The Morning Sports Briefing

GAA: Championship

The Munster hurling final looks set to be played in Semple Stadium in Thurles, with the possibility of Killarney being used as a neutral venue looking more and more unlikely.

Waterford’s Walsh Park is unsuitable to fulfil the usual “home and away” arrangements for the provincial decider, and the usual neutral venue between them and Tipperary, Páirc Uí Chaoimh, is also unavailable.

Therefore Waterford look set to choose between Semple Stadium and the Gaelic Grounds, with the Thurles venue being touted as their most likely choice.

Similarly Sligo officials have been left with an awkward decision over where the Connacht final against Mayo should be played, with Markievicz Park also deemed unsuitable to hold the expected crowds. They can either travel for over two hours to go to Galway or take the other option which is just half that distance, in Mayo.

Sligo are actually central to Jim McGuinness's column this morning. Jim was impressed with their game plan against Roscommon last weekend; "Sligo played a kind of a box up front, with the two full forwards 15 to 20 metres apart. The two half forwards, Adrian Marren and Mark Breheny, were at times also 15 to 20 metres apart. The other two forwards at 10 and 12, were the lungs of the team."

Talking about game plans the former Donegal manager says that if you you are “99 per cent sure that you know what the opposition are going to do in a given situation, you can talk with conviction and, in my opinion, that conviction can translate into belief.” Bit of an insight into how Donegal beat Dublin last summer there.

Golf: US Open

With two majors from two so far this year, Jordan Spieth admits he has been focused on chasing down World Number One Rory McIlroy.

Next up is the British Open at St Andrews – where McIlroy will defend his title and seek to derail the young pretender from taking another step towards a Spieth slam.

“I really feel like my game is in great shape,” says McIlroy. “Where my long game is, that bodes well for the next few months. I am hitting the ball so well and striking it so well, if I can get the putting into shape there is no reason why this summer can’t be just as good as last summer.”

European Games

Already a veteran of two Olympic Games, Scott Evans has found himself ranked number one in the men's singles Badminton in Baku, and judging by his opening match, he's not about to let that medal opportunity pass him pay.

“The Asian Games are huge,” he says, “so I can’t see why the European Games can’t get as big. I see a huge future in it, especially for the smaller sports. It’s also good to have something like the Olympic Games that is not the Olympic Games. Then when the athletes go to the Olympic Games everything isn’t new to them.”

Next up for Evans is today’s second group match against Yuhan Tan from Belgium.

Soccer

Irish international James McClean will return to Premier League next season after completing a transfer from Wigan to West Brom.

The 26-year-old from Derry has joined from League One side Wigan for an undisclosed fee believed to be in the region of £1.5 million.

Hockey: World League

After the heartbreak shoot-out defeat the Irish Women endured last week, it is now the turn of the Irish men this week to attempt to qualify for the Rio Olympics as they begin their World League round three campaign in Antwerp this morning against Great Britain.

David Harte says a “top-three finish” is imperative in order to set up a potentially more favourable quarter-final spot.

What to watch out for:

Ian O'Riordan has the latest updates from the European Games in Baku for us throughout the day, with Setanta also covering the action live. There's swimming, basketball and badminton action today as well as three boxing quarter-finals.

Setanta from 5.25am-7.55pm

The Men's Hockey World League competition begins today with Ireland looking to book a place in the Rio Olympics. First up for them is Britain.

Sky Sports 1 from 11am