Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is unaware of any concrete interest in Matt O’Riley and believes the midfielder is happy to continue improving in his team.
Reports claim Spanish league leaders Girona are considering making a move for the Denmark international ahead of the transfer deadline.
But the 23-year-old signed a new contract earlier in the season that ties him to Glasgow until 2027 and appears focused on his game.
Rodgers said: “I’m not aware of any (interest). But it’s natural, if you’ve got good players then of course they will attract attention. But I’m not focused on that at all.
“We don’t want to be losing any (of our best players). The plan was to add to the squad and that’s still the plan.
“If a player doesn’t want to be here then my experience is you are better off moving them on. It’s as simple as that.
“Of course the club is in a really strong position with no need to sell and no thoughts of selling.
“Matt is really, really happy here. He signed a new deal, he has really progressed, he is into double figures now in goals, and his assists are there.
“For him as a young player, he is a brilliant professional, all he wants to do is improve and he can see the improvement here. Just take it day by day and assess it from there.”
In terms of incomings, Rodgers was looking for quality rather than quantity this month and believes he has added that in former Ajax and Bayern Munich reserve winger Nicolas Kuhn.
“There’s a lot of work going on and hopefully before the window shuts, we can improve the squad,” he said.
“It normally goes right through to the end. I am quite relaxed on it. I know what we need to improve but unless it’s the right type of quality and player then we won’t be in a rush to do anything.
“And likewise if something comes in too late that doesn’t suit the squad and how strong we are then we won’t need to do anything.
“If it was just about numbers we could have had people in on January 1, but it’s not. It’s about getting quality in and that can take time.
“Nicolas has had that big-club experience before. He is a very talented player. Now he is at an age where he has done very well with Rapid Vienna and can make that next step.
“He fits the profile in terms of how we work – he is super quick, direct, dynamic and we feel we can continually improve his game.
Neither Kuhn nor Cameron Carter-Vickers, who is on his way back from a hamstring strain, will play in Sunday’s Scottish Gas Scottish Cup fourth-round tie against Buckie Thistle.
Rodgers said: “Nic won’t be involved at the weekend. He had actually been quite a period out. He had an operation on his teeth so he lost a bit of strength. But he will be okay for Ross County.
“Cam won’t be involved this weekend but by Ross County he will be fine.
“He has been out on the field for a little while. It’s been a frustrating period for him in the opening part of the season, he has picked up some niggles on the back of not having a full pre-season. But we are really hoping he can stay fit and strong for the second part.”
Newcastle Thunder chairman Keith Christie has issued an ultimatum to the north-east’s rugby league community ahead of his team’s return to action in Betfred League One next season.
Christie has been integral to the resurrection of the club who announced their resignation from senior competition following relegation from the Championship in October, when departing owner Semore Kurdi said it was “not feasible” to continue.
A group of volunteers led by Christie responded by stepping in to chisel a viable business plan which resulted in an application to effectively rejoin the domestic league’s third tier being accepted two days before Christmas.
The heady days of full-time professionalism and aspirations of Super League have been shelved for the time being, as Christie works to grow the club from the bottom up, a project for which he stresses the backing of local fans and businesses is critical.
“The club has gone through a couple of guises with serious investment, and it hasn’t worked,” Christie told the PA news agency.
“My question was, do we have the desire for a rugby league team in the north-east? And the overwhelming response was, we do. To which my answer is – prove it.
“I’ve been through the mill a couple of times with this club and it’s not something I do lightly. It takes a lot of time and effort. We have a financial commitment and a ground, but it is fundamentally balanced on the investment and support we get from the people in the north-east.”
Christie has been involved with the club in an official capacity since he was first appointed general manager in 2009, and has observed their fluctuating fortunes, including a decision to go full-time in 2022, which was reversed the following year, plunging them to the foot of the Championship.
With the club having been left debt-free following talks with outgoing owner Kurdi, and striking a deal to continue playing at Kingston Park, at least in the short-term, Christie sees plenty of cause for optimism.
Newcastle-born former Super League player Chris Thorman has committed to another season as head coach, while there was also an unexpected boost in the first list of ratings issued by sports media giant IMG, which will determine the make-up of the top-flight from the 2025 season onwards, which rated Thunder – ironically dormant at the time – in 18th position.
“The IMG ranking is a bit of a bonus but it wasn’t a driving factor,” added Christie. “We have been through a lot of areas where mistakes were made, and one thing we learned is that we can’t expect to go out and buy a winning team.
“We’ve got a huge opportunity to grow the game organically and develop our own players. To do that we have to be sustainable, but we also have to have investment, and that’s the message I’ll be sending throughout the year.
“As romantic as it sounds, I’ve been part of rugby league in the north-east since 1989, and I don’t want to lose this.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan coasted into the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix in Leicester with a 5-1 win over Gary Wilson.
Following a controversial eighth Masters triumph over Ali Carter, O’Sullivan has continued to questioned his snooker future, admitting he no longer gets enjoyment from the way he is playing.
However, the 48-year-old, set to take a break of a couple of months following the end of the tournament, showed no lack of sharpness as he recovered from losing the opening frame to move 3-1 ahead with a clearance of 129 either side of two half-centuries.
Wilson, the reigning Northern Ireland Open champion, fell further behind after his break finished on 52, allowing O’Sullivan back to the table to secure the snooker needed before going on to clear the colours.
O’Sullivan swiftly completed a comfortable win with another break of 58 in the sixth frame.
Six games in the English Football League this weekend have fallen victim to freezing conditions gripping the UK.
Saturday’s Sky Bet League One matches between Cheltenham and Carlisle and Port Vale and Wycombe were both postponed due to frozen pitches.
League Two games at AFC Wimbledon, Bradford, Mansfield and Swindon were also called off, with temperatures dropping to minus 7C in some parts this week.
“A Football League appointed match official conducted an 11am pitch inspection at the Completely-Suzuki Stadium this morning,” read a Cheltenham club statement on Friday.
“After consultation with the Football League the decision has been made to postpone tomorrow’s fixture.
“The frost covers have been on the pitch all week, but temperatures for the past two nights have fallen so low that a considerable amount of frost has got into the pitch.
“On balance it was felt that temperatures are not forecast to rise high enough to remove the frost before kick-off so the decision has been taken to postpone the match.
“The timing of the decision has also taken into account the considerable journey faced by opponents Carlisle and a desire to inconvenience them as little as possible.”
Wycombe’s fixture at Port Vale also fell later in the day following a pitch inspection.
Mansfield, who quickly announced that Sutton will now visit on Tuesday, said: “Frost covers have been in place on the pitch for 10 days as part of the club’s efforts to protect the pitch from sub zero temperatures as well as industrial hot-air blowers.
“Temperatures in Mansfield, however, have been as low as minus 7C. Following a pitch inspection by an EFL appointed referee the pitch has been deemed unplayable.”
Bradford reported sub-zero temperatures of up to minus 7C this week ahead of their Yorkshire derby with Doncaster, saying areas of the Valley Parade surface had been left frozen.
The Bantams added: “Frost covers, effective to minus 4C, have been covering the pitch since last Friday, with every effort made to host the fixture.”
Wimbledon said of their Plough Lane fixture with Crawley being called off: “Every effort was made to get this game on by our staff, and volunteers helped to cover the playing surface earlier this week to protect against the elements.
“However, the pitch was today deemed to be unplayable with parts of it still frozen.
“Though temperatures are due to increase by mid-morning on Saturday, conditions are still predicted to be low at this time, so there’s no guarantee that the pitch would be playable by 1.45 pm when it’s needed for pre-match.”
Swindon’s home game with Tranmere was also postponed on Friday.
Ben Brookhouse has not lost faith in his star bumper performer Brechin Castle, who is set to warm up for a trip to the Cheltenham Festival with an outing at Newbury next month.
A £165,000 recruit from the Irish point-to-point field, the six-year-old bolted up on his debut under rules at Sedgefield before successfully transitioning to Listed class at Cheltenham in November.
He met with defeat for the first time when filling the runner-up spot in another Listed event at Ascot before Christmas, but was far from disgraced in finishing second to Dan Skelton’s exciting mare Let It Rain, to whom he was conceding 11lb.
“I think it was one of his best runs, to be fair,” Brookhouse said of his Ascot performance.
“We were giving 11lb to the winner and when she won it wasn’t a massive surprise to me because I did think she was the one to be worried about, because of the weight we were giving her.
“We gave 4lb to everything else and gave them a good beating, it was just giving 11lb to the Skelton horse that proved too much for us.”
Next on Brechin Castle’s is the Betfair Bumper, the finale on Newbury’s Betfair Hurdle card on February 10, and Brookhouse would relish a rematch with Let It Rain should it happen.
He added: “He had a small break over Christmas and New Year out in the paddock with his rugs on and the plan would be to go to Newbury in February in preparation for Cheltenham.
“He seems in great order for his break. He put on weight and didn’t lose any muscle or anything. He just did exactly what we wanted him to, which was refill the petrol tank.
“If we bump into the Skelton horse at Newbury she is not a four-year-old anymore, so she won’t get the four-year-old allowance, and she’ll have a 4lb penalty for winning a Listed race, so all of a sudden that 11lb we gave her is nigh on non-existent.”
Brechin Castle is a 33-1 shot for the Weatherbys Champion Bumper at Cheltenham in March, and while he will undoubtedly have to contend with a formidable Irish contingent come the Festival, a return to winning ways at Newbury may well make him Britain’s leading candidate for the Grade One contest.
Brookhouse said: “He’s got course form at Cheltenham, he’s had plenty of racing and plenty of experience. You could argue he’s exposed, but all he can do is beat what’s put in front of him and the only chink in his armour was he was beaten trying to give 11lb to a nice filly.
“Weight stops train, let alone horses, so we can’t blame him for that. He was giving 4lb to several other horses who at the time were considered the best young bumper horses in the country and I don’t want to sound confident or cocky, but he was pulling away from the third at the finish and he wiped the floor with them.”
Mikel Arteta insists Emile Smith Rowe is settled at Arsenal amid reported interest from West Ham.
Smith Rowe has endured a frustrating time since he hit 10 goals in the 2021-22 campaign, with groin surgery restricting his role in the club’s unsuccessful title challenge last season.
England international Smith Rowe has also struggled with a knee issue this term, but even when he has been fit the 23-year-old has been reduced to cameo appearances with only one Premier League start among 12 outings in all competitions.
West Ham have reportedly made an approach to sign Smith Rowe on loan but Arteta played down talk the academy graduate could leave this month ahead of Saturday’s visit of Crystal Palace.
Arteta said: “I’m really happy with Emile. He’s in the right trajectory.
“Now, he’s settled, he’s training really well and you know I’m not going to talk about individual situations.
“Emile is Emile. We know he’s got incredible qualities and we’re really happy to have him.
“What he needs now is chances to put all the desire and quality that he has on the pitch. In order to do that we have to give him minutes.”
Chances have been few and far between for Smith Rowe in recent weeks despite Arsenal struggling to match their consistency from the opening months of the season.
An FA Cup defeat to Liverpool on January 7 made it three losses in a row and one victory from their last seven matches, but the players have returned from a warm-weather training camp in Dubai “fully recharged” according to their manager.
“We are recharged, full of energy and super motivated so we want to attack the second half of the season with a lot of ambition and the understanding that the team is capable of big things. They are convinced of that,” Arteta added.
“It was a phenomenal camp. We recharged our batteries and the context of the environment, in the beautiful weather, helps. The togetherness and moments we shared together were great, so yeah we’re fully recharged.”
Goals have been an issue for Arsenal during this poor seven-match run with only five goals scored in that period, but Arteta reiterated they would not move for a striker in the January transfer window.
“No, because I love the players that we have,” he insisted.
Arteta was also coy over Arsenal’s list of absentees, with Oleksandr Zinchenko (foot) and Gabriel Jesus (knee) notable absentees for the defeat to Liverpool before Arsenal’s mid-season break.
“Individually, I am not going to tell you exactly how everyone is,” Arteta explained. “We are touch and go with a few. You will see.”
The Arsenal boss was more forthcoming about the progress of Jurrien Timber, who sustained anterior cruciate ligament damage in August but joined the squad for the training camp.
Arteta revealed: “At the moment he’s still very far from competing. That’s the realistic picture of it.
“Are we hopeful that he could have a realistic impact before the end of the season? If everything goes well, it looks like that might happen. At the moment though it’s too early to make that call.”
Aymen Hussein scored both goals as Iraq shocked tournament favourites Japan 2-1 to claim a place in the knockout stage of the Asian Cup on Friday.
Hussein struck twice in the first half at Education City Stadium, with a 93rd-minute header from Wataru Endo proving to be too little, too late for Japan.
The famous win lifts Iraq, the 2007 champions, to the top of Group D with six points from two games and guarantees them a spot in the round of 16.
Four-time winners Japan, Asia's highest-ranked team at 17, are second with three points.
Iraq took the lead after just six minutes when Japan goalkeeper Zion Suzuki palmed Ali Jasim's cross from the left straight to Hussein, who headed it home.
Japan streamed forward in search of an equaliser but Iraq defended in numbers before doubling their lead in first-half added time as Hussein headed in Aymed Yahya's cross. The goal was given following a VAR review to check if the ball had rolled out of play in the build-up.
It looked like Japan had been awarded a penalty 10 minutes into the second half as Takuma Asano was judged to have been fouled by Rebin Sulaka. However, referee Khalid Al-Turais overturned his original decision after viewing the pitchside monitor.
Liverpool midfielder Endo eventually got Japan within a goal in added time after goalkeeper Jalal Hachim failed to collect the ball but it was not enough to prevent his country's first group-stage loss at the Asian Cup since 1988.
Vietnam play Indonesia in the other Group D game on Friday, before Hong Kong meet Iran in Group C.
Zharnel Hughes dismissed any fears over the direction of UK Athletics just seven months before the Olympics.
The Great Britain sprinter, who won 100m bronze at the World Championships last year, believes the governing body has no choice but to battle on.
Technical director Stephen Maguire’s sudden departure in October – after a record-equalling medal haul of 10 at the World Championships – was followed by the announcement of a £3.7million loss in December.
But Hughes, who has been training at his base in Jamaica, remains focused on his own work ahead of the Paris Games.
“They have to get themselves sorted out because they have major championships coming up,” he said, with Paula Dunn in interim charge through the Olympics.
“I hope everything will be ironed out by the time the championships come around and everything will be running smoothly for the athletes to be in the best place mentally to give our best performances.
“I hope they get their stuff sorted out. I see it, I read it but I keep my head down and keep moving.
“It did surprise me (Maguire’s departure). We had just come out of Budapest and, shortly after, it happened. ‘OK, what happened there?’ I just left it alone, no-one said anything to me.
“I’m pretty sure they’re aware it doesn’t have much to do with me. It’s not like I’m writing the cheques or anything.”
The 28-year-old is focused on this year’s outdoor season after opting to skip the indoor competitions, including the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow in March.
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Last year he claimed his first individual world medal, finishing third in the 100m in Budapest having broken the 100m and 200m British records.
He ran 9.83 seconds in New York in June – smashing Linford Christie’s 30-year 100m mark – before running 19.73 seconds in the 200m in London a few weeks later.
Hughes had written down 9.83 seconds in his diary before running the time and has already scribbled his goals down for this year.
“I’ve written down my times and what I want to accomplish. I’ve even said I want to break the British record again,” he said, ahead of defending his 200m European title in Rome in June.
“I want to medal in the European Championships and Olympics and want to get to the Diamond League final and see what I can do.
“Plans have been written down long before any New Year resolutions. I wrote them down in the first week of training.”
Zharnel Hughes is an ambassador for Vita Coco, for updates and information on the partnership visit: www.vitacoco.co.uk
Novak Djokovic avoided his struggles of the first two rounds in a straight-sets win over Tomas Martin Etcheverry at the Australian Open on Friday.
His fellow defending champion, Aryna Sabalenka, routed Lesia Tsurenko 6-0 6-0 while 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva recovered from 5-1 down in the deciding set to beat Diane Parry.
It was generally a good day for the big names, with Coco Gauff, Jannik Sinner and Stefanos Tsitsipas also winning.
Picture of the dayTweet of the dayRod back in his houseOutfit of the dayFallen seeds
Women: Beatriz Haddad Maia (10), Lesia Tsurenko (28)
Men: Ben Shelton (16), Sebastian Baez (26), Sebastian Korda (29), Tomas Martin Etcheverry (30)
Who’s up next?
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Britain’s final singles hope, Cameron Norrie, takes on Casper Ruud for a place in the fourth round.
Chinese players take centre stage in the day on Rod Laver Arena, with Zheng Qinwen meeting Wang Yafan before Shang Juncheng faces Carlos Alcaraz.
Iga Swiatek is first up in the night session against Czech teenager Linda Noskova, while Daniil Medvedev meets Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Hampshire chief executive David Mann stressed he and majority shareholder Rod Bransgrove will “protect the legacy we’ve built” amid speculation the club could be sold to an Indian Premier League group.
Bransgrove is widely credited for rescuing Hampshire from the brink of bankruptcy when he first joined in 2000 and oversaw a period of great success for the club as chair before standing down last year.
It was reported last week he was in talks to sell his stake to GMR Group, part owners of IPL franchise Delhi Capitals, and Hampshire have confirmed they are in “detailed negotiations” with new investors.
Mann would not be drawn on any specifics but, while he believes cricket must have more investment, any deal – especially with an Indian conglomerate – would not reshape the values of the club.
Speaking at the announcement of the club’s home ground being rebranded the Utilita Bowl, Mann told the PA news agency: “I don’t think anyone would argue private investment in Hampshire has been a bad thing.
“There wouldn’t be a Hampshire if there hadn’t been a private investor here so I think whatever we do with investment down the track, it’s about the quality of the person that you engage with.
“The game needs more investment and is crying out for it to underpin the viability going forward. But we’re the custodians for the time being and we’ve got the interests of that at heart more than anything else.
“Rod has been for 20-odd years, I’ve been here for 15 years; we’re very, very keen to protect the legacy we’ve built so we wouldn’t do anything that would jeopardise that.”
Bransgrove led the club’s move to a ground on the outskirts of Southampton, which is now a major international venue, regularly hosts England matches and will stage in 2027 its first Ashes contest.
Following the end of a longstanding union with Ageas, Hampshire have found a new naming rights partner, agreeing an eight-year partnership with energy supplier Utilita believed to be worth seven figures.
As well as pushing charitable ventures to make a bigger impact on the local community, Mann admitted the “real clincher” was the sustainability angle in which Hampshire will attempt to become the world’s greenest cricket ground.
The first step towards this ambition is the installation of 1,000 solar panels that could produce up to a quarter of the electricity used in the ground annually and save the club a six-figure sum each year.
Mann said: “This aspiration to be the greenest venue is something we’re able to back up with real tangible assets that are going to deliver measurable returns. It’s an exciting time.
“I’m not going to say we’ll be net zero by 2040, I want us to say something that we can back up with hard data and reducing your actual energy use by a quarter is hard data.
“Over time, if we can make other improvements to make another big hole in that, that’s how we’ll be able to say that we’re unique and doing stuff that nobody else is doing.
“We’ve got a massive footprint here as well – there’s 200 acres on the Utilita Bowl site so we can do things with tree planting, how we collect and use water and a whole range of other things.”
Tottenham have allowed injured winger Ivan Perisic to join Hajduk Split on loan for the rest of the season, which will bring his time at the club to an end.
Perisic sustained anterior cruciate ligament damage in September after appearing in Spurs’ first six matches of the new campaign under Ange Postecoglou.
The significant knee injury raised doubts over the prospect of Perisic featuring again for Tottenham with his deal set to expire this summer and an agreement has now been reached for the Croatia international to sign for Hajduk on loan.
Perisic progressed through Hajduk’s academy after being raised in Split, but never made an appearance for his boyhood club before he moved Sochaux in 2006 and spells with Club Brugge, Borussia Dortmund, Wolfsburg, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich and subsequently Spurs followed.
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The 34-year-old always stated it was his desire to finish his career with Hadjuk and even if he cannot return to fitness during his loan spell this season, he is expected to sign permanently with the Croatian club in the summer.
Meanwhile, Tottenham have opened talks with Club Brugge over the signing of attacker Antonio Nusa, the PA news agency understands.
Spurs have held a long-standing interest in the 18-year-old and have moved to secure the services of the highly-rated Norway international this month.
The potential recruitment of Nusa would be Tottenham’s third addition of the January transfer window, but he would return to Club Brugge on loan for the remainder of the campaign, PA understands.
Nusa has built up a strong reputation since he made his Norwegian top-flight debut at the age of 16 in 2021 while at Stabaek.
He moved to Club Brugge later that year and hit the headlines when he scored on his Champions League debut against Porto.
Tottenham have continued to keep tabs on Nusa, who marked his full Norway debut in September with a goal against Jordan.
Postecoglou has already secured the signings of Radu Dragusin and Timo Werner this month.
Spurs have also been busy with outgoings with Djed Spence, Japhet Tanganga, Ash Phillips, Sergio Reguilon and Alfie Devine all finding new clubs for the second half of the season, while long-serving players Hugo Lloris and Eric Dier have departed.
Tottenham will listen to offers for Ryan Sessegnon, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Bryan Gil, but young duo Alfie Dorrington and Jamie Donley are set to remain part of Postecoglou’s first-team squad despite numerous loan interest.
Grade One winner My Drogo is set to revert to hurdles, with a run over the smaller obstacles at Exeter pencilled in for next month.
Dan Skelton’s charge has already tasted plenty of success over timber and was unbeaten during his novice hurdling campaign, which ended when securing top honours at Aintree in 2021.
It was thought he would prove even better once tackling fences, but a long injury absence which began early in his novice chasing season meant life over the larger obstacles never really took off.
He returned from 687 days off the track in Aintree’s Old Roan Chase in the autumn but, having finished down the field, connections have bided their time before now deciding to switch back to hurdles, where he will try three miles for the first time in the Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle on February 11.
“He’s actually really well,” explained Skelton.
“He wasn’t quite right through November, nothing legs or tendon related, he just wasn’t really firing. We were just bearing with him and he’s now come back to something much more like what we have seen before.
“He will go to Exeter on February 11 for a three-mile handicap hurdle. We’re going to go back over hurdles with him and that’s when we will hopefully see him. We’re just going to get him back out and see how we go.”
Jamaica Hockey Federation (JHF) president Fabian Stewart and the hockey5s team are now breathing a collective sigh of relief as the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) has once again heeded their cry for help with another $2 million contribution to get the team to the World Cup in Oman.
JHF officials were left in a bind to meet the budget to ensure the country is represented at the tournament on this historical occasion, as they were told that a $2-million commitment from the Ministry of Sports would not be available until after the World Cup, which gets under way on January 28.
However, their concerns were addressed by the country's Olympic body which stepped in to bridge the gap ahead of the team's departure scheduled for January 22.
JOA president Christopher Samuda explained that rendering assistance was a no-brainer, especially given the magnitude of the occasion. The JOA earlier made a $3 million contribution to the JHF's charge late last year.
Jamaica's hockey5s World Cup debut will see them rubbing shoulders with India, Egypt and Switzerland in Pool B.
"The Jamaica Olympic Association is in the business of empowering our sportsmen, sportswomen, coaches and administrators. Our hockey5s national team made a call and we answered again as in giving further support to them of $2 million. The aspirations of our sportsmen and women must never be dampened, and as the apex body we are committed where possible to hydrate their thirst and passion in representing their country as loyal sporting citizens. They are on their journey to Oman and the Jamaica Olympic Association is with them and it is our fervent hope that they will strike gold," Samuda said.
Meanwhile, Stewart, who said their initial move was to beg and borrow to meet the shortfall, welcomed the JOA's intervention.
“While I thank all the stakeholders that have supported the JHF on the journey to the World Cup in Oman, including the Minister of Sport and various private individuals and entities, my gratitude to the direction and support of the JOA, as well as my belief in president Samuda’s stewardship of the organisation to ensure global success of all sports (large or small), has only deepened based on this critical financial support,” Stewart said.
American Cameron Young held a three-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic as defending champion Rory McIlroy remained well off the pace.
Young added a second round of 64 to his opening 67 at Emirates Golf Club to reach 13 under par, with England’s Andy Sullivan and Poland’s Adrian Meronk his nearest challengers on 10 under.
Seeking a record fourth win in the event, McIlroy recorded five birdies and three bogeys in a round of 70 which left him 10 strokes off the lead.
Young, who has yet to win on the PGA Tour or DP World Tour, carded nine birdies and a solitary bogey on the ninth, his final hole of the day, after finding the water left of the green with his approach.
“I putted fantastic,” the world number 25 said. “I made a couple of long ones yesterday and then made a few more today that had no right going in I feel like.
“I hit a bunch of good putts, but just one of those days where you kind of have a couple of 30-footers and you look up and they are going right in the middle, which doesn’t happen all that often to have a bunch of them in one round.
“I’m doing a really good job of staying out of my own way. Kind of realised it was going well early, but the back nine, at the same time, it feels like you should do that to some extent, especially in the morning with not much wind.”
Meronk, who won three times on the DP World Tour last year and was voted player of the year by his peers, added a flawless 66 to his opening 68, while Sullivan returned a second successive 67.
“The experience [of winning] gives you a little more confidence that you’ve done it before, so you can do it again,” Meronk said.
“The key is just to stick to your plan for your game, trust your shots, full commitment. Don’t get too ahead of yourself.
“It’s easy to say, but I think you have to experience it first and then it gets easier, but it’s never easy. But at least I have some experience under my belt.”
McIlroy looked set to climb up the leaderboard after he birdied the second and seventh, but he bogeyed the eighth after a sliced drive plugged in the desert and also dropped a shot on the ninth following another wayward tee shot.
The world number two also followed a birdie on the 10th with a bogey on the next and took an angry swipe at the rough following a fluffed pitch on the 17th, but at least ended the day on a high with a birdie from 20 feet on the 18th.
Japan’s Masahiro Kawamura threatened to card just the second 59 in DP World Tour history when he covered his first 12 holes in 10 under par thanks to an eagle and eight birdies, but bogeyed his penultimate hole and had to settle for a 63.
Nevertheless, that was a 12-shot improvement on his opening round and lifted Kawamura into a tie for seventh on six under par.
Dubai Invitational winner Tommy Fleetwood celebrated his 33rd birthday with a 70 to finish five under.
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