It's a story that's been gaining more and more traction since former England player Steve Thompson revealed his dementia diagnosis at the age of 40 and this morning Gordon D'Arcy writes about his own experiences and his own fears after playing through the brutal period of the early 2000s. D'Arcy writes that he had four serious concussions during his career but it's the "insane" double training sessions and the physicality of the game during his playing days which, he writes, "has me worried about my own health because the damage has already been done." In other rugby news, Andy Friend is determined to ignore the Pat Lam and John Muldoon factor ahead of Connacht's meeting with Bristol this weekend which will see a number of former Sportsground favourites return to Galway.
On to GAA and Darragh Ó Sé writes this morning that Mayo must learn from their past mistakes against Dublin and improve on them but, even still, the five-in-a-row champions will likely make it six. "Getting beaten is forgivable. Getting beaten the same way two years in-a-row isn't," he writes. Meanwhile, Cian O'Sullivan is hoping to make a return to action on Saturday after missing all four of Dublin's championship matches so far with injury. On the other side Stephen Coen was speaking yesterday about his experience playing Sigerson Cup with UCD and how he looks forward to going up against former teammates on Saturday. In his column this morning Seán Moran looks back on the hurling championship and writes that Limerick were worthy and deserving winners even if nothing else about the year was normal.
On to soccer and Chelsea missed the chance to briefly go top of the Premier League last night after Pedro Neto struck a 95th minute winner for Wolves at Molineux. Frank Lampard's team had gone ahead thanks to Olivier Giroud but were pegged back by Daniel Podence before Neto notched the winner. Meanwhile, Manchester City also stumbled at home to West Brom as a Ruben Dias own goal gave the visitors a point. Tonight Tottenham travel to face Liverpool in a top of the table clash and Spurs manager José Mourinho was yesterday stirring the pot ahead of their showdown by disputing Jurgen Klopp's claims about an injury crisis.
In racing, Gigginstown spokesman Eddie O'Leary believes owners must be allowed to return to racetracks as soon as possible or the sport could face a decline in interest.
