Nervy night ahead as Portugal come to town

There’s a nervy old night ahead of us at the Aviva Stadium. Come the end of it, the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup qualifying hopes could still have some breath left in them, or they could be done and dusted. Gavin Cummiskey sets the scene for the penultimate group game against Portugal.

It’s time, says Ken Early, for Ireland to leave their shell. Good as they are, Portugal are not “some invincible Borg-like entity who cannot be scored against” - Hungary managed four against them in two games. The very least Ireland need to do is test that defence.

So short is he of left-backs for the game, Heimir Hallgrímsson even considered recalling 36-year-old James McClean. Gavin looks at his remaining options for the position.

Portugal’s captain, one Cristiano Ronaldo, was typically nervous about his nation’s prospects when he spoke yesterday. Kidding. “We have a very good team - we are going to win the match.” James McDermott, meanwhile, looks back at the two nations’ football relationship - it’s a good one, just don’t mention referee Raul Nazaré.

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Would a male pundit ever be described as ‘the Fred West of football commentary’?

In rugby, Ireland will attempt to put largely uninspiring Autumn performances behind them when they take on Australia on Saturday. Andy Farrell “may employ Mack Hansen’s X-factor at fullback”, writes Gerry Thornley, one of a number of changes he anticipates.

Johnny Watterson talks to Sam Prendergast who, having watched Jack Crowley start against the All Blacks and Japan, is hoping to get his chance to shine. And in his ‘View from Australia’, Jonathan Drennan reckons Joe Schmidt hasn’t got half enough credit for the work he has done since taking over the “bin fire” that was the Wallabies back in 2023.

In Gaelic games, Ciarán Murphy says that the “near-universal approval” that greeted the announcement of the hurling and football All Star teams wasn’t a good thing - “the whole idea of it is to provoke debate”. And in golf, Philip Reid looks at Marco Penge’s chances of catching Rory McIlroy in the Race to Dubai standings. (They’re slim enough).

In his America at large column, Dave Hannigan reflects on the death of the Dallas Cowboys’ Marshawn Kneeland. The 24-year-old NFL star seemed to be living the dream, but fame and fortune could not ease his private torment.

And in athletics, Ian O’Riordan hears from Caitríona Jennings’ coach Terry McConnon after she broke the world record for - double-checks notes - a 100 mile race last Saturday, completing the ordeal in Illinois in 12 hours, 37 minutes and four seconds.

Ian, incidentally, is too humble to ever mention in passing that he was named sports writer of the year at The Irish Journalism Awards on Wednesday. Among the pieces that persuaded the judges that he was their man were ‘The trials of Stephen Roche’, ‘Was Rhasidat Adeleke unfairly denied an Olympic bronze medal in Paris?’ and ‘Fast and furious rise of Alex Dunne’. All of his comrades, (admittedly, while seething), salute him.

TV Watch: It could be D-Day in Ireland’s efforts to qualify for next summer’s World Cup. Gordon Manning has already mapped out how today’s Armenia v Hungary (Virgin Media Two, 5.0) and Ireland v Portugal (RTÉ 2, 7.45) games need to go if it is all to go down to Sunday afternoon’s final group fixtures. Light a candle.