A fool’s game trying to predict championships that defy analysis

After witnessing so many counties blow hot and cold in the football and hurling championships thus far, Ciarán Murphy can only conclude that “all but the very best GAA teams could stand accused of Scotland-ism” – as in the somewhat erratic Scottish rugby team. Donegal and Mayo fall in to that category after their defeats last weekend, games now defying any “rational analysis”. This weekend’s Leinster football semi-finals? It’s a question of “who do you mistrust the least”.

Ciarán certainly doesn’t know what to expect from Dublin in their meeting with reigning Leinster champions Louth, and Eoin Murchan probably doesn’t either – even though he plays for them. Paul Keane talks to the defender ahead of the game.

Antrim hurling isn’t sure itself what to expect this weather with speculation continuing over Davy Fitzgerald’s position as manager – although chairman Séamus McMullan has denied that any decision has been made to replace him.

Also in hurling, Jeffrey Lynskey analyses last weekend’s Waterford v Tipperary game, one that “captured everything compelling about the Munster championship”, and in camogie, Muireann Duffy talks to Eimear Hurley, who is back home in Cork and back with her native club St Finbarr’s after a spell living and playing in Dublin.

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In rugby, John O’Sullivan profiles Toulon winger Gaël Dréan, aka “the Lorient Express”. He’s even quicker than Kylian Mbappé and has scored 16 tries in 20 matches across all competitions this season. Safe to say, then, he will be a major threat to Leinster in Saturday’s Champions Cup semi-final.

In racing, Brian O’Connor reports on Gaelic Warrior’s emphatic Gold Cup triumph at Punchestown yesterday, and he previews today’s action at the festival, Teahupoo bidding for a hat-trick in the Stayers’ Hurdle.

In golf, LIV is dead, long live LIV? Reports of Saudi Arabia ending its funding of the circuit are firming up. And Philip Reid reports on Shane Lowry’s search for momentum ahead of the PGA Championship in a fortnight’s time.

In athletics, Ian O’Riordan has news of a Sport Ireland initiative designed to tackle concerns around doping in sport – a new WhatsApp service that will allow information to be submitted anonymously.

In football, Atlético Madrid and Arsenal’s Champions second-leg semi-final is, as they say, finely balanced after last night’s first-leg draw, the game considerably tamer than PSG and Bayern’s “wildly entertaining” meeting on Tuesday. “Why don’t Premier League teams have this attacking verve?” asks Barney Ronay. Jonathan Liew, meanwhile, asks, “is it, in fact, possible that John Terry was a far-right sympathiser all along?”

And in his America At Large column, Dave Hannigan has the most peculiar story of a former college football player facing time in jail after “a lucrative 18-month grift” during which he impersonated NFL stars in an identity theft scam. Wild.

TV Watch: Day three of the Punchestown festival gets under way at 3.30 this afternoon on RTÉ 2 and from 4pm, Sky Sports Golf begins its coverage of the Cadillac Championship in Miami, Shane Lowry in the field. This evening, Nottingham Forest take on Aston Villa in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final (Premier Sports 1 and TNT Sports 1, 8pm), while Crystal Palace are away to Shakhtar Donetsk at the same stage of the Conference League (TNT Sports 2).