Christmas comes early for Manchester United

There’s a fair chance that Manchester United devotees woke up this morning believing they had enjoyed the wildest if unlikeliest of dreams, one that saw them score twice in the closing minutes to beat, of all people, Manchester City. But Ken Early confirms that it actually happened, Amad Diallo’s “decisive flash of inspiration” casting manager Ruben Amorim’s decision to drop Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho from his squad as a “masterstroke”. As Philip Reid noted in his TV review, Roy Keane even smiled. Almost.

There weren’t too many smiles to be seen on the faces of the provinces’ rugby coaches after the weekend’s action, aside from Pete Wilkins who was left beaming by Connacht’s 31-18 win away to Perpignan in the Challenge Cup. But as Gerry Thornley writes in his round-up, it was a weekend of mixed fortunes, Munster and Ulster suffering defeats and Leinster far from impressive in their 15-7 win over Clermont Auvergne.

It was, says John O’Sullivan of Leinster’s display, “a substandard performance full of glitches, missteps, system and pilot errors and basic skill deficiencies”. Gerry had much the same to say of Munster’s outing against Castres on Friday: “distracted, disconnected, ill-disciplined and error-prone.” To add to interim head coach Ian Costello’s woes, his injury list lengthened, the biggest worry Craig Casey’s serious knee injury.

Few have greater worries, though, than Ulster captain Iain Henderson who saw his side bring their tally of shipped points to 101 in two Champions Cup games, Bordeaux Bègles their conquerors on Saturday.

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Also in rugby, Denis Walsh reviews Unbreakable, “the compelling, disturbing and ultimately uplifting documentary about the England squad that won the 2003 World Cup”, some of whom talk freely about the troubles that have since visited their lives: “brain damage, loneliness, financial challenges, emotional upheaval.”

In Gaelic games, it was some weekend for the women of Galway, Kilkerrin-Clonberne once again the toast of the county after they secured their fourth consecutive All-Ireland football title by beating Kilmacud Crokes, while the “majestic McGraths”, Siobhán and Niamh, sent Sarsfields on their way to victory in the camogie final. It’s unlikely that that part of the west was awake this morning.

Gordon Manning rounds up a weekend that saw the men of Dublin’s Na Fianna and Cork’s Sarsfields each secure a first All-Ireland hurling final appearance – each by a single point. Denis was at Semple Stadium to see Na Fianna become just the second Dublin champions to reach the final, while Gordon was in St Conleth’s Park to witness Sarsfields become the first Cork team since 2006 to qualify for the decider.

TV Watch: Christmas must be nigh because it’s darts World Championship time, Sky Sports bringing a heap of coverage today from the Ally Pally (12.30pm-4.30pm and 7pm-11pm). Come evening, there’s Bournemouth v West Ham in the Premier League (Sky Sports, 8pm) and TG4 has a round-up of the weekend’s GAA action (8pm).

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