Rory McIlroy’s injection of golfing Hollywood into the Irish Open was manifestly evident approaching 8am yesterday, as elements of the game’s royalty limbered up to unleash their opening shots of the 2015 renewal.

“Parents are less likely to pack the kids into the car or onto the train to see their lot mauled in Croke Park, but a big game ‘down the road’ would get a greater footfall from the regions" writes Brendan O’Brien

The numbers of people visiting Northern Ireland has mushroomed in the years since ‘The Troubles’ was still a phrase that merited common usage on this island. 

Most eyes were probably on events in Barcelona’s Nou Camp and Munich’s Allianz Arena last Tuesday evening, but there were happenings of a less-gilded though far more uplifting and important nature unfolding at the same time at the tidy little Tameside Stadium in Ashton-Under-Lyne in England’s north-west.

Never again let it be said that you need the perfect performance to win a European semi-final in France.

John Carver, the latest in a long line of men to be handed the ticking time bomb that is the job of manager at Newcastle United, has been fielding questions about his players’ choice of footwear for some weeks now.

So, has it always been rugby with you?

Chances are that, like the vast majority of those who delve into the sports page for a daily dose of sustenance, your annual digression into the world of horse racing has come and gone in the past week.

It’s four years since Gavin Sheehan left Ireland to try his hand abroad and yesterday’s triumph in the World Hurdle on Cole Harden is proof that the grass can actually be greener on the other side, writes Brendan O’Brien.

The ‘Cult of Joe’ that has fastened itself around the team and its coach is no bad thing, writes Brendan O’Brien.