Ireland v Wales
The stakes are high as Republic of Ireland take on Wales in tonight's World Cup qualifier at the Aviva Stadium. Win, and Martin O'Neill's men could potentially push on to secure automatic qualification.
Lose, though, and Chris Coleman’s side will take momentum into the decisive phase of this group.
With the long list of absentees including the suspended Robbie Brady, and injured Wes Hoolahan, Shane Duffy, Ciarán Clark and more; Ireland are up against it.
But they know anything other than a defeat will be a good result.
Gareth Bale is Wales's undisputed technical chief on the field, and Ken Early has an excellent analysis piece on him this morning.
“If Ireland stop Bale they will probably beat Wales, but if Bale is in the mood to do damage, there is not much Ireland can do about it.”
GAA
The “Tyrone Talks” series that grapples with various cultural issues is to look at the implications for the GAA of British withdrawal from the EU.
It is described in the publicity for the event as "possibly the most critical event for the GAA in our lifetime", yet as Sean Moran explains, it remains something about which virtually nothing is known.
Rugby
Ulster backrow Marcell Coetzee’s knee injury is not as bad as first feared, however the province has revealed that he will be sidelined until pre-season training.
Tonight Ulster play the Dragons as they chase down a spot in a Guinness Pro12 semi-final. Jared Payne and Iain Henderson are back in the team, with Paddy Jackson among the replacements as Stuart Olding remains at outhalf.
In his column this morning Liam Toland explains why Ireland lag in counter-attacking play.
“It never ceases to amaze me the countless hours are committed in training to the lineout and lineout steals yet how little time schools and clubs invest in team counter-attacks off opposition errors.”
Golf
Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry were both eliminated last night at the Match Play tournament in Austin.
McIlroy was handed a walkover against Gary Woodland, but needed Soren Kjeldsen to lose his second match to have any chance of advancing out of the round-robin group stage. But Kjeldsen beat Argentine Emiliano Grillo 4&3.
Lowry also bowed out with one round of group games to go after losing 2&1 to young Spanish star John Rahm.
