Sports

Nico O’Reilly: Man City player aiming to complete cup double

Published

18 hours ago

May 14, 2026

O’Reilly’s “unbelievable talent” was spotted at the age of six, according to Riley, who says he had a “great left foot”, was “good on the ball” as well as having “determination”.

Even at that young age, there were scouts from Manchester United, Liverpool, Everton and Blackburn Rovers watching him in action for Moston Tigers and Failsworth Dynamos.

O’Reilly was first recommended to Riley by local scout Joe Yates, who would keep in touch with the family about his progress.

Riley said: “It was so competitive in their younger days – it still is now at the moment – because all the top clubs in the North West want all the best boys, so it’s so hard.

“This is where you’ve got to work quite hard with the parents and work as a team at the club. When he has signed on to the under-nines, your job’s not done.

“You carry on keeping in touch with parents, the recruitment team take over, the physios get involved. It’s a massive job getting these boys through but it is all about teamwork.”

O’Reilly grew up in Collyhurst and lists Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho as players who he “loved watching”, while his City idols include Kevin de Bruyne, Yaya Toure, David Silva and Sergio Aguero.

Asked about his early days in football, O’Reilly told BBC Sport: “[We played] a bit of everywhere – on the grass, on the streets. We used to go to the little cage and play there.

“There used to be about 30 of us that used to go out and play and just have a good time. I was a good kid, I just love playing sports. I love being out doing activities.”

Sports

Nations Championship: Tournament to start with six-Test Super Saturday

Published

36 seconds ago

May 15, 2026

qasimgillani

Saturday 4 July

New Zealand v France; 08:10 BST

Japan v Italy; 09:40 BST

Australia v Ireland; 11:10 BST

Fiji v Wales; 14:10 BST

South Africa v England; 16:40 BST

Argentina v Scotland; 20:10 BST

Saturday 11 July

New Zealand v Italy; 06:10 BST

Australia v France; 08:40 BST

Japan v Ireland; 11:10 BST

Fiji v England; 14:10 BST

South Africa v Scotland; 16:40 BST

Argentina v Wales; 20:10 BST

Saturday 18 July

New Zealand v Ireland; 08:10 BST

Japan v France; 09:40 BST

Australia v Italy; 11:10 BST

Fiji v Scotland; 14:10 BST

South Africa v Wales; 16:40 BST

Argentina v England; 20:10 BST

Friday 6 November

Ireland v Argentina; 20:10 GMT

Saturday 7 November

Italy v South Africa 11:40 GMT

Scotland v New Zealand; 14:10 GMT

Wales v Japan; 16:40 GMT

France v Fiji; 20:10 GMT

Sunday 8 November

England v Australia; 15:10 GMT

Friday 13 November

France v South Africa; 20:10 GMT

Saturday 14 November

Italy v Argentina; 11:40 GMT

Wales v New Zealand; 14:10 GMT

England v Japan; 16:40 GMT

Ireland v Fiji; 20:10 GMT

Sunday 15 November

Scotland v Australia; 15:10 GMT

Saturday 21 November

England v New Zealand; 14:10 GMT

Scotland v Japan; 14:10 GMT

Ireland v South Africa; 16:40 GMT

Italy v Fiji; 16:40 GMT

France v Argentina; 20:10 GMT

Wales v Australia; 20:10 GMT

Finals

Friday 27 November

Sixth-placed northern hemisphere side v Sixth-placed southern hemisphere side; 16:40 GMT

Third-placed northern hemisphere side v Sixth-placed southern hemisphere side; 20:10 GMT

Saturday 28 November

Fifth-placed northern hemisphere side v Fifth-placed southern hemisphere side; 13:10 GMT

Second-placed northern hemisphere side v Second-placed southern hemisphere side 16:40 GMT

Sunday 29 November

Fourth-placed northern hemisphere side v Fourth-placed southern hemisphere side; 13:10 GMT

First-placed northern hemisphere side v First-placed southern hemisphere side; 16:40 GMT

Sports

Women’s Six Nations: Wales make only one change for must-win Italy game

Published

9 minutes ago

May 15, 2026

qasimgillani

“We came into camp on Tuesday this week and you could see the frustration from the players,” Lynn said.

“One thing I’ve said to the girls and staff this week, we’ve got 80 minutes to put that right. We haven’t next week.

“So going into Italy, it’s about an 80-minute performance, putting everything right, pulling it together from Ireland, but taking the positives that we’ve had from Scotland, France and England.”

Italy arrive in Cardiff having backed up a convincing win over Scotland by scoring five tries against world champions England.

And Lynn knows Wales will need to be defensively sound against a side which put a record score on Wales in last year’s final round in Parma.

“You don’t get a free-flowing attacking team if you can make sure you’re winning the collisions,” he said.

“If you’re looking at a small win against Ireland, we gave them the slowest ruck speed in the tournament so far. So it’s making sure that we can be competitive in that area to slow them up and keep that consistency.”