The sad news of Jerry Kiernan's death which emerged yesterday was felt far beyond the world of athletics. The 67-year-old had been unwell in recent months. A native of Listowel in Kerry, he lived most of his adult life in Dublin, where he died on Wednesday night. After representing Ireland at the Olympics in 1984, twice winning the Dublin Marathon and, in more recent years, becoming a recognisable face on RTÉ, Kiernan was known far and wide and, as Ian O'Riordan writes, Kiernan could be unabashed in considering himself an aficionado in some of the finer things in life – national hunt racing, Barcelona football club, the Super Tuscan red wines – although running was always chief among them.
Moving on to soccer and Liverpool's 68-game unbeaten record at Anfield was brought crashing down last night as Ashley Barnes struck late on from the penalty spot for Burnley to leave Jurgen Klopp's side reeling. Liverpool now sit six points behind league-leaders Manchester United and have not scored a goal in 2021. After the match, Klopp questioned the penalty which Burnley had been awarded but took the blame for the defeat on himself, saying "It's my responsibility, that's the easy explanation. We lost the game which is pretty impossible but we did it. That is my fault." Meanwhile, FAI chief executive Jonathan Hill says he believes Uefa still intend to host rescheduled Euro 2020 in 12 cities across the continent but that a decision will be made by March 5th as having fans in the stadium is "what creates the excitement and that unique feeling around any tournament."
In his column this morning Johnny Watterson takes aim at the quarantining tennis stars in Melbourne ahead of the Australian Open, many of whom have been showing quite the vulgar display of entitlement. "Vexed and irritable, stressed laboratory mice turning on each other. High maintenance stars, as Aussies say, getting up themselves, showing that tennis normal is so very, very, very much not," he writes.
On to rugby and South African Damian de Allende has been settling in well at Munster despite missing some home comforts along with the obvious difficulties of lockdown. "Interestingly, he admits he was "shocked" by both his debut against Leinster last August and his first European outing against Clermont, where the home side's whirlwind start reminded him of playing with the Stormers against the Crusaders in Christchurch," writes Gerry Thornley.
Finally to GAA where Seán Moran reports that Paul Mannion has indicated he will not be involved with Dublin for the upcoming 2021 championship. It's not great news for Farrell, as players like McCaffrey, whose intentions for 2021 haven't been made clear but whose imminent return is considered unlikely, and Mannion, both 27, are at the peak of their football years. Earlier yesterday, Michael Darragh Macauley called time on his Dublin career while, up north, Colm Cavanagh has not ruled out a Tyrone return and he says the county will benefit from a "fresh approach" as life begins post-Mickey Harte.
