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Cork and Tipp set for epic showdown

Stephen Kenny returns to management; Rachael Darragh ready for Paris Olympics

Cork's Brian Hayes. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho

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Mary Hannigan
Fri May 17 2024 - 10:08

When he watched them get the better of Limerick in that thriller at Páirc Uí Chaoimh last weekend, Joe Canning had only one question: “Where has this Cork team been all along?” A few of their players, he writes, “came of age” in that game, Brian Hayes’ performance “phenomenal”, but the key now is that they bring the same gusto to their meeting with Tipperary on Sunday, otherwise they’ll be gone from the championship. And having had two weeks to recover from their morale-boosting draw with Waterford, when they came from four points down in added time, Tipp will be well rested – and should have a spring in their step. As for the game between Clare and Waterford in Ennis ... Joe is edging towards the former, but he wouldn’t rule out the latter.

Paul Keane, meanwhile, previews Sunday’s two Tailteann Cup games, hearing from Longford captain Paddy Fox, whose county meet Leitrim, and Laois captain Evan O’Carroll, whose side take on Wicklow in Aughrim.

In soccer, Gavin Cummiskey reports on Stephen Kenny’s return to management after he agreed a five-year contract with St Patrick’s Athletic. He’ll have no time to ease himself in to the job, though, Pat’s hosting Derry City this evening and Shelbourne on Monday.

In rugby, Gerry Thornley takes us through the URC play-off permutations – and with up to 11 teams still in with a chance of reaching them, that’s no easy task. Ahead of their trip to Edinburgh this evening, defending champions Munster are third in the table but Nathan Johns brings news that they’ll have to do without Joey Carbery and Peter O’Mahony, both players ruled out with knocks. It will be all change at Connacht next season, 11 players set to leave, Nathan having a look at the ins and outs.

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Over in Kentucky, a relaxed Rory McIlroy had a bright start to the US PGA Championship, a five-under-par 66 putting him right in the mix. He’s four shots behind Xander Schauffele, who opened with a peach of a 62, but, writes Philip Reid, it was another struggle for Tiger Woods, a bogey-bogey finish leaving him 10 shots adrift of Schauffele.

In racing, Brian O’Connor looks at Aidan O’Brien’s unshakeable belief in his Derby contender City Of Troy, despite his “dismal failure to live up to his billing” at Newmarket a fortnight ago. “O’Brien’s indulgence towards City Of Troy has been taken with a lot of salt in some quarters,” he writes, but “is there anyone anywhere with the brass balls to try to second guess Aidan O’Brien on horses?”

Badminton’s Rachael Darragh was beginning to second guess her chances of qualifying for this summer’s Olympic Games, so it was with enormous relief – and joy – that she greeted the news she had taken the 38th and final spot. “I experienced every emotion under the sun,” she tells Ian O’Riordan of her wait for that news, but now she’ll follow in the path of her aunt Chloe Magee who competed in Beijing, London and Rio.

TV Watch: It’s round two at the US PGA Championship today (Sky Sports Golf, 1pm-midnight), and this evening there’s rugby action in the shape of Munster’s URC trip to Edinburgh (TG4 and Premier Sports 1, 7.35). Sligo Rovers and Bohemians meet in the Premier Division (RTÉ2, 7.45), while Southampton host West Brom in the second leg of their Championship play-off semi-final, the first finishing 0-0 (Sky Sports Football, 8.0). Leeds United await the winners.