1. #NORTHERN EXPOSURE Alex Bruce – twice capped for Ireland – could be set to switch allegiances to the North.

Northern Ireland boss Nigel Worthington says he has held discussions with Leeds player Bruce, who only appeared in friendly games.

2. #MERRY-GO-ROUND Birmingham have accused city rivals Aston Villa of tapping up Alex McLeish and will today make a formal complaint.

Villa Park chief Randy Lerner has signalled his intention to interview the Scot who he regards as a free agent since he quit the Blues by email this week.

3. #AMERICAN DREAM The countdown to golf’s next major – the US Open at Congressional- is well and truly on.

And Rory McIlroy reckons that there’s an opportunity to take advantage of Tiger Woods’ absence.

“It’s obviously not great for the golf tournament – it would have been great to see him play. But I suppose it leaves the door a little bit open for a few of the guys,” he said.

Yesterday we learned that Tiger may be hurt worse than he’s letting on.

4. #RACISM ROW The Shamrock Rovers player at the centre of racism allegations has denied any wrongdoing.

The FAI are investigation the claims made after Derry’s trip to Tallaght on Monday night. Candystripes striker Eamon Zayed spoke to the match observer and the claims were included in the referee’s match report.

5. #FAITHFUL Offaly GAA chiefs say they’ll deal with the issues broached by senior hurling manager Joe Dooley ‘internally’.

Dooley was unhappy with the treatment of his squad and penned a letter to county secretary Martin Boland detailing his dissatisfaction.

This could rumble on.

6. #DEFEAT Ireland’s U-20s were beaten 26-42 by South Africa in Treviso last night.

7. #NBA Yesterday we mentioned how the NBA are winning the social media war; the Mavs won the finals on Sunday night, by Monday morning they’d posted this pretty cool movie on their YouTube account.