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The loss of their on-pitch organisers has left the Tipperary hurlers short ahead of what could be a day to forget against Limerick this weekend. In his column this morning (Subscriber Only), Joe Canning writes: “That part of the pitch is the battleground in intercounty hurling. It’s where games are won and lost. If you don’t have experienced players with good hurling brains in and around the centre, it’s very hard to get any momentum.” Read his column in full here.
West Ham’s Europa League dream ended last night as Eintracht Frankfurt beat their 10 men 1-0 in their semi-final second leg in Germany to reach their first European final in 42 years with a 3-1 aggregate victory. They will face Rangers in the final, after their surprise 3-1 win over RB Leipzig gave them a 3-2 aggregate victory. Tammy Abraham’s first-half header earned Italian Serie A side AS Roma a place in the final of the inaugural Europa Conference League at the expense of Leicester City.
Rory McIlroy’s opening round at the Wells Fargo Championship contained many positive elements, among them seven birdies, as the Irishman signed for an opening round of three-under-par 67. Playing for the first time since his runner-up finish in the Masters last month, McIlroy trails first round leader Jason Day by four after his opening 63.
Meanwhile, the first and second of Gavin Cummiskey’s six-part series - ‘Saipan 20 years on’ - begins this morning: “This is an oral account of a phoney war, where nobody died and everybody lost, with the factual record diverging over the past two decades depending on each person’s perspective.” Read it here.