Missing out on last night’s 1,000th Cork City league game was all the more painful because my first ever Cork City league game was also a win over Galway United at Turner’s Cross.

The great players enjoy more space and more time than the mere mortals and that goal summed up what Villa can expect this year in this league.

How Argentina’s men — coached energetically by Pat Spillane — had any emotions left after their extra-time victory in the international final is beyond me. But they did, and displayed the sort of joy you associate with their colourful soccer history.

It was panic stations on Friday and Aiden O’Sullivan was an oasis of calm, says John Riordan.

New York has an uneasy relationship with the Middle East. I know there are some thoughts reverberating around some players’ heads, especially those whose childhoods were disrupted by the events of 9/11.

We have to get our heads around the amount of space left when 18 players roam around a soccer-sized pitch, says John Riordan.

We’re not travelling almost 7,000 miles to spend our evenings in the pub. I also told them that we shouldn’t be under any illusions — we’re up against it, says John Riordan.

Here was a player who arrived all guns blazing, celebrating the few touchdowns he scored or created by rubbing his fingers together to signify all the money his talents generated, says John Riordan.

How much more hype from over here can you stand? says John Riordan.

The NFL and the UFC have a lot in common. Both are vaudevillian nightmares that shouldn’t work but really seem to manage just fine, says John Riordan.