Huzzah for the boys from Longford. Huzzah!

No doubt you’ve heard by now that Wicked, the musical which tells the story of Oz from the witches’ perspective and one that has taken Broadway and the West End like a Kansas storm for the last 10 years, is coming to Dublin.

Like most sports journalists, this columnist served an apprenticeship that called for a frequent presence at games where press facilities amounted to a spot inside rather than outside the rails and the height of any literary ambition was being able to read your notes as the rain sent the ink trickling down the page.

When Ian Madigan was photographed staring at his mobile phone during yesterday’s Leinster training session in UCD it looked likely to be the ideal snap with which to accompany the inevitable raft of articles dedicated to his omission from the Ireland squad.

For 24 years, they’ve been funnelling through Annascaul and Lispole, some even over the Conor Pass, into west Kerry from all corners, drawn to the peninsula by the charisma of one man.

Richard III’s remains may have been discovered in a car park in Leicester earlier this week but Owen Farrell would do well to pay greater heed to Shakespeare’s Henry IV ahead of England’s visit to Dublin this weekend.

No rugby.

Joni Mitchell is ringing in these ears this week.

Holywood golfer’s assertion last September that he felt more British than Irish was met with a consternation that bordered on the ridiculous.

First off, a round of applause for the folks in Croke Park.