Lauren McCann is an English and Spanish student at QUB. Listen to her on The Sporty Scoop every Wednesday.

Ulster Rugby

Leinster defeated Ulster 38-19 in the Pro 14 on Friday night, ending the province’s hopes of reaching the Pro 14 final. Andrew Warwick's red card and Robert Baloucoune's disallowed try swung the balance in Leinster’s favour after Ulster had taken an early 13-12 lead. It was a typical derby game with five yellow cards handed out and 27 penalties given. Leinster scored the all-important fourth try on 57 minutes to secure the bonus point which all but ends Ulster’s hopes of reaching top spot.

Leinster have an eleven-point advantage over Ulster with just two games remaining in Conference A. The competition introduced a new format this year as a result of the pandemic and this led to the traditional play offs being scrapped. Consequently, only the top side from each conference will advance to the final Ulster were understandably furious at the change as they only suffered two defeats in Conference A, both coming at the hands of Leinster, who will progress to the final where they will aim to defend their crown when they face Munster in May.

Ireland fans will have been relieved to see Jacob Stockdale back in an Ulster shirt on Friday night after injury and he has now been included in the Andy Farrell’s squad for the remaining Six Nations games with Scotland and France.

European Indoor Athletics Championships

A number of Irish and British athletes were involved in the tournament across the weekend. Dean Adams and Leon Reid failed to progress from their 60 metre heats in Poland on Friday night. Reid, predominantly a 200 metre runner, finished fifth in his heat and was 0.03 seconds outside of qualifying as a fastest loser. Ballymena man Adams meanwhile came seventh in his heat. Their Irish teammate, Israel Olatunde, also exited the competition as he finished fourth in his heat. Sean Tobbin came in the 3,000 metre final after running a personal best time in his heats. Sarah Lavin also qualified for Monday’s final of the 60 metre hurdles after she bettered her personal best, finishing third in her heat.

Danske Bank Premiership

There were plenty more twists and turns at both ends with each side playing two games last week. Linfield are still top of the table but are looking nervously over their shoulder with the recent resurgence of both Coleraine and Glentoran ensuring the title race is not a foregone conclusion just yet. The current champions bounced back from a disappointing loss against Big Two rivals Glentoran on Tuesday night to triumph 2-0 over Cliftonville at Windsor Park on Saturday thanks to Shane Lavery’s brace.

They now sit two points ahead of Coleraine, who maintained their remarkable 14-game unbeaten run this week with wins over Portadown and Dungannon. Glentoran are hot on their heels with their form having picked up since the turn of the year. Mick McDermott’s men eased past Linfield midweek 3-1 before thrashing Carrick Ranger 5-0 on Friday night to move within nine points of the Blues with two games in hand. Larne’ stuttering form continued as they were held to a 1-1 draw with rivals Ballymena on Saturday evening, leaving them a distant eight points behind David Healy’s men and their title hopes dashed.

Elsewhere Crusaders came crashing back down to earth after defeating Larne 3-0 at Inver Park, suffering a shock 2-0 home loss to Warrenpoint on Saturday. Portadown also recorded a surprise 4-1 victory over Glenavon in the Mid Ulster derby to take them further away from lowly Carrick and Dungannon.

Sticking with Dungannon, they appointed a new manager last week to replace Kris Lindsay, who left the struggling club last month by mutually consent. Former Rangers and Northern Ireland midfielder Dean Shiels will take over from caretaker boss Dixie Robinson and will be in the dugout for the Swifts’ game with Larne next Saturday. He had been working as his father Kenny Shiels assistant manager at Northern Ireland Women but will step down from that role after the playoff game in April.

Glenavon meanwhile, announced on Thursday that long serving boss Gary Hamilton had signed a three-year contract extension which keeps him at the club until the end of the 2024-25 campaign. The former Glenavon player has been at the helm since December 2011 and has steered the Mourneview club from the brink of relegation to comfortable top half finishes and Europe football in recent years.

Northern Ireland Women

Kenny Shiels side discovered who their opponents will be in next month’s historic Euro 2022 play off. The girls in green will face Ukraine in a two-legged play off, hoping to reach their first ever major tournament. Russia was originally drawn to take on Ukraine, but due to the political tensions between the two countries, were moved to the following tie and Northern Ireland were next out of the hat to take on the Ukrainians. They are currently ranked twenty-fourth in FIFA world rankings, 15 places above Northern Ireland, but it represents one of the more favourable draws for the GAWA. Ukraine was beaten 3-2 in qualifying by the Republic of Ireland before they bounced back and narrowly defeated the Republic to pip them to second in the group. Northern Ireland faced Ukraine just over a year ago, losing 4-0 in a friendly game in one of Kenny Shiels first games in charge at the Pintar cup. Ties will be played between April 7 and 13, and Ukraine will host the first leg with the reverse fixture being played in Belfast.

For further reaction to the draw make sure to check out this week’s episode of the Sporty Scoop which features an interview with Northern Ireland and Cliftonville captain, Marissa Callaghan, about the draw and upcoming games. We will also be chatting more about the Irish League and Premier League action this weekend, so make sure to tune in from 2pm on Wednesday on Spotify.

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