Mission accomplished for Ireland in World Cup qualifier in Poland
Ireland travelled to Gdansk this week in serious need of taking something from their World Cup qualifying game against Poland. Well, mission accomplished. Gavin Cummiskey reports on yesterday’s impressive 3-2 win, Ireland’s second goal a thing of loveliness from the trusty left boot of Katie McCabe. And for the third successive game, Emily Murphy collected the player of the match award, the Newcastle forward becoming an indispensable member of Carla Ward’s team.The Dubs have lost their fair share of indispensable players in recent years, and while they still have Con O’Callaghan and Ciarán Kilkenny on board, Darragh Ó Sé reckons “they’re like actors in a bad sequel now”. Dublin for Sam? He has a notion that they’ll be doing well to win Leinster this year.Dublin play Wicklow this weekend while Kildare host Laois, Ian O’Riordan talking to Kildare captain Kevin Feely ahead of that game. Dublin’s decline and the rise of the likes of Louth and Meath have finally put a pep in the step of the Leinster championship, but despite renewed signs of life, are the provincial championships on borrowed time? Seán Moran takes on that thorny question. In rugby, Leinster remind Gordon D’Arcy of Rory McIlroy at the Masters: “Playing well enough, results going their way, but something not quite clicking at times.” McIlroy answered his critics when it mattered, can Leinster do the same, starting with their URC game against Ulster on Friday?READ MOREMasters win completes Rory McIlroy’s evolution from ‘fairweather champ’ to all-time greatOwen Doyle: Someone needs to have a word with some of these referees – and their criticsIt’s still a cultural taboo in the GAA to declare your ambitionIrish player tracker: Troy Parrott helps AZ to vital win over HeerenveenLike Leinster, Ulster secured themselves a home European semi-final with that Challenge Cup win over La Rochelle, so Michael Sadlier finds coach Richie Murphy in fine form ahead of that meeting in Belfast. With Josh van der Flier struggling with injury this week, Scott Penny expects to see game-time in the tie, Johnny Watterson hearing from the Leinster flanker.Munster, meanwhile, are boosted by the return to training this week of a bunch of players, including Oli Jaeger, Jean Kleyn and Calvin Nash, as they prepare for their URC game away to Benetton. Johnny talks to Tom Farrell ahead of that challenge, against a side that contributed no less than 14 players to Italy’s initial Six Nations squad.And in off-the-field Munster news, Gerry Thornley has word of the imminent appointment of Roger Randle as their new attack coach, the former All Blacks winger set to replace the Bath-bound Mike Prendergast. TV Watch: TG4 has live coverage of the Munster Under-20 hurling championship meeting of Waterford and Cork this evening (7.35), and at 8pm we have two more Champions League quarter-final second legs – Arsenal (1) v Sporting CP (0) (Virgin Media Two and TNT Sports 1) and Bayern Munich (2) v Real Madrid (1) (RTÉ 2, TNT Sports 2 and Premier Sports 1). Holders PSG and Atletico Madrid await them in the semi-finals after seeing off Liverpool and Barcelona, respectively, last night.
