It will, need it be said, hardly make up for last summer’s All Ireland final defeat, but, writes Denis Walsh, “the healing continues” for Cork after Sunday’s win over Tipperary in Thurles. Tipp, he says, were “a hologram of the team” that had won such a spectacular final nine months ago, but “this time, Cork didn’t crack or blink or fall in a heap”. Their victory, says Seán Moran in his match report, allowed them “tick off the first item on their championship to-do list”.
Nicky English throws his eye over that and all the weekend’s hurling encounters, including Clare holding off a late Waterford rally to take the points in Ennis. In Leinster, Malachy Clerkin saw Galway brush Kilkenny aside in Salthill, Wexford needed a late Lee Chin goal to help see off a gallant Kildare effort, while Offaly and Dublin shared the spoils in Tullamore.
And it was in Tullamore that we had the shock of the weekend, Westmeath’s footballers registering just their second ever championship win over Meath. Wicklow had the chance to register their first against Dublin, but failed to take their chances in a two-point defeat. Louth got the defence of their Leinster title off to a winning start against Wexford, and there were wins too for Kildare and, in Ulster, Derry and Monaghan.
In rugby, Gerry Thornley was in Galway to see Ireland help themselves to nine tries in their Six Nations win over Italy, head coach Scott Bemand and captain Erin King well pleased with a performance that will send them to Clermont for next Saturday’s meeting with France with a spring in their step.
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Leinster, Connacht and Munster will all have been buoyed too by their URC wins, Leo Cullen saluting Sam Prendergast for his man-of-the-match performance against Ulster on Friday. Connacht delivered their biggest win of the season away to the Stormers, while Munster survived Jack Crowley and Craig Casey yellows to take a much-needed win in Benetton.
And back home, St Mary’s and Clontarf dispatched Terenure and Lansdowne, respectively, to set up the final the All-Ireland League probably deserves, Gerry reporting on those games.
In football, Ireland made it six points out of six from their World Cup qualifying double-header against Poland, Gavin Cummiskey reporting on their 1-0 win at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday. They will, though, be without the suspended Denise O’Sullivan and Emily Murphy for June’s meeting with the Netherlands at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, but head coach Carla Ward remains convinced that it’s a case of when, and not if, this team seals its place in the 2027 finals.
Mikel Arteta was a little less upbeat after Arsenal’s defeat by Manchester City on Sunday. “This performance was not an Arsenal choke,” writes Ken Early, “but if they don’t win the league the campaign will be remembered as a choke.” It’s all in City’s hands now.
And Troy Parrott had the first senior trophy of his career in his hands on Sunday after his AZ Alkmaar side beat NEC Nijmegen in the Dutch cup final, the Dubliner rounding off a whopping 5-1 win with a stoppage time goal. Conor McEvoy reports on that triumph and rounds up the rest of the news from the Irish abroad.
TV Watch: Coverage of snooker’s world championships continues through the day and night on BBC 2, BBC Four and TNT Sports 3, while TG4 has the highlights from the GAA weekend at 8pm. And at the same time, Crystal Palace and West Ham kick off in the Premier League, fourth-from-bottom West Ham in desperate need of a point or three.
