In the Champions League last night, Erling Haaland came to the rescue for Manchester City again as the Norwegian scored his 13th goal of the season with a spectacular acrobatic finish to give City the win over Dortmund. Celtic squandered a fast start as Shakhtar held on for draw in Poland. Reo Hatate opened the scoring for the visitors only for Mykhaylo Mudryk to hit back before the break. Graham Potter’s first game as Chelsea manager ended with a Salzburg stalemate at the Bridge. Raheem Sterling opened the scoring as Noah Okafor levelled for the visitors. Napoli worked past penalty controversy to secure a comfortable Ibrox win over Rangers.
Tonight attention turns to Shamrock Rovers in the Europa Conference League and the Hoops have been given respect ahead of their clash with Gent as head coach Hein Vanhaezebrouck said he did not understand how other people call them “typically British”. Nevertheless, a kick and rush draw would do nicely for Rovers in the midst of nightmarish schedule. Dominic Foley, a former player for Gent, says the Belgian side offer Shamrock Rovers a blueprint for the Irish football industry. In international football, Robbie Brady is back in Ireland contention thanks to his Preston revival as the status of Brady is one of a number of issues for Stephen Kenny to ponder. Meanwhile, Joanne O’Riordan writes women’s soccer isn’t a charity, it’s an investment as the scenes over the weekend had proved the sport is still shaky at its foundation.
In today’s subscriber only column, Ciarán Murphy writes that the Underdogs are unlikely to unearth another Kieran Donaghy any time soon as intercounty selection is far more rigorous and allows fewer talented players to fall through the cracks than before. The first episode of the new season begins Thursday at 9.30pm on TG4. The academy system is now also very well bedded-in in most counties, with the identification of young talent getting more and more targeted every year. For Mayo, Stephen Rochford is leaning on past experiences in his quest to end Sam Maguire drought with the former Mayo manager seen as a key ingredient of new boss Kevin McStay’s backroom team.
Moving from Gaelic football to rugby, Declan Darcy has gone from the all-conquering Dubs to back to where it all began in D4. The Sandymount native arrives at the RDS to coach at Leinster having spent years of success with Jim Gavin and Dublin Gaelic football. Simon Easterby is hoping to find style and substance in Emerging Ireland squad during tour as the 35-strong squad will travel to play three matches against Currie Cup teams in South Africa. In today’s America at Large column, Dave Hannigan writes about the mysterious case of the disappearing racist heckler. Duke’s lone African American starter in a volleyball match alerted her coach to someone racially abusing her and what followed was another incident in America’s culture wars. In golf, Rory McIlroy and Leona Maguire are in action on their respective tours and Philip Reid has the lowdown on their chances.
