The Morning Sports Briefing

Dundalk undone by Zenit, Ballymun and St Vincent’s into semi-finals, and Lance Armstrong pulls out of OneZero

Soccer

Dundalk came agonisingly close to clinching a famous result against Zenit St Petersburg last night in Tallaght. Leading the game for 71 minutes, courtesy of a Robbie Benson strike, they would be undone with two goals in seven minutes by the Russian giants.

The first of which, coming after a miss-kick from the Dundalk goalkeeper, although he would later go some way to rectifying his error with a penalty save.

Also in Europa League action last night, Southampton were edged by Inter Milan in the San Siro - with Irish striker Shane Long limping off with an injury.

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Manchester United however cruised past Fenerbahçe 4-1. Record signing Paul Pogba scored two goals, one penalty and another fine first time strike from the edge of the box, while the returning Robin van Persie struck the only goal for the Turkish visitors.

GAA

In the Dublin SFC last night, Ballymun Kickhams and St Vincent’s progressed to the semi-finals, with respective wins over Raheny and Lucan.

Dean Rock was to the fore for Ballymun who had far too much for Brian Fenton's Raheny on the night, while St Vincent's were pushed all the way by Lucan.

Also last night, Kevin McStay was confirmed as the new Roscommon senior football manager, with his backroom team yet to be announced.

Golf

Pádraig Harrington made a strong start to his Portugal Masters campaign at Vilamoura with an opening round of 67, but things could have been so much better. Two bogeys towards the end of his round left him three shots behind leader Marc Warren.

OneZero

Lance Armstrong last night made a sudden withdrawal from Friday evening's One Zero event in Dublin - citing legal reasons - robbing the sport and tech conference of its headline act although refunds are not being made available to ticket holders.