A general view of a racegoer smoking a cigar at Thurles Racecourse.

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• After much speculation surrounding their future, prop James Cronin and hooker Mike Sherry have signed new deals with Munster.
  
• St Benildus earned a Leinster semi-final place after beating St Aidan’s CBS in the schools’ cup today.
• Cheltenham Gold Cup contender Don Cossack got back to winning ways at Thurles.
• Out-of-favour Celtic striker Anthony Stokes has a number of loan offers this January, with Dundee United one of the clubs interested.
• Waterford have named an experimental line-up for their upcoming McGrath Cup match with Clare on Sunday.

Away

• Arsenal have completed their first signing of the January Transfer Window, with Basel midfielder Mohamed Elneny joining the club.
• Thousands of dead fish have been found near Rio’s Olympic waters.
  
• Under-fire Aston Villa chairman Randy Lerner has stepped down.
• US golfer Jordan Spieth has signed one of the largest endorsement deals in Coca-Cola’s history.
• Real and Atletico Madrid have been hit with year-long transfer bans.
• A report says Russian President Vladimir Putin may have been consulted on their athletes’ doping.

The Best Thing We Shared

The Carolina Panthers are selling this monster burger to commemorate their historic season.

On The Record

“You are right Louis, I am fat… I had a knee operation four months ago that stopped me running and going to the gym. That has resulted in me putting on nearly two stone.”

The Sun journalist, Neil Curtis, responds after being called “fat” by Louis van Gaal.

The Fixture List

• There’s one game in the Championship tomorrow, with Brentford taking on Burnley, while Dundee United are up against Celtic in the Scottish Premiership.
• There are a couple of games in the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup, including Ospreys v Clermont Auvergne.

Showbiz, Baby!

The Espanyol fans smuggled a pig’s head into the stadium last night with the intention of throwing it at Barcelona’s Gerard Pique.

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