The Galway girls are out in force for the first day of racing at Ballybrit. Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO

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• Irish cyclist Ciaran Kelly has been hit with a four-year ban following an anti-doping violation.
• Republic of Ireland assistant manager Roy Keane says — in spite of the general consensus — that our qualifying group for the 2018 World Cup is far from easy.
• Boss Martin O’Neill hopes to speak to James McClean “as a coach” after the Ireland misfielder found himself embroiled controversy last week over his response to the British national anthem.
• Hull City manager Steve Bruce has confirmed that the club have accepted a bid from Norwich City for Republic of Ireland international Robbie Brady.
• Robbie Keane says he’d consider following a similar path to Damien Duff by ending his career in the League of Ireland.
• The GAA community has been offering its support to former Derry footballer Aaron Devlin, who remains in intensive care after falling ill on Friday.
• Scans have revealed that Alan O’Connor did not tear his cruciate in Saturday’s All-Ireland qualifier defeat to Kildare — although the Cork midfielder did suffer quite a serious knee injury.

Away

Argentine international goalkeeper Sergio Romero is heading to Old Trafford. Andre Penner Andre Penner

• Sergio Romero has completed his transfer to Manchester United, effectively ending Victor Valdes’ career at Old Trafford.
  
• United target Sergio Ramos has been told he ‘will not be sold under any circumstances’ by Real Madrid president Fiorentio Perez.
• The Samoan Rugby Union says it recorded a financial loss of more than €500,000 in order to host New Zealand for this month’s historic Test match in Apia.
• Quade Cooper says he was disappointed with himself following remarks made on Twitter after his side’s victory over Argentina on Saturday.
• Robert Allenby’s former caddie has hit out at the Australian golfer and says he does not believe he was kidnapped in Hawaii earlier this year.

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The letter written by the legendary Bill Shankly when he tendered his resignation from Liverpool has been revealed.

On the record

“You hear most managers and coaches talking about a player-driven environment. I think that managers get far too much credit when things go right and far too much criticism when things go wrong. Sometimes, with the players, it is not that you want them to take over, but they are the ones that sacrificed a huge amount. They just made a promise to each other that this 35 minutes, they will put everything into it. They are like every other inter-county team. They have worked extremely hard since last October and that brings a certain amount of pressure on you too when you could be out after this 35 minutes. They delivered under that pressure, which is a very good sign.”

Waterford senior hurling manager Derek McGrath explains why he stepped out of the Deise dressing at half-time in yesterday’s All-Ireland quarter-final win over Dublin.

Where we were today

Roy Keane and his sensational beard were in Dublin today. Donall Farmer / INPHO Donall Farmer / INPHO / INPHO

Paul Dollery was at FAI headquarters in Abbotstown, where Republic of Ireland assistant manager Roy Keane was on hand to launch the SSE Airtricity National U17 League.

The fixture list

• Tomorrow is day two at the Galway Races. The action starts at 5.15pm and the feature race is the Topaz Mile Handicap.

Showbiz, baby!

The Toronto Blue Jays held a narrow 4-3 lead over the Seattle Mariners at the top of the fourth inning last night but looked all set to improve on that until one of the rarest triple plays in baseball happened.

“Roy doesn’t grow a beard. It appears on his face when he tells it too.”

Irish cyclist hit with four-year suspension for anti-doping violation

‘Every draw at the moment for Ireland is tough… Teams won’t dread playing us’