What a weekend it was at Croke Park and that was even without the second All-Ireland semi-final. Irish sport witnessed a momentous evening on Saturday as Mayo finally ended the reign of Dublin with that dramatic extra-time victory to book their place in the All-Ireland final and we have plenty of coverage this morning reflecting on the historic achievement. Writing this morning Keith Duggan says that Mayo's spirit was never broken as they finally faced down their demons and sent Dublin packing. Meanwhile, Malachy Clerkin writes in his column that a player like Lee Keegan best epitomises this achievement for Mayo after being there the whole way through all of the heartbreak before finally coming out on the right side. In previous matches between the two, Dublin's star-studded bench had proved to be a big decider but this time around that was not the case as the defending champions ran out of steam while Mayo kept going. Speaking after the match Dessie Farrell was at a bit of a loss to explain what happened to his Dublin team but he praised Mayo, saying the best team won on the day.
Moving to soccer and Ken Early writes in his column this morning that Jack Grealish isn't so much of a transformative player for Manchester City but more of an attempt from the club to buy relevance and force the football public to pay attention to them. "By adding Grealish and maybe Kane to a team that already includes England regulars Raheem Sterling, John Stones, Kyle Walker and Phil Foden, City have thrown down a challenge to the English football public: "Ignore us now!" he writes. Grealish came out on the wrong side of the result in his debut yesterday as Tottenham set down an early marker by beating the champions 1-0 even without Kane. Whether the Spurs striker will make the switch to the defending champions is still up in the air but after yesterday's match, manager Nuno Espirito Santo said he is expected to be prepared and to "help the team" for as long as he's there. Elsewhere, Barcelona began the post-Messi era with a 4-2 win over Real Sociedad as fans returned to the Camp Nou.
Moving on and the countdown to the All-Ireland hurling final starts today with Irish Times correspondent Barry Roche writing about the bind that ties Cork people to their home place and how it is bred in their very bones. "Amid all the debates about religion, politics and the revolution, the one tie that connected me to my father was hurling and never did I recognise it more than on a grim day in 1979," he writes.
Elsewhere, Kevin Kisner yesterday came through a six-man playoff to win the Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour as Séamus Power finished with a 68 to head into next week's first FedEx Cup playoff event at 73rd in the rankings. And in tennis, Roger Federer is out of the US Open and says he will not be in action for "many months" as he goes for surgery on his knee.
