The Sports Pages
The Irish Times lead with a preview of the Magners League final, with Rugby Correspondent Gerry Thornley saying that Michael Cheika’s Leinster squad have the strength to make the chances they’ll get count. He reports that the only change to the Leinster starting line-up following their Munster-defeating semi-final is the return of Springbok CJ van der Linde who will replace an unfit Cian Healy. It will be the South African’s last start for the Irish province. The Times also has the headline “Trapattoni salutes his new recruits†the day after the boys in green shirts (Ireland) beat the boys in green shorts (Algeria) 3-0. Oh, just think what could have been…
The Indo has a picture of Shane Duffy accompanied by a few words from the Everton defender. “I woke up and mum and dad were telling me ‘you nearly died last night’,†he says. They also have news that many of our top rugby stars are to face up to a 50% cut in their pay. Those affected include Gordon D’Arcy, Peter Stringer, Shane Horgan and Marcus Horan, all of whom had contracts up at the end of the current season. Some players will see their basic salaries trimmed from €200,000 to €120,000 per year as the IRFU seeks to lower their costs. Just €120,000? How will they cope?
Over on the tabloids it’s football all the way with The Star reporting that first-choice goalie Shay Given believes he will be fit for the start of Ireland’s Euro 2012 qualification bid in September. The  Sun have a shot of rookie international Paul Green putting his head in harm’s way in order to score the first goal in Ireland’s defeat of Algeria at the RDS on Friday night. ?The photo is accompanied by the headline “Green ‘n So Keane: Trappy days for Gioâ€. Meanwhile the Mirror has a shot of the man in charge with the headline “Al’s well for Trap: Irish head for summer hols with bigger fish to fryâ€.
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