finals of the 1,500 metres in the early hours of Monday morning.