MEN’S FOOTBALL: Larne will face 1991’s European Cup winners Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League second qualifying round after seeing off San Marino’s Tre Fiori 3-1 on aggregate. 

Perennial Cymru Premier champions The New Saints crashed out, going down 4-1 to Azerbaijan’s Sabah FK, while Shamrock Rovers are through to face Ararat-Armenia. Scottish Premiership runners-up Hearts join the competition against Austria’s Sturm Graz.

MEN’S RUGBY LEAGUE: St Helens suffered another injury blow after England hooker Daryl Clark was ruled out for the rest of the season with ankle ligament damage that requires surgery. 

The Saints are now without 15 members of their squad for tonight’s Super League match at home to fellow out-of-form team Catalans. 

St Helens have won only two of their last eight games and sit seventh, eight points behind table-topping Leeds.

MEN’S CRICKET: Zimbabwe take a 1-0 lead into tomorrow’s second leg of their three-match Twenty20 series against Bangladesh. 

Pacemen Blessing Muzarabani and Richard Ngarava both took four wickets as the Zimbabweans took a 32-run win from Wednesday’s opening game in Bulawayo. 

Chasing a modest target of 170, Bangladesh crumbled to 138 all out but remain ranked as the world’s eighth-best short-format team, four places above Zimbabwe.

MEN’S FOOTBALL: Eight Irish Cup second-round matches kick off this evening, as holders and record-breaking 26-time winners Shamrock Rovers take on Division One’s runaway leaders Cork City, in a repeat of last year’s final. 

Other highlights include 2024’s champions Drogheda hosting non-league Lucan United, League of Ireland strugglers Waterford against Cobh Ramblers and minnows St Mochta’s sacrificing home advantage to play in Dundalk.