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Guess the Aussie. ©INPHO/Billy Stickland
Early Doors

The Morning Score: Thursday

Autumn is upon us, but the sporting world slows down for no season! Here’s your water cooler conversation for the day…

1. #CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Both of the Manchester sides made their first appearance in this year’s competition last night, with United drawing 1-1 away to Benfica, while City held an energetic Napoli to a 1-1 draw at Eastlands.

The matches were dominated by two storylines: Alex Ferguson’s angry rejection of claims that David de Gea’s position was under threat; and Roberto Mancini’s description of his side’s pre-game jitters: they were, apparently, very “nervous”.

The shock result of the evening, however, came courtesy of Turkish debutantes Trazonspor, who recorded a memorable a 1-0 victory over Internazionale at the San Siro.

3. #EUROPA LEAGUE Tallaght’s finest, Shamrock Rovers, are set to make history this evening, when they become the first Irish side to compete in the group stages of the Europa League. They take on tricky Russian outfit Rubin Kazan at 6pm.

4. #GAA Galway begin their search for a new senior hurling manager this morning following yesterday’s announcement of John McIntyre’s resignation.

McIntyre claims to have known that “the game was up” as early as last July, when his team fell to Waterford in the All-Ireland Championship.

5. #RWC2011 Damien Varley’s on his way out to New Zealand as a replacement for Jerry Flannery in Ireland’s World Cup squad. The Munster hooker suffered a serious calf tear in training yesterday.

6. #YOUTUBE It’s Thursday, and you know what that means: it’s viral video time! Our full, weekly round-up will be online later on, but in the meantime, here’s Joe Cole participating in some sort of exotic European hazing ritual.

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