The young British sprint star – who won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games five weeks ago, claimed a record four gold medals at the European Athletics Championships shortly after and has since competed in Diamond League events in Zurich and Lausanne as well as a meeting in Brescia – will face two stacked fields at the King Baudouin Stadium, with Olympic silver medallist Sha’Carri Richardson, World Championship silver medallist Tina Clayton and Commonwealth Games champion Zoe Hobbs headlining the 100m field, and two-time Olympic medallist Julien Alfred the favourite in the 200m.
There are global superstars littered throughout the events as the season-long Diamond League reaches its conclusion, with unbeatable pole vault icon Mondo Duplantis finally having a legitimate rival in the form of Emmanouil Karalis, making for a fascinating Friday night showdown, while Audrey Werro vs the ever-improving Femke Broeders-Bol will be a blockbuster 800m match-up in the penultimate race of the meeting on Saturday evening.
Recent world-record breakers Alison Dos Santos (men’s 400m hurdles) and Masai Russell (women’s 100m hurdles) will both be in action once more, while the likes of Georgia Hunter Bell in the women’s 1500m, Matthew Hudson-Smith in the men’s 400m and Ben Pattison in the men’s 800m provide further British interest. In addition to the Diamond Trophy, there is an extra incentive for the winners, with automatic qualification for the lucrative World Athletics Ultimate Championship later this month on the line.
Here’s everything you need to know about the event
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When is the Diamond League Final?
The Diamond League Final will take place over two nights on Friday 4 September and Saturday 5 September at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium.
How can I watch it?
The BBC has the United Kingdom television rights to every Diamond League meeting, with live coverage of the first night of the Diamond League Final available on BBC Three from 7pm BST on Friday 4 September and the second night of action available on BBC Two from 7pm BST on Saturday 5 September. Both nights will also be shown on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website.
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Amy Hunt has become the queen of British sprinting and will look to makes waves at the Diamond League final (Reuters)
I’ve been trying to hold down the fort on being a blade putter user for a long time now, and I’m still holding out hope, but a few months ago during my first-ever putting lesson with Stephen Sweeney, I was convinced to give the mallet a real “college try.” Turns out, it’s been a game changer. Let’s dive into some of the facts and I’ll explain why the mallet is in my bag, but the trusty blade still sneaks in.
Within the first three minutes of the video, you’ll hear me state “yeah, well, blades are better” as Sweeney introduces our topic of the day, but writing this now four months later, a custom TaylorMade Spider Tour X has been in my bag ever since.
My custom blacked-out TaylorMade Spider Tour X
Jake Morrow / GOLF
I am in love with the Toulon Golf Chicago shape. It’s an old design from the team when they were still a part of the Odyssey family, but I’ve also been fortunate enough to have a prototype of an upcoming small-batch release from the company. I have used the Chicago shape — a slightly wider (but not quite a double-wide) blade with a well-pronounced top line and very simple bumpers — for the better part of the past five years in one form or another. I actually have four of them all built up almost identically to one another because I love the putter that much.
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Rory McIlroy lines up a putt with his TaylorMade Spider Tour X.
Getty Images
Over the past couple years, the TaylorMade Spider has taken off in popularity mainly because of its success on Tour in the hands of Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood, Ben Griffin, Bobby Mac and many others. That Spider takeover has also increased the mallet usage on Tour as pros with other club contracts fight to find something that’s going to give them a larger benefit on the putting surface. Personally, I don’t see the trend being the benefits of mallets so much as I see it being the benefit of the Spider’s Pure Roll insert, but that’s a story for another time.
All that being said, Sweeney and I decided to find a way to test the results, and as you can see in the video, they weren’t exactly black and white.
Is there going to be a massive performance difference between a well-fit blade putter and a well-fit mallet putter? Probably not. However, there is a greater opportunity for the mallet to end up in the bag because of what the size of the platform gives you.
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Michael Thorbjornsen’s winning Spider Tour. He happens to be a student of Sweeney.
Jack Hirsh / GOLF
With a mallet putter being larger in size, it allows the manufacturers to experiment with it more. They can add different types of alignment that don’t physically fit onto a blade-style shape. They can also throw weight into different places to create drastic changes in feel for a player without having to lose that same alignment real estate. Mallets just create a better opportunity to tune them for exactly what a player needs. That’s the true benefit of them.
There’s also something to be said for the forgiveness that a mallet creates as they are typically back-weighted, but the performance implications of that are still with the jury. While it’s mathematically a higher MOI design in a general scope compared to a blade offering, players don’t really miss their putter that far off-center so it’s hard to judge that actual implications of the higher MOI on performance. What really matters is can you aim the putter and can you get it back to square more easily.
With a mallet, those answers are typically going to be yes for a player, but it’s not a hard and fast rule. That’s why I still bring my Toulon Chicago with me every now and then. But the key to this is in something I mentioned earlier — the differences will shrink with well-fit equipment.
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I know I aim my Toulon Chicago as well as I do the TaylorMade Spider Tour X. I’ve proven it at home and out on the course. I’ve also recently been putting with a new TaylorMade Spider Tour X that has the milled insert to actually feel more like my Toulon Chicago. The differences are nitpicky. It really comes down to which one I feel like I’m going to like on a certain day.
TORCHED PVD FINISH The durable PVD coating creates a beautiful high-quality finish. THIN WALL UNDERCUT CONSTRUCTION We’ve engineered a super stable structure by removing excess weight to create high MOI and legendary Spider performance. CG LOCATION PROGRESSION Each Spider Torched model features different CG locations for optimal putter fitting. HYBRAR ECHO® DAMPENER HYBRAR is behind the face to dampen unwanted vibrations, delivering premium sound and feel on every putt with the best possible sensation.
Amy Hunter struck a determined 64, but Ireland were beaten by six wickets as England secured the ODI series with a game to spare.
Ireland suffered a six-wicket defeat against England in the second women’s one-day international at Derby after a damaging late collapse left the visitors defending a total of just 165.
Hunter was the outstanding performer for Ireland, making 64 as she attempted to hold the innings together against an England attack led by Issy Wong.
Match Summary
Ireland: 165 all out from 47 overs
England: 166-4 from 23 overs
Result: England won by six wickets
Player of the Match: Issy Wong
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Ireland lose control after promising position
Ireland had reached 140-4 and appeared capable of setting England a considerably more demanding target. However, the final six wickets fell for only 25 runs as Wong tore through the lower order.
The England seamer finished with career-best figures of 5-33, including the important wickets of Ireland captain Gaby Lewis and top scorer Hunter.
Hunter’s innings ended when she found deep midwicket shortly after moving into the sixties. Her dismissal left Ireland with little time to rebuild, and the innings was completed at 165 after 47 overs.
England race to victory
Ireland created a few early openings during the reply, but England quickly took control of the required run rate.
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Maia Bouchier made 45 before Dani Gibson and Freya Kemp completed the chase. Gibson finished unbeaten on 36, with Kemp 29 not out, as England reached their target with 27 overs remaining.
The result gives England an unassailable 2-0 advantage in the three-match series. Ireland will now look to finish the tour positively when the teams meet in the final ODI at Worcester on Sunday.
Next match: England Women v Ireland Women, third ODI, Sunday 6 September at Worcester.
A year ago, North Korea’s women successfully defended their U-17 World Cup title after defeating the Netherlands 3-0 in Morocco. It was the fourth time that the country has won the competition.
Now the country’s U-20 team enter the World Cup in Poland as defending champions, having won their third World Cup in 2024. North Korea’s women have clearly cemented their status as the dominant force in women’s youth football.
But what is it that makes a state that, according to the United Nations, “does not have any parallel in the contemporary world,” so good at youth football?
“International sport is one of the few ways to demonstrate their sovereignty, existence and identity to the international community, so this type of big success, from their point of view, is an important occasion where they can wave their national flag in front of the international audience,” Dr Jung Woo Lee, a senior lecturer in Sport and Leisure Policy at the University of Edinburgh, told DW.
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“At the same time, domestically, North Korea often uses sport as their propaganda tool to glorify their leaders and also how great their country is.”
A clear and conscious strategy
Football is popular in the country, but recognizing that the gap to the top in senior football is much harder to close than in youth football, North Korea’s leaders turned to women’s youth football, where the gap is more manageable. It’s also why success at this level hasn’t benefited the senior team over the years. This strategy is not about pathways. It’s about winning.
“The gap between established and developing clubs is also high because in many European countries, there is a professional league, and they get more support from a number of different stakeholders,” Lee said.
“In youth football, I think European sport organizations highlight more on having fun when playing football. Whereas in North Korea, even if you are 13 or 14 years old, they join very highly disciplined, highly systematic and highly professionalized training regimes, so in early ages they can excel.”
In Morocco, North Korea’s U-17 team only conceded three goals in the entire tournament, and scored three or more on four occasions. This was a continuation of their form the year before, while the U-20 women in 2024 not only beat Argentina 6-2 but also secured three straight 1-0 victories from the quarterfinals onwards to win the tournament.
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With the help of the Pyongyang International Football School where young girls are selected, developed and educated following a highly disciplined and scientific approach, North Korea has seen an opportunity and taken it.
In 2025 North Korea’s U-17 team won a second consecutive World Cup, making them one of the most dominant forces in youth footballImage: IPA Sport/ABACA/IMAGO
Regime positioning, life-changing rewards
In the eyes of North Korea, this is also a victory for the state itself.
“You need to remember that North Korea still maintains a very strong socialist and communist regime,” Lee explained. “Particularly under Kim Jong Un, they try to compare capitalist and communist regimes and show the communist regime as superior to the capitalist. Also, when I look at some of the news reports about the North Korean performance in North Korean media, they highlighted that because they are (under) the communist regime, they do whatever they can, even if they’re physically exhausted.
“Then they directly compare those mentalities with capitalist countries. In capitalism, when athletes are physically exhausted and injured, there is no way to perform. They need to be changed by their coach. But in socialist systems their will is more important than (a) professional opinion from the coach or any medical staff. So North Korea frames that as a superior system.”
That psychological element has seemingly given the team an edge, but beyond a strong sense of patriotism and years of disciplined work lies the motivation of a life-changing reward.
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“Although we often see North Korea as quite underdeveloped and very much agricultural and people experiencing hardship, those living in Pyongyang are quite different. They are kind of special,” Lee explained.
Choe II-son (in red) was the breakout star of the 2024 tournament, but is unlikely to play on a bigger stageImage: Jose Pino/Sports Press Photo/IMAGO
As an incentive, he said, the regime can give players living outside the capital residence certificates, which are required to enter Pyongyang. At the same time, many players have been given apartments.
This motivation is not to be underestimated. Life in rural North Korea is tough, with shortages in food and health care reportedly common. Living in the big city is quite different.
“This is a way to change their life. It’s kind of winning a lottery in a way,” Lee explained.
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What next for talented generation?
For star players such as Yu Jong-hyang, topscorer at the 2025 U-17 World Cup, or Choe Il-son, a key player in both U-17 and U-20 World Cup victories in 2024, the instinctive reaction is to wonder which WSL (English top division) or NWSL(US top division) team will be trying to sign her, but that would be to forget the context in which she both lives and plays.
“I don’t think it’s impossible, but not so easy,” Lee said of the idea of either stars playing abroad.
“First of all, (there are) the economic sanctions now imposed on North Korea,” he added. “And also, whenever North Korean players joined a European league — there were a few occasions in basketball where any salary was not sent to the individual account of the players or the agent, but it goes to North Korea’s government account, so I think that’s another complexity involved.”
While much about this team, like the country, remains a mystery, there is no denying that success at the youth level has always been the plan.
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Edited by: Chuck Penfold
This article was originally published on September 9, 2024. It was updated on November 9, 2025 to reflect North Korea’s U-17 World Cup title win. It was also updated on September 4, 2026 ahead of the kickoff of the U-20 World Cup in Poland.
Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets have been drawn in Group B of the 2026 WAFU B U17 Championship scheduled to take place in Burkina Faso.
The five-time FIFA U17 World Cup champions will face Niger Republic and Côte d’Ivoire in the group stage of the regional competition.
The draw places Nigeria in a three-team group, with the Eaglets expected to fight for a place in the knockout stage.
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In Group A, hosts Burkina Faso will compete against Ghana, Togo and Benin.
The 2026 WAFU B U17 Championship will be held from October 10 to 23, 2026, in Burkina Faso.
The tournament will give the participating young teams an opportunity to compete for regional honours while also chasing qualification opportunities for the next stage of the continental U17 competition.
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Nigeria will be hoping to make a strong impression and continue its rich history in youth football.
Ole Miss vs Louisville is one of the biggest games of Week 1, but it is sadly a neutral-site game.
The Rebels are on serious upset alert this weekend.
On today’s episode of Locked On College Football, Spencer McLaughlin and ‘Locked On Buffs’ host Kevin Borba discuss Colorado’s Thursday matchup at Georgia Tech.
How can the Buffs pull the upset?
The Big Ten enters 2026 looking to win its 4th straight national championship.
Who wins the conference, who is a dark horse, and who finishes last?
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00:00 Louisville’s coaching and quarterback potential 06:16 Pressuring opposing quarterbacks 07:01 Ole Miss vs. Louisville strategy 12:55 Predicting Colorado vs. Georgia Tech Game 14:25 Colorado’s new recruitment strategy 17:45 Impact of Great Coaching in College Football 24:19 Big Ten football predictions 28:46 Big Ten dark horse pick
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has appointed a Gabonese officiating team for the CAF Champions League preliminary-round first-leg match between FC San Pedro of Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria’s Rivers United.
The match is scheduled for Saturday, September 5, 2026, at the Laurent Pokou Stadium in San Pedro.
Kick-off is set for 4:00 pm local time, which is 5:00 pm Nigerian time.
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Gabonese referee Cregue Flaury Moukagni has been appointed as the centre referee for the encounter.
He will be assisted by his compatriots Amos Abeigne Ndong and Junior Assoughe, while Pierre Ghislain Atcho will serve as the fourth official.
Beninese official Innocent Atindehou has been appointed as the Match Commissioner, with Algeria’s Mohamed Lamine Benaissa serving as the Referee Assessor.
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The match is part of the first-leg preliminary round of the 2026/27 CAF Champions League.
Rivers United will be hoping to secure a positive result in Côte d’Ivoire before the return leg in Nigeria as they begin their campaign in Africa’s biggest club competition.
Josh van der Flier believes Leinster will have added motivation as the province prepares for its final season under Leo Cullen.
Leinster’s players are determined to send Leo Cullen out on a high as the long-serving head coach begins his final campaign in charge of the province.
Cullen will step away when his current contract expires at the end of the 2026-27 season, bringing his 12-year spell as Leinster head coach to a close.
For Josh van der Flier, Cullen’s departure will represent the end of an era. The Ireland flanker has spent his entire senior provincial career with Cullen as one of the central figures in the Leinster set-up.
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Van der Flier said it would be sad to see Cullen leave and that Leinster want to make his final season a good one.
End of a Leinster era
Cullen first represented Leinster as a player in 1998. After two spells with the province and a period with Leicester Tigers, he returned to Dublin and eventually moved into coaching.
He became Leinster’s head coach in 2015 and has overseen one of the most successful periods in the province’s history, including domestic and European honours.
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Leinster have continued to compete regularly at the closing stages of the Champions Cup, although their failure to add another European title since the 2018 triumph in Bilbao has brought growing scrutiny.
Van der Flier defends Cullen
Van der Flier expressed sympathy for the criticism Cullen has faced following Leinster’s recent European disappointments. He argued that the outcome of major knockout matches can turn on individual moments that cannot always be placed at the head coach’s door.
The 33-year-old is entering another important season of his own. After Ireland’s demanding summer programme in Australia and New Zealand, he has been reviewing his performances with Leinster’s coaches and identifying areas in which he can continue to improve.
The 2027 Rugby World Cup also remains on the horizon. Van der Flier has already appeared at two World Cups and will hope to remain a central part of Andy Farrell’s plans for the tournament in Australia.
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Before that, Leinster have a full season and several major trophies to contest. Cullen’s confirmed departure gives the campaign an added storyline, but the province will want the focus to remain firmly on performances rather than allowing the year to become an extended farewell.
MANILA, Philippines–Gilas Pilipinas was handed an 81-56 defeat by host South Korea on Friday in the first of two tune-up games between the two teams in the Hana Invitational held at KT Sonicboom Arena in Suwon.
The Asian Games-bound squad started the game allowing South Korea to score the first nine points and was left to play catch-up the rest of the way as Gilas got its exhibition series off on the wrong foot.
South Korea managed to extend its lead from 24-18 after the first quarter to double-digits for most of the way as it was able to take advantage of Gilas’ struggles on both ends.
But the contest also allowed Gilas to tinker with the 11-man roster, with coach Tim Cone letting his assistants do the chores, given that they were the ones in charge of the Asian Games prep while he was busy with the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
Gilas will take on South Korea anew on Sunday at the same venue, before heading to Japan for the Asian Games.
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The game was not televised back home, but netizens managed to find ways to watch via third-party streaming.
Robert Bolick, Zavier Lucero, RJ Abarrientos, Brandon Bates and Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser started for Gilas in the tune-up.
Adrian Nocum, Justine Baltazar, Jerrick Ahanmisi and Justin Arana were later given some significant playing time, even when the game was already out of reach, even as Don Trollano and Sedrick Barefield played mostly in the first and fourth quarters.
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No offence to the three traditional rivalry games, but the most intriguing contest on Labour Day weekend for the CFL might be the battle between teams from opposite ends of the country.
The Lions-Alouettes tilt on Friday night in Montreal is more than simply an appetizer ahead of Roughriders-Blue Bombers, Argonauts-Tiger-Cats and Elks-Stampeders.
The Week 14 opener marks the first career meeting between the best quarterbacks in the CFL — B.C.’s Nathan Rourke, the league’s 2025 most outstanding player, and Montreal’s Davis Alexander, a top candidate to be this year’s MOP along with Als star receiver Tyson Philpot
The Lions have won five in a row after a 1-5 start to get into the middle of a tight West Division race, while the Als lead the league at 9-2 heading into this home-and-home series.
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“They both lead in their own way. They’re both great quarterbacks,” said Lions linebacker Darnell Sankey, a teammate of Alexander the past three years in Montreal. “They’re here for a reason.”
There are several similarities between the two QBs — both were born in 1998, both can run when required and both have similar heights and weights (Rourke is six-foot-one, 209 pounds, while Alexander is six-feet, 210 pounds).
Both apprenticed behind veteran QBs — Cody Fajardo in Montreal and Michael Reilly in B.C. — before becoming starters, and both are looking for their first Grey Cup as the main man.
Both also have battled injuries throughout their CFL careers, with Alexander avoiding disaster last week when he suffered a calf injury after a hit against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He said he was as sore as ever earlier in the week, but the 2026 CFL passing leader had no thoughts of sitting out this game.
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The Canadian-born Rourke, meanwhile, missed two games with a shoulder injury earlier this year.
Rourke played down the matchup with Alexander when chatting with reporters this week in Ottawa, where the Lions stayed and practised following a win over the Redblacks on Sunday night.
“I’m not on the field with him,” Rourke said. “My focus is against their defence and doing my job. I believe in our defence and they’ve been playing well. That’s not something I concern myself with.”
Rourke has every right to be confident in his team’s defence. The Lions lead the league in opposing net offence, rebounding under defensive co-ordinator Mike Benevides after a rocky start.
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They’ll have to be at their best against Alexander, Philpot No. 2-ranked receiver Tyler Snead and impressive running back Travis Theis. The Als lead the league in net offence.
“They’re who they are for a lot of reasons,” Lions head coach Buck Pierce said. “They’re a physical group that’s extremely well-coached. They execute at an extremely high level. We have to make sure we’re able to execute at a high level. If you don’t against that team, I think you’ve seen throughout the course of that season what can happen in those situations.”
The Als defence, meanwhile, figures to have its hands full with Rourke, top-10 receivers Keon Hatcher and Justin McInnis, and bruising running back Zander Horvath.
Montreal struggled last week against Winnipeg star quarterback Zach Collaros and running back Brady Oliveira in a 44-28 loss.
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“They’re dangerous,” Alouettes head coach Jason Maas said. “I know they’ll be confident coming in our building. I’m very aware of our record (0-6) against them the last three years. I think everyone in our organization is. They’re a dangerous opponent. I’m not surprised they’ve turned it around and got above .500.”
Toronto and Hamilton, and Edmonton and Calgary may be geographically closer to each other, but many longtime CFL types will tell you there’s nothing like the annual Labour Day eve showdown between visiting Winnipeg and Saskatchewan.
Blue Bombers defensive co-ordinator Jordan Younger played for Toronto and Edmonton, so he’s as good a person as any to compare the three.
“If you had to show somebody what a regular-season game could be like in the CFL that never had any idea, you’d want to show them the Labour Day classic out in Saskatchewan and the Banjo Bowl rematch here (the following week),” Younger told reporters this week. “I think it’s a great (example) of how impactful the CFL game can be. They’re incredibly fun games to be a part of.”
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Roughriders head coach Corey Mace also has been a part of all three games, having played and coached in Calgary and coached in Toronto.
“Everything’s just amplified,” Mace said. “Obviously, if we make a good play, the roar and the pop from the crowd is a little bit extra on Labour Day. … I think everybody in the province looks forward to this game.”
It has long been said that the CFL season really doesn’t get going until Labour Day.
Stampeders GM/head coach Dave Dickenson understands why that motto has stood the test of time.
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“We know it’s so important in the CFL, (from) Labour Day on,” he said. “We’ve already played 11 games, and yet a lot of people say the season starts from Labour Day on. That’s because if you get hot and you start playing good football, you’re usually not out of it in the CFL and you can really gain momentum.”
Fajardo, now the starting QB of the West-leading Elks, sees things a bit differently.
“Everyone talks about the season doesn’t start until Labour Day. Well, we started at Labour Day (last year) and we still missed the playoffs” after going 4-4 in the final eight games, he said.
“So I don’t believe in that term. I think the season starts Week 1. For us, we’ve built up a great bank of wins. The second half of the season is where the great teams separate themselves from the good teams.”
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B.C. Lions (6-5) at Montreal Alouettes (9-2), Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET
The Alouettes have won eight in a row at home. The same teams meet again next Saturday in Vancouver, the finale of a rare four-game day for the league.
Winnipeg Blue Bombers (6-5) at Saskatchewan Roughriders (7-4), Sunday, 7 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. CT
The Roughriders lead the Labour Day Classic series 39-22, and have won 16 of the previous 20 editions. As usual, the teams square off again next Saturday in Winnipeg.
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Toronto Argonauts (5-6) at Hamilton Tiger-Cats (4-8), Monday, 2:30 p.m. ET
Crucial game in the battle for second in the East, with a West crossover for the division’s third playoff spot a firm possibility. The winner of the QEW battle will own the tiebreaker, too. Hamilton leads the Labour Day series 37-16-1, and desperately needs a win here.
Edmonton Elks (8-3) at Calgary Stampeders (5-6), Monday, 6 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. MT
This has been an even Labour Day series over time, with Calgary leading 32-31-1 after winning 11 of the past 13. Stamps QB Vernon Adams Jr. is expected to return after missing last week’s win over Hamilton with a head injury. The traditional rematch is next Saturday in Edmonton.
Naomh Máirtín’s defence of the Louth Senior Football Championship has suffered a significant setback following a shoulder injury to Sam Mulroy.
Louth captain Sam Mulroy is expected to miss the remainder of the county club championship after suffering a serious shoulder injury while playing for Naomh Máirtín.
The influential forward was forced off shortly after the beginning of the defending champions’ Group 1 defeat against St Joseph’s in Darver.
A wrist problem was initially suspected, but the injury has since been identified as an issue with Mulroy’s shoulder. He is due to undergo an MRI scan to establish the full extent of the damage.
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Injury Update
Player: Sam Mulroy
Club: Naomh Máirtín
Injury: Shoulder
Next step: MRI scan
Early expectation: Set to miss the remainder of the championship
Huge absence for the champions
Early indications suggest Mulroy will play no further part in this season’s race for the Joe Ward Cup, although the club will await the results of the scan before the full recovery period becomes clear.
His expected absence is a considerable blow for Naomh Máirtín. Mulroy remains one of the most dangerous forwards in the Louth club championship and provides leadership, scoring power and experience to the reigning champions.
Naomh Máirtín must now attempt to recover from their group-stage defeat without their most influential attacker as the championship moves towards its decisive stages.
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Mulroy central to Louth’s progress
Mulroy has been a central figure in Louth’s rise in recent seasons and captained the county to a first Leinster senior football title in 68 years.
His accuracy from placed balls, ability to score from distance and composure in tight matches have made him one of the county’s most important players.
Naomh Máirtín will hope the scan provides positive news regarding his longer-term recovery. For now, however, the champions appear likely to face the rest of their Louth campaign without their county captain.
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The Big Ten enters 2026 looking to win its 4th straight national championship. 
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