A single Diane Caldwell goal gave Ireland some sweet revenge and a very important three points against Greece in Tallaght last night as they look to secure a place at Euro 2021 next summer. The win sends Vera Pauw's side six points clear of their nearest rivals and puts 10 between them and second seeds Ukraine who, unlike Ireland, have already played Germany twice. In the FA Cup, Odion Oghalo struck twice to send Manchester United into the quarter-finals thanks to a 3-0 win over Wayne Rooney and Derby County. Meanwhile, in our Greener Pastures series Aonghus Ó Maicín this week talks to Irish defender Ryan Nolan about his football upbringing in Spain before a subsequent switch to Italy. "In Spain they look for players that can come out with the ball, like Sergio Ramos, and look good with it. In Italy, they want that as well. But first and foremost, it's about not conceding a goal," he says. Domestically, the Dublin derby between Bohemians and Shelbourne is the pick of the action tonight as Shels look to go to Phibsborough and exact some revenge on their neighbours for last year's FAI Cup defeat.
Moving to rugby and, having recovered from his latest injury setback, Leinster winger Barry Daly is looking to the future, as he tells John O'Sullivan. "The emotional aspect, will I try again and risk getting knocked back? You have to put yourself out there. Anything that's worth doing is hard," he says. On the international scene, Ireland's meeting with France next Saturday is still scheduled to go ahead but, with French authorities likely to move to stage three of their plans to deal with coronavirus, that could well change and see that match go the way of Ireland v Italy and Italy v England.
In GAA, Seán Moran writes that the hurling league schedule is unlikely to overhauled as priority will likely be given to the club game despite all of the recent weather disruption. A committee is set to review the issue but it is expected that all efforts will be made to keep April free.
Nike Vaporfly runners have come in for a lot of heat and criticism lately as they rapidly change the face of distance running. And while the new revolutionary shoes have not been banned, the regulations around running shoes has been tightened as a result. However, John Treacy does not think that's far enough, as he told Ian O'Riordan. "This goes against all the grain, in terms of the essence of the sport, the fairness of the sport, and I find it very hard to comprehend," he said.
In golf, Rory McIlroy sits a shot off the lead after the opening day of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill thanks to a sublime 66 which started a little shakily but quickly turned into another masterful display of ball-striking from the world number one. It left McIlroy at six under and leading for most of the day before he was overtaken late on by Matt Every who fired a 65 on the course where he was won twice before.
