Tuesday Morning Sports Update

Keeping you up to date on soccer, rugby, hockey, golf and racing.

SOCCER
The Republic of Ireland set out on the quest to qualify for the 2027 Women's World Cup tonight.

Carla Ward's side face a tough opening test, with the France the visitors to Tallaght Stadium.

Kick-off is at half seven.

St's Pat's are up to second in the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division this morning.

Kian Leavy scored in the 90th minute to give Stephen Kenny's side a 1-nil win over Galway United at Richmond Park.

Middlesbrough have moved five points off the top of the English Championship with a 3-1 win at Birmingham.

Liverpool have the chance to move up to fourth place in the Premier League this evening.

Florian Wirtz looks set to miss the Reds' trip to Wolves, with the visitors hoping to build on their weekend win over Aston Villa.

Brentford continue their bid for European qualification with an away match at Bournemouth.

Everton host struggling Burnley and Leeds face Sunderland.

RUGBY
Ireland forwards coach Paul O'Connell backs the team to build on their big Six Nations win over England.

The squad are stepping up their preparations ahead of the visit of Wales to the Aviva Stadium on Friday night.

HOCKEY

The Irish men's' and women's hockey teams both look to make it two wins from two in the World Cup qualifiers later.

Following their 5-nil win over Malaysia last night, the women's team will face Japan.

The men's team go up against Korea on the back of their 5-2 win against Canada at the weekend.

GOLF

Spanish golfer Jon Rahm has hit out at the DP World Tour for pressuring players into signing their new contract terms.

They've offered players release clauses to allow them to compete in conflicting LIV Golf events, but they have to commit to playing extra tournaments as part of the deal.

However, Rahm has likened that deal to extortion.

RACING

The going is soft to heavy on the hurdles and yielding to soft on the chase course at Leopardstown ahead of this afternoon's meeting.

The first of eight races goes to post just before 2 o'clock.