It was a weekend when the Euro 2016 Championships kicked off in France but the third biggest event in world sport was in some ways overshadowed by the stunning achievements of other Irish sporting stars in a variety of disciplines.
Irish U20 Rugby
After a stunning comeback from 17 points down to beat Grand Slam Champions Wales, the Irish U20 team at the World Championship secured only the second ever win for Ireland over the All Blacks at any level. It means the team are now almost certain of a semi final spot at worst and have delivered an incredible vote of confidence in the future of the sport for Ireland at the highest level.
Sponsors PwC signed an extended partnership agreement for the team and all areas of underage rugby only last month and will be rubbing their hands at the exposure Saturday’s win has given and will continue to do so for years to come.
Irish Senior Rugby
A first win against South Africa on their home soil was as glorious as it was perhaps unexpected after a season that had left something to be desired.
That was all forgotten as the senior side followed up the earlier win of the U20’s with a stunning backs to the wall performance against their hosts and a victory that signals a bright future in the new livery of Vodafone’s sponsorship of the team.
Curtis Cup Golf
The Great Britain and Ireland team landed the Curtis Cup being played at Dun Laoghaire Golf Club over the weekend in front of a record crowd of 14,000.
There were three Irish players on the team that beat the US. Leona Maguire, Maria Dunne and Olivia Mahaffey all played their part in the 11.5 to 8.5 point win which will give a major boost to the sport at amateur level and is an another indicator of the massive strides made by Women;s sport in general over the past few years.
Tipperary’s Football Breakthrough
Almost as big a surprise as the U20 Rugby win was Tipperary’s eclipse of Cork in the semi final of the Munster Football Championship on Sunday.
It had been 1944 since they last beat Cork at this level and they now face Kerry in the Munster Final.
Cork have fallen at the first hurdle in the Munster Football and ~Hurling Championship now for the first time in living memory.
Unfortunately there were less than 3,000 fans present to see it.
Paralympic Gold
Noelle Lenihan laid down a marker for Rio when taking Gold and setting a new world Discus record in the European Paralympic Athletics Championships in Italy.
The Paralympian efforts are being tracked closely on their new app, launched to raise the profile of the stars of the sport in a Paralympic Games year and Lenihan is the second medallist at the games after Dirdre Mongan’s Shot Putt Bronze on Saturday.
