The Morning Sports Briefing

Dessie Farell leaves GPA role, Celtic end Guardiola’s unblemished start, Clarke unamused by Willett’s brother’s rant and GAA statistics

Dessie Farrell leaves GPA role

Dessie Farrell is to leave his role as CEO of the GPA in December, having been involved in the association since he helped to found it in 1999.

Points shared at Parkhead

Celtic brought Pep Guardiola’s unblemished Manchester City start to an end last night as the two sides played out a thunderous 3-3 draw at a rocking Parkhead.

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Three times the Scottish champions took the lead, through Moussa Dembele twice and a Raheem Sterling own goal - but City pegged them back each time with goals from Fernandinho, Sterling and Nolito.

Elsewhere Theo Walcott scored twice as Arsenal raced out of the blocks against FC Basel, winning 2-0 at the Emirates, while Atletico Madrid beat Bayern Munich 1-0 at the Vicente Calderon and Barcelona came from behind in the second half to beat Borussia Monchengladbach.

Dundalk in Europe

Tonight sees Dundalk take on Maccabi Tel-Aviv in the slightly unfamiliar surroundings of Tallaght as they look to continue their good start in the Europa League, while Manchester United welcome Ukranian side Zorya Luhansk to Old Trafford.

Clarke anger over Willett’s brother

The Ryder Cup starts tomorrow and European captain Darren Clarke has expressed his anger at an article posted online by the brother of Masters winner Danny Willett.

The article in question stokes the flames ahead of the competition, saying: “Team Europe need to shut those groupies up. They need to silence the pudgy, basement-dwelling, irritants, stuffed on cookie dough and beer, pausing between mouthfuls of hot dog so they can scream ‘Baba-booey’ until their jelly faces turn red.”

GAA Statistics

In today’s GAA Statistics column Eamon Donoghue looks at Dublin number sevens John Small and Jack McCaffrey and suggests while Small is a big asset for the Dubs, Jim Gavin’s side are missing the match-changing ability of medical student McCaffrey.

Gigginstown horses leave Mullins

The Irish National Hunt season has taken on a slightly different perspective after it was announced yesterday up to 60 Gigginstown horses will no longer be trained by Willie Mullins following a dispute over training fees with owner Michael O’Leary. Among the horses leaving Mullins are 2015 RSA Chase winner Don Poli, and Irish trainers’ championship rival Gordon Elliott could see his hand strengthened as a result.