The Morning Sports Briefing

Soccer: Premier League

This weekend was a great one for football fans with the return of the Premier League, and last night was just as good as 'Monday Night Football' made it's 2015/2016 season bow. As did Manchester City, off the back of a disappointing campaign last year and a fairly low-key summer transfer window, they did what Chelsea and Arsenal couldn't in their opening day fixture. Not only did they win, but a 3-0 away win against Tony Pulis' West Brom has got people talking about City again.

Two early goals, the first via a very fortunate deflection, from Yaya Toure set the tempo, before captain Vincent Kompany sealed the deal from a corner.

Post match and Pulis though was quick to explain the margin of the defeat;

“I think I’ve got to hold my hands up, I got things wrong. I wanted to play Saido and Rickie two strikers), but it went against everything I’ve ever done against the bigger teams. We’ve always filled the midfield and been strong. What we did in truth was allow Silva too much room in the first half.”

GAA: Championship

Jim McGuinness is talking Donegal and Mayo this morning after his native county were dumped out of the football championship by the Connacht champions last Saturday.

The former All-Ireland winning manager was impressed by a Mayo side who via Aidan O’Shea at 14 now have a point to their attack which leaves them better placed to win Sam Maguire than ever. He does though feel that the big man could have been dealt with differently at the weekend;

“It was a touch of individual class, but I thought Eamon McGee would have been a better fit for marking a player of that physique than his brother Neil.

“Eamon is six foot three and Neil is six foot and if Eamon wasn’t going to be marking O’Shea, I’d have put someone else on Cillian O’Connor and had Eamon sweeping. If you think about the Mayo game plan that’s what they did on Michael Murphy. They man marked him, but had Barry Moran sweeping.”

Rugby: World Cup

The desperately unfortunate Tommy O'Donnell faces a long road back to the game and an uncertain future after an IRFU statement on Monday confirmed the 28-year-old Munster openside sustained a dislocated hip in last Saturday's win over Wales at the Millennium Stadium.

Meanwhile New Zealandouthalf Tyler Bleyendaal will make his long awaited Munster senior debut against Grenoble this Friday as Anthony Foley's pre-season preparations have been boosted by the return of a handful of long-term injury absentees.

Golf: USPGA

“To go back on a soccer pitch, it wouldn’t be quite ready, but to do what I need to do this week, it’s 100 per cent.”

Fans of World No 1 Rory McIlroy will be hoping he stays well clear of any soccer pitches in the near future, as the Northern Irishman sets his sights on defending his USPGA title this week.

After playing nine holes at Whistling Straits on Monday McIlroy told reporters that “to play golf, it’s 100 per cent,” - referring to the ankle injury he sustained last month playing 5-a-side soccer which has since ruled him out of all competition including the defence of his Open championship.

Following his heroics last week at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational Shane Lowry comes into the USPGA with a heightened sense of expectation. And not just for this week, but moving on full-stop. Just over 14 months ago, Lowry languished at 142nd in the world rankings but his aims next year are the Olympics and the Ryder Cup.

“I definitely want to play (in the United States) more, and I’ve said that over the last year. That was my goal, coming over and playing a few invites this year. I was very thankful to all those people that gave me those invites at the start of the year.

“I’ve achieved a lot of goals so far this year: PGA Tour card, another win, well inside the top-50 in the world. So, yeah, I’m just looking forward to the next few months.”

Boxing

Michael Conlan and Dean Walsh advanced to the quarter-finals of the European Elite Championships in Samokov, Bulgaria yesterday.

While Ireland captain Darren O’Neill bowed out despite a massive performance against Russian No 1 seed Evegeny Tischenko, a World Elite silver medallist, in a 91kg battle of the southpaws.

What to watch out for:

The Uefa Super Cup final is an all-La Liga affair tonight, with Barcelona taking on Sevilla. All eyes on Messi again, especially following his eruption against Roma last time out.

RTE 2 from 7.30pm