The Irish Open Championships and Commonwealth Games Trials in Bangor continued to deliver exceptional performances on Night Two, with records falling and qualification times stacking up across multiple events.

Phelan, Cullen and Walshe Lead Female Performances

Rosalie Phelan set a new Championship Record in the 50m Butterfly, clocking 26.62 to dip under the European Aquatics Championships consideration time.

In the 100m Backstroke, Lottie Cullen impressed with a winning time of 1:00.35, also achieving consideration standards for both the European Championships and Commonwealth Games. Grace Davison followed closely in second (1:00.61), also under the required marks.

Ellen Walshe continued her dominant week, claiming gold in the 400m Individual Medley in 3:39.38. Already a winner earlier in the meet, Walshe once again posted a time inside European qualification standards.

McSharry Claims National Title

Olympic medallist Mona McSharry secured her first title of the weekend in the 50m Breaststroke, touching in 30.43, comfortably inside the European consideration time.

Eimear Doyle (32.06) and Isabel Kidney (32.51) rounded out the podium.

Strong Depth Across Men’s Events

In the Open 400m Individual Medley, Liam Custer claimed gold in 4:23.14, achieving the U23 European standard, while Phelim Macken secured a European Junior time in second.

James Ward took victory in the 50m Butterfly (24.17), edging out Dylan Registe and Jack Cassin in a tightly contested final.

Para Swimmers Achieve Qualification Standards

Four para swimmers also secured qualification times for the European Para Swimming Championships in Turkey:

• Ellie Lynch (1:21.49 – 100m Backstroke)
• Luke O’Donoghue (1:09.17 – 100m Backstroke)
• Barry McClements (previously qualified)
• Dearbhaile Brady (previously qualified)

Summer Targets in Sight

The performances in Bangor underline the strength and depth of Irish swimming ahead of a major summer that includes:

• 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow
• European Aquatics Championships in Paris
• European Junior Championships
• European Para Swimming Championships

With qualification standards being met across all levels, Ireland’s swimmers are building serious momentum heading into international competition.

The championships continue through to Sunday, with more finals and qualification opportunities to come.

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Chelsea host Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday with both teams in desperate need of three points

Manchester City will look to inflict a damaging defeat on Chelsea when the two teams meet on Sunday. Pep Guardiola’s side will arrive at Stamford Bridge hungry to narrow the gap on Premier League leaders Arsenal.

City could be 12 points behind the Gunners by the time they kick off with Mikel Arteta’s men facing Bournemouth on Saturday lunchtime. Guardiola’s men, meanwhile, face Liam Rosenior’s squad on Sunday afternoon (4:30pm BST).

It also signals the beginning of an extremely challenging week for Chelsea as they shift their focus back to league affairs. Less than a week after welcoming City, the west Londoners must then take on Manchester United at home in another examination of their top-six credentials.

Defeat at home this weekend could see Chelsea knocked out of the European qualifying spots with only a handful of fixtures remaining. Brentford and Everton are each merely two points adrift heading into week 32, and Chelsea have secured just one victory in their last six Premier League outings.

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Morale appeared positive in training over recent days, though, as the club seeks to build upon its 7-0 FA Cup victory over Port Vale. Our sister title fotball.london breaks down some of the key talking points from Cobham ahead of such a crucial encounter against City.

Enzo Fernandez absence

The primary talking point to surface from Friday’s session is the continued absence of Enzo Fernandez. The Argentinian was suspended for Chelsea’s FA Cup encounter with Port Vale following remarks he made indicating he’s uncertain whether he’ll stay at the club this summer.

Rosenior confirmed Fernandez would serve a two-match ban following his comments. While some Chelsea supporters may have anticipated he’d soften his stance given the challenging fixtures ahead, the manager appears resolute in implementing his sanction.

With Reece James currently sidelined through injury, Chelsea will be forced to identify a third-choice captain for Sunday’s clash with City. The situation also demonstrates that Rosenior isn’t one to make empty threats when his authority is questioned.

Marc Guiu working for comeback

Marc Guiu will surely feel frustrated by his limited playing time since returning from his loan spell at Sunderland. Particularly after the Spanish forward was omitted from the matchday squad that suffered a 3-0 defeat to Everton before the international break.

While a shortage of attacking options was apparent during that disastrous away trip, Guiu was putting in the graft in an attempt to demonstrate he merits an opportunity against City.

Andrey Santos catches Cole cold

One video shared by Chelsea ahead of Sunday featured the players competing in a bronco-style bleep test. Leading the group at one stage were Andrey Santos and Cole Palmer, although the Brazilian maintained a notable edge. Santos’ quicker strides proved superior to Palmer’s longer stride pattern as the duo embraced their lighthearted challenge in earnest (quite literally). Nevertheless, midfielder Santos was clearly approaching the segment with far greater intensity while his colleague could only chuckle at coming second.

Caicedo back in the mix

Following two full matches for Ecuador during the international window, Moises Caicedo was given a breather for the Port Vale thrashing. Nevertheless, he’ll undoubtedly represent a crucial element in Rosenior’s starting XI on Sunday, particularly if Fernandez is absent as anticipated.

That said, Caicedo seemed to be in focused mode and participating in his own individual running exercise this week. It demonstrates just how much significance he’s attaching to the clash with City.

Dario Essugo fighting fit

Having missed so much of this season recovering from thigh surgery, Dario Essugo is at last closing in on a Premier League contribution. Following two assists in the extra-time victory over Wrexham, he featured again with a 28-minute appearance against Port Vale.

Having been included on a league matchday squad for the first time since August, it’s evident Essugo is within Rosenior’s thinking. What better match than City to spring a surprise by handing the Portugal under-21 international some minutes this weekend.

Legendary golfer Tom Watson offered a blunt take on the new program that paved the way for Brooks Koepka’s return to the PGA Tour.

Koepka left LIV Golf in December 2025. At the time of his departure, the three-time PGA Championship winner had roughly one year remaining on his contract with the Saudi-backed circuit.

Koepka applied for PGA Tour reinstatement and quickly gained approval under the tour’s new Returning Member Program. Watson, a two-time Masters champion who participated in Thursday morning’s ceremonial tee off at Augusta National, voiced strong criticism about the process.

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Brooks Koepka of the United States reacts on the fifth green during the third round of the Valspar Championship 2026 at Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club March 21, 2026, in Palm Harbor, Fla. (James Gilbert/Getty Images)

“The tour ​made a decision to renege on what they promised when the players left for LIV. They felt ‌that the compensation that he’s paid is good enough,” Watson said at the 90th edition of the Masters.

Watson then laid out what he believes should happen going forward.

“I thought the LIV players, when they left, they were supposed to be banned for life. If I was commissioner, that’s what I ​would do. I’d say if you’re finished with your contract with LIV Golf, if you want to play ​the PGA Tour again, you come back, and you must play the Korn Ferry Tour for ⁠a year to qualify for it.”

BROOKS KOEPKA’S ATTORNEY GIVES INSIDE LOOK INTO GOLFER’S LIV DEPARTURE, RETURN TO PGA TOUR

Koepka addressed his return to the PGA Tour in a post on social media.

“When I was a child, I always dreamed about competing on the PGA Tour, and I am just as excited today to announce that I am returning to the PGA Tour,” Koepka said in a statement posted to X Jan. 12. 

“Being closer to home and spending more time with my family makes this opportunity especially meaningful to me. I believe in where the PGA Tour is headed with new leadership, new investors, and an equity program that gives players a meaningful ownership stake.

“I also understand there are financial penalties associated with this decision, and I accept those.”

He agreed to five years in the player equity program, a penalty worth up to $85 million, according to tour CEO Brian Rolapp. The pro golfer also committed to $5 million in charity donations and will have to earn his way into the tour’s signature events.

Brooks Koepka reacts after missing a putt on the eighth hole during the third round of the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club June 14, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

Several LIV golfers, including Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith, rejected the PGA Tour’s controversial offer. Hideki Matsuyama and Wyndham Clark, who reportedly passed on financially advantageous LIV deals, said Koepka’s move left them conflicted.

Matsuyama told Golf Digest Japan he was “shocked” by Koepka’s return, adding he respected the decision but was discouraged by what he saw as a lack of communication from the tour.

Watson joined the PGA Tour in 1971, winning eight majors during his storied career.

Tom Watson smiles as he walks past the Claret Jug on the first tee during the Celebration of Champions Challenge during practice for The 150th Open Championship on The Old Course at St Andrews July 11, 2022, in St. Andrews, Scotland. (Keyur Khamar/PGA Tour)

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He also suggested that LIV defections created a fundamental breach of the sport’s core principles.

“When the players left, they ​violated the No. 1 rule that we really had out here, which is to ​protect the sponsors,” ⁠he said. “Sponsors need players. They need the names to be able to promote their tournaments. 

“If the players play wherever they want to play without a conflicting-event rule — where you had to seek the permission of the PGA Tour to play in a ⁠tournament opposite ​of a PGA Tour tournament — the sponsors would be hurt by that. ​I think we all understood that.

“When the players left for LIV, I think it was basically over. They chose to go for the money, which ​is fine. But to return to the tour, I thought, was a nonstarter. But apparently it’s not.”

Watson last played competitively at the 2019 Senior Open Championship and continues as an honorary starter to open the Masters a fifth consecutive year.

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Kisvarda, a town of 15,000 inhabitants in northeastern Hungary is quiet, rural – and football crazy. Its professional team, Kisvarda FC, is the surprise success of Hungary’s first division. With more than two thirds of the season’s games in the books, Kisvarda finds itself in third place in the standings. But the club is also sensitive to world events, with the Ukrainian border just a 20-minute drive away from the town.  

Kisvarda’s sports director, owner, and now coach, Attila Revesz, has strong ties to Ukraine. Almost a third of his first-team players are from there and Ukrainians make up almost half of the players on his youth teams. Revesz also helps run a partner football academy in Ukraine.

When the war started, Revesz knew that many players in Ukraine would no longer get paid, so he started a donation drive of both non-perishable goods and especially cash donations to support them. So far, about €10,000 ($11,000) has been raised to help the families of more than 70 footballers. The money is collected and then dispersed by a third party after a committee has reviewed the needs of the families the club is supporting.

However, Revesz is realistic about what that money can — and cannot — do.

Stopgap measure

“This money is just temporary help, it won’t solve the real problems in their lives,” Revesz told DW. “It’ll just make things a little bit better and easier. But for us it’s the right way to go. The real help is when we get monetary donations that can be passed on to them. The money that we collect is minor financial aid that they can really use. In certain cases they may use it to make their way here (to Hungary).” 

Revesz was in the western border region of Ukraine called Zakarpattia on February 24, when Russian troops launched their invasion. He quickly came up with the donation-drive idea after talking to Ukrainian football officials. Next, he tasked the Hungarian Professional Players Association to pitch in, which it did. The organization wrote a letter to all professional clubs asking them to do their part, too. Many are, either by helping support the families of Ukrainian players in their squads or by sending off shipments of goods.

As for Kisvarda’s Ukrainian players, the war has been devastating. Star forward Anton Kravchenko is so upset that he can’t play. His parents are in a region just west of Donetsk. They have told him that they aren’t moving and are ready to die there. Revesz respects Kravchenko’s situation. 

“Kravchenko’s parents live in the region of Dnipropetrovsk,” Revesz explained. “At the beginning there was no fighting there, but recently that’s changed, so maybe they’ll have to re-think things, but we can’t use him now anyway. He’s also fallen ill. We just haven’t been able to include him in the team recently, he’s been deeply affected by what’s happening.”

Worrying about loved ones

Goalkeeper Artem Odyntsov is among Kisvarda’s Ukrainian players. Both of his parents and his younger sister are trapped in Donetsk.  

“I don’t know how to put it into words,” Odyntsov told DW. “It’s very difficult – when you talk with them and day and night they just say, ‘We’re fine’, ‘We’re being careful.’ Well that’s … very difficult.”

He also wants to remain strong despite what is happening and focus on his sport.

“The first few days were very difficult,” Odyntsov said, “but now I understand that this is my job. I only have this and I have to give my full concentration for the two hours here during a game. After a game or practice I can think about other things.”

New arrivals

The Kisvarda team is also continuously bringing in junior players and their families from Ukraine. So far, hundreds of Ukrainian youth players have arrived in the city. Some stay while others move on to teams in Budapest, Sopron and other Hungarian cities.

Kisvarda is by no means a rich club, so funding the aid effort is making a significant impact on its budget. However, for sporting director Revesz, taking this financial hit is a no-brainer.

“We’ve taken the decision to finance this effort from our own budget, and we’ll worry about how to try to compensate for the losses at a later date,” he said. “This is our highest priority right now because it’s important to give needy people a new opportunity.

“There are already a whole lot of people in this city whose homes have been bombed. They won’t be able to return, they will have to start a new life. This will be the start of a new era for them.”

Edited by: Chuck Penfold

Bryson DeChambeau had a tumultuous first round of the Masters.

DeChambeau, 32, who shot 4 over par on the day, hit a patron with a tee shot on the sixth hole before later struggling to get out of a bunker on the 11th hole, hitting out of the sand three times before escaping the trap.

On the 180-yard, par 3, DeChambeau pulled his tee shot toward the left and hit a patron in the leg. The ball bounced back toward the hole and ended up settling off the green.

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Bryson DeChambeau watches his tee shot on the 12th hole during the first round of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga., April 9, 2026. (Eric Gay/AP Photo)

DeChambeau covered his mouth with his hand when he saw the ball strike the patron. When he walked toward the green, he found the patron, gave him a golf ball and shook his hand.

DeChambeau, who was even par at the time, made an outstanding recovery, chipping the ball to three feet from the hole despite being 24 yards out and eventually saved par by making the ensuing putt.

The Clovis, California, native, remained at even par until the 11th hole, when he had difficulty escaping a greenside bunker.

DeChambeau’s second shot was from the fairway, hitting down toward a green that was flanked by a pond and a bunker. DeChambeau stayed far away from the pond, and his ball ended up rolling in the bunker.

KEVIN HART CADDIES FOR BRYSON DECHAMBEAU IN AUGUSTA NATIONAL DEBUT, DELIVERING HILARIOUS PAR 3 CONTEST MOMENTS

Bryson DeChambeau hits from the bunker on the 11th hole during the first round of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga., April 9, 2026. (Eric Gay/AP Photo)

The LIV Golf star hit his first bunker shot just three yards, not even nearing the lip of the bunker. His second bunker shot went nowhere, and he appeared to completely miss the ball.

DeChambeau finally escaped the bunker on his third attempt, hitting the ball just over the ledge of the sand trap before letting it roll about 15 feet away. He ended up two-putting for triple bogey, bringing him to three over par for the day.

His struggles continued on the 16th hole, when he three-putted for bogey to bring him to four over par on the day. DeChambeau erased the stroke gained with a birdie on the 17th hole after a great iron shot from the rough left him eight feet from the hole.

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Bryson DeChambeau hits his tee shot on the 12th hole during the first round of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga., April 9, 2026. (Eric Gay/AP Photo)

However, DeChambeau bogeyed the 18th hole, finishing with a 4-over 76 for the day.

For DeChambeau, his start to the Masters was similar to last year’s, when he shot an opening-round 73. DeChambeau rallied in the second and third rounds, and he entered the final round in the final pairing with Rory McIlroy before shooting a 75 on Sunday to end in a tie for fifth place.

DeChambeau will look to turn things around Friday, when he tees off at 1:20 p.m. ET.

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Mayo and Galway have secured their places in the knockout stages of the Connacht U20 Football Championship with a round to spare after impressive victories on Wednesday evening.

The Western rivals now move forward with momentum ahead of the final group fixtures, while Leitrim and Sligo have been eliminated from contention.

Mayo Dominate Leitrim in Carrick-on-Shannon

Mayo delivered a powerful attacking display to defeat Leitrim by 3-21 to 1-12 in Carrick-on-Shannon.

Early goals from Dylan Flynn and Kobe McDonald set the tone for a one-sided contest, putting Mayo firmly in control from the outset.

Further scores from Tom Lydon, who finished with an excellent tally of 0-7, alongside two two-pointers from Colm Lynch, helped Mayo build a commanding 2-12 to 0-5 lead by half-time.

The second half followed a similar pattern, with Darragh Beirne adding a third Mayo goal in the 47th minute to extinguish any hopes of a Leitrim comeback.

Colm McLoughlin did manage a consolation goal for Leitrim, but it proved little more than a footnote on a dominant Mayo performance.

Galway Survive Sligo Comeback in Tuam Thriller

Galway were pushed all the way by Sligo before securing a narrow 1-13 to 0-15 victory in a gripping encounter at Tuam Stadium.

The Tribesmen looked comfortable at the interval, leading 0-11 to 0-5 after a composed first-half display.

However, Sligo responded superbly after the break, firing over six unanswered points to level the contest and swing momentum in their favour.

Conor Walsh, Matthew Walsh, Aaron Lang (three points) and Eamon Keane were all on target during a blistering spell from the Yeats County.

Galway regrouped at a crucial moment, with Eoinín Ó Cualáin first restoring the lead with a point before rattling the net to deliver a decisive blow.

Ciaran Mulhern extended the advantage to five, and although Sligo rallied again through late scores from Cian Nicholson (two-pointer), Lang and Dara Mostyn, they ultimately fell just short.

Connacht U20 Championship: Knockout Picture Takes Shape

With one round of fixtures remaining, both Mayo and Galway have booked their places in the knockout stages and will now look to build further momentum ahead of the semi-finals.

For Sligo and Leitrim, attention now turns to rebuilding after competitive but ultimately unsuccessful campaigns.

Match Highlights

HIGHLIGHTS
@Galway_GAA just hold on to defeat @sligogaa after a cracker in Tuam in Round 4 of the Dalata Hotel Group Connacht U20 Championship!
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HIGHLIGHTS
@MayoGAA too strong for @LeitrimGAA in Round 4 of Dalata Hotel Group Connacht U20 Football Championship!
#ConnachtGAA

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