Conlan off to good start in Rio

He is Irish boxing’s last hope in the men’s competition and yesterday Michael Conlan’s Olympics campaign finally got underway, the Belfast bantamweight delivering an impressive display to comfortably out-point Armenia’s Aram Avagyan.

Golfing gold for Rose

Meanwhile it was another successful day for Great Britain in Rio and Justin Rose delievered one of the highlights as he held his nerve to birdie the 18th and take the gold medal ahead of Open winner Henrik Stenson, after the two had slugged it out at the top of the leaderboard throughout the day.

Seamus Power had threatened the medal places as he got off to a scorching start in his final round but he faded and signed for a 67 to end the tournament five under and in a share of 15th place. Padraig Harrington finished with a 73 and in joint-21st.

Tipp edge Galway in thriller

Tipperary will face Kilkenny in the All-Ireland Senior Hurling final after they edged another semi-final epic yesterday - winning 2-19 to 2-18 in Croke Park.

The Tribesmen saw key man Joe Canning limp off at the interval but they rallied and a Conor Cooney goal handed them the initiative in the second half.

However Tipp turned the screw with two goals in as many minutes from John O’Dwyer and John McGrath, and Michael Ryan’s side held on to set up a September show-down with Brian Cody’s Cats.

Wins for Manchester United and Liverpool

Elsewhere Arsenal and Liverpool played out a seven-goal thriller yesterday, with Arsene Wenger’s side beaten 4-3 at the Emirates.

And Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United tenure began with a 3-1 win away at Bournemouth, with new signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the scoresheet.