Michael O’Neill admitted Northern Ireland’s Euro 2024 hopes are over after Thursday’s 4-2 qualifying defeat to Slovenia left them adrift towards the bottom of Group H.

A fourth straight defeat left a six-point gap between Sunday’s opponents Kazakhstan in fourth place and Northern Ireland in fifth, with nine points separating them from leaders Finland.

Although not mathematically over, both the size of the deficit and the number of teams involved make it difficult to see a path to qualification.

“We’ve just got to finish as high as possible,” O’Neill said. “Qualification now, I think if we won all five games (remaining) it wouldn’t be enough. I’m not going to sit here and say ‘While it’s mathematically possible…’ and things like that.

“We’re trying to develop a team here. It’s a young team, a team that’s ravaged by injuries. Our chance in this group probably was to get momentum in the early part and we didn’t do that unfortunately.

“Now we’ve got to make sure we finish the group strong and so we can carry that forward for the preparations for the next tournament.”

Northern Ireland played positively, enjoying more possession and more chances than Slovenia, but left the door open at the back for Andraz Sporar and Benjamin Sesko to exploit.

“I thought Trai Hume, Shea Charles were excellent, Isaac Price getting his first goal, they’re all real positives,” O’Neill said. “That’s three young players who could all have played for the under-21s. Some of the senior boys put in a good performance as well – George Saville had a very good game as well.

“We will look at the game and some of things we did that were poor in the game but we’ll focus as well on a lot of things we did well and we’ll be ready to give it a go again on Sunday night.”

Northern Ireland’s injury headache got worse, with Ciaron Brown forced off after being hurt in the build-up to Slovenia’s second goal before his replacement, Craig Cathcart, hobbled off late on.

“Ciaron will be an extreme doubt (for Sunday), he’s twisted his ankle which led to the second goal, a deflected goal, so there was a little bit of misfortune for us there on a couple of counts,” O’Neill said.

“Craig, his groin was tight so we’ll see how he reacts. We’ve got a long flight to Astana to deal with and we’ll just have to assess the players probably before we go.”

Northern Ireland’s qualifying campaign has been all downhill since the opening win over San Marino in March, with the relentless run of injuries depriving O’Neill of some of his most effective dressing room leaders.

Asked how he could pick his side up after this latest setback, O’Neill said: “I don’t think that will be difficult. There’s a sense of realism in the dressing room about where we are as a group at the minute.

“I think the bigger concern is if you going into the games feeling you’re inferior to the opposition. We don’t feel that in this group. The results have been disappointing for us obviously. It’s been well documented about the players that are unavailable to us.

“I think this group of players will be clearly a lot better of the experience of what they’re dealing with at the minute. For the younger ones in particular playing two games in the space of three days, both away from home, for many of them it’s their first experience of that.

“That’s the nature of international football and trying to qualify. We feel we due more points than the points that we have but we have to accept where we are at this minute in time and make sure that we finish as strongly as we can in the group.”

Coco Gauff reached her first US Open final but her achievement was overshadowed by environmental protesters who forced her last-four match against Karolina Muchova to be suspended for more than 45 minutes.

Aryna Sabalenka then denied the New York crowd an all-American final by beating Madison Keys in a third-set tie-break.

Here, the PA news agency looks back at day 11 at the US Open.

Pic of the dayMatch of the day

Once the protest ended and a tennis match broke out again, Gauff completed a 6-4 7-5 victory. It was not a classic until the last four games of the second set, which were as dramatic as we have seen all fortnight.

Shot of the dayHeatstroke, not groundstroke

Once again the temperature at Flushing Meadows hit 35C, with the humidity making it feel even hotter. French doubles player Nicolas Mahut had to briefly stop playing as he felt dizzy and Rajeev Ram had to snack on some sushi mid-match.

Quote of the dayBrit watch

Joe Salisbury and American partner Rajeev Ram are back in the final after beating Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek in three sets.

Salisbury and Ram are looking for an unprecedented third consecutive men’s doubles crown at Flushing Meadows.

Their 7-5 3-6 6-3 win, in two-and-a-quarter hours, was a 17th successive victory in New York for the pair, who face India’s Rohan Bopanna and Australian Matthew Ebden in Friday’s final.

There was disappointment for rising British star Hannah Klugman in the juniors event.

The 14-year-old needed a medical time-out after the first set in her quarter-final against Laura Samsonova and eventually retired injured at 6-0 3-0 down.

There were wins in the wheelchair singles for Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid, but Lucy Shuker won only two games against 11th seed Diede De Groot of the Netherlands.

Fallen seeds

Karolina Muchova (10), Madison Keys (17)

Who’s up next?

The men’s semi-finals begin with Novak Djokovic, chasing a 24th grand slam title, taking on big-serving 20-year-old American Ben Shelton.

Then, in the night session, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, also 20, faces third seed Daniil Medvedev.

Salisbury and Ram’s final kicks off the action at midday (5pm UK time).

Coco Gauff reached her first US Open final but her achievement was overshadowed by environmental protesters who forced her last-four match against Karolina Muchova to be suspended for more than 45 minutes.

Aryna Sabalenka then denied the New York crowd an all-American final by beating Madison Keys in a third-set tie-break.

Here, the PA news agency looks back at day 11 at the US Open.

Pic of the day

Match of the day

Once the protest ended and a tennis match broke out again, Gauff completed a 6-4 7-5 victory. It was not a classic until the last four games of the second set, which were as dramatic as we have seen all fortnight.

Shot of the day

Heatstroke, not groundstroke

Once again the temperature at Flushing Meadows hit 35C, with the humidity making it feel even hotter. French doubles player Nicolas Mahut had to briefly stop playing as he felt dizzy and Rajeev Ram had to snack on some sushi mid-match.

Quote of the day

Brit watch

Joe Salisbury and American partner Rajeev Ram are back in the final after beating Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek in three sets.

Salisbury and Ram are looking for an unprecedented third consecutive men’s doubles crown at Flushing Meadows.

Their 7-5 3-6 6-3 win, in two-and-a-quarter hours, was a 17th successive victory in New York for the pair, who face India’s Rohan Bopanna and Australian Matthew Ebden in Friday’s final.

There was disappointment for rising British star Hannah Klugman in the juniors event.

The 14-year-old needed a medical time-out after the first set in her quarter-final against Laura Samsonova and eventually retired injured at 6-0 3-0 down.

There were wins in the wheelchair singles for Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid, but Lucy Shuker won only two games against 11th seed Diede De Groot of the Netherlands.

Fallen seeds

Karolina Muchova (10), Madison Keys (17)

Who’s up next?

The men’s semi-finals begin with Novak Djokovic, chasing a 24th grand slam title, taking on big-serving 20-year-old American Ben Shelton.

Then, in the night session, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, also 20, faces third seed Daniil Medvedev.

Salisbury and Ram’s final kicks off the action at midday (5pm UK time).

Aryna Sabalenka came from a set and a break down to deny the US Open crowd an all-American final.

The second seed, who will rise to world number one on Monday, lost the first set to love against Madison Keys, but hit back to win 0-6 7-6 (1) 10-5 and book a Saturday showdown with Coco Gauff.

Keys had slipped under the radar at this year’s championships, but she announced herself inside Arthur Ashe Stadium as she raced through the first set in just 30 minutes.

The 17th seed went 4-2 up in the second and served for the match at 5-4, only for Sabalenka to break her to love and begin the comeback.

The Belarusian dominated the tie-break and the pair exchanged breaks in the third before it headed to the inevitable deciding breaker.

When Sabalenka got to 7-3 ahead she thought she had won the match, forgetting it was now first to 10, and dropped her racket in delight.

She managed to refocus, though, and wrapped up the victory in two-and-a-half hours.

Sabalenka said: “I thought we played a tie-break up to seven. I was all over the place. Thanks team for reminding me it’s up to 10.

“She played incredible tennis, another level. Somehow, I don’t know how actually I turned around this match. Being in the final of the US Open for the first time means a lot.”

Naomi Osaka became the first Japanese player to win a grand slam title as Serena Williams suffered an extraordinary meltdown in the US Open final on this day in 2018.

Williams had been bidding for a record-equalling 24th slam title but the occasion was overshadowed by her argument with umpire Carlos Ramos which dominated the match.

The 36-year-old American was furious when she was given a coaching violation early in the second set after a hand gesture from her coach Patrick Mouratoglou.

She was then docked a point for a second violation when she smashed her racket after dropping serve at 3-3, which saw her accuse Ramos of being a thief.

Ramos gave her a third violation, which resulted in a game penalty, putting Osaka 5-3 ahead.

Neither Williams nor her vocal fans at Flushing Meadows initially realised she had been given either the point or game penalty, and the boos and jeers on the second occasion were deafening.

A tearful Williams argued her case with tournament officials but, although she held serve in the next game, Osaka served out the victory 6-2 6-4.

The presentation ceremony began with more booing from the crowd before an upset Williams said, to wild cheers: “I don’t want to be rude. I don’t want to do questions.

“I just want to tell you guys she played well. Let’s make this the best moment we can and get through it and give credit where credit is due. No more booing. Let’s be positive.”

Osaka, 20, was also in tears, and said: “I know everyone was cheering for her and I’m sorry it had to end like this. I just want to say thank you for watching the match.

“It was always my dream to play Serena in the US Open finals. I’m really glad I was able to do that.”

Osaka has gone on to add three more grand slam singles titles to her collection, winning the US Open again in 2020 and claiming Australian Open crowns in 2019 and 2021, whilst rising to the top of the world rankings.

Now 25, Osaka has not played a competitive match since last September, having announced her pregnancy in January and giving birth to baby Shai in July.

Even before her maternity leave, Osaka had played an increasingly sparse schedule, stepping away from the court several times to prioritise her mental health.

The Japanese says she is now intending to play “way more tournaments” on her return to tennis and confirmed she is planning to compete at the 2024 Australian Open in January.

Rookie Ryan Pepiot pitched a perfect game for 6 2/3 innings and Chris Taylor homered and drove in five runs to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 10-0 drubbing of the Miami Marlins on Thursday.

Pepiot was recalled from Triple-A before the game to take place of Julio Urias, who was placed on the restricted list.

The rookie didn’t allow a baserunner until Josh Bell grounded a single up the middle with two outs in the seventh.

Pepiot struck out three and induced nine groundouts, throwing 60 of his 84 pitches for strikes.

Caleb Ferguson and Evan Phillips finished up the two-hitter to give the first-place Dodgers their second win in seven games.

Miami had a six-game winning streak snapped and dropped one-half game behind Arizona in the race for the NL’s third and final wild-card spot.

Will Smith’s RBI single in the third inning opened the scoring, and Taylor singled in a run in a two-run fifth that also included Kike Hernandez’s run-scoring double.

Taylor added an RBI double in the sixth and his three-run homer in the eighth made it 10-0.

Pham’s 2 home runs lift Diamondbacks

Tommy Pham hit a pair of first-pitch homers to back Ryne Nelson’s strong start and the Arizona Diamondbacks cooled the Chicago Cubs with a 6-2 victory.

Ketel Marte also went deep for Arizona, which moved a half-game ahead of Miami for the last of the three NL wild-card spot.

Nelson limited the Cubs to one run and two hits over 5 2/3 innings after he was recalled from Triple-A Reno a day earlier.

Four relievers followed Nelson before Paul Sewald got the final out for his 31st save.

Chicago had a four-game winning streak stopped and dropped two games behind NL Central-leading Milwaukee. The Cubs hold the second NL wild card, three games ahead of the Diamondbacks.

Castillo wins again as Mariners blank Rays

Luis Castillo and three relievers combined on a shutout and the Seattle Mariners beat the Tampa Bay Rays 1-0 in a matchup of playoff contenders.

Castillo allowed four hits over six innings with four walks and eight strikeouts to win his sixth straight decision.

Isaiah Campbell struck out the side in the seventh, Matt Brash worked a perfect eighth and Andres Munoz fanned two in the ninth for his 12th save.

Eugenio Suarez doubled leading off the second inning and scored on Mike Ford’s single for the game’s lone run.

Seattle moved within a half-game of idle Houston for the AL West lead, while Tampa Bay dropped four games behind Baltimore in the East.

Kansas City Chiefs defence of their Super Bowl crown got off to a shaky start as they went down in a mistake-ridden 21-20 defeat to the Detroit Lions in the NFL curtain raiser on Thursday.

The Chiefs, who have been to three of the last four Super Bowls and have won twice, headed into the new NFL season as favourites to retain their crown.

But they slipped to their first opening week loss in nine games as the Lions running back went in for the crucial score with little more than five minutes remaining.

The Chiefs did have one last chance when Lions quarterback Jared Goff had a fourth down pass batted down near midfield, but two dropped passes and two penalties left Patrick Mahomes with just a heave downfield in the last minute which fell incomplete.

Despite his receivers dropping a string of passes, Mahomes threw for 226 yards with two touchdowns, as well as finishing as the leading rusher for the Chiefs.

But he also had a pass intercepted by rookie Brian Branch which was returned for a touchdown from 50 yards.

Goff threw for 253 yards and a touchdown pass to Amon-Ra St Brown, who opened the campaign with six catches for 71 yards.

The Chiefs began the season without star tight end Travis Kelce, who injured his knee in practice on Tuesday, and fellow All-Pro Chris Jones who is in a contract dispute.

Coco Gauff is through to her first US Open final, but only after her last-four match against Karolina Muchova was suspended for more than 45 minutes when a protester glued his feet to the floor in the stands.

American teenager Gauff’s 6-4 7-5 victory was overshadowed by a small group of spectators wearing T-shirts bearing the words ‘end fossil fuels’ who began shouting, forcing play to be stopped.

Gauff and Czech 10th seed Muchova initially stayed on the court for about 10 minutes while security tried to deal with the situation.

The Arthur Ashe crowd at one point began chanting “kick them out” with the protesters apparently being difficult to shift despite being surrounded by around 12 police officers.

It soon became apparent that while three of the protesters had been removed, a fourth had glued his bare feet to the concrete.

“Are they like talking to them or are they going to remove them?” Gauff asked chair umpire Alison Hughes and tournament referee Jake Garner.

She then spoke to her coach, Brad Gilbert, saying “they say they are negotiating, like it’s a hostage situation. What should I do?”

Gilbert was then heard to shout at Garner: “This is a joke, Jake.”

Both players eventually left the court with Gauff leading 6-4 1-0. They returned at 8.50pm when the third protester had finally been removed, and after a warm-up, play resumed 50 minutes after the last point.

Speaking to ESPN, tournament director Stacey Allaster said: “As we witnessed we had environment protesters up in the loge area.

“There were three. Two were removed. They quietly left. When security got there they found one of the protesters had physically glued himself, his bare feet, to the cement floor.”

A statement from the USTA read: “Following the first game of the second set in the Gauff-Muchova match, play was halted due to a protest conducted by four spectators.

“Three of the four protesters were escorted out of the stadium without further incident. The fourth protester affixed their bare feet to the floor of the seating bowl.

“Due to the nature of this action, NYPD and medical personnel were needed in order to safely remove this individual from the stadium.

“The four protesters were taken into NYPD custody. In total, 49 minutes elapsed before play resumed.”

It is not the first time a major tennis tournament has been disrupted by protesters.

At Wimbledon this year Just Stop Oil activists caused two matches, one involving Britain’s Katie Boulter, to be suspended after running onto the court throwing jigsaw pieces and confetti.

Last year’s French Open semi-final between Casper Ruud and Marin Cilic also had to be halted after a woman tied herself to the net.

Both players at least seemed to be able to put the incident behind them when the match resumed.

Muchova had treatment on what appeared to be an abdominal injury during the stoppage.

The Czech 10th seed saved a match point on the Gauff serve and five more on her own in the next game.

But the 19-year-old converted at the sixth attempt when Muchova went long to reach her second grand slam final.

“Thank you guys this is crazy,” she told the crowd. “I grew up watching this tournament so it means a lot to be in the final.”

On the eve of the 2023 NFL season, the Cincinnati Bengals made their franchise quarterback the highest-paid player in league history.

Joe Burrow and the Bengals agreed to a five-year, $275million contract extension, multiple media outlets reported Thursday, giving him the highest annual salary in NFL history.

The deal, which reportedly guarantees Burrow $219million, is the culmination of months’ worth of negotiations between the Bengals and the 2020 top overall draft pick.

Burrow’s annual haul of $55million edged Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert’s new deal that pays $52.5million per season, signed earlier this offseason. The Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts and Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens also briefly held the most lucrative contract after signing extensions this offseason.

Burrow has completely changed the fortunes of a historically downtrodden franchise, leading Cincinnati to a Super Bowl appearance at the end of the 2021 season and coming up just short in last season's AFC Championship game.

At no other point in team history have the Bengals won a playoff game in consecutive seasons, and Burrow’s first career postseason win in 2021 snapped a 31-year drought without a playoff victory.

Burrow’s rookie campaign was cut short by injuries to the ACL and MCL in his left knee, but he rebounded in 2021 to be named the AP Comeback Player of the Year. In his sophomore season, he threw for 4,611 yards and 34 touchdowns to 14 interceptions.

In 2022, Burrow was voted to his first Pro Bowl after throwing for 4,475 yards and 35 touchdowns with just 12 interceptions.

In seven career playoff games, Burrow has nine touchdown passes and four interceptions.

According to FanDuel Sportsbook, Burrow is the odds-on favourite to lead the NFL in passing yards this season.

The Bengals kick off their 2023 campaign Sunday on the road against their division and in-state rivals, the Cleveland Browns.

Head coach Andy Farrell expects Ireland to be “a hell of a lot slicker” in their Rugby World Cup opener following some disjointed warm-up displays.

The world’s top-ranked nation are among the pre-tournament favourites and launch their campaign on Saturday afternoon against Pool B minnows Romania in Bordeaux.

In-form Ireland arrived in France on a 13-match winning run but having failed to fully convince during last month’s disjointed victories over Italy, England and Samoa.

Farrell is untroubled by those patchy performances – produced by largely experimental line-ups – and has backed his players to deliver when it really matters.

“It’s certainly not a concern because obviously (they were) three warm-up games with different personnel and everyone is at different stages in the pre-season,” he said.

“It’s all galvanised to one point and this is it: the start of the competition.

“The performance should be one that’s a hell of a lot slicker, let’s put it that way.

“Understanding what it’s all about and getting down to business is where we’re at at this stage. We’re looking forward to getting going.”

Farrell has named a strong starting XV for the curtain raiser, albeit world player of the year Josh van der Flier begins on the bench, while wing Mack Hansen has the weekend off, despite being available.

Fly-half Johnny Sexton is back from a three-match ban to captain Ireland, while rookie lock Joe McCarthy is among the six starting World Cup debutants.

Farrell’s 33-man squad contains a total of 18 players who have never played on the biggest stage.

The Englishman feels there are benefits to that scenario but also suggested some of the newcomers need to avoid distractions better than they did around the recent Samoa game in Bayonne, when Ireland were based in nearby Biarritz.

“It’s an advantage because of the youthfulness and the quality of those players is top drawer,” he said.

“But they also need to understand what it is that they’re coming into.

“The reason we went there (to Biarritz) is that there’s a lot of distraction that goes on, certainly when you’re in a hotel that’s on the beach.

“Some people handled that brilliantly, some people didn’t. Learning from those experiences is pretty important because you don’t get second chances after this in World Cups.

“You have to wait four more years – if you’re lucky enough.”

Unfancied Romania are ranked 19th in the world. Farrell is braced for a physical assignment amid temperatures forecast to reach around 35 degrees Celsius.

“For anyone that’s watched them, it’s pretty clear and obvious that they’re a determined group,” said Farrell.

“I think by their own recollection they would say that their point of difference is their power, their aggression, their set-piece.

“They love mauling, they love the scrummaging part of the game. They’re very direct in the forwards and pretty nippy and dangerous within the backs as well.

“We’ve scouted them well but, at the same time, more of the concentration this week has been on ourselves.”

Republic of Ireland boss Stephen Kenny has called on his players to produce the performance of their lives after their Euro 2024 qualification hopes were left dangling by a thread.

A 2-0 Group B defeat in Paris on Thursday evening means Ireland have taken just three points from their first four games, and realistically they need to beat the Netherlands in Dublin on Sunday to stand any chance of progressing.

Speaking in the bowels of the Parc des Princes after an energy-sapping night at the hands of the mesmeric Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele, Kenny said: “We’ve just got to get ready for Sunday now.

“We knew that if Holland beat Greece tonight and we beat Holland, we’re level on Sunday. We’ve got Greece at home and Gibraltar away in October, so it’s that big for us. We know it’s that big for us.

“The energy of the home crowd has been special, it’s been electric at home and we need that again on Sunday to pull out the performance of our lives. That’s what we’ve got to do.”

Ireland arrived in Paris knowing they were up against it because of the quality of both the opposition and the heat, and while they battled manfully throughout, the gulf in class – Didier Deschamps was able to bring Champions League winners on from his bench while one of Kenny’s substitutes, James McClean, is currently playing his football with League Two Wrexham – eventually told.

Aurelien Tchouameni blasted the French into a 19th-minute lead as Ireland once again conceded from distance, and the side ranked second in the world never looked back against opponents rated 53rd by FIFA.

They increased their lead three minutes after the restart through substitute Marcus Thuram, a first-half replacement for the injured Olivier Giroud, and although it took a good save by Mike Maignan to keep out Chiedozie Ogbene’s header, the Republic had to defend for dear life to ensure the margin of victory did not stretch beyond 2-0.

Kenny said: “To be fair, obviously France are a world-class team, a really top-class international team, one of the best teams in the world, if not the best.

“But I can’t fault my players. I thought they gave everything really in the match. We were beaten by a better team for sure. For a lot of the players it’s the best team they have played against.

“Of course we could have done better at times, for sure, but everyone gave everything of themselves.”

France boss Didier Deschamps admitted his team could have been more clinical, but was largely satisfied.

He said: “We could have done more, but broadly speaking I’m very satisfied with the result and the performance of the players.

“Kylian did good things, even if he didn’t score. It’s not always Olivier Giroud or Kylian Mbappe supposed to score. It’s more about focussing on the goal, to qualify.

“We had many chances to score, especially from outside the box. We were expecting a good team from the Irish team. With their three defenders, they were very present.

“They created some difficult situations for us, especially if you remember the game in Dublin which was a bit risky for us. It’s a team that plays very deep and there were some difficulties.”