Soccer
Manchester United last night ended their three-game losing streak at Northampton, only to draw Manchester City in the next round of the EFL Cup.
A superb strike from Michael Carrick put United ahead before Ander Herrera and Marcus Rashford cancelled out a Northampton equaliser to ensure the four-time winners advanced to the next round.
Meanwhile Manchester City brushed aside Swansea to join United in the next round and Pep Guardiola and José Mourinho will now meet again at the end of next month.
In Spain, Barcelona were held to a draw by Atletico Madrid with the worrying sight of Lionel Messi limping off injured sure to cause concern for Luis Enrique.
Barca failed to take advantage after Real Madrid had earlier only managed a draw with Villareal, meaning Zinedine Zidane’s side stay top, three points ahead of the Catalonians.
GAA
Eamon Donoghue today looks at how Mayo were stymied by their man-marking of Dublin forwards.
While they managed to limit the scores of the Dubs, they also lacked a scoring prowess themselves and will need to re-evaluate before Saturday week’s replay.
Also last night the news was confirmed that Davy Fitzgerald and the Clare senior hurling team have parted ways after a division in the camp.
In his column this week Ciarán Murphy looks at the day of the All-Ireland final and all that goes on.
“There comes a time in every GAA fan’s life when they look at the jubilee team being presented on All-Ireland final day and realise “these are not old men, I remember these guys, what the hell are they doing out there instead of the jubilee team?”
Women in Sport
Sonia O'Sullivan writes about the reflection that comes with the month of September as, for athletes and GAA players alike, the body is ready to rest while the mind is already looking ahead to next season.
Meanwhile, Sinead Farrell speaks to Irish Olympic rowers Sinead Lynch and Claire Lambe about their Rio experience and how they rue not taking a medal home.
Golf
The countdown to the Ryder Cup continues. Speaking yesterday Lee Westwood questioned what sort of influence 14-time major winner Tiger Woods will have on the US team. Woods is one of Davis Love's vice-captains but never quite took to the biennial clash and Westwood is sceptical about how his presence will affect the team.
Meanwhile, the success of Paul Casey may force a change to Europe's qualification system for the Ryder Cup.
Casey decided this season not to take up membership on the European Tour, therefore excluding himself from the chance of making the team.
However he has put together an excellent PGA Tour season and goes into the Tour Championship this week knowing that a win will secure him the FedEx Cup.
Rugby
CJ Stander spoke yesterday of the need for Munster to beat Edinburgh at Thomond Park on Saturday after losing to Cardiff a fortnight ago.
“That game is always going to hang over us,” said the Munster player.
What to watch out for
Pádraig Harrington is in the field at the European Open in Germany. Sky Sports 4 from 10am.
Rory McIlroy chases the $10 million bonus on offer at the Tour Championship on the PGA Tour. Sky Sports 4 from 6pm.
