Lauren McCann

Ireland Hockey

Ireland have been taking on Great Britain in a three-match friendly series in Belfast, in preparation for this summer’s Olympic Games. Current gold medal holders Great Britain claimed the bragging rights in the first fixture coming from behind to win 2-1 on Saturday. Roisin Upton opened the scoring for Ireland early, with a penalty stroke in the seventh minute. Lily Owsley levelled just after the first quarter before Sarah Robertson hit the winner in the final quarter. They faced off on Sunday, with Ireland this time coming out on top 2-1. In a complete reverse of the first game, Laura Unsworth put Great Britain ahead before Chloe Watkins levelled for Ireland. Roisin Upton then scored the winner with six minutes remaining with another penalty stroke. The series concluded with a final game on Tuesday afternoon.

Ulster Rugby

Ulster bounced back from last weekend’s dispiriting loss to Leinster to secure a bonus point victory in Wales, defeating the Dragons 22-26 in the Principality Stadium. Despite a raft of changes, Ulster looked assured throughout, with Stewart Moore scoring two tries, whilst Alfie Mathewson and John Anderson also crossed as Michael Lowry added three conversions. The Dragons rallied late on attempting to force a comeback, but it proved too little too late as Ulster held on to win their penultimate game in the campaign. They have already qualified for the European Champions Cup and round off their regular season against Zebre at the Kingspan on Friday night.

Six Nations

Ireland picked up their second successive win in this year’s Six Nations, following up the previous victory over Italy to triumph 27-24 against Scotland. Jonny Sexton scored a late penalty to help Andy Farrell’s side narrowly edge Scotland, who had hauled themselves level with five minutes remaining through Hamish Watson’s try, after Ireland had led 24-10 at one stage. Robbie Henshaw and Tadgh Bernie put Ireland ahead with tries before Scotland replied through Finn Russell, Huw Jones and Watson. The win moves Ireland up to second in the table, having played a game less than France who are a point behind them. They have no chance of winning the Grand Slam ahead of their final game at home to England, as Wales have an insurmountable eight-point lead and remain on course to lift their second Six Nations crown in three tournaments. They thumped Italy 48-7 on Saturday to set up an exciting finale with France in Paris next weekend.

Irish Premiership

Linfield were the big winners in the league this week, continuing their march towards retaining the title with two thumping victories. They beat Warrenpoint 5-0 at Windsor Park on Tuesday before following that up with a 7-0 win over Carrick Rangers to maintain their five-point lead over Coleraine at the top. Shane Lavery struck once against Warrenpoint before following that up with a hat-trick on Saturday to move top of the league’s scoring charts.

The Bannsiders crucially have a game in hand over the Blues and extended their unbeaten run to 15 games with a 2-0 win over Crusaders on Friday night. Stephen Baxter’s men are now lingering in fifth after other results went against them. They had beaten Carrick 3-1 on Tuesday evening, but it is now their only win in their last five games. Larne’s 2-0 win against Dungannon in Dean Shiels first game in charge of the Swifts saw Tiernan Lynch’s men move up to third place. Dungannon are now rooted to the bottom of the table, one point behind Carrick.

Glentoran recovered from a shock 2-0 loss to Ballymena midweek to beat Warrenpoint on Saturday leapfrogging Crusaders into fourth place. The Sky Blues’ recent resurgence continued this week as they followed up their win over Glentoran with a narrow 2-1 victory over Portadown, who had also suffered defeat against Glenavon in the Mid Ulster derby on Tuesday. Gary Hamilton’s men were then edged 2-1 by Cliftonville at Solitude on Saturday, as the Reds strengthened their hold on a top six place.

In other news, two former Dungannon bosses have returned to the dugout this week, this time in a coaching capacity at other Irish Premiership sides. Kris Lindsay has joined Paddy McLaughlin’s backroom staff at Cliftonville, less than a month after he decided to step down as Swifts’ boss with the side languishing at the foot of the table. Darren Murphy, who left the club in 2015 after three years in charge, has joined Stephen Baxter’s coaching team at Crusaders, having previously worked as a coach at Linfield, stepping down from that post in October.

Meanwhile, current Larne boss, Tiernan Lynch, has signed a contract extension to keep him at the Inver Park until the end of the 2021-22 campaign, with the option of a further year. He took over at Larne in May 2017 and guided the club into the Premiership after winning the Championship title in 2019. This year he ended the club’s 33 year wait for a senior trophy as they defeating Glentoran on penalties to clinch the County Antrim Shield.

Irish Cup

The competition was thrown into further disarray this week as Ards became the fifth Championship club to pull out of the competition joining Queens University, Institute, Newry City and H&W Welders in withdrawing. All clubs outside the Premiership haven’t played any league games in over a year after they weren’t granted elite status by the Irish FA, when football returned, first at the start of the season and then again in January. The Irish Cup will start in May and be played to a finish announced the governing body last month after it was previously postponed. With the draw having already been made, clubs who are scheduled to face teams who have decided to pull out will receive a bye into the next round. To hear about Queen’s’ decision to not play in the Irish Cup, listen to this week’s episode of the Sporty Scoop as we are joined by three of their players for their take on the situation.

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

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