Sport

The Morning Sports Briefing

Mayo and Kerry must do it again, Shane Lowry misses out on playoffs, Ken Early on why Conte sold Matic

Kerry’s Kieran Donaghy with Aidan O’Shea of Mayo during Sunday’s draw at Croke Park. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
Mon Aug 21 2017 - 08:30

Kerry v Mayo

Kerry and Mayo will have to do it all over again, after yesterday's pulsating All-Ireland football semi-final ended in a draw.

Despite Mayo playing much of the better football, they needed a Patrick Durcan free in injury time to level matters, before Aidan O’Shea fetched a long distance Bryan Sheehan free with the last kick off the game.

And despite veteran Andy Moran bagging 1-5 from play, it’s been that man O’Shea who has dominated the post match discussion.

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Malachy Clerkin certainly wasn't impressed with the decision to deploy him at fullback marking Kieran Donaghy; "At some point in the past fortnight, it must surely have occurred to the Mayo management that pitting Aidan O'Shea against Kieran Donaghy at full-back here was a gamble on a par with changing their goalkeeper for last year's All-Ireland final replay. And yet they did it anyway."

Soccer

In his column this morning, Ken Early explains why Antonio Conte's Chelsea are unlikely to repeat their Mourinho era meltdown.

“The key to understanding why Conte was prepared to let Matic join Manchester United is that the Chelsea coach was looking for more.”

The champions were 2-1 winners against Tottenham yesterday, while tonight Pep Guardiola's fancied Manchester City team face Everton. It's the first real test of the season for the Catalan manager who, 'in this second season of Guardiola's tenure City simply must compete seriously for the Premier League.'

Meanwhile, Barcelona got off to a winning start in La Liga last night, beating Real Betis 2-0 in a subdued atmosphere at the Nou Camp in the first game since the deadly attacks in the Catalan capital and the town of Cambrils.

Golf

Shane Lowry carded a final round 67 for a total of 15-under-par 265 and a share of seventh place in the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro last night. Yet his best finish of the year on the US circuit still saw him fail narrowly in his bid to make the top-125 on the FedEx Cup standings that progress to the playoffs. Sweden's Henrik Stenson clinched a one-stroke win in North Carolina for his first victory since the British Open last year.