The late, great Johnny Clifford had a handy expression for occasions like these.

A week in the life of women and sport, eh?

Given the noses in the southwest which were put out of joint last Friday by Conor McCarthy’s piece in these pages, should we start with off-field competition?

Derek McGrath mentioned it in passing last week but it’s a game worth revisiting.

Amanda Marcotte of the online magazine Slate did the state some service recently when pinpointing a flaw or two in the admittedly tired criticism of the Women’s World Cup, which was running over the past few weeks.

The GAA line you’ve heard and seen all summer is a simple one.

THURLES, but not as we know it.

Typically you see the All-Ireland final heralded as the tip of the pyramid, the pinnacle of the GAA year (even if it comes in September).

I enjoyed my holidays, thanks very much. Catalonia is a nice place to be any time, but particularly in the week that Barcelona won the European Cup, with plenty of fireworks in our locality. 

Between Mr Sepp ‘Steering The Ship’ Blatter (see elsewhere on this page), Mr Patrick ‘Golf Balls’ Neary (see the finance/comedy section) and Mr REDACTED REDACTED’REDACTED (see various legal eagles), it hasn’t been a great few days for prominent personages.