Winning ugly not an issue for John O’Shea against Finland

Evan Ferguson’s teenage kicks will end on October 19th when he turns a rusty old 20, and by then he’ll hope to have contributed to two morale-boosting performances by the Republic of Ireland in their Nations League games away to Finland and Greece. Gavin Cummiskey hears from the Brighton forward on the eve of those games, his progress in 2024 stunted by the ankle injury he picked up in May, and limited enough playing time with his club since his return.
Gordon Manning, meanwhile, dropped in on John O’Shea’s press conference, the assistant manager acutely aware that in the last 24 months Ireland’s only competitive victories have come against Gibraltar. “If you’re telling me now that we’re going to play terribly but beat Finland, we’re going to take it,” he said. We all would.
In rugby, Julius Caesar gets a mention in Owen Doyle’s look ahead to World Rugby’s November meeting, after which they will unveil their plans to reshape the game. Caesar, Owen tells us, reshaped the Roman republic forever when he crossed the river Rubicon. This, he says, is World Rugby’s “Rubicon moment”. And his chief concern is the possibility of a global trial that would see teams being allowed replaced red-carded players after 20 minutes.
Gerry Thornley turns his thoughts to the development of rugby in Italy where it remains an afterthought when it comes to media attention. “Tangible strides” are being made, though, despite the lack of assistance from the powers-that-be. “Imagine a World Cup in Italy and what it would do for rugby in that country?” Italy hasn’t even got to host a Champions Cup final in the first 31 years of the tournament.
John O’Sullivan has the latest on Leinster’s walking wounded ahead of their Croke Park meeting with Munster, among them Rónan Kelleher whose damaged ankle is still “being assessed”.
In Gaelic games, Seán Moran hears Nicky English pay tribute to Patrick ‘Bonner’ Maher who has announced his retirement from intercounty hurling after a distinguished 16-year career. And Seán also looks at the discussion about the merits of the penalty shoot-out in hurling – it’s not universally loved.
In horse racing, Brian O’Connor brings news of the Regulatory Board fining trainer Philip Fenton after a winner he saddled at Kilbeggan in June was disqualified for failing a drugs test. And he looks ahead to Newmarket on Saturday where Aidan O’Brien has another notable race record in his sights.
TV Watch: There’s plenty more cricket on your screens today, including the tail-end (excuse the pun) of day two in the test between Pakistan and England Sky Sports Cricket (from 5.50am). And if you have access to DAZN, they have live coverage of Celtic’s first ever women’s Champions League group game, FC Twente their opponents – Republic of Ireland internationals Caitlin Hayes and Saoirse Noonan should feature.