When the Republic of Ireland lost away to Armenia in their World Cup qualifying group back in September, the chances of them finishing the year as the country’s most popular team would, you’d imagine, have been on the slim side. But, as we know, football is a funny old game, Troy Parrott’s heroics against Portugal and Hungary sending the team to the top slot in the Teneo Sport and Sponsorship Index for 2025. Ian O’Riordan brings you the details from the survey which sees Katie Taylor chosen as Ireland’s most admired athlete for the ninth successive year.
If Ireland can actually qualify for the World Cup, they’d most probably be in the running to hold on to that ‘most popular’ gong. They’d also be guaranteed prize money of at least €8.95 million, a sum that the FAI would very much welcome for their coffers.
There’s sizeable enough prize money up for grabs too for Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne when they wrap up their Conference League campaigns this evening. Rovers are at home to Malta’s Hamrun Spartans and Shels are away to Slovenian side NK Celje.
Speaking of money - the GAA regards the cost of running county teams as “unsustainable”, the total spend last year €43.35 million. As part of their efforts to tackle those spiralling costs, a motion will go before Congress next February requiring counties to attain a new high-performance licence. Gordon Manning explains all.
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Ciarán Murphy, meanwhile, tells us how he ending up coaching not one but two teams this year, despite being resistant to the idea of getting involved in coaching at all. The most important thing he learnt? “Keep turning up.”
In rugby, Nathan Johns looks at “the slow march to lower tackle heights across the whole sport”, a march “that appears unlikely to stop”. Amateur rugby in Ireland is already at this stage, but should senior rugby go the same way, “it would arguably be one of the more drastic law changes in the game’s relatively short professional history”.
In his America at Large column, Dave Hannigan looks back on the life of former Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks who died last week at the age of 79. He had mixed results when he dabbled in sports ownership, his time at Liverpool among his unhappier forays.
And in boxing, Ciarán Kirk has some decidedly good news - Ireland won 10 medals at the European Under-17 Championships in Germany, Seán Kelly, Cassie Henderson and Kristian Jubani all claiming gold in in their finals on Wednesday,
TV Watch: There’s more from the World darts Championships through the day on Sky Sports (12.30pm-4.30pm, 7pm-11pm) and Shelbourne and Shamrock Rovers finish their Conference League campaigns - Shels are away to NK Celje (TNT Sports 5) and Rovers are at home to Hamrun Spartans (Premier Sports 1 and TNT Sports 3), both games kicking off at 8pm. And before then, at 7pm, it’s time for the Sports Personality of the Year on BBC1.
