Defending All-Ireland champions Dublin laid down an early season marker yesterday, as they began their league campaign with a comfortable 1-22 to 0-16 win in Roscommon. Cormac Costello notched 1-13 as Dessie Farrell's side slipped seamlessly into gear on their return to action - Keith Duggan reports. However on Saturday Kerry sent out a statement which suggests the Dubs might not have it all their own way again this year, with David Clifford scoring a hat-trick in an impressive 4-21 to 0-11 rout of Galway in Tralee. The Kingdom take on Dublin on Sunday. Meanwhile in the hurling league yesterday Galway ended the unbeaten run of All-Ireland champions Limerick, running out 0-26 to 1-17 winners at Pearse Stadium. Evan Niland was the star for the hosts, shooting 0-14 from frees, a statistic which left Limerick boss John Kiely bristling afterwards. He said: "It does appear that the game has changed in the last four months whilst we've all been at home and somebody has decided to take the tackle out of the game. I'd love to know who they were and when that was decided." Elsewhere yesterday Kilkenny brought Antrim back down to earth with a 1-28 to 3-15 win at Nowlan Park - although the underdogs were competitive for long periods of the game. A late comeback saw Wexford beat Clare 2-19 to 1-21 while 13-man Waterford survived a late scare to beat Westmeath.
Liverpool kept their top four hopes alive in dramatic fashion yesterday, with a last-minute header from goalkeeper Alisson giving them a 2-1 win over relegated West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns. Sam Allardyce's side were left feeling aggrieved after they Kyle Bartley had a late goal controversially ruled out, before the visitors' Brazilian 'keeper stole all three points at the death. Victory means three wins from their remaining three fixtures will almost certainly secure Liverpool a Champions League spot. Elsewhere Everton look set to miss out of Europe after they were beaten 1-0 by Sheffield United at Goodison Park - 17-year-old Daniel Jebbison scoring an early winner. Tottenham meanwhile are up to sixth - Harry Kane on the scoresheet again in a 2-0 win over Wolves - while Crystal Palace came from behind twice to beat Aston Villa 3-2 at Selhurst Park.
In his column this week Ken Early has looked at the new film 'Never Give In' - a documentary on the career of Alex Ferguson which is released in Ireland on Friday. The film was made in the wake of Fergie's brain haemorrhage in May 2018, and uses stunning archive footage to trace an unparalleled career from his formative years in Glasgow through to his crowning glory - the Treble of 1999. He writes: "The film relives some of the days when it seemed as though Fergie must have done a deal with the devil. How else could you explain the night at Pittodrie when Aberdeen scored two goals in one minute to beat Bayern Munich 3-2 in the Cup-Winners Cup quarter-final? Or the fact that this would prove to be only the second most famous instance of a Ferguson side winning a historic victory by scoring twice in a minute against Bayern?"
Séamus Power saw his hopes of a career-changing PGA Tour win fade yesterday, as he posted a final round of 70 at the AT&T Byron Nelson. That score left Power on 18 under par for the tournament - seven shots adrift of the eventual winner, Korea's KH Lee. Lee's victory saw him earn the final place at the US PGA Championship, which gets underway this week at Kiawah Island.
Ireland enjoyed another strong day on the water yesterday, and will now take a record six boats to this summer's Tokyo Olympics. The women's four line-up of Fiona Murtagh, Eimear Lambe, Aifric Keogh and Emily Hegarty delivered a superb performance in Lucerne, Switzerland, to confirm their place in Japan, before the lightweight women's double of Aoife Casey and Margaret Cremen also booked their ticket to the Games.
And Chelsea's hopes of a Champions League double were ended last night, as their women's side were thrashed 4-0 by Barcelona in the final in Gothenburg.
