The Lions and Wimbledon are all wrapped up, but fear not, there is still lots of sport to keep you amused this week…
After a weekend like that, you could be forgiven for suffering a bit of a sporting hangover this weekend. After gorging on everything from Wimbledon and the Lions to Gaelic football and hurling it was a truly monstrous, and very entertaining, weekend.
But with those two summer behemoths of the Lions and Wimbledon now dormant again, what will the desperate sports addict do this week?
Fear not, as there is still lots and lots of great sport on. If you haven’t started already we urge you to give the Tour de France a try. Just yesterday, Ireland’s Dan Martin, a nephew of Stephen Roche, became the first Irishman since Roche in 1992 to win a stage of the race. That fantastic ride by the Garmin rider moved him up to eight overall, 2’28” behind the imperious Chris Froome of Team Sky.
This week the race will take in some pretty flat terrain so watch for breakaways and bunch sprints but if you only catch one stage this week, make it Sunday as the peleton tackle the mighty Mount Ventoux with a stage finish at the summit. It should be epic.
Away from the daily bike riding, there’s lots more too. Football this week comes to you in the middle of the night from the Gold Cup, the CONCACAF tournament to sort out the best team from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. If the goals so far are anything to go by, it should be class.
Even better is the Europa League between Malmo and Drogheda on Thursday. The two sides drew 0-0 in Tallaght last week so a score draw will see the Irish side home. On the same night, St Pat’s have two away goals in the bag as they welcome Zalgiris to Dublin. With a bit of luck both sides will be in the next round come Friday morning.
In GAA, Wednesday night brings the Leinster U21 final to Wexford Park as the home side play Kilkenny but it is at the weekend that the action really hots up. Four football qualifiers are up for decision on Saturday, as well as two hurling qualifiers, while Sunday brings us the fantastic double header of Meath v Dublin in the Leinster SFC and Cork v Limerick in the Munster SHC.
Add in the Darley July Cup from Newmarket on Saturday, plus Scottish Open golf (the last tournament before the British Open) and the World University Games (featuring JOE sponsored footballer Tom King) from Moscow and you have no need to ever leave the house and enjoy the sunshine. Honest.
If you want to catch up with all the news even faster, you’ll want a serious broadband connection with speeds of up to 70mb, so check out the good lads at Magnet, who will be filling your fatpipe so that you never have to worry about being connected.
