MORNING HEADLINES

SOCCER

Former Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo sank Manchester City with a dramatic late winner in their Champions League Group D opener against Real Madrid.

City looked like they might snatch a clash in which they had been outplayed when Aleksandar Kolarov struck late on.

But Madrid responded to the delight of the Bernabeu as Karim Benzema levelled and Ronaldo won it at the death.

The visitors had taken a 1-0 lead against the run of play through substitute Edin Dzeko in the second half but Marcelo quickly cancelled out the strike.

In the other game in the group Robert Lewandowski's 87th-minute goal gave Borussia Dortmund a 1-0 victory over Ajax.

Arsenal got their Group B campaign off to a winning start after coming from behind to beat Montpellier 2-1 in France.

Lukas Podolski and Gervinho were on target for the Gunners while Schalke opened up with a 2-1 victory over Olympiakos in Greece

Elsewhere,

Paris St Germain won 4-1 against Dynamo Kiev at Parc des Princes, Porto won the other Group A match 2-0 away to Dinamo Zagreb.

Malaga began their first ever Champions League campaign in perfect fashion as two stunning goals from Isco guided them to a 3-0 Group C win over Zenit St Petersburg at La Rosaleda.

AC Milan's struggles continue in a 0-0 home draw against Anderlecht.

Robin van Persie and Shinji Kagawa are likely to be recalled for Manchester United's home match with Galatasary in Group H tonight

Holders Chelsea host Serie A champions Juventus in group E

Celtic host Benfica, all those games are at 7.45

Blackburn stay top of the Championship after coming from behind to beat Barnsley last night.

Rovers have now gone five league games without defeat.

Blackpool are still a point behind Blackburn after thrashing Middlesbrough 4-1 last night.

The side contained six changes after the draw at Barnsley at the weekend.

Rangers lost on penalties to Queen of the South in the quarter finals of the Scottish Challenge Cup.

GAELIC GAMES

Reports are suggesting that Mayo defender Colm Boyle may not be fit enough to start Sundays All Ireland final against Donegal in Croke Park.

Boyle missed the semi final through illness but it's hoped he may play some part this weekend.

Clare senior hurling manager Davy Fitzgerald is tipping Galway to dethrone Kilkenny in next week's All Ireland final re-play.

The Tribesmen have already beaten the Cats this year after their dramatic Leinster final success and their late equaliser in this year's All Ireland final means that they're unbeaten in their last two outings against Brian Cody's side.

Fitzgerald believes that the Galway players' belief will be strengthened by those performances

The details of the Westmeath Senior Football Semi Final replay have been confirmed

St Lomans and Mullingar Shamrocks will meet again on Sunday September 30th at 5pm at Cusack Park

The winners will go on to play Garrycastle in the final next month

  

RUGBY UNION

Cistercian Roscrea classmates will go head to head as Leinster and Connacht face off in the Under 18 Schools InterPros this afternoon

Abbeyleix native Rory Moloney captains Leinster into the game with Oisin Heffernan selected in the front row

Their Roscrea schoolmates Ciaran Gavin and Mark Kelly are in the Connacht pack while Dwayne Corcoran is inside centre

Marist College, Athlone have three players in the Connacht backs, Sean Dempsey, Brian Gilligan and Sean Doyle while Jack Codyre from Garbally College wears number 8

Kick off at Donnybrook this afternoon is 2.30

GOLF

There were 6 birdies for Birr's Stephen Grant in a two under par second round at the European Tour Qualifying School in Germany.

He's now 2 over, while playing through a back injury, which is on the qualifying mark for the next stage

CRICKET

Ireland begin their World Twenty20 campaign this morning.

They go up against Australia in Colombo at 11am

There's inside knowledge in the Irish camp in former Aussie fast bowling coach Craig McDermott

RACING

It's Kerry National Day at the Listowel Festival this afternoon with the big race off at 5 past 4

The first of eight goes to post at 5 to 2, with the going heavy on the flat and heavy to soft on the jumps course

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New sports shows on Midlands 103

Our Sunday sports programme becomes 'The Inside Line' (2-6pm) on Sunday October 7th. A new 4 hour Saturday sports show (5-9pm) will commence on Saturday October 6th

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John Joe Nevin interview

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Morning headlines

GAELIC GAMES Leinster champions Garrycastle are into the Westmeath Senior Football Final for the 5th year in a row Eoin Monaghan scored two goals and Paddy Mulvihill and James Dolan also raised the green flag in their 4-10 to 0-12 win over Maryland The other last four clash was a thrilling Mullingar derby, St Lomans and Shamrocks will meet again on Sunday week following their 1-12 all draw St Rynaghs and Kilcormac Killoughey will contest the Offaly Senior Hurling Final on October 7th Sub Killian Leonard hit a last gasp winner as the double Ks defeated Birr by 1-11 to 0-13 in the opener at O'Connor Park A brace of goals from Stephen Quirke and one from Gary Conneelly helped St Rynaghs to a 3-12 to 0-15 win over Shinrone It's Rynaghs’ first final in over a decade Clough Ballacolla and Rathdowney Errill, who have shared the last 4 Laois hurling titles between them, will meet in the final Clough Ballacolla produced a late rally to see off a spirited Borris Kilcotton side by 1-17 to 2-11 Rathdowney Errill were comfortable 1-18 to 0-13 winners over the Harps in the second match at O'Moore Park last night The Champions of Limerick and Waterford have both been knocked out of their respective championships. In Waterford Ballygunner lost 16 points to 2 - 8 against Mount Sion while in Limerick Na Piarsigh lost 4-24 to 4-13 against Kilmallock who'll face Adare in the final. In Cork Bishopstown and Sarsfield will meet in the final following wins over Ballymartle and C.I.T. Cork hurler Pa Cronin scoring 11 points for Bishopstown in their 1-13 to 12 point victory. Tuam Stars and Salthill Knocknacarra will play each other in the Galway football final after wins over Corofin and Killererin. In Sligo Curry beat Tourlestrane in the semi final. LADIES FOOTBALL Ireland underage football international Jenny Byrne found the net as Garrycastle were crowned Westmeath Ladies Football Championships in yesterday's final with Coralstown Kinnegad, Killucan won the intermediate decider Offaly senior champions St Rynaghs and junior winners St Vincents both advanced in the Leinster Championship CAMOGIE Wexford completed a historic 3 in a row yesterday by beating Cork in the All Ireland senior camogie final at Croke Park. 3-13 to 3-6 the final score. Ursula Jacob scored 2-7 for the Yellow Bellies Holders Lough Lene Gaels are into the Westmeath Senior Camogie Final following Friday's win over Cullion Raharney play Clonkill under lights in Kinnegad at 7.30 in the second semi final tomorrow In the Offaly Senior Camogie League there were weekend wins for Shinrone, Drumcullen, St Sinchalls and Naomh Bhrid GOLF Shane Lowry collected a cheque for 22 thousand Euro for his 13th place finish at the BMW Italian Open yesterday That top 20 finish moves him close to the top 60 on the Race to Dubai standings Gonzalo Fernandez Castano won the event at 24 under SOCCER Arlington defeated table toppers Willow Park 1-0 in the CCFL's Senior Division yesterday afternoon Melville are second following their 4-1 win over Gallen Mullingar Athletic defeated Monksland 3-2 to move into third, Clara defeated Mountmellick 3-2 and Killavilla defeated St Peters 2-1 In the Premier CK won 2-0 against Willow's B team to continue their 100 per cent start to the new season Birr Town had a 9-1 win over Stradbally, Abbeyleix defeated Mullingar Town 2-0 and Mullingar Athletic's B team were 4-0 winners against Derry Rovers. Athlone Town are down to 6th place in the League of Ireland's First Division Wexford Youths defeated Town 3-0 at Lissywollen on Friday night Athlone's Under 19s beat Wexford Youths 3-1 yesterday In the Premier league Everton will go third in the table if they beat Newcastle at Goodison Park this evening Kick off is at eight o'clock. Tonight in the F.A.I Ford cup quarter final re-play Drogheda host St Pats. Derry City, Dundalk and Shelbourne have already made the final 4 with the draw taking place tonight. RUGBY UNION Galweigans are favourites to win the Connacht Senior League following Saturday's 15-11 win over Buccaneers at Crowley Park Tullamore got off to a perfect start in Division One A of the Leinster League The All-Ireland Junior champions ran in 6 tries in a bonus point 35-0 win over Wanderers at Spollenstown Birr and Edenderry into the Section B Final in the Midlands J1 Trophy, Birr were handed a walkover by the West Offaly Lions Edenderry won 43-0 against the Midland Warriors in their other semi yesterday Rob Henshaw came on as a second half sub in Connacht's disappointing 24-11 home loss to the Scarlets in Galway on Saturday Heineken Cup champions Leinster needed a late drop goal from Jonny Sexton to get a narrow 19-18 win away to Treviso Treviso defeated Leinster two years ago in one of Joe Schmidt's first game in charge Ulster now have three wins from three having defeated Munster. Birr's Peter Dooley and Shane Delahunt both played in the front row for Leinster Under 19s in their 32-13 win over Munster at Garryowen, that's Leinster's second win of the series. They play Ulster next weekend where a win would secure the series Buccs' Conor Fitzgibbon, Barry Dibgy, Aiden Connaughton, Brian Tape and Paul Maxwell all featured for Connacht Under 20s in their 9-7 loss to Ulster at Dubarry Park CRICKET Ireland have registered a win against Bangladesh in their Twenty 20 World cup warm match in Colombo. Phil Simmons side set a target of 165 but Bangladesh could only make 159 for 9. Paul Stirling top scored for Ireland with 71 RACING It’s the second day of the Listowel Harvest Festival takes place on Monday where the first of seven races is due off at 2.35pm. The going is heavy on the Flat course and heavy, soft to heavy on the National Hunt track. After winning a richly-deserved People Of The Year award on Saturday night, popular RTE personality and Moate native Colm Murray will be hoping that Sweet My Lord, whom he has a share in, can land the John F. McGuire Novice Steeplechase under Ruby Walsh. Walsh and Willie Mullins also team up with Chiltern Hills in the I.T.B.A. Fillies Scheme Novice Hurdle but the Paul Nolan-trained Rising Time might have her measure. The most valuable contest on the card is the opening €30,000 Irish Stallion Farms EBF Premier Nursery Handicap where Count Of Limonade and Impound catch the eye most.

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Offaly Hurling Reaction

St Rynaghs and Kilcormac Killoughey will contest the Offaly Senior Hurling Final on October 7th Sub Killian Leonard hit a last gasp winner as the double Ks defeated Birr by 1-11 to 0-13 in the opener at O'Connor Park A brace of goals from Stephen Quirke and one from Gary Conneelly helped Rynaghs to a 3-12 to 0-15 win over Shinrone

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Garrycastle into Westmeath Final

Leinster champions Garrycastle are into the Westmeath Senior Football Final for the 5th year in a row Eoin Monaghan scored two goals and Paddy Mulvihill and James Dolan also raised the green flag in their 4-10 to 0-12 win over Maryland Garrycastle boss Paul Clancy says their strong finish to the game was the difference between the sides:

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Thursday morning headlines

GOLF

Shane Lowry is out for his second round at the BMW Italian Open at 5 to noon this morning

Lowry is well placed in day two at 2 under par, that's 6 shots off the lead

A double bogey on the fourth which was followed by two birdies in a row means Gareth Maybin is 6 under midway through his second round and best of the Irish

GAELIC GAMES

Dublin youngster Ciaran Kilkenny is expected to join Laois' Zach Tuohy as the second Irishman at Carlton

Kilkenny, who scored three points in the Dubs loss to Mayo, has completed a one week trial with the Blues and Dublin teammate Denis Bastick says that if Kilkenny pursues a career Down Under he'll come back a stronger player in the future.

While All-Ireland Club hurling boss P J O'Mullan has withdrawn from the race to became the next Antrim hurling boss.

Clare have named an unchanged side for tomorrows Bord Gais energy under 21 final against Kilkenny in Thurles

The Cats have included 4 senior panel members including Cillian Buckley at wing forward, Richie Doyle at centre back  Willie Phelan at full back and Walter Walsh at corner forward.

CAMOGIE

The first Westmeath Senior Camogie Championship semi final takes place at St Lomans this evening

Cullion play holders Lough Lene Gaels at 6pm

SOCCER

It's 5th against 6th in the League of Ireland's First Division as Athlone Town host Wexford Youths

Town are without captain and top scorer Noel McGee for the 7.45 kick off at Lissywollen, he has a calf injury

There's 4 F.A.I ford cup quarter finals tonight.

Bohemians host Dundalk, Derry City welcome Mervue to the Brandywell, St Pats take on Drogheda in Richmond park and Shelbourne face Shamrock Rovers at Tolka Park.

The games in Dalymount Park and Tolka kick off at 8 while the other two start at 7.45.

Rovers will be under caretaker manager Stephen Glass for the first time

Reports this morning are suggesting that Norwich manager Chris Hughton wants to bring Robbie Brady too the club on loan.

According to the Star the 20 year old is also sought by Wigan, Brady has not featured for Manchester United yet this season and manager Alex Ferguson is considering another loan move.

The Dubliner scored on his senior debut in Tuesdays 4-1 win over Oman.

Celtic captain Scott Brown is confident of an imminent return to action for Celtic and Scotland.

The midfielder missed Scotland's World Cup double header due to a hip injury.

But after two weeks of rest he could return for the Hoops' SPL match this weekend.

RUGBY UNION

Ulster host Munster in the Rabo direct Pro 12 this evening at Ravenhill.

Kick off is at five past seven.

Ulster have made seven changes for that match while Munster welcome back Donncha O'Callaghan , Dave Kilcoyne and  BJ Botha to the pack.

Dubarry Park, Athlone plays host to Connacht Under 20s Interpro match with Ulster this evening

4 Buccaneers players will start on home soil, Aidan Connaughton and Paul Maxwell start at 6 and 7 respectively, Barry Digby is at scrum half while Connor Fitzgibbon is selected on the right wing.

Kick off is 5pm

EQUESTRIAN

Olympian Joseph Murphy is in action at the Johnson & Perrott Land Rover International Horse Trials in Cork this morning, where there's a 50 thousand Euro purse for the winner this weekend

Ballymore native Murphy partners the eight year old DHI Top Story, who he admits is a year away from best form, against 31 rivals with the dressage competition kicking things off at 10 O'Clock

BOXING

Ricky Hatton is due to announce details of his return to the ring later.

The Manchester boxer is holding a news conference to outline his plans to make a dramatic comeback.

Since his last fight in 2009, Hatton's been running a boxing promotions company.

RACING

Today's action is on Down Royal with the first off at 4.

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