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Sunday sees the intercounty hurling season draw to a close, as 2018 winners Limerick take on Munster rivals Waterford at Croke Park. And in his column this morning, Jackie Tyrrell has suggested the match-winner could emerge from the unlikeliest of places. He writes: “All-Ireland finals can be spooky events. They do strange things to great players. On the flip side, they make heroes out of lads that nobody ever made a big deal out of before, meaning they will be recalled and spoken about forever more. That’s what happens when so much importance is placed on a single game. Nothing is pre-determined, nothing is inevitable.” And he says while it is tough to pick which side will be lifting Liam MacCarthy on Sunday afternoon, 2018 champions Limerick look well placed to reclaim their crown: “In the end, I think Limerick have probably got the squad and the experience to come through on Sunday. It’s very rare that they are less than the sum of their parts.”
The 2020-21 Champions Cup gets underway tonight, as Ulster take on the mighty Stade Toulousain in Belfast. This year’s competition will adopt a new, one-off format, which sees 24 teams split into two groups of 12. Each team will play two other teams home and away, with the top four sides in each group then progressing to the quarter-finals. All four Irish provinces are involved - starting with Dan McFarland’s side tonight (kick-off 8pm, BT Sport). Gerry Thornley has explained everything you need to know about the truncated tournament here.
Dundalk went down swinging as their Europa League campaign ended with a 4-2 defeat to Mikel Arteta’s struggling Arsenal at the Aviva Stadium last night. The Gunners raced into an early 2-0 lead before Jordan Flores pulled one back with a finely taken right-footed effort after 22 minutes. Arsenal, who are currently languishing in 15th place in the Premier League table, pulled away from the Lilywhites in the second-half, moving into a 4-1 lead before Sean Hoare bagged a consolation goal in the 85th minute. Elsewhere, Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham finished top of their group after a 2-0 win at home over Royal Antwerp, Leicester City beat AEK Athens 2-0 at home and Celtic ended a miserable campaign on a high with a 3-2 win over Lille at Parkhead.
And in his column this morning Johnny Watterson has looked at a damaging week for rugby which has seen former pros Steve Thompson, Alix Popham and Michael Lipman reveal they are living with dementia as a result of head injuries suffered during their playing days. And he has looked back to the death of 14-year-old Benjamin Robinson, who was killed nearly 10 years ago after injuring his head during a schools rugby match. He writes: “But sometimes it takes a jolt to refix attitudes and reset reasonable anxiety levels. As part of the litigation England hooker Steve Thompson did just that by not remembering a Rugby World Cup in which he played and won. That grotesque absurdity was the jolt.”