Each weekend, we select performances from Irish sports worthy of highlighting. This weekend, we highlight action in Gaelic football, athletics, handball and rugby.

This week’s Champions of the Weekend is brought to us by SSE Airtricity, one of Sport for Business’s key partners and supporters of our sustainability coverage.

 

Louth

The final Provincial Final under the new rules of Gaelic Football gave us another gem of a sporting occasion.  The first Leinster Final without Dublin since 2011, and over 65,000 packed the streets and the stands around Croke Park.  The game ebbed and flowed, the drama came thick and fast and at the end, a sixty-eight-year gap going back to 1957 was bridged.  Congratulations to Louth.

 

Donegal and Armagh

The Ulster Final in football is a special occasion and never more so than this year when Donegal and Armagh served up a game for the ages.  Nip and tuck the whole way through, until deep into extra time when Donegal finally sealed the deal.  Manager Jim McGuinness has only ever lost one Ulster Championship game from the dugout in his two spells as Manager, a remarkable record in one of the most competitive championships in Irish sport.

 

Ireland’s Relay Runners

Both the Mixed 4×400 metre and the Women’s 4×400 metre relay teams, with Sharlene Mawdsley and Rhasidat Adeleke across both, secured a place at the World Athletics Championships in September with top class performances at the World Relays Championships in China over the weekend.

 

Paul Brady

At 45, Paul Brady secured his 11th All-Ireland Men’s Senior Singles title in handball at Croke Park on Sunday.  Battling injury and time he won by the narrowest of margins against an opponent 20 years his junior, securing his place as the greatest player of all time in the sport.

 

Peter O’Mahony

Munster must win both of their last two games to make the finals of the URC and secure a place in the Champions’ Cup next season.  The pressure was intense then for the game against Ulster at Thomond Park on Friday night, and with this being a farewell to the ground for Peter O’Mahony, one of its favourite sons, it was fitting that he should score the last try in a 38-20 victory.

 

 

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SPORT FOR BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE

Being at your best on the biggest stages is the essence of elite sport, and we will always be watching out for and celebrating Irish sporting achievements of this kind.

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Rory at the US PGA Championships next weekend and plenty more

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