Crowded programme as always for the year ahead

Last year’s international programme was huge, the Olympics surpassing all other events. There was also soccer’s Euro 24, golf, tennis, cycling, racing, and in this country, football in its two hues and hurling. It’s going to be as good in 2025.

The 2025 ladies’ Euros will go ahead without the Republic of Ireland team. Failure to qualify wasn’t so much a disappointment as a shock.

Only a year earlier, Vera Pauw brought her charges Down Under for the World Cup finals. She subsequently lost her job, and the same fate has now befallen her successor, Eileen Gleeson. A touch of the post-Fergie Man Uniteds about that.

Nor will rugby’s Women’s World Cup have a representative from this country. England ended hopes, and now the so-called Red Roses will be aiming to improve on their record, which reads, one win from six final appearances.

RHASIDA’S OPPORTUNITY

But don’t for one minute think there won’t be Ireland ladies on the big stage. The World Athletics Championships, in Tokyo, are going ahead in September, and this will be the perfect opportunity for those who went close – or missed out through injury – at the Paris Olympics.

Rhasida Adeleke, playing the role which Sonia O’Sullivan filled with honour in a stellar career, had the country behind her when she wore the green singlet in Paris. Twice she found herself only a step away from the podium.

This will be the 400 metre runner’s chance to rise to it – surrounded by others, she’ll have a vital part to play in the relays.

There’s probably no-one keener for the Worlds than Ciara Mageen. Having won at these championship in 2023, the County Down girl could only have been devastated when injury ruled her out of the Olympics.

This is her chance to bounce back. Staying free of injury, Dundalk’s Kate O’Connor should also be on the plane to Tokyo.

SHANE GOING FOR THE DOUBLE

What price is another British Open win for Shane Lowry? The venue for one of golf’s premier events is County Antrim’s Portrush where the Offaly big-hitter triumphed in the same event six years ago.

He’ll be in the limelight, but still won’t attract as much attention as his countryman and sometimes team colleague, Rory McIlroy.

The pair could again be wearing the same jersey at the Bethpage Black course in New York come late September. That’s when the Ryder Cup goes ahead, and already it’s being forecast that this biannual joust between Europe and the USA could be a throwback to 1999, the year of the Battle of Brookline.

America did enough on the course to secure success back then; but it was argued that the “get-in-the-hole” Old Glory-waving shouters on the sidelines made a significant contribution, the more enthusiastic among them all but rushing the field when Europe still had the chance to take something from the tie.

The row Rory McIlroy had with one of the American player’s caddie in a carpark during the 2023 renewal in Rome could get a mention.

But, then, McIlroy is a poster boy on the other side of the Atlantic. They love him, and should he get back on the Major horse before then, the home crowd might even shout for him. Some chance.

In a break with tradition, the Americans are getting an appearance fee. Big deal. The $200,000 they’re being paid is to them about the equivalent of what you’d throw on the plate on a Sunday.

HANDY ANDY IN CHARGE OF LIONS

The British & Irish Lions are going on tour in June, taking in a visit to Australia. There’s always speculation as to who’ll be captain and also the size of each of the four country’s representation.

These decisions will, in the main, be down to Andy Farrell, Ireland’s head coach who’s taking charge of the touring side.

Farrell will be faced by the man he succeeded in the Irish job, Joe Schimt. They had a head-to-head at The Aviva late last year, and Farrell’s side got the decision.

That was in the depths of our winter – when they next meet, the land of Oz will be having there’s. The probability is it won’t make a ha’penny’s worth of difference.

BLIP? WHAT BLIP?

It was suggested the weekend before last that Willie Mullins’ racing stable down in Carlow might be under a cloud. Eight runners were sent out over the Christmas period, and only seven of them collected.

Not the kind of strike rate to set Closutton hearts beating, even if one of the winners is unquestionably the best ‘chaser in this country and the one next to it. And maybe far beyond.

That there was nothing to be concerned about was underlined on New Year’s Day. Six winners had PW Mullins’ name in brackets in the following day’s results.

Enough there – with doubtless more to come over the next couple of months – to suggest that when it comes to the biggest meeting of the year, Team Ireland, with Mullins as captain, will be primed to face the British in the Cheltenham showdown.

It won’t, of course, be only one man who’ll be flying the Tricolour. Gordon Elliott, Henry de Bromhead and Gavin Cromwell, the others in the Irish Big Four, can be expected to provide a solid back-up.

And you can be sure there are shrewdies among among the others in the training ranks lining up one.

If Mullins’ Galopin Des Champs is nailed on to score a third successive Gold Cup win, Elliott’s Betterdaysahead is sure to keep the English banker, Constitution Hill, honest in the Champion Hurdle, and might even beat him.

NEW RULES

Throw in the staples, such as the Tour De France, Wimbledon, and, closer to home, Gaelic football and hurling, and you have a 2025 programme to whet even the most discerning of appetites.

Armagh footballers and Limerick hurlers will be in sharp focus, one aiming to retain their crown, the other to regain theirs. But an even bigger question to be answered in the world of GAA is, how are football’s new rules going to work out. They’re getting their first serious run at the end of this month when the league begins.