Heartbreak City edged out

Tony Martin’s Heartbreak City was agonisingly denied in the Melbourne Cup in the early hours of this morning, with Almandin edging out the York Ebor winner by a head.

Aidan O’Brien’s Bondi Beach never threatened, while Willie Mullins’s Wicklow Brave finished 22nd out of the 24-strong field.

Bony haunts former club Swansea

Stoke City’s Premier League revival continued last night as they came away 3-1 winners from their clash with Swansea City at the Bet365 Stadium.

Wilfried Bony struck twice against his old club, who now have just one point from their three games under new manager Bob Bradley. They have Everton, Tottenham and Manchester United to come in the next few weeks. Stoke meanwhile are up to 12th and unbeaten in five.

City need to be perfect against Barca

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says his team need to be perfect to take points from their Champions clash with Barcelona tonight. Two weeks after losing 4-0 at Camp Nou, the two sides renew acquaintances in Manchester with Guardiola knowing that another defeat against his former club could have costly repercussions.

Meanwhile Celtic are without Kolo Toure, Jozo Simunovic and Leigh Griffiths for their encounter with Borussia Monchengladbach. Irish youngster Eoghan O’Connell may now come into the team in the centre of defence.

A sublimely taken first goal for the club from Wexford hurler Lee Chin put his Wexford Youths in the driving seat in their promotion/relegation play-off against Drogheda last night. They take a 2-0 advantage to United Park for Friday’s second leg.

Gerry Thornley on residency ruling

And Gerry Thornley writes this morning about how rugby’s residency ruling suits the richer countries:

“The beneficiaries are the countries that have the financial means to bring in players under this ruling. The losers are those who cannot afford to keep them. That’s the most compelling reason for modifying it, even if Ireland would be hit more than most.”