It probably says a lot about the lack of options currently available to Martin O'Neill that the big story of yesterday was Declan Rice liking and then unliking a tweet from the FAI saying that he was still undecided about where his international allegiances lie. The West Ham prospect has seeminly still not made up his mind about whether he wants to represent Ireland or England, something both O'Neill and England manager Gareth Southgate said yesterday at their respective squad announcements. One thing O'Neill could say for certain is that Harry Arter is back in the squad for good after he and Roy Keane, hopefully, resolved their differences. Speaking yesterday ahead of the Nations League encounters with Wales and Denmark, O'Neill challenged Arter to get back and prove his critics wrong.
On to rugby and Connacht have found themselves in a tricky situation recently in their signing of Fijian Sevu Reece. The 21-year-old was signed in May but was not due to arrive in Ireland until next month. However, that deal is now off after the winger was fined but discharged without conviction after a domestic violence incident in which he left his girlfriend with injuries to her face as well as bruising to the left side of her waist and left knee. Writing this morning, Johnny Watterson says that the province have learned from recent controversies involving Munster, Ulster and Australia and decided to take the safe option of cutting the deal altogether with social media again proving to be a big influence in today's society. "Young lads who made mistakes no longer cuts it in a world where social media sets agendas and judges people, where the consequences for a violation are more severe and enduring than the sanctions handed down by a federation," he writes. Tonight Connacht will take on Ulster with both sides looking to get back to winning ways after heavy defeats to Leinster and Munster respectively last week.
Moving on and the build-up to Conor McGregor's much-awaited lightweight title fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov continued in Las Vegas last night with the Dagestani fighter walking out of their press conference after the Irishman turned up 25 minutes late, blaming Sin City's traffic for the delay. When McGregor eventually strolled in he promised he would knock the as yet unbeaten Khabib out and threw in his dislike for the Dagestani people to boot. "My heart is black toward this man, towards his team, towards his people," McGregor said while promising a knockout victory. "I plan on knocking that man's nose right into the nosebleeds. That's what's going to happen on Saturday night."
On to GAA and last night James Horan was confirmed as the new Mayo manager on a four-year term, returning after four years out of the job. Horan previously held the role from 2011-14, guiding Mayo to back-to-back All-Ireland defeats and also four successive Connacht titles.
In hurling, Pat Horgan spoke yesterday of the committment GAA players make and how he is willing to bear the weight of it for his county. Horgan read the recent report citing the 31 hours that typically make up the inter-county players' week and thought 'is that all'? At times it feels more like 24 hours a day, or at least every waking hour.
