Sport

The Morning Sports Briefing

Mayo will have the advantage in replay, a collective stinker from Dubs forwards, time to ditch national anthem business, what must be done with Wayne Rooney and more

Koichi Omae and four female dancers are joined on stage by GIMICO, Aya Sato, Bambi and Akira Hiyama as a sign saying “see you in Tokyo” appears behind the performers during the Closing Ceremony of the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo: PA

Mon Sep 19 2016 - 07:35

All-Ireland final

So, after 70 minutes of scrappy but intriguing action on the third Sunday of September - All-Ireland final day, the biggest day of the year...Dublin and Mayo have to do it all again.

Cillian O’Connor’s 77th minute point was enough to force the draw at Croke Park and ensure a replay on Saturday October 1st at 5pm.

We have plenty of coverage for you to read and digest today with columnist John O'Keefe writing about the exhibition given by the Mayo defence in both clean tackling and the block.

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“Mayo will have the advantage in the replay now, and they will have gained great confidence,” he writes.

Dublin manager Jim Gavin said after the game that his team did not deserve to win while Stephen Rochford praised his team for continuing to come back despite consistently being written off.

In tactics analysis Malachy Clerkin looks at the poor performances of all of Dublin's forwards and how they can improve for the replay.

Meanwhile, on what is a popular subject at the moment, Brian O'Connor writes in his column that the GAA need to ditch the rendition of the national anthem which takes place before every game.

Soccer

On to soccer and the questions continue to mount after José Mourinho's Manchester United suffered their third loss in a week when they went down 3-1 to Watford at Vicarage Road yesterday.

One of the most urgent questions the Portuguese manager must answer, according to Ken Early, is what to do with Wayne Rooney. The United captain was poor again yesterday and is looking increasingly out of place in the team.

Mourinho himself spoke about how he feels his players are feeling the pressure and intense scrutiny of playing for the 20 times champions of England.

Also in the Premier League, Charlie Austin came off the bench to score and give Southampton all three points against Swansea while Crystal Palace thumped Stoke 4-1 with pressure mounting on Mark Hughes.

At White Hart Lane Harry Kane netted the only goal as Spurs beat Sunderland 1-0 but the England striker was subbed off late on with an ankle injury. He will undergo a scan later today.

Paralympics

The Paralympics came to a stunning end last night with a spectacular closing ceremony which marked the conclusion of a successful two weeks for Team Ireland during which 11 medals were won. In today's newspaper and online John O'Sullivan reflects on how two weeks in Rio changes your perceptions – and not just in a sporting sense.

Rugby

Finally to rugby and Munster director of rugby Rassie Erasmus is maintaining his focus after he saw his side record a second consecutive win on Welsh soil on Saturday evening.

“We are ticking the boxes slowly. It’s not going to happen quickly; we have been struggling but what’s pleasing is the way we hung in there,” the South African said.

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