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Early Doors

The Morning Score: Friday

Here’s everything you need to know this morning. We might even explain what “dormie” means.

1. #RYDER CUP It’s finally time for the talking to stop and the golf to begin.

After forcing us to endure an hour of Justin Timberlake at last night’s opening ceremony, Ryder Cup captains Jose Maria Olazabal and Davis Love III finally revealed their pairings for this morning’s opening foursomes session in Medinah Country Club — and boy are they tasty.

Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy have the honour of leading off the European charge against Jim Furyk and Bradnt Snedeker when the action gets underway at 1.20pm Irish time. Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia play Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley, Lee Westwood and Francesco Molinari play Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson, while the final match pits Ian Poulter and Justin Rose against Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods.

Catch up with all of our Ryder Cup coverage here.

2. #CATS V TRIBE (PART II) Kilkenny and Galway will both name their teams this evening ahead of Sunday’s All-Ireland Senior Hurling final replay at Croke Park.

3. #AIRTRICITY LEAGUE The pick of tonight’s Airtricity League action takes place in Hunky Dory Park when second-place St Patrick’s Athletic look to keep the pressure on Sligo Rovers with a win away to third-place Drogheda United.

UCD host Bohemians, Brian Laws and Shamrock Rovers welcome Dundalk to Tallaght, and Shelbourne host Bray Wanderers in Drumcondra. Read our match previews here.

4. #JOHN TERRY “Captain. Leader. Legend. Racist.” That is the sensational headline on the front of this morning’s UK Independent after an FA investigation found Chelsea captain John Terry guilty of racially abusing QPR’s Anton Ferdinand.

Terry is intent on clearing his name but will wait until he has considered the independent panel’s written report before appealing his four-match ban and £220,000 fine.

5. #PRO12 The second coming of Tommy Bowe begins in Cardiff tonight when Ulster play the Cardiff Blues in their first RaboDirect Pro12 match since the death of Nevin Spence, his father and his brother earlier this month. Bowe makes his return from a long injury lay-off and has been named on the right wing by Mark Anscombe.

Meanwhile, former Scottish international Dan Parks make his debut at out-half for Connacht when they welcome European champions Leinster to the Sportsground.

6. #LANCE Cycling’s governing body the UCI has publicly expressed its impatience at the US Anti-Doping Agency’s delay in handing over the Lance Armstrong doping dossier.

“The UCI has no reason to believe that a complete file does not exist, but the USADA’s repeated inability to communicate its decision is beginning to concern us,” President Pat McQuaid said.

*FYI, “dormie” is a term used in matchplay golf when a player/team leads by the same amount of holes as there are holes remaining — e.g. if a player is two holes up with two to play, they are said to be “dormie two”.