Walk It In

In news hot off the press LIV Golf has ceased trading. The short-lived competitor to the mainstream tours has gone bankrupt after the Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund withdrew funding and another backer couldn't be found.

Ireland begin their November internationals with a game against the Pumas tomorrow night. With under a year to go to the next World Cup, is Andy Farrell building a strong enough squad ready to compete in the knockout stages?

Man City found innocent on one charge, guilty on 114 others. What will justice look like for the Citizens? Scorched Earth or a slap on the wrist?

According to the bookies, Harry Kane is the heavy favourite to pick up the Ballon D'Or. We'll find out next week if he will become the first Englishman since Micheal Owen to win the coveted prize.

International football is here - time to recap the last five weeks of the Premier League! Man City are on top at the break, but have they really been tested? On the other hand, whatever tests their city rivals United have faced, they've failed. We gave an assessment of each side's efforts so far, with still a long way to go.

With the Premier League title race set to be a repeat of last year's, we looked at the domestic game to provide a thrill. Shamrock Rovers have thrown away their lead on top of the League of Ireland, opening the door for St. Patrick's and Bohemians to nick the title.

The URC is kicking off next week and we question whether the South African teams are replacing the Irish provinces as the dominant group within the competition.

We're covering it all this week - Hurling rule changes, F1 update and the US Open tennis report. We do it all - ignore the naysayers.

Banger episode title btw.

The Premier League returns next weekend and not a moment too soon. That was a scary 33 days without top level football. We tip our favourites to win and the likely lads to go down. A lot of change has happened since the start of last season, especially in terms of managerial turnover, which could lead to a few interesting surprises across the league.

Spain are your 2026 World Cup winners. Just like the conquistadors of old, they managed to ruthlessly dominate North America (with less genocide and colonising) . A dull game that didn't see Argentina make any attempts at goal until the final minutes has not acted as a fitting end to an overall enjoyable tournament. However, with a less than memorable final, is it possible this World Cup will be remembered more for off field antics than on field ones?

Elsewhere, we discuss how funny it would be if Mayo lose a 12th All-Ireland Final in a row. Our verdict? Very funny.

Preparing for today's episode and indeed the World Cup final was looking dire until The Auld Enemy imploded against Argentina last night, meaning Messi & Co will take on Spain in the 2026 final on Sunday. Argentina did what Argentina do against an English team that, when it came down to it, crapped the bed against the ultimate XI of XL Bullies.

In the other semi-final, Spain had far too much for a flat France in a case of the winning team putting in their best performance of the tournament against a team doing the exact opposite. France were never really allowed touch the ball by Spain, with a complete lack of potency going forward scuppering their chance of making three World Cup finals on the bounce.

Sunday sees the calm and control of Spain versus the provocateurs of chaos ball in Argentina. Hopefully we are served up another classic final á la 2022, but I fear we're in for a more tepid game this time out. Detracting further from the occasion will be the lukewarm Coldplay as part of a 30 minute halftime break.

The planet is not the only thing on fire - the World Cup has proven itself to be the most compelling spectacle in sports once again.

We've had a bit of everything at this World Cup - political interventions, small country surprise packages and the big names delivering. The knockout stage in particular has been extremely gripping as the nations are whittled down to the last eight. Will it be coming home for the first time since 1966? Will Messi get a magical repeat? Or will Mbappe's iron fist be enough to earn his second World Cup? Haaland is likely to have something to say about this too in a World Cup where the superstars and small names have delivered in spades. I was in Mexico by the way.

The World Cup is the crown jewel in the sporting cycle, yet it feels this edition has lost some of its shine. You can point the finger at football fatigue, FIFA's lame governance, fans being locked out of games and the overall debilitating stench of Trump over proceedings as possible reasons for a general malaise being felt by die-hard football fans ahead of this year's tournament. WC 2026 has so far been overshadowed by talking points off the field, but with Mexico and South Africa kicking off at 8pm Thursday night, we'll soon forget all our troubles and relish this opiate of the masses. Sweden vs Tunisia at 3am on a Monday? Unreal. The mighty Austria vs Jordan at 5am? Ideal for us early risers! Let's hope the magic comes back in some form and fans all over the world enjoy this special spectacle, but we remain skeptical.