IRELAND’S JAKE MCCARTHY has won a bronze medal today at the World Rowing Championships in Shanghai in China.

The Skibbereen Rowing Club rower finished third in the lightweight men’s single.

Jake McCarthy has won the bronze medal in the Lightweight Men’s Single 🥉

A fantastic achievement, well done Jake 👏#wearerowingireland #GreenBlades #wrchamps2025 pic.twitter.com/MK1rFPyml1

— Rowing Ireland (@RowingIreland) September 27, 2025

Siobhán McCrohan, from Tribesmen Rowing Club, finished fourth earlier in her final of the lightweight women’s single.

Finally, Tiarnán O’Donnell (Lee Rowing Club) and Sadhbh Ní Laoighre (Bantry Rowing Club) finished third in the B final of PR2 mixed pairs.

More to follow…

NEW ZEALAND STAVED off an Australia comeback on Saturday to win their Rugby Championship Test 33-24 and extend a remarkable unbeaten streak at Eden Park to 52 matches.

The Wallabies fought back from 20-3 down but Cam Roigard’s second try late in the game ensured the All Blacks retain the Bledisloe Cup in a winning response to their record loss to South Africa.

World class scrum-half Roigard was the standout performer in his return from two months out with injury.

He scored two tries and New Zealand showed the kind of control which was missing when they were humiliated 43-10 by the Springboks in Wellington two weeks ago.

Coach Scott Robertson had asked his “hurt and stung” team to respond with a more clinical performance, something they achieved early and late in a tense contest.

The home side scored four tries to three to go top of the standings in the tightly fought Rugby Championship, although they could be surpassed by South Africa or Argentina, who were to meet in Durban on Saturday.

Australia’s defeat leaves them without a win over the All Blacks on New Zealand soil since 2001, with victory having eluded them in 23 straight matches at Eden Park.

New Zealand are unbeaten against all teams at their Auckland fortress since 1994 but that record came under threat as the Wallabies rallied to trail 20-17 at half-time.

New Zealand powered 17 points ahead in the opening 25 minutes through three unanswered tries, to backs Caleb Clarke, Leroy Carter and Roigard.

Clarke crossed in the fourth minute of his first Test appearance of an injury-plagued year.

The wing had appeared emotional during his country’s pre-match anthem, which was sung by his father and former All Black Eroni Clarke.

Australia’s fightback coincided with a slew of penalties conceded by the home side.

Tries to Billy Pollard and Harry Potter were both converted by James O’Connor as Australia took momentum into the interval.

Two long-range penalty goals from fly-half Damian McKenzie pushed New Zealand clear again.

However, Australia closed the gap to two points when replacement forward Carlo Tizzano powered over for a try from a lineout drive.

The visitors lost wing Potter to a yellow card for a professional foul and the All Blacks capitalised, sending the speedy Roigard through a gap to make the game safe.

– © AFP 2025

WHILE INJURY HAS kept her out of action in recent weeks, former Republic of Ireland women’s soccer international Méabh De Búrca has enjoyed being part of the continued development of Salthill/Knocknacarra in the past couple of years.

Having previously lined out for St Michael’s and Salthill at underage level in Galway, De Búrca later found herself returning to the former due to the latter not having a team that catered for female adult players.

Yet Michael’s had a similar issue themselves in recent times and this led to De Búrca switching back to her former club two years ago – not long after their memorable march to an AIB All-Ireland junior football championship title in 2022.

Although she has unfortunately been sidelined since July, De Búrca will be keeping a watchful eye on Salthill’s senior and junior ladies sides this weekend. Later this evening, the club’s second team will take on Annaghdown in a Junior ‘B’ championship semi-final, while their first 15 are set to face Claregalway in the last-four of the senior county championship tomorrow afternoon.

“I grew up playing with St Michael’s boys and I had played with Salthill/Knocknacarra girls as a teenager. St Michael’s didn’t have a girls team at the time, so I moved across. Then Salthill didn’t have a women’s team, so I moved back to St Michael’s,” explained De Búrca, who won three trophies with Salthill in 2024.

“Two years ago then, St Michael’s couldn’t field a team in the league, so then I made the short journey across back to Salthill again. I’ve watched their development from afar. Winning the junior All-Ireland and then now pushing on to senior level, it’s a great achievement really.

“To be up there and to have retained the Senior ‘A’ status this year was a big goal. To have achieved that, regardless of the results for the rest of the year, I think that will have been a successful year.”

Despite embarking on a career that would see her accumulating more than 50 senior caps for her country from 2006 to 2017, De Búrca continued to juggle soccer and ladies football moving into adulthood.

Even though she made the journey to the United States in 2009 to undertake a soccer scholarship at the University of New Haven in Connecticut, the Galwegian soon linked up with the Fermanagh club in Yonkers – a city located in Westchester County, New York.

LGFA Gaelic4Teens ambassador Méabh De Búrca during the 2024 ZuCar Gaelic4Teens Festival Day. Ramsey Cardy / SPORTSFILE


Ramsey Cardy / SPORTSFILE / SPORTSFILE

From there, De Búrca found herself representing the Big Apple on the inter-county stage and she started on the New York side that featured in drawn and replayed TG4 All-Ireland junior football championship finals against Wicklow at Croke Park in 2011. Their second bout with the Garden County ultimately ended in a 2-10 to 0-8 defeat, but this is a period in her sporting life that De Búrca still recalls with fondness.

“We came back to play a quarter-final and a semi-final in one trip. That was a great 10 days. Then we came home again for the All-Ireland final, which was just incredible. Unfortunately for us, the game ended in a draw.

“So we had to go the 3,000 miles back to New York and come back in two weeks’ time. Wicklow got the better of us that day, but all in all it was just really, really special to be there. To be able to be in Croke Park on All-Ireland final day.

“It really stands out as definitely one of the highlights of my sporting career. Even given all the soccer stuff I achieved, that one really stands out for me as such a special memory.”

Though stints in professional soccer over in Norway (Amazon Grimstad) and Sweden (Eskilstuna United) kept her away from Gaelic football for an extended spell, De Búrca returned to Ireland to sign for Galway WFC in December 2013 and proceeded to join the county’s senior panel for the following year.

She was also a member of the Galway set-up in 2019, but while it is a considerable claim to say she has togged out for the Tribeswomen and the Republic of Ireland soccer team, De Búrca is far from being alone in this regard.

At various stages in the past, De Búrca’s former international team-mates Niamh Fahey (an All-Ireland senior winner with Galway in 2004), Julie-Ann Russell and Dora Gorman have also worn the maroon jersey at senior level with considerable distinction.

Remarkably, this quartet have all featured on the LGFA club scene this year with Fahey and Russell representing their native Killannin and Moycullen respectively, whereas Gorman is donning the colours of Clontarf in Dublin.

Flashback: De Búrca, second from left, with fellow Galwegians Dora Gorman, Julie-Ann Russell and Niamh Fahey and a maroon and white corner flag which was used when they were playing for the Republic of Ireland at an Algarve Cup game in 2012.

“Three former senior internationals playing in the Galway club championship. I think it was a really big part of the three of our developments growing up. A lot of that as well is down to the fact that we could juggle both, I think, as well. Even Dora Gorman too would have represented Galway and Ireland as well.

“There’s a lot of players that have played both sports and I know there’s a lot of discussion about whether players should focus on one sport or be able to try and spread themselves over a couple of sports. It definitely worked out for the three of us anyway.”

Although she works regularly as a soccer analyst with RTE and TG4 in addition to her day job as an accountant, De Búrca is also actively involved in a number of programmes that are currently being run by the LGFA.

As well as being part of the association’s ‘Learn to Lead’ female leadership programme in the PR/Media strand, she has also been an athlete mentor for the Lidl #SeriousSupport Players’ Programme since 2021.

This particular initiative is designed to educate teenage girls about the positive mental and physical health benefits of playing sport, but it also aims to increase participation and reduce drop-out rates for teenagers in sport – something De Búrca feels remains a big issue in today’s society.

“It’s definitely an area that can be improved on. I know it’s hard because it is a huge issue. It’s good to be involved with something like that, where the opportunities wouldn’t have been there when I was at that age. It’s enjoyable just to go into schools alongside other former inter-county players. Just to try to make an impact as much as we can,” De Búrca added.