Soccer: Europa League
Liverpool are set to extend their Irish connections with the expected appointment of three-time capped Irish international Sean O’Driscoll as their new assistant manager.
The current England Under-19 head coach is said to be heading the overhaul of Brendan Rodgers’ back-room staff after emerging as their leading choice to replace Colin Pascoe, who was sacked along with the first-team coach Mike Marsh this month.
The 57-year-old former Bournemouth and Doncaster Rovers manager’s move to Anfield has not been finalised but is set to go through before Liverpool embark on a pre-season tour of Australia and the Far East on July 12th.
Shamrock Rovers have been dealt another blow ahead of their Europa League opener against FC Progrès Niederkorn tonight.
Already missing the injured Keith Fahey, Rovers must begin their European campaign in Luxembourg without their other experienced ex-international, Stephen McPhail.
Meanwhile the FAI's now famous €5 million "settlement" with Fifa gets a belated mention in the association's accounts for 2014 – or at least in the letter that accompanies them. However, the latest returns raise new questions about the current state of the organisation's financial standing with Uefa, as well as the interest rate it is paying on the refinancing of its stadium debt.
Tennis: Wimbledon
The top seeds were all on form on the first day of Wimbledon 2015, with Maria Sharapova, Serena and Venus Williams, Ana Ivanovic, Milos Raonic, Novak Djokovic, Kei Nishikori and Stan Wawrinka all successfully protecting their positions in what were anticipated to be tricky, nervous, fraught opening matches.
Men's World number one player Djokovic found himself in a spot of bother off the court though after members of his team were seen to be shouting to him in Serbian during the match. In-match player coaching is strictly prohibited.
The player was asked to explain what was taking place.
“I’m just trying to figure out what you want to achieve with this story,” said the reigning champion. “I don’t understand what you really want. Do you want to say I’m cheating, my team? I’m really trying to figure out what’s behind this.
“I mean, are you asking only me or are you asking other players as well?”
GAA: Championship
Jim McGuinness is talking Dublin this week in his column, having watched them live on Sunday he feels that a "subtle but significant change" has taken place in their football philosophy this summer.
The former Donegal manager who masterminded Dublin’s championship exit last summer feels that Jim Gavin’s team have revamped their defensive system;
“I am not saying Dublin are invincible. But I am honestly not sure right now how they can be beaten with what they bring to the table. What we did last year clearly won’t work this time around.”
Golf: French Open
Graeme McDowell is hoping a couple of factors will combine at this week's French Open to belatedly kick-start his season.
Firstly, the Northern Irishman will have his 10-month-old daughter, Vale Esme, with him at a tournament for the first time outside of the United States; and, secondly, the course at Paris National has become his personal domain, having won the French Open for the past two seasons.
“I think it’s important to have a good team of people around you to help you acknowledge it and help you sift through kind of where the problems lie. Is it that you don’t love the game anymore or is it the fact that you just love being home with the family a bit more than normal?”
What to watch out for:
Keep an eye out for the Shamrock Rovers Europa League game tonight, it's at 6pm tonight and there'll be live updates @ShamrockRovers.
Day two of the Wimbledon championships today, Johnny Watterson will have online updates for us throughout the day, but of course the action is also live on BBC all day.
BBC 2, 11.30am-9.30pm
BBC 1, 1.45pm-6pm
The European Under-21 Championships final is tonight with overwhelming favourites Portugal playing Sweden.
BT Sport 1 from 7pm
- Wimbledon order of play:
Centre Court (1pm)
Kiki Bertens (Holl) v Petra Kvitova (Cz Rep x2)
Damir Dzumhur (Bih) v Roger Federer (Swit, x2)
Mikhail Kukushkin (Kaz) v Andy Murray (GB, x3)
Court One (1pm)
Thomaz Bellucci (Bra) v Rafael Nadal (Spa, x10)
Jana Cepelova (Svk) v Simona Halep (Rom, x3)
Tomas Berdych (Cz Rep, x6) v Jeremy Chardy (Fr)
Court Two (11.30am)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fr, x13) v Gilles Muller (Lux)
Nicolas Almagro (Sp) v Gilles Simon (Fra, x12)
Ekaterina Makarova (Rus, x8) v Sachia Vickery (US)
Caroline Wozniacki (Den, x5) v Saisai Zheng (China)
Court Three (11:30am)
Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukr) v Kyle Edmund (GB)
Evgeniya Rodina (Rus) v Laura Robson (GB)
Ying-ying Duan (China) v Eugenie Bouchard (Can, x12)
Gael Monfils (Fr, x18) v Pablo Carreno Busta (Sp)
Court 12 (11:30am)
Elias Ymer (Swe) v Ivo Karlovic (Cro, x23)
Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol, x 13) v Lucie Hradecka (Cz Rep)
Luca Vanni (It) v James Ward (GB)
Jarmila Gajdosova (Aus) v Sabine Lisicki (Ger, 18)
Court 18 (11:30am)
Carina Witthoeft (Ger) v Angelique Kerber (Ger, 10)
Andreas Seppi (It, x25) v Brydan Klein (GB)
Feliciano Lopez (Sp, x15) v Steve Darcis (Bel)
Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus, x26) v Laura Siegemund (Ger)
Court 4 (11:30am)
Mateusz Kowalczyk (Pol) / Igor Zelenay (Svk) v Marcel Granollers (Sp) / Marc Lopez (Sp) x6
Victor Estrella Burgos (Dom) / Joao Souza (Br) v Andre Begemann (Ger) / Julian Knowle (Aut)
Lara Arruabarrena (Sp) v Pauline Parmentier (Fr), Andreea Mitu (Rom) v Olga Govortsova (Blr)
Court 5 (11.30am)
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Rus) v Mona Barthel (Ger)
Sam Querrey (US) v Igor Sijsling (Holl)
Pablo Andujar (Sp) v Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Sp, x29)
Karin Knapp (It) v Magdalena Rybarikova (Svk)
Court 6 (11:30am)
Ruben Bemelmans (Bel) v Roberto Bautista Agut (Sp, x20)
Viktor Troicki (Srb, x22) v Aleksandr Nedovyesov (Kaz)
Kristyna Pliskova (Cz Rep) v Tereza Smitkova (Cz Rep)
Katerina Siniakova (Cz Rep) v Denisa Allertova (Cz Rep)
Court 7 (11:30am)
Misaki Doi (Jpn) v Elina Svitolina (Ukr, x17)
Denis Istomin (Uzb) v Albert Ramos-Vinolas (Sp)
Robin Haase (Holl) v Alejandro Falla (Col)
Johanna Larsson (Swe) v Christina McHale (US)
Court 8 (11:30am)
Magda Linette (Pol) v Kurumi Nara (Jpn)
Yuichi Sugita (Jpn) v Blaz Kavcic (Slo)
Radek Stepanek (Cz Rep) v Aljaz Bedene (GB)
Court 9 (11:30am)
Dustin Brown (Ger) v Yen-Hsun Lu (Tpe)
Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) / Samantha Stosur (Aus) v Janette Husarova (Svk) / Paula Kania (Pol)
Monica Puig (Pur) v Monica Niculescu (Rom)
Adrian Mannarino (Fr) v Michael Berrer (Ger)
Court 10 (11:30am)
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni (Cro) v Yaroslava Shvedova (Kaz)
Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukr) v Borna Coric (Cro)
Jiri Vesely (Cz Rep) v Paolo Lorenzi (It)
Sesil Karatantcheva (Bul) v Silvia Soler-Espinosa (Sp)
Court 11 (11:30am)
Benoit Paire (Fr) v Mikhail Youzhny (Rus)
Vasek Pospisil (Can) v Vincent Millot (Fr)
Tatjana Maria (Ger) v Bojana Jovanovki (Srb)
Yanina Wickmayer (Bel) v Elizaveta Kulichkova (Rus)
Court 15 (11:30am)
Garbine Muguruza (Sp, 20) v Varvara Lepchenko (US)
Nikoloz Basilashvili (Geo) v Facundo Bagnis (Arg)
Bethanie Mattek-Sands (US) / Lucie Safarova (Cz Rep) x3 v Naomi Broady (GB) / Emily Webley-Smith (GB)
Teliana Pereira (Bra) v Camila Giorgi (It, x31)
Court 16 (11:30am)
Tamira Paszek (Aut) v Casey Dellacqua (Aus)
Jack Sock (US, x31) v Sam Groth (Aus)
Jelena Jankovic (Srb, x28) v Elena Vesnina (Rus)
Court 17 (11:30am)
Malek Jaziri (Tun) v James Duckworth (Aus)
Ajla Tomljanovic (Aus) v Klara Koukalova (Cz Rep)
Filip Krajinovic (Srb) v Nicolas Mahut (Fr)
Madison Keys (US, x21) v Stefanie Voegele (Swit)
Court 19 (11:30am)
Margarita Gasparyan (Rus) / Alexandra Panova (Rus) v Ysaline Bonaventure (Bel) / Katalin Marosi (Hun)
Tim Smyczek (US) v Fabio Fognini (It, x30)
Ernests Gulbis (Lat) v Lukas Rosol (Cz Rep)
TBC not before 5:30pm:
(15) Timea Bacsinszky (Swit, x15) v Julia Goerges (Ger)
Ana Konjuh (Cro) v Alize Cornet (Fr, x25)
