After winning the Epsom Derby a few weeks back with Auguste Rodin, Ballydoyle-based trainer Aidan O’Brien said it was very possible that the horse would try to make it a double by winning the Irish Derby at the Curragh next Sunday. The last of the 18 horses that have completed the Epsom-Curragh Derby double was the Dermot Weld-trained Harzand in 2016. The first to win those races for thoroughbred 3-year-olds was Orby in 1907, which also had the distinction also of being the first Irish-trained horse to win the Epsom race. Orby was owned by none other than Richard “Boss” Croker, famous for his tenure as head of Tammany Hall.
Auguste Rodin, who is owned by the Coolmore Stud in South Tipperary, is already 4/6 favorite for the Curragh classic. O’Brien has 99 European classic wins on the back of Auguste Rodin’s Epsom victory and he could hit a century at the Curragh on Sunday. However, local horses White Birch Sprewell, third and fourth respectively at Epsom, are likely to line up at the Curragh, while the beaten Epsom favourite Arrest is also due to travel from Newmarket. White Birch is trained by John Murphy, while Sprewell’s trainer is Jessica Harrington, better known as a National Hunt trainer. It will be the first time the Irish Derby has been run on a Sunday since 2011.
Auguste Rodin, with Ryan Moore up, winning the Champions Juvenile Stakes at Leopardstown last September.
‘NOT IN LOVE’ WITH
BEAUTIFUL GAME
Liam Brady, one of the Republic of Ireland’s greatest ever players and a long-standing television analyst, has stepped down from his punditry duties with RTE. His last game was the 3-0 win over Gibraltar in Dublin on June 19. Brady had been an integral part of the RTE panel for 25 years and his partnership with Eamon Dunphy and John Giles under the stewardship of the anchor man Bill O’Herlihy has been hailed as a golden age of football punditry in Ireland. Brady said: ‘‘I think things have changed with football now. I am not in love with the game anymore. I suppose, the arrival of social media in the last ten years didn’t help, I am an old dog and you can’t teach me new tricks. Twitter and Facebook and things like that, they are all gobbledy-gook to me.’’
LEINSTER TO MEET
LA ROCHELLE AGAIN
Leinster will take on La Rochelle once again next season’s Rugby Champions Cup after the sides were drawn together in Pool 4 for the 2023/24 season. It’s just over five weeks since Ronan O’Gara La Rochelle’s beat Leinster in the 2022/23 final at the Aviva.
As well as the defending champions Leinster’s group also includes Stade Francais, Leicester Tigers, DHL Stormers and Sale Sharks. Meanwhile Munster should be pleased with their draw in Pool 3. Graham Rowntree’s improved team will face familiar opponents in Northampton Saints and Exeter Chiefs from the Premiership, while their French opponents will be Toulon and Bayonne.
Ulster have been handed a tough assignment in Pool 2 where they will play Racing 92, five-time winners Toulouse, Harlequins, Bath and Cardiff . Connacht are back in the Champions Cup and their group includes: Saracens, Bordeaux-Begles, Vodacom Bulls, Bristol Bears and, Lyon. As this is World Cup year, the competition will not commence until week-ending Dec. 10 with the final fixed for the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on May 25.
MUSGRAVE MEET-UP
Munster will play Leinster at Musgrave Park in Cork on Sept. 8., the first time the arch rivals have met there since November 2007. Graham Rowntree’s men, who are scheduled to begin their 2023-24 campaign on the weekend of Oct. 21-22, will get their pre-season schedule underway on the eve of Ireland’s World Cup pool opener against Romania in Bordeaux, which means both provinces will be missing their Test players.
ELLIOTT’S MILESTONE
HONORED WITH PLAQUE
A plaque was unveiled last week at 96 Old County Rd., Crumlin, Dublin, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Shay Elliott becoming the first Irish cyclist to wear the famous Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey) in June 1963. Elliott was born in Rathfarnham, but the family moved to Crumlin and later to Kilmacanogue in Wicklow. The 1963 Tour de France started in Paris on June 23 and on June 25 Shay won the third stage from Jambes in Belgium to Roubaix and donned the yellow jersey, which he wore for three days. Elliott died in Dublin in May 1971 at the age of 36. It’s only the fifth plaque erected by Dublin City Council to honor sports people/sport events.
COLLINS QUITS
Colm Collins, the GAA’s longest-serving inter-county manager, has brought the curtain down on his 10-year reign as Clare football manager. The Cratloe clubman stepped down in the wake of Clare’s defeat to Derry in their final game of the All-Ireland Round Robin. Collins became the longest-serving inter-county manager following Brian Cody’s departure from the Kilkenny hurling squad last year.
STAR IS NOW MAYOR
Former Galway senior footballer Eddie Hoare is the new Mayor of Galway city. The Fine Gael Councillor was elected Mayor at the Annual General Meeting of the City Council. The 35-year-old is one of the youngest representatives to be selected as the first citizen of the city. Cllr Hoare was first elected in 2019. He succeeds party colleague Clodagh Higgins in the role. Cllr Hoare assumes office as part of a pact involving Fine Gael, Labour, the Green Party and a number of Independents.
FORSYTH RETIRES
AFTER DIAGNOSIS
Anybody who listens or did listen to RTE or BBC radio will be familiar with the voice of Roddy Forsyth. Well, the man with the distinctive Scottish accent is retiring. The Glasgow-born journalist announced last week that he is quitting as he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Scotland’s European Championship game against Georgia last week was his last game after more than 40 years of service to BBC Radio.
OLYMPIC MEDALLIST
MCCOURT DIES AT 79
The death occurred last week of Jim McCourt, who won a bronze medal in boxing for Ireland at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. The Belfast native was 79 and was Ireland’s only medallist at the Games in the Japanese capital. He lost a tight semi-final bout in the lightweight division to the Russian Velikton Barannikov on a 3-2 scoreline. McCourt also took home a bronze medal at the 1965 European Amateur Championships in Berlin in the same grade. A year later he won gold, this time in the light welterweight division, representing Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games in Kingston.
The death has also occurred of two well-known soccer personalities, one a player, the other an official.
Shamrock Rovers great Ronnie Nolan joined the club in 1952 and went on to win four league titles and six FAI Cups. He was also capped 10 times by the Republic of Ireland. He was 89.
Joe Delaney, the former honorary treasurer of the FAI, has died, at age 82. Delaney was the father of John Delaney, the former FAI chief executive. Joe served as chairman of Waterford United from 1976-82 and was also honorary president of the Munster Football Association. He was treasurer at the FAI during the Jack Charlton era and left the role in 1996 following the “Merriongate” ticketing scandal, which centred on tickets for the 1990 and 1994 World Cups. Delaney consistently denied any wrongdoing.
