The hip thing to do in recent times at any mention of the romance of the FA Cup is to scoff, but is anyone else uplifted that for all the talk about a fitting Wembley send-off for Stevie G, the termination of that possibility has simultaneously opened up the prospect of a fairytale story for a Shay G?

For a weekend that has served up some lovely football in recent years, there’s been little love for the football league semi- finals in some quarters.

You might have won a major before but following it up with a green jacket elevates your status to another level.

It was hard to know which prompted the greater sense of outrage last Saturday night: the way Dublin and especially Derry went about the joyless business of trying to get a result in Croker or Jarlath Burns declaring via Twitter that the game signalled ‘The death of Gaelic football’, writes Kieran Shannon.

For all we now hear that sportspeople have no obligation to be role models, our rugby players and coaches are.

She won’t be there today. While her husband Rob powers it out this morning around the southern Slovakian spa town of Dudince in a time that should qualify him for next year’s Rio Olympics, Marian Heffernan will be at home in Douglas with the kids and expecting another one.

A few weeks ago I got talking to a manager of a county football team. His team had made good progress playing a fine attacking style of football but in recent games had come unstuck against extreme massed defences, writes Kieran Shannon.

It’s attention to detail that makes Ireland a bit special, writes Kieran Shannon.

With the great and wise of the GAA congregating next Saturday in Cavan, a recent conversation among a gathering of other minds down here in Clare is worth sharing, writes Kieran Shannon.

The problem if you make any conclusions after just one round of the league is you can make yourself a hostage to fortune, not just later in the summer but later the same week.