Our 'Summer of Sport' competition is up and running and we've provided a short guide as to how some of the events, races and championships nominations are required for might unfold.
The proceeds of the 'Summer of Sport' will go towards the new juvenile pitch currently under development.
Entry is €10 and we encourage everyone to subscribe and test their knowledge over the next few days. There's a few answers required but don't be daunted. The guide might help!
https://simonstowngfc.clubzap.com/products/4075/purchases/new
GAA
Guidance for the local senior club championships are hardly required. Ratoath and Dunboyne are mens and ladies champions respectively but Simonstown will have good prospects in both!
The 2020 Meath senior hurling final still has to be decided but Ratoath are ever improving and could have a strong hand in the 2021 competition.
At inter-county level, there were shocks when Cavan and Tipperary landed the Ulster and Munster provincial championships in 2020 but how much will it deviate from form this summer?
As ever Ulster is most open with Monaghan and Armagh hoping to exploit the side of the draw that Donegal and Tyrone are not on. Under new management, can Tyrone get a sufficient lift?
In Connacht Mayo are likely finalists with Galway, on their league form against Roscommon, most probable to join them.
Kerry, despite last year's setback, and Dublin look like making Munster and Leinster a formality again and with the draw the way it is, they look set to meet in a final.
Limerick aren't as dominant in hurling as Dublin are in football and their Munster semi-final opponents Cork have given them plenty of trouble in the 2018 and 2019 championships while Galway are fancied to negotiate Leinster this year after slipping up to Kilkenny in last year's final. They've been a form league team.
With three games in Connacht likely for Mayo, Cillian O'Connor could be a good call to top score in the football championship with TJ Reid best bet in hurling.
SOCCER
The Euro 2020 Championships are getting under way so there is time to assess form with so few teams exiting after the first stage. France have been to the 2016 final and are current World Cup champions. Portugal are the reigning champions.
WIMBLEDON
Novak Djokovic is bidding for a sixth Wimbledon title and is favourite ahead of rising stars Stefanos Tsitsipas, into the French Open final, and Daniil Medvedev and old hands Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer.
The women's title is much closer with Ashleigh Barty, seven-time winner Serena Williams, 2017 winner Garbine Muguruza, Naomi Osaka, Iga Swiatek and Bianca Andreescu the strongest contenders. Barbora Krejcikova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova are contesting the French Open final this weekend.
GOLF
Bryson De Chambeau is defending US Open golf champion but Spaniard Jon Rahm won his first PGA tour event at Torrey Pines four years ago and could be ready to break his major duck at a course where he thrives. World Nos 1 and 2, Dustin Johnston and Justin Thomas, have struggled for form while Brooks Koepka's major record is too difficult to ignore, finishing second most recently to Phil Mickelson at the recent US PGA Championship. Hard to believe that it's 10 years since Rory McIlroy landed his first major at this event.
The British Open wasn't played in 2020 so Shane Lowry defends in Royal St George and again Rahm may have a big say too in the destiny of the Claret Jug.
Looking further ahead, the US Ryder Cup golf team may have the rift between De Chambeau and Koepka to contend with but right now they have so many of the world's top golfers that it will take quite the performance from Europe to defend the title in Whistling Straits. Last time the US hosted in 2016 they won it.
The US also look to have the stronger hand in the Solheim Cup.
TOUR DE FRANCE
The battle for the yellow jersey came down to two Slovenians in 2020, eventual winner Tadej Pogacar and Primoz Roglic and it looks like it's between them again this year.
OLYMPICS
With American Christian Coleman, the current world champion, banned for two years the field for the Olympic 100 metres title is wide open in the post Usain Bolt era. Another American Noah Lyles is the reigning 200 metre world champion while Canadian Andre De Grasse was a silver winner at the Rio games. Britain's Zharnel Hughes, the 2018 European champion, is a contender.
How many Olympic medals will Ireland win? There has to be something from the rowers, Paul O'Donovan now teamed with Fintan McCarthy in the lightweight doubles. Sanita Puspure, despite recent injuries, also has a chance. In gymnastics, Rhys McClenaghan can medal in the pommel horse while Kellie Harrington can too, if she avoids a tough Brazilian and South Korean in the lightweight division. Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry in the golf, the showjumping team, three-day eventing team and Thomas Barr in the 400 metre hurdles all have outside chances.
FORMULA ONE
Max Verstappen currently leads the Formula One drivers championship and is reigning British Grand Prix champion but Lewis Hamilton, currently second overall, is a seven-time winner around Silverstone.
LIONS
Once again the Lions are taking on South Africa who are reigning world champions, just as they were in 1997 and 2009. Warren Gatland has picked a team made to measure for the type of attritional game they are likely to face but the Six Nations form of England, who backbone the squad and the performances of English, Irish, Welsh and Scottish club teams in the Champions Cup has to be a concern for the visitors.
