Ballyliffin ready to go; England fear nobody but nobody fears them

The first football-free day is out of the way, now just to survive today before getting back into the swing of things with two quarter-finals tomorrow. Stay strong everyone. As it is we have the Irish Open to keep us occupied for the next four days as play gets underway in Ballyliffin at 7.30. Reporting from an unusually sun-drenched links is our man Philip Reid who writes that Rory McIlroy is looking to get back to his days of playing like a carefree teenager as he aims for a second Irish Open title. Meanwhile, defending champion Jon Rahm spoke of how proud he was to join the illustrious list of Spaniards who have claimed the title. You can follow all of the action from Donegal today on our liveblog from 10am with McIlroy set to get underway at 1.20pm.

Moving on and England are just two days away now from their World Cup quarter-final clash with Sweden. Gareth Southgate's men appear to be in the easier side of the draw and could possibly even lay claim to being the best team in that half but, as Emmet Malone writes from St Petersburg, even though England don't fear anyone, nobody fears them either. You can follow all of the action from all games as well as reports, analysis, features and more on our World Cup website.

As we enter what must now be year three of this never-ending heatwave as gang wars break out over the last box of calippos in the supermarket, ovens are discarded with altogether in favour of barbecues and the country officially enters a state of 'absolute drought', it's GAA players who are really feeling the heat as they do battle in searing temperatures. In his statistics column this week, Eamon Donoghue looks at how players are coping with the heatwave with some counties reporting players to have lost nearly 3kg in a single game.

Meanwhile, Ciarán Murphy writes that Dubs who say Croke Park isn't their home ground are living in a land of make-believe and that the saga over the venue for their clash with Donegal does away with all ideas of fairness. "This doesn't tarnish Dublin's legacy, as Jim McGuinness suggested. But it further tarnishes the idea of fairness. Nothing will happen this year, because we only recently figured out who was getting screwed here. But if Galway and Kerry can meet in a neutral venue, then so can Dublin and Donegal," he writes.

GAA Statistics: How intercounty teams are coping with the heatwave

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In this World Cup England fear nobody, but nobody fears England

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More of the same won’t keep England in World Cup

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Ciarán Murphy: Donegal-Dublin does away with idea of fairness

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On to our women in sport pages where Joanne O'Riordan writes that it's time we started judging female pundits on their actual punditry and not on their gender. "Louise Quinn and Stephanie Roche flew the flag well in Ireland. They clearly had their research done, and they spoke well on everything that was put to them. Isn't that the standards all commentators should be held to?" she writes.

Finally to Wimbledon where Roger Federer yesterday put on his usual grass court masterclass to advance through the first round in straight sets while, in the women's draw, Caroline Wozniacki bowed out as Serena Williams advanced.