LIVE SPORTS BLOG The Irish Womens Rugby team produced a heroic display on Tuesday night to record a historic win over world champions New Zealand in the World Cup in Paris to put themselves within touching distance of the semi-finals. The Black Ferns have dominated womens rugby winning the last four World Cups but Philip Doyles brilliant ladies ripped up the script to record a 17-14 win. Amazingly, this is the first time since 1991 that New Zealand have lost in the World Cup as Ireland move to top of Pool B, Ireland march on to a meeting with Kazakhstan on Saturday at 13h00, and could yet qualify with a high seeding. That all depends on what happens this weekend, but for now this team can bask in limitless glory after securing one of the great victories in the history of Irish women’s sport. The final round of matches take place on Saturday. There are four semi-final places on offer with the winners of each of the three pools and one best runner-up qualifying, as we said Ireland play Kazakhstan, who have already lost heavily to New Zealand and USA, in their final Pool B game at 12 noon (Irish time). If Ireland beat Kazakhstan they are likely to face either the locals France or Australia, who are set to meet in what will be the decisive game of Pool C on Saturday night, in the semi-final. Unless there is a draw, the winner of the Pool A clash between England v Canada is likely to qualify as the top seed overall. Depending on bonus points, that could mean a meeting with New Zealand, or a re-match against the same side in the semi-final. So exciting times ahead and some great Rugby! All games are LIVE at Ma Nolan’s It all began on April 27, when London hosted Carlow in Ruislip, but now just four remain as we head to GAA HQ! Three of the competing four teams in the All-Ireland senior hurling semi-finals are no strangers to this place with Tipperary, Kilkenny and Cork lining up to take their shot. The players involved will sit in the dressing room before that final huddle and take on board the final messages from team managers looking to fire them up for what lies in store. O’Shea, Cody, Barry-Murphy and Ryan will infuse a unity of purpose in their players, urging them to behave more like a family rather than a group of individuals. This weekend we see the mighty and surely most experienced Kilkenny take on the surging power of newcomers (at least in this decade) Limerick in the All Ireland Senior Hurling Semi Final on Sunday. This game will be preceeded by the future big stars of Kilkenny and Waterford in the Minor Semi Final. These games and the two All Ireland Football Championship B Quarter Finals on Saturday will be shown live in all Ma Nolan’s Rory McIlroy is the hot favourite to make it back-to-back majors when he tees it up in this weeks US PGA Championship at Valhalla. Victory in the Open Championship at Hoylake and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational on his last two starts have catapulted the Irishman back to world No 1! Pleasingly for Paul McGinley, such is the form of the Europeans that three of his prospective Ryder Cup team are in the first four spots in the betting - Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose, Adam Scott and market leader Rory. Valhalla was the scene of the USAs last victory in the Ryder Cup in 2008 so Tom Watson will hope some of his Gleneagles-bound side can regain some form at a venue that holds so many positive memories for the Americans. However, Dustin Johnsons absence for the rest of the season and the huge doubts surrounding Tiger Woods means two of his star names are out of the picture although that does offer a window of opportunity for some of the other Americans trying to make the plane to Scotland. As usual, Ma Nolan’s has full coverage of the years final major with the first live programme at 19h00 on Thursday The build-up to the US Open gains speed this week as an incredibly strong WTA field heads to Montreal, Canada for the Rogers Cup. Li Na and Simona Halep are the only notable absentees in the 56-player draw, and with 900 ranking points and $467,000 going to the champion, we can expect an ultra-competitive week of topflight tennis. As always friends if your sport is televised and we do not have it listed simply ask at the bar and we will where possible do our best to show it.
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 12:59:10 +0000
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