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Central Coast Mariners defeat Melbourne Victory in A-League Men grand final – as it happened

While today is a celebration for domestic football in Australia, it is impossible to overlook what has been another chastening season for the A-League.

The APL remains in omnicrisis, bungling its budget and communications as it fails abysmally at converting the promise of independence. And while there’s not a lot they can do about fan misbehaviour or the alleged conduct of players, it’s hard to avoid the creeping feeling of the competition succumbing to another doom spiral.

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Premier League Darts: Luke Littler overcomes Luke Humphries to win title – as it happened

A rampant Luke Littler beat Michael Smith and Luke Humphries to become the youngest major winner in darts history

Littler 3-1 Smith No nine-darter – he managed seven perfect darts before missing T19 – but more importantly he has broken Smith already. He pinged his bestie D10 to complete a 12-darter, and now Smith is effectively two breaks behind.

Littler is six darts into a nine on the Smith throw…

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Tony O’Reilly: the Lions cub who earned place in Irish sporting folklore

Before entering business, O’Reilly played rugby for Ireland and the Lions and could have been ‘one of the world’s greats’

Tony O’Reilly has died aged 88 and this week’s business pages will pay tribute to a titan of the corporate world who struck commercial gold with Kerrygold and built a hill of beans with Heinz. It is a sign of a life remarkably well lived, then, that his name will also always have a place in the pantheon of Irish sporting heroes and prompt a wry smile whenever rugby union’s classic old-school anecdotes are retold.

As a player good enough to have been selected as the youngest Lion in history when chosen to tour South Africa as a teenager in 1955, O’Reilly might have reached even loftier heights in the game had his burgeoning business career not intervened at the age of 26. There was to be one last impromptu hurrah, however, when he was famously recalled seven years later to face England at Twickenham.

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Michael Smith seals Premier League darts playoff spot and wins in Sheffield

  • Victory over friend Nathan Aspinall books Smith’s playoff place
  • ‘I wanted him there with me but I’m really chuffed,’ says Smith

A tearful Michael Smith put friendship aside to win his Premier League shootout with Nathan Aspinall and qualify for next week’s playoffs at the O2 Arena.

The 2023 world champion beat his good friend Aspinall 6-3 in the quarter-final of the final round of the league phase in Sheffield to join Luke Littler, Luke Humphries and Michael van Gerwen in London.

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MotoGP: Martín edges duel with Bagnaia and Márquez to win at Le Mans

  • Pramac Racing rider tops MotoGP standings with 129 points
  • Márquez finishes second after final-lap overtake of Bagnaia

Jorge Martín of Pramac Racing, the MotoGP championship leader, won the French Grand Prix on Sunday to complete a weekend double while Gresini Ducati’s Marc Márquez finished second with a final-lap overtake of Francesco Bagnaia, the reigning champion, at Le Mans.

Bagnaia led for most of the race before Martín, having started on pole, regained the lead and powered to victory following an intense battle while Márquez, who started 13th on the grid, and finished on the podium once again after Saturday’s sprint.

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Darts sensation Luke Littler to make Australian debut at Wollongong event

  • Star-studded line-up confirmed for Australian Darts Masters
  • World No 1 Luke Humphries also named in 16-player field

Teenage darts sensation Luke Littler is to make his debut in Australia when he headlines the country’s biggest event in Wollongong in August.

The 17-year-old English phenomenon, who has flourished as the sport’s biggest attraction since becoming the youngest ever world championship finalist at 16 in January, will feature in a star-studded line-up at the Australian Darts Masters in August.

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Kyren Wilson’s world title helps us understand snooker’s fluctuating fortunes | Daniel Harris

The experiences of the world’s leading players are key to understanding snooker’s current unpredictability

Ostensibly, sport aims to answer one question: who is the best? Humans being humans, we naturally invest it with meaning beyond that – the teams we support are ours forever, a fixed part of our identity representing values and a way of life. We keep coming back because we have no choice.

Individual sports, though, are different, players necessarily transient, so what keeps us coming back is the competition itself. And for that reason, there is greater onus on it to provide a satisfying outcome: we want our world championships won by the best player in the world, and Kyren Wilson, snooker’s newly minted king – a terrific talent and worthy winner – is, on the face of it, no such thing.

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Jak Jones attacks ‘pathetic’ rivals after booking world snooker final with Wilson

  • Welsh qualifier will face Kyren Wilson after shock run to final
  • Jones hits back at beaten opponents’ complaints over his style

Jak Jones sealed his shock World Snooker Championship final place by beating Stuart Bingham 17-12 – and branded his beaten opponents “pathetic” for complaining about his playing style.

The world No 44 will face Kyren Wilson in the two-day final starting on Sunday after Wilson overcame David Gilbert 17-11. Both Bingham and Judd Trump, whom the Welshman beat in the last eight, implied that Jones’ frustrating tactics had affected their rhythm and ultimately contributed to their defeats.

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