Shortly before the Irish Indoor Championships last month, Phil Healy’s coach called it as he saw it.

Irish sprinters Thomas Barr and Phil Healy have welcomed the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics until 2021, a decision announced today after talks between Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, and International Olympic Committee president, Thomas Bach.

Darragh Greene was in Dublin Airport when the world turned on its axis. The Longford swimmer and the rest of the senior national squad were in departures, poised to fly out to a meet in Scotland, when the acting Taoiseach delivered his address — and everything changed utterly, writes Brendan O'Brien.

EVERYTHING comes with a health warning now.

Sport may shrink in significance in these unprecedented times but the sight of empty stadiums and speculation over the fate of previously ‘untouchable’ events as the Olympic Games and European Championships hammer home just how serious things have become.

Declan McBennett, RTE’s head of sport, spoke earlier this week about the national station’s coverage of last year’s Women World Cup and his sense that the tournament had proven to be a Rubicon moment for female sport around the globe.

Shares in Paddy Power owner Flutter Entertainment crashed by nearly 10% despite the betting company expressing confidence that the Cheltenham horseracing festival will go ahead next month amid fears mass public events could be caught up in the fallout from the spread of the coronavirus.

Munster will have its largest representation for any Irish panel in many years next week when eight players travel with the U18 squad to Lilleshall for a series with England.

It was interesting and appropriate to hear last Friday that the FAI are going to slim down their travelling parties for away matches. We have heard in the past that the “suits” travelled at the front of the plane with the team left in the back. Less non-essential personnel can only make sense and let’s hope that this (small) first step is indicative of a new approach.

Wednesday sees the start of Week 4 of the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) in Wellington, Florida, while a second fixture in the same area at Deeridge Farms also gets underway.

Dublin Airport’s short-haul network is also expanding, with 11 new summer services to destinations in Italy, France, Sardinia, Israel, Cairo and others also announced also a long-haul daily service to San Francisco.

Hockey Ireland have conceded there's no further avenue of appeal they can pursue over the Irish men’s video nasty in the Olympic qualifiers last October in Vancouver.

With serious show jumping team action still some time away in 2020, there are no early season pointers to go on seven months out from the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

David Murphy’s dream of winning four successive European gold road-bowling medals is still alive as he is named on the Irish team to contest next May’s European Championships in Garding, Germany.

For the Irish, this was their best-ever medal haul at the European Cross Country, but it was also so much more. For so many years, they had come to this event with hopes rested squarely on the shoulders of Fionnuala McCormack alone.

Donegal swimmer Mona McSharry has won bronze in the 50m breaststroke competition at the European Short Course Swimming Championships in Glasgow.

The shortlist for Ireland’s greatest sportsperson has few permanent cast members, but Sonia O’Sullivan has always featured on it.

Ireland’s women will meet the Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, India and South Africa in the group stages of the Olympic Games following confirmation of the final entrants on Saturday.

Dave Passmore has announced the first Irish women’s indoor international squad since 1990, naming a 14-player panel for a December trip to Durban, South Africa for six test matches.

Troy Parrott has described Aaron Connolly’s double breakthrough into the Premier League and Ireland’s Euro 2020 qualifying campaign as a source of inspiration, as the young Spurs hot shot prepares to make his own senior debut against New Zealand.

The venue allocation to stage the 2022 world championships in equestrian sport will be announced this coming Saturday during the 2019 FEI General Assembly which is being held in Moscow.

Christy Mullins had the first win in the renewal of the Johnny Holland Cup at Bauravilla where he beat Seán Murphy by over a bowl of odds.

First, it was Aaron Connolly and now it’s Troy Parrott – two stars who have been lost to the Irish U21 team as Mick McCarthy makes an offer than can’t be refused.

Before his departure, Mark Tumilty spoke with an old friend, Garry Doyle, about the joy he still gets daily from ‘an unbelievable sport’.

Ireland’s Shannon McCurley has won a silver medal in the scratch race on day 1 of the European Track Championships in the Netherlands.

At least the phoney war is over, the fable of Mick McCarthy clothed in Merlin the Magician garb belatedly binned.

James O’Donovan, Tim Young, Billy McAuliffe, and Aidan Murphy were the top four performers in Sunday’s senior men’s trials for the Irish road team at next year’s European championships in Germany.

Ger McCarthy on the lessons learned from Ireland's 2-0 loss to Switzerland at the Stade de Genève.

World Rugby chiefs have been slammed for failing to reschedule matches impacted this weekend by Typhoon Hagibis. Could they learn lessons from other organisations in dealing with such worst-case scenarios?

As she climbed the podium in Hungary to receive first prize in the European Masters Powerlifting Championship, the sound of Amhrán na bhFiann playing over the speakers, Cork grandmother Karen Barry felt an immense rush of pride.

Ireland’s Alex Wright has finished down the field in 31st in the men’s 20k walk at the World Athletics Championships in Doha.

The final hour is at hand for Ireland’s show jumpers to deliver their country out of the Olympic wilderness. Not since Athens 2004 has Ireland qualified a show jumping team for the Games, and tomorrow sees the Irish riders embark on their last chance to make Tokyo 2020.

The Irish team for tomorrow’s elite men’s road race at the UCI World Championships in Yorkshire are a tried and tested bunch of riders at the top level - with the exception of Rory Townsend.

Thomas Barr has breezed through to the semi-finals of the men’s 400m hurdles at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, as new European holder Karsten Warholm staked his claim to successfully defend his world title in Qatar.

The governing body will plant 600,000 trees across the 12 host countries of the tournament as part of a renewable energy project.

Both the Irish senior women and men got one of their preferred draw for the Olympic qualifiers as they both face battles with Canada in the next two months for a ticket to Tokyo 2020.