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Top four race reignites back into life; Fury avoids Kinahan issue

The Morning Sports Briefing: Keep ahead of the game with ‘The Irish Times’ sports team


Six matches to go then in the Premier League title race and it remains a straight shootout between Manchester City and Liverpool. City ensured Jurgen Klopp's side had just the 24 hour stay at the top as Riyad Mahrez was among those to find the net in a 3-0 win over Brighton, re-establishing their one point lead in the standings in the process. In London, Arsenal needed a result against Chelsea after losing three on the spin and that's exactly what they got. A double from Eddie Nketiah steered them to a chaotic 4-2 at Stamford Bridge that brings them level with arch-rivals Tottenham in the battle for Champions League places.

After the hurling took centre stage last weekend, the various football championships around the country now start to kick further into gear, no less so than in Connacht where Galway and Mayo face off in the quarter-final on Sunday. In his column this morning, Ciarán Murphy previews the clash, looking at how Galway picked a team for their recent league final with Mayo very much in mind, while Mayo themselves are beset with injury problems that make them vulnerable. Meanwhile, Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan, a member of the GPA's executive committee, confirmed on Wednesday night that protests would continue this weekend, with players boycotting post-match media interviews as a result of a lack of movement from the GAA on the expenses dispute between the two organisations.

Within her career in offshore sailing, Greystones native Pamela Lee currently holds two considerable goals; firstly, to make sailing more accessible for Irish women, and, secondly, to lead a boat to the 2023 Class40 The Race Around, an around-the-world race in late summer 2023. Louise Lawless chats to Lee about her exploits in a sport that takes her out of sight of land for more than 12 miles offshore and lasts over 12 hours. It is an adventure, an exploration and a test of resilience. In athletics, the city of Flagstaff in northern Arizona state sits at around 7,000ft, or 2,100m in new money, not far from the Grand Canyon. Sonia O'Sullivan looks at the commitment of the Irish athletes who have trekked across eight time zones and 10 hours of flight from their regular home base to experience gruelling altitude training.

"It's none of my business … it's got nowt to do with me." That was as much as anyone got out of Tyson Fury on the Daniel Kinahan issue, the British heavyweight boxer refusing to delve any further into his association with the Irishman accused of leading a drugs cartel who had dipped his toes into boxing management. It was at times a chaotic press conference that promoted Fury's upcoming fight with Dillian Whyte, but anyone hoping for any significant levels of openness from Fury will have been left wanting. Of course, the media event took place less than an hour after the controversial boxing management company MTK Global - founded by Kinahan - confirmed it will cease operations at the end of month.