The Morning Sports Briefing

Ireland 1 Austria 1

First to football and Ireland managed to salvage a draw from a poor performance against Austria at the Aviva Stadium yesterday thanks to Jonathan Walters’ late equaliser – leaving them second to Serbia on goal difference after they drew with 1-1 Wales in Belgrade.

Ken Early writes that, as opposed to the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign when Ireland fought back with nothing to lose, the rest of this campaign is about clinging on to what they've got.

“They [Ireland]had started the day expecting to win. Austria were missing several first-teamers; morale within Austrian soccer had collapsed to the point where players were prioritising things like their weddings ahead of the game,” he writes.

Meanwhile, Keith Duggan writes that it was Ireland's sheer strength of will that got them back into the game on a day when Austria were, largely, the better team.

Gordon D’Arcy: No variation if everyone plays the same

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Shane Duffy deflects blame from referee and says players must stand up

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Irish strength of will salvages draw in chaotic Austrian battle

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Afghanistan pull out of ODI series against Ireland

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Lions tour

On to rugby and Gerry Thornley writes from Dunedin that Stuart Hogg is the only Lions' injury concern ahead of tomorrow morning's clash with the Highlanders (you can follow all of the action on our liveblog from 7.30am).

Meanwhile, Gordon D'Arcy looks into how the Lions have played so far and asks the question of where the variation is if everyone plays the same?

GAA

After a weekend of stellar GAA action – with Wexford's win over Kilkenny the pick – Nicky English heaps praise on Davy Fitzgerald's team as they finally reached the big time again with a famous victory.

Yesterday, Galway saw off Mayo in a thriller at Pearse Stadium, Monaghan saw off Cavan, Kerry beat Clare and Offaly let Westmeath off the hook to set up a replay.

News round-up

In other news, Lewis Hamilton won the Canadian Grand Prix to cut the gap to Sebastian Vettel at the top of the standings, Rafael Nadal clinched his 10th French Open title and Dan Martin pipped Chris Froome to a third place podium finish at the Criterium du Dauphine in France.