Advantage Spurs in League Cup semi-final; Ryder Cup captaincy worth €2 million

Harry Kane's penalty gave Tottenham a 1-0 first leg advantage after last night's League Cup semi-final against Chelsea at Wembley. On 24 minutes the English striker fastened on to Toby Alderweireld's long ball and touched decisively past the outrushing Arrizabalaga before being clattered by him. The assistant referee had flagged for offside, however VAR eventually said otherwise. The second leg at Stamford Bridge has been scheduled for Thursday January 24th, and tonight Manchester City host Burton Albion in the first leg of the other semi-final. Liverpool and Egypt attacker Mohamed Salah was voted as the African Footballer of the Year for the second successive year at yesterday's Confederation of African Football's awards ceremony in Dakar.

In his column this morning (Subscriber Only), Gordon D'Arcy explains how the Irish system looks strong enough to survive almost anything: "My Ireland teams lacked the current levels of streamlined preparation. That's the difference. There will always be excuses but looking at what this squad has achieved I don't believe many of the Ireland teams I played on fulfilled their potential."

Irish golfer Padraig Harrington was yesterday announced as the European Ryder Cup captain for 2020 - the captaincy of Europe doesn't bring with it any pay cheque but there are fringe benefits, and it is reckoned fulfilling the role of a captain could be worth up to ¤2million. Philip Reid explains, "his elevation to Europe captain will like improve his corporate profile, with additional TV work (if he wants it) and other sponsorship possibilities."

The absence of rain has become a real problem for Ireland's racecourses with relatively quick ground conditions preventing some of racing's top names from appearing this winter. Fairyhouse's manager Peter Roe believes that global warming is affecting sizes of entries.