The so-called New FAI have attempted to change things, but as other faiths will tell you, no process of reformation is straightforward

Lamps, Ole, Jose, Pep, Arteta, Ancelotti, Rodgers — they have all had a kick in the unmentionables at one stage or another this season.

There was the absence of noise, save for that harvested by television companies from the ghosts of crowds past, the sound of silence something shameful to be covered up

Unlike the sporting legends, who could afford the occasional off-day, Santa always delivered

When you think of the scandals that have befallen rugby in recent years, it would seem to be ripe for a book like Ball Four

How do you solve a problem like Dublin?

So what? I’m a 22-year-old from Cork, what else would I be doing?

It should be full trainwreck mode at this stage. Tantrums and tiaras. But instead, Tottenham and Jose Mourinho has turned out to be a marriage made in heaven

Watching Hogan and the other virtuosos in action last weekend was to make you feel something, the basic requirement of art and something we are rather in need of at the moment. If that’s all that sport is for now, art for art’s sake, then that’s enough

There have been Irish contestants on The X Factor whose fortunes will have more impact on the nation than whatever happens at Wembley tonight