Category Sports News

Michael Dunlop won the Isle of Man TT on Wednesday, earning his third victory of the week in the delayed race two category. He continued to dominate the Supersport category.

The Northern Ireland rider’s overall career winning streak in the four-lapper reached an all-time record-breaking 32 as a result of their success.

Dean Harrison and Davey Todd were both 26.1 seconds ahead of Dunlop, who was a further 15.8 seconds adrift in third.

The 36-year-old has won 15 Supersport TT events in a row, including four doubles in a row between 2022 and 2025.

The county Antrim rider, who was first in Monday’s opening Supersport event, was also notable for being Dunlop’s seventh different manufacturer with success over the 37.73-mile Mountain Course, which had earned the Italian marque their first TT victory for 30 years.

After the race, a delighted Dunlop declared, “The wee bike]Ducati Panigale V2 is mint and never missed a beat.”

I’m happy because we choose our own bikes, our own manufacturers, and winning races. It’s great to be in the 30s.

Due to weather issues, a road traffic accident, and a medical emergency that did not relate to racing, Wednesday’s race started two and a half hours earlier than planned.

On lap one, Dunlop struggled to overcome Harrison and Todd’s challenge on their respective Hondas, with his lead fluctuating, and the team’s yellow livery was predominantly yellow in recognition of one of Ducati’s preferred colors in addition to their customary red.

Before the Hampshire rider retired on the second lap, he had 1.9 seconds to spare over Harrison and James Hillier moved into third.

After his second circuit, Dunlop gradually increased his lead to 15.9 seconds, which he increased to 21.5 seconds by lap three before increasing to 4.5 seconds.

Due to the gloomy conditions, his fastest lap of the race, 129.297mph on lap 2, was a little slower than the 133. 313mph he managed in race one.

The TT wins record holder will have the opportunity to win a fifth four-timer of his career when he competes in Friday’s second Superstock and Supertwins races and Saturday’s Senior TT, the blue riband event.

Paul Jordan placed fourth, James Hind placed fifth, and Josh Brookes placed sixth behind Harrison, who earned his fourth podium of the week, and Todd.

1 Ducati’s Michael Dunlop

2 Honda’s Dean Harrison

3 Honda’s Davey Todd

4 Honda, Paul Jordan (NI).

5 Suzuki Engineer James Hind

6 Honda vs. Josh Brookes

7 Mike Browne (Yay Yamaha)

The club has made a list of the players’ current employers available on their retained list, with Jorginho and Kieran Tierney leaving at the end of their contracts on June 30.

Jorginho, an Italian midfielder who signed for Brazilian side Flamengo for £12 million from Chelsea in January 2023, made 79 appearances before moving to Gunners.

Scottish international Tierney made a reported £25 million move to the north London club from Celtic six years ago.

Before making 170 starts for Real Sociedad on loan in the 2023-2024 season, the left-back made 170 starts.

He made just 13 Premier League appearances this season before moving back to the Emirates Stadium, and he’s now set to rejoin Celtic.

At the end of June, Thomas Partey’s contract is also scheduled to expire, but negotiations are still ongoing for a new contract.

Raheem Sterling, an England international, signed a season-long loan from Chelsea to North London, but he will now score just one goal in 28 games.

Chloe Kelly, who won the women’s champions league with England and signed for Renee Slegers’ side on loan in January, is negotiating her Manchester City contract with the Gunners.

Middlesbrough have sacked head coach Michael Carrick after two-and-a-half years in charge.

The former England midfielder, 43, took over at the Championship side in October 2022 for his first role in management.

He guided the team to a play-off finish in 2022-23 but they have missed out on the top six in the past two campaigns.

Boro spent much of the 2024-25 season challenging for a play-off spot but one win in their final six matches proved to be costly.

They stayed in the hunt for a top-six place until the final game of the season but defeat at Coventry saw them finish 10th.

Carrick started his coaching career with Manchester United, with whom he won five Premier League titles in his playing days, after retiring in 2018.

He had a spell in caretaker charge of the team in November 2021 after the departure of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer but left when Ralf Rangnick was appointed in December.

Boro turned to him in October the following year after a disastrous start to the season saw them sack Chris Wilder with the club in the relegation zone.

Carrick immediately turned their fortunes around as they flew up the table and into promotion contention.

They ultimately finished fourth for a first play-off campaign in five years but were beaten by Coventry in the semi-finals.

They fell just short of another Premier League push in the following season, as they finished eighth, four points off sixth.

Mark Drury, BBC Radio Tees Middlesbrough commentator

Middlesbrough’s decision to sack Carrick may surprise some outside Teesside but one thing it can’t be described as is a knee-jerk reaction.

A month has passed since Boro’s 2-0 defeat at Coventry on the final day of the Championship season.

That loss was their 18th of a desperately disappointing season and was followed by the head coach insisting “I’m carrying on” in his BBC Radio Tees Sport post-match interview.

Many Boro fans had come to the conclusion he would be doing just that as the days and weeks ticked by without any sign of white smoke from the club’s Rockliffe Park training ground. However, that silence was not indicative of inaction.

Boro’s hierarchy had let it be known they would be conducting an in-depth review into the reasons a season where promotion had been targeted and budgeted for ended in a failure to reach the play-offs despite an unusually low points total – the lowest for a decade – being required to make them.

They were as good as their word, conducting a series of meetings, a number of which involved the head coach, while trying to block out the chorus of disapproval from a fan base which had largely become disenchanted and detached by the season’s end.

There will be a sense of sadness on Teesside that Carrick was unable to follow up on the promise of his first season when some of the football left fans purring. That sadness will be weighed against the reality the club have gone backwards in the seasons since.

Attention now will be on who comes next? Rob Edwards is known to be highly-rated by head of football Kieran Scott while Sheffield Wednesday’s Danny Rohl will be of interest to any Championship club without a manager after his sterling work at Hillsborough.

In Ireland’s squad for the games against Georgia and Portugal in July, there are 11 uncapped players, including scrum-half Nathan Doak.

Many hopefuls will now be chosen for the summer series thanks to Andy Farrell’s inclusion of 15 Irish internationals in his British and Irish Lions squad.

In addition to Lions coaches Farrell and Simon Easterby, Paul O’Connell will take over as Ireland’s captain, and Craig Casey, a 26-year-old, will start as the team’s captain for the first time.

Although Tommy O’Brien, Michael Milne, Shayne Bolton, Ben Murphy, and Tom Ahern have all had senior experience, none have ever been capped at that level.

The other potential debutants, Alex Kendellen, Darragh Murray, Paddy McCarthy, Stephen Smyth, and Hugh Gavin, have all been called up after impressing in the Emerging Ireland squad and the United Rugby Championship’s September tour of South Africa.

Jack Crowley and Sam Prendergast will square off for the starting fly-half jersey after losing to the Lions.

The 32-man Irish squad has only two players over the age of 30 compared to prop Finlay Bealham and center Stuart McCloskey, who are the only ones who are older than that.

In the squad are wing Jacob Stockdale, back row Nick Timoney, and prop Tom O’Toole, hooker Tom Stewart, and versatile forward Cormac Izuchukwu.

Although James McNabney, Jude Postlethwaite, and Zac Ward, the Ulster trio’s trainers, Rob Herring and second row Iain Henderson, who have recently recovered from injury, were not included in the panellists.

O’Connell, who won 108 Irish caps as a player, claimed that the tour “offers an opportunity” for underclassmen to impress the coaching staff.

For what will be a trip into relatively unexplored territory this July, he said, “I think we have a strong combination of youth and experience.”

“It’s important that everyone understands the challenge that lies ahead of them because a number of players have recently been very close to selection.”

There is a great opportunity for players to step up and impress, according to the coach, “every moment on the training field and throughout the two-match series will count.”

O’Connell added that Georgia has made “significant progress” in recent years, and he anticipates a difficult test from Portugal, which Ireland will encounter for the first time.

He added that Casey’s selection as the tour’s captain was justified by scrum-half.

He is a real leader with a charismatic personality, O’Connell continued, “He is a very special person.

Backs: Shayne Bolton (Connacht), Craig Casey (Munster), Jack Crowley (Munster), Nathan Doak (Ulster), Hugh Gavin (Connacht), Stuart McCloskey (Ulster), Calvin Nash (Munster), Jimmy O’Brien (Leinster), Tommy O’Brien (Leinster), Jamie Osborne (Leinster), Sam Prendergast (Leinster), and Jacob Stockdale (Ulster).

Panelists for training are Zac Ward (Ulster), Jude Postlethwaite (Ulster), and James McNabney (Ulster).

Fixtures

Georgia vs. Ireland on Saturday, July 5 at the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in Tbilisi (kick off at 18:00 BST).

Belfast basketball player CJ Fulton has been invited to a pre-draft workout camp with NBA side Minnesota Timberwolves.

The 22-year-old guard becomes the third Irish-born player to earn the chance to compete at the highest level in the United States after Pat Burke and Susan Moran.

Burke played for Orlando Magic and Phoenix Suns in the NBA between 2002 and 2007 while Moran was part of the New York Liberty squad during the 2002 WNBA season.

The son of former Ireland international Adrian Fulton, CJ formerly played for St Malachy’s College and Belfast Star, helping the latter win the Basketball Ireland Super League title for the first time in 21 years in 2020.

He moved to the Winchendon School in Boston before securing a collegiate scholarship with Pennsylvania-based Lafayette University.

Following a move to Charleston Cougars, he made his debut in college basketball’s ‘ March Madness ‘ tournament in 2024 after helping his side win the CAA Conference Tournament.

The Minnesota Timberwolves have reached the NBA’s Western Conference finals in each of the past two seasons, losing the best-of-seven series to the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder.

Two Belgian men have claimed they hid in a toilet at Munich’s Allianz Arena for 27 hours in order to watch last weekend’s Champions League final for free.

Neal Remmerie and Senne Haverbeke told Belgian broadcaster VRT News they managed to get into the ground the day before the match then emerged to watch Paris St-Germain’s 5-0 win over Inter Milan.

The pair uploaded a video on the social media platform TikTok which showed them sticking a homemade ‘out of order’ sign on two toilet cubicle doors before they waited in silence for more than a day as stadium staff used the facility.

“We had a backpack with snacks and we played around on our phones to kill time,” Remmerie said.

“The lights were on all the time and the sitting position was uncomfortable, so sleeping was almost impossible. That made it physically and mentally difficult.”

As soon as the duo heard fans using the toilets on matchday they emerged from the hiding place and made it past another ticket check before taking a seat in a stand.

“We looked carefully at which security guard was paying the least attention. While on the phone and with food in our hands, we just walked on, and suddenly we were inside,” Remmerie added.

“PSG won 5-0 and we were also in the supporters’ section of the winning team. It was the most beautiful football match we have ever seen.”