Things went from bad to worse for Manchester United last night, beaten by Burnley who secured a first win at Old Trafford since 1962. United were punished for an inability to turn possession into goals - Chris Wood scored first for Burnley before Jay Rodriguez' screamer doubled the lead for a 2-0 win. Ayoze Péreze scored twice in Leicester City's 4-1 win over West Ham, although they lost top scorer Jamie Vardy to a suspected hamstring injury. At the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Son Heung-min rescued José Mourinho's team at a time when the stadium was growling with discontent - for a 2-1 victory over Norwich. Tonight, runaway leaders Liverpool travel to take on Wolves, with Jurgen Klopp hoping his captain Jordan Henderson can continue his excellent form, and even improve further.
Carlow IT are into their first ever Sigerson Cup final after Adam Steed's late goal edged Michael Murphy's Letterkenny IT last night. There they'll meet hosts and favourites, DCU. The Dublin university were comfortable winners over city rivals UCD, with Monaghan's David Garland scoring 0-7, and Dublin senior panelists Paddy Small and Evan Comerford both impressing.
Gerry Thornley was at the 2020 Six Nations launch in London yesterday, where a new look Ireland (new coach and captain) addressed the media. New captain, Johnny Sexton explained he has no intention of putting retirement plans into place just yet. Thornley writes: "one more Lions tour to South Africa next year is a very real goal, and France 2023 may be as well." In his column this morning, John O'Sullivan looks back at the four campaigns, from the first Six Nations after the 2015 World Cup to the last before the global tournament in Japan last year, to see the number of debutants used by each country in each campaign: "the year after a World Cup, and especially with four new coaches at the helm, suggests that this tournament may offer up more than the next three seasons."
Meanwhile Sonia O'Sullivan is tracking the marathon Olympic journey of Aoife Cooke in her column this morning: "Cooke came out of nowhere to finish as first Irish woman, the Dublin Marathon doubling as the national championship, and better still in a time of 2:32:34 – the fastest marathon ever run by an Irish woman on home soil . . . Suddenly there was talk of the Tokyo Olympics, and three months after Dublin she's very much keeping that dream alive . . . "
