Chiedozie Ogbene has admitted he feels sorry for Stephen Kenny, the under-fire Republic of Ireland manager, after their lingering hopes of Euro 2024 qualification were finally dashed.

Kenny’s reign seemingly reached the point of no return on Friday night when a 2-0 home defeat by Greece left his team with just three points from a possible 18 in Group B and mathematically unable to clinch a place in the top two. Ireland head for Gibraltar on Monday evening with only pride at stake and, while Kenny received assurances last week that he would remain in charge until after next month’s fixtures, discontent with the direction of travel under his charge has reached fever pitch.

Euro 2024 qualifiers roundup: France, Portugal and Belgium seal …

The PGA Tour heads north of the border for the RBC Canadian Open, which begins Thursday at the Hamilton Golf & Country Club in Ontario. In addition to featuring two-time winner and No. 3-ranked Rory McIlroy, the field includes a host of players vying for the final spots into next week's signature event at the Memorial Tournament. Our golf experts preview the event and provide their favorite props picks along with the best bets to win this week. RBC CANADIAN OPEN Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, May 30-June 2 Course: Hamilton Golf & Country Club (Par 70, 7,084 Yards) Purse: $9.4M (Winner: $1.69M) Defending Champion: Nick Taylor FedEx Cup Leader: Scottie Scheffler HOW TO FOLLOW TV: Thursday-Friday, 3-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday, 2:30-5:30 (GC), 5:30-7:30 (C…

While the World Cup started yesterday, it doesn’t really kick off until today. The World Cup, for fans, is about the NCAA tournament-type feel of multiple games every day, and there are three today and four per for the next couple of weeks. That’s the real tournament. If we didn’t all feel weird enough about this particular World Cup, FIFA, its president, the Qatari ruling family, and FOX certainly did their best to make sure whoever didn’t, joined the club over the weekend. It’s nearly impossible to not feel some level of conflict about this one. At least awkwardness, given that it’s taking place in November and December instead of June and July where it belongs. It doesn’t feel quite right, out of rhythm. That’s not nearly the whole story obviously, but it’s a nice…

The NBA announced on Wednesday that Charlotte will host the 2019 All-Star Game, fulfilling the league’s initial plan to return the event should North Carolina modify or repeal House Bill 2. Charlotte was initially slated to host this year’s All-Star event, but the NBA pulled the high-profile exhibition last July in response to the discriminatory legislation, which was passed in March 2016. The game was held instead in New Orleans. The league joins the NCAA and ACC in returning its lucrative neutral location events to the state that was, until it passed its recent half-assed repeal in late March, being boycotted by the sports leagues for HB2. The bill, which gained notoriety for being an anti-trans bathroom bill, also prevented cities from passing their own anti-discrimination or…

Tonight’s the night. Despite the crushing problems facing the Rio Olympics, the Games are finally kicking off tonight ( sort of). We’ll be liveblogging the televised Opening Ceremony here. Clearly moved by the Olympic spirit of cooperation, our friends from Jezebel are joining us! Let’s do this. …

Some people are fans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This 2013 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read all the 2013 NFL previews so far right here. Your team: Tampa Bay Buccaneers Your 2012 record: 7-9. The Bucs lost five of their last six games to close out the season, and they lost the final 10 games of the 2011 season. Boy, they really know how to finish up strong, don't they? Even Tony Romo thinks you people suck at finishing things. NOBODY ALLOWS LARGE OPEN GAPS BETWEEN THE WAGONS LIKE THE TAMPA BAY BUCS. Your coach: Greg Schiano. Greg Schiano could win 15 Super Bowls (don't worry, he won't actually do this) and the first thing people will still remember about him is th…

The Vancouver Canucks took on the Colorado Avalanche on Friday in a thrilling 7-6 overtime victory. Among the 13 goals scored that night, the one that stood out the most came from Brock Boeser in the second period off of a pass by Swedish rookie standout Elias Pettersson that would make Henrik and Daniel Sedin proud. The chemistry between the Sedin Twins knew no bounds during their time together on the Canucks which created some of the most astounding highlights of their era. One example of this came in 2013 against Detroit where they pulled off their own version of the off-the-boards goal. Of course, the difference between the two highlights is that the Sedins were in their thirties with over a decade of NHL experience in 2013, while Pettersson is currently 19 in the ninth league game…

data-mm-id=”_d05whyrej”>The sports world got a jolt of good news on Monday morning when the governing bodies of golf released revised schedules for the 2020 major championships, including new dates for the Masters, pushed back to November 9-15. It's the first time any sports organization set dates to play again since the national quarantine began and the fact that it came on what was supposed to be the beginning of Masters week felt apt, considering this is when the general public is most tuned into golf. But while the anticipated date for when the Masters will be played in 2020 gave us azalea-lovers something to look forward to (albeit eight months from now), it also created a massive quandary for CBS: How does it broadcast the Masters, SEC football and NFL over the same weekend …

data-mm-id=”_rtp2c6m4q”>The Major League Baseball season, which always seems to be one outbreak away from careening off a cliff like a car full of O'Doyles, has struggled to get teams onto the field thus far. Look at the standings in a few divisions and you see some wild stuff. The Miami Marlins have played 10 games to the Atlanta Braves' 17. The Pirates have managed to complete 16 while the St. Louis Cardinals, still waiting to get the green light to return to action, have played all of five. Five games! Compared to 13 postponements — a number that could grow. One need not be a math major or Jonah Hill from Moneyball to understand that those figures are bad. At least if the goal is to get every MLB team to the 60-game mark, which currently is the stated mark even as logis…

data-mm-id=”_7yhprq8zj”>Baseball is currently the only sport going on that is not taking place in some form of a bubble environment. The NBA, WNBA, and MLS have campuses in Florida, while the NHL has two campuses in Canada. The MLS had some big issues in the early going and two teams were forced to leave the bubble because of widespread COVID-19 outbreaks, but there have been zero positive cases over the last two weeks. The NBA and WNBA have sailed smoothly so far. Monday brought bad news for MLB and the concept of holding a season without a bubble, though. The Miami Marlins had members of their organization test positive for coronavirus, including multiple players, and canceled their home opener. Four players who tested positive played in last night's game against the Phillies. M…