Sport

The Morning Sports Briefing

Jim McGuinnness gives scathing assessment of Connacht final, Dan Martin resumes Tour in third, Uefa to stick to 24 teams for Euros and Jordan Spieth pulls out of Olympics

Feral Lennon reacts during Roscommon’s Connacht final draw with Galway,which was a dull, defensive affair. Photograph: Inpho
Feral Lennon reacts during Roscommon’s Connacht final draw with Galway,which was a dull, defensive affair. Photograph: Inpho
Tue Jul 12 2016 - 08:24

Jim McGuinness on defensive Connacht final

In his column today Jim McGuinness gives a scathing assessment of last Sunday’s Connacht final, which saw Galway and Roscommon play out a drab 0-13 to 1-10 draw in a sodden Salthill.

And he argues that the defensive football on show cannot be compared to that of Donegal during his successful tenure in charge of the county, he writes: “Sunday was a puzzle. Either people don’t understand what is required or they are not executing it as they hoped to. And how could they?

“They are not Donegal. This is a central point. That system was bespoke to us. Our defensive system gave us a platform to attack. It was suited to the Donegal players. What occurred on Sunday bore very little resemblance to that. All I saw was defending. Just defending in numbers but with no intensity.”

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He goes on to suggest a change in the rules could make stifled fixtures like last Sunday’s a thing of the past: “So to break that cycle, I really believe there should be a rule introduced where three players - at least - must remain in the offensive half of the pitch while their team is on defence.”

Martin resumes Tour in third place

The Tour de France continues today and Ireland’s Dan Martin heads into the 10th stage in a surprise third place, just 19 seconds behind leader Chris Froome. He said: “If next week I’m in the same position, then maybe we will sit down and talk about my chances of coming on in the top three.”

Uefa to stick to 24 teams

Elsewhere Uefa’s decision to expand the European Championships to 24 teams divided opinions but the association are set to persevere with the new format until the 2024 edition of the tournament at least.

Spieth joins Olympic exodus

And yesterday Jordan Spieth became the latest member of golf’s top table to pull out of the Olympics due to fears over the Zika virus.

What to watch out for:

Cycling:

Stage 10 of the Tour de France gets underway: TG4 1.10pm-4.40pm, Eurosport 1 1.15pm-4.15pm, ITV4, 2pm-4.30pm

Football:

Celtic take on Lincoln Red Imps of Gibraltar in the first leg of their Champions League qualifier.