Attending Dublin v Wicklow in Baltinglass on Wednesday night in early January, Ciarán Murphy fears he may be losing his mind. “Is the draw of my erstwhile colleague-in-podcasting Oisín McConville’s debut in intercounty management really that irresistible?” he writes in his column this morning. “How many more questions can I keep asking myself before I consider the possibility I’m losing my mind?” Dublin won easily, an inexperienced side starting their O’Byrne Cup off with a 2-15 to 0-9 victory. All-Ireland champions Kerry were hammered 5-11 to 0-14 by Cork in Páírc Uí Rinn in their McGrath Cup clash last night. Meath beat Carlow 0-16 to 1-9 in the O’Byrne Cup, to give Colm O’Rourke a win in his first game at the helm. In the Dr McKenna Cup, there were wins for Tyrone, Armagh and Down. For a round-up of all Wednesday night’s matches click here.

Harry Kane closed in on Jimmy Greaves’ all-time Tottenham Hotspur goalscoring record as he helped Spurs thrash Crystal Palace 4-0 in the Premier League on Wednesday, while Nottingham Forest beat Southampton to move out of the relegation zone. West Ham United and Leeds United remain embroiled in a relegation battle after the pair drew 2-2 at Elland Road, while Unai Emery’s Aston Villa were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Wolverhampton Wanderers. Tonight Chelsea host Manchester City, with Pep Guardiola calling for another ‘passionate’ performance from Erling Haaland.

Munster outhalf Ben Healy will leave the club at the end of the current season to join Edinburgh despite extensive efforts by the Irish province to retain his services. The 23-year-old qualifies to play for Scotland through his Glasgow-born mother and the Tipperary native could find his way into Gregor Townsend’s squad for the World Cup. Leinster and Ireland prop Andrew Porter has released a Tackle Your Feelings video for a schools programme campaign, explaining: “It’s incredible to see how much around the whole stigma of mental health, particularly for men [has changed], not just in the dressingroom but in public in general. The whole stigma [in the past] was ‘you’re a man get over it.’ Those days are done.”

Meanwhile, Dave Hannigan’s America At Large column explains how Russian ice hockey star Alex Ovechkin is too close to Putin for comfort: “NBA stars get lambasted and suspended for outrageous political statements but the greatest hockey player of the past two decades has escaped serious scrutiny for standing with Putin.”