Brexit dominates Northern Ireland headlines

Brexit dominates the front pages of Northern Ireland's daily papers as talks between the UK and the EU hang on the border question.

"No deal Brexit almost certain," is the stark headline in the News Letter, the comment attributed to DUP MP Sammy Wilson.

The UK leaving the EU without a deal is "probably inevitable", the DUP's Brexit spokesperson said, adding "no deal is better that a bad deal".

The Irish News headline is "Hard border shatters potential Brexit deal".

"Unresolved issues relating to the backstop," is one of the things preventing a deal a UK spokesperson said on Sunday night, the paper reports.

The backstop is a position of last resort, to protect an open border on the island of Ireland in the event that the UK leaves the EU without securing an all-encompassing deal.

"Brexit deal on the brink over the border," is the headline in the Belfast Telegraph.

It gives three pages of coverage to the issue inside.

Among the stories included is "A Sobering assessment of what hard Brexit means for all-island drinks industry".

The Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland told the paper that a no-deal Brexit would be disastrous.

The federation says Northern Ireland's drinks industry would see significant cost rises in a "no-deal scenario".

The Telegraph's editorial says an Brexit deal will affect everyone's future but warns against one which would change the constitutional position of Northern Ireland.

Alex Kane writing in the News Letter takes a similar tack warning that "a deal which pushes Northern Ireland to the window ledge of the United Kingdom would be both stupid and dangerous: as would a hard border".

In contrast the Irish News in its editorial appeals to the DUP to accept the deal thought to be on the table:

"[The] DUP needs to recognise that the EU is offering a deal that best protects of Northern Ireland."

"A no-deal Brexit would be disastrous for Northern Ireland as would any deal that ensures a hard border on this island," it says, echoing Mr Kane's view.

The News Letter's editorial is a deft take on it own future.

The paper, the oldest English language daily newspaper in the world, is up for sale.

While admitting its future is unclear, it assures its readers it has a future.

The big non-Brexit story in the Irish News concerns religion and the ordination of nine deacons to the Catholic Church.

Permanent deacons are men ordained to an office in the Church who normally have no intention or desire to be priests.

They can an perform baptisms, marriages and funerals, in the same way a priest, but cannot celebrate the Eucharist or hear Confession.

Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill makes it to the front page of the Daily Mirror ahead of his side's match against Bosnia on Monday night.

He says it is his priority to develop the team.

And staying with football, a Northern Ireland player has urged fans to stop singing a song about him which he finds offensive.

The song, an adaption of September by Earth Wind and Fire "makes reference to [Josh] Magennis' anatomy", the News Letter reports.

Mr Magennis says he appreciates it when his name is sung but would prefer if the song in question was not sung in the future.