Ahead of this evening’s tussle in Prague, how are the nerves? Shredded? Well, our piece on Ireland’s playoff history will do nothing to ease them, nor will Ken Early reminding us that it could all be settled on penalties . . . and the Czech Republic “have the best penalty shootout record in world football”. Good grief. He talks to the creator of perhaps the most famous penalty of all, Antonín Panenka.
Gavin Cummiskey, who hears from Heimir Hallgrímsson and Séamus Coleman in his match preview, has lifted our spirits a bit though by pointing to Caoimhín Kelleher’s penalty-saving record. The Cork man has kept out eight of the 17 he has faced for club and country - including ones from luminaries such as Kylian Mbappé and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Mind you, we’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves with all this spot-kick natter, there’s an actual match to be played first - and few sound more up for the challenge than Coleman. “This football team can lift the nation,” he said on the eve of his 78th cap, Gordon Manning listening in.
With one goal in those 77 appearances, Coleman would be an unlikely scoring hero tonight, but aside from Troy Parrott and Robbie Brady, the only players in the squad on double digits, there aren’t any others with a mighty record on that front. Gordon looks through the numbers.
Gavin, meanwhile, heard from Czech Republic manager Miroslav Koubek who denied that his comment last month about Ireland playing “island football” meant they were a touch primitive. He blamed Google Translate for the misunderstanding. We’ve all been there.
In rugby - yes, there are other sporting activities this week - John O’Sullivan has done some number-crunching, counting the minutes our international players have played for their clubs this season. “Will Leinster, the last province standing in the premier European tournament, benefit from the IRFU’s player management programme?”
And Michael Scully has news of a shock for Munster Rugby staff who have been informed that a voluntary redundancy plan is being introduced due to mounting financial pressures at the province.
In Gaelic games, Paul Keane talks to former Armagh forward Stefan Campbell about the impact new Kerry coach Kieran Donaghy is having on the county, Campbell having worked with Donaghy during his time with Armagh.
And in his America at Large column, Dave Hannigan tells us the remarkable story of how Ronnie Delany was treated by American crowds during his all-conquering running days, “ignorant bums” and “backward baboons”, as one writer put it, booing him because “he never ran a fast mile in his life” - he only ran to win.
TV Watch: Shane Lowry and Séamus Power are in the field for the Houston Open which gets under way today, Sky Sports Golf’s coverage starting at 12.30pm - you can read Philip Reid’s tournament preview here - and at 11.0 tonight the same channel switches to the LPGA Ford Championship where Leona Maguire and Lauren Walsh will be in action.
Before then, the Republic of Ireland under-21 side host Moldova in Tallaght in their Euro 2027 qualifying group (Virgin Media Two, 5.15pm), and at 7.45pm it’s kick-off time in Prague (RTÉ 2) - get those candles lit. The winners face either Denmark or North Macedonia, who meet at the same time (Virgin Media Two), while Northern Ireland are away to Italy in their play-off (BBC1, 7.45pm).
