HOW odd that, despite all those times it has been in close proximity to the bacon-slicer, Mick McCarthy’s posterior appears not to have an aperture in it.

Dear Santa,

ARSENE WENGER was well-wrapped up against the cold at the Etihad Stadium but then it was really back in the balmy late summer that he would have been shivering.

WHEN it comes to clinching an argument in football, the traditional line of last resort is “show us yer medals”.

GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI had said before the game an away goal would be 50% of the task in Tallinn.

COMING up to two years on from the hand that rocked the world, and there’s still no getting away from it.

THEY talk about the glory of the cup but, for Shelbourne, today is as much about redemption as it is about romance.

THERE were plenty of household names, old friends, familiar faces and League of Ireland veterans in the Aviva Stadium the other night for the launch of a new book about the FAI Cup.

HAD a cracking idea for today’s offering.

WRITING up an Ian Turner interview this week ahead of today’s EA Sports Cup final between Cork City and Derry, I had a rare moment of inspiration.