Weds Lunch Sport, with Joe Mallon Motors, Renault & Dacia, Sallins Rd., Naas

Sport Ireland Athletes Funding; French Soccer Legend Fontaine Dies; Tonight's Premier League & FA Cup games;

Sport Ireland has announced an increase of €4m of investment, as Irish athletes focus on Olympic and Paralympic qualification for Paris 2024.

The funding package, which totals €24m, will be provided to 19 national governing bodies to support the delivery of their performance programmes in 2023.

This will support 127 athletes and three relays/pool funding in 14 sports and allow athletes to focus on training and performances.

In 2023 and 2024, Sport Ireland will invest €300,000 per annum to Hockey Ireland to support the Women’s Team.

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Just Fontaine, who holds the record for the most goals scored at a single World Cup, has died at the age of 89.

Fontaine scored 13 goals in just six matches for France at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, when they finished third.

He is joint-fourth on the all-time World Cup goalscorers list alongside Argentina's Lionel Messi, a statistic made more remarkable by the fact he only played in the 1958 tournament.

The striker went scored in every game in Sweden, including four goals in a 6-3 win over West Germany in the third-place play-off.

He scored 30 goals in just 31 appearances for France between 1953 and 1960.

He spent much of his club career at Stade de Reims, where he scored 145 goals in 152 appearances, winning three Ligue 1 titles and reaching the 1959 European Cup final, where they lost to a Real Madrid side containing Alfredo di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas.

He also played for Nice and Moroccan side USM Casablanca but was forced to retire in 1962 at the age of just 28 after suffering a double leg fracture.

As a manager, Fontaine had two games in charge of France in 1967 before leading Paris St-Germain to promotion to the top division in 1974.

A short spell at Toulouse followed before he took charge of Morocco, the country of his birth, leading them to third place at the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations.

Arsenal can move five points clear at the top of the Premier League this evening if they beat Everton at the Emirates Stadium.

Liverpool are at home to Wolves.


In the fifth round of the FA Cup this evening, Manchester United host West Ham.

Tottenham Hotspur go to Sheffield United, Southampton play Grimsby Town and Burnley are home to Fleetwood.

The draw for the quarter finals will be made after those ties.

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Ian Foster will not continue as head coach of New Zealand after this year's World Cup in France.

Scott Robertson and former Irish coach Joe Schmidt will be in the mix to succeed Foster

An appointment is expected within six weeks.