The Morning Sports Briefing

Jim McGuinness

In his column today Jim McGuinness looks back at the All-Ireland final replay epic in which Dublin edged Mayo 1-15 to 1-14, a match he believes provided a fitting end to the Championship.

He writes: “The 2016 All-Ireland finished on a worthy note, with a match that was far from unblemished but which contained plenty of wonderful moments and an atmosphere of sustained courage from both sides. The emotion was entirely real.”

However he believes the game was marred by the questionable black cards shown to Jonny Cooper and Lee Keegan - two of the best players on the field: “But the Lee Keegan decision proved without question that the black card is flawed.

“Eugene McGee, one of its architects, has said that it has cleaned up the game. In my opinion, the black card is ruining the game. You simply cannot have two of the best players in the sport leaving the game in an All-Ireland final - the biggest game of their lives - for what were, at best, fouls that merited free kicks.”

And McGuinness is definitive in his opinion of the black card: “It has to go.”

Harrington could captain Europe

Elsewhere Padraig Harrington is one of the favourites to captain Europe as they look to reclaim the Ryder Cup in 2018, with Thomas Bjorn also in the frame to lead the side in Paris.

O’Neill’s injury worries

Martin O’Neill has been dealt a number of injury blows ahead of this week’s World Cup qualifiers against Georgia and Moldova, with Kieren Westwood, Daryl Murphy and Stephen Quinn all ruled out.

Gerry Thornley on concussion

And in his column this morning Gerry Thornley looks at the growing issue of head injuries in rugby, with the sport likely to be under heavy scrutiny in the upcoming fifth International Consensus Conference on Concussion in Sport which will be held in Berlin at the end of October.