Sacked on the back of England’s dismal World Cup showing on home soil in 2015, the Leinster senior coach now finds himself implicated, indirectly, in Ireland’s tortured 2019 campaign which was brought to a limp end by the All Blacks in Tokyo.

If you see Cathal Butler and his Kinsale Golf Club Barton Shield team-mates bickering at the AIG Cups and Shields finals in Thurles this week, do not be alarmed, they’re just being friendly.

It was an age of innocence that seems a long time ago now; those perfect summer days when we could take a moment every few hours to ask ourselves whether or not this has been a great World Cup, maybe even the greatest World Cup.

William Porterfield feels Ireland proved they belong in cricket’s longest format after their gripping inaugural Test ended in a five-wicket loss to Pakistan.

Tomorrow evening, Joe Molloy will take the next step in a lauded but relatively low-key career when he debuts as anchor of TV3’s Six Nations coverage. Even his dad has told him this one is huge so he is nervous, anxious not to ‘make a balls of it’, but also determined to trust the instincts that have made him a three-time radio sports broadcaster of the year.

Are our youngsters coached right? Should they play less competitive football? Or more? Is the cross-channel route to the top of the game viable any longer? And can the League of Ireland provide a feasible alternative? In the second part of his look at our supply line of footballers, Larry Ryan canvasses more opinion from around the Irish game.

FIFA vice-president Victor Montagliani has suggested football might still be blighted by corruption if Russia and Qatar had not been chosen to host the next two World Cups.

Ireland’s win against Wales last weekend proved something very important. The golden generation was not a once off, writes Steve Neville.

Idle talk concerning the structures of the provincial and All-Ireland football championships has to end and realistic solutions implemented says Waterford manager Tom McGlinchey.

In 2007, Irish cricket first announced itself to the world when Pakistan were defeated in the World Cup in Jamaica. Four years later, England were toppled in Bangalore to confirm Ireland’s upward march.

The United States will need their own version of the ’Miracle at Medinah’ at Gleneagles after another brilliant foursomes performance gave Europe a 10-6 lead heading into the final day of the 40th Ryder Cup.

The Leaving Certificate exams seem a long way off right now but the business of choosing which colleges and universities to apply for is a necessarily important process and not least for golfers with ambitions of becoming a touring professional.

Spain’s Chelsea midfielder Oriol Romeu remains confident that his side can still progress to the later stages of the Olympic football competition despite losing their opening game 1-0 to Japan.

Sailing has used the successes of Ireland’s amateur boxers as the template to raise standards within the sport.

Pardon me while I pick this name up off the ground but I once found myself standing next to Pele while the great man marvelled at a great Irish goal.

THERE are many ways to lose a game of rugby, not least through tactical misjudgements, poor decision-making and sloppy execution.

THE Samoan with the unpronounceable double-barreled name called it ‘slavery’ and duly gave the World Cup organisers both barrels.

The International Cricket Council have confirmed the next two World Cups will be contested by 10 teams, dealing a major blow to associate nations such as Ireland.

GAA chiefs have welcomed a motion from the Portarlington club regarding the ban on collective training for inter-county panels being confined to the month of November, with Director-General Páraic Duffy admitting that the current system is not working due to the amount of counties breaching the rules.

WITH Nick Easter, what you see is what you get.

REWARDING consistency has always been a Shannon thing, and it remains so under the coaching baton of Geoff Moylan in the build up to this afternoon’s AIB League final clash with Clontarf at Thomond Park (4pm).

SEAMUS POWER (West Waterford) defends his Irish Youths Amateur Open Championship title at Lisburn on Thursday and Friday and, if successful, will become only the second player in the history of the event to win the title on three separate occasions, following John McHenry’s wins in 1980, 1981 and 1985.

Brian O’Driscoll insists Ireland are braced for a “colossal” contest against France on Friday – with Les Bleus feeling the weight of expectation.

Stephen Hunt is targeting his first international start when the Republic of Ireland play Ecuador in Giants Stadium, New Jersey, on Wednesday.

GRAHAM HENRY has apologised on behalf of the All Blacks and promised to “sort out” the New Zealand journalist who wrote an article dismissing Wales as the “village idiots” of rugby.

AU revoir Zizou. Adeus Luis Figo, Roberto Carlos and maybe Ronaldo. Goodbye Claudio Reyna. Auf wiedersehen Oliver Kahn and ciao Alessandro Del Piero.

WHILE participation in the Christy Ring and Nicky Rackard Cups is causing fixture concerns for some county boards, there remains broad support for the retention of the competitions.

THE AIB All-Ireland club finals should be moved from their St Patrick’s Day date to a slot earlier in the year, according to GAA Head of Games Pat Daly.

The panels to represent Ireland in Saturday week's Hurling/Shinty International games at senior and Under-21 level against Scotland were announced today.

PAUL McGINLEY has leapt from 92nd to 68th in the world rankings and to within touching distance of joining Pádraig Harrington and Darren Clarke in the European Ryder Cup team as reward for his share of sixth place in the USPGA.

England defence guru Phil Larder believes it will be tough for any team to emulate Australia’s remarkable 1999 achievement in winning the World Cup by conceding only one try.

IT’S only when you see the fun and the action at close range that the success of the Bulmers cups and shields really strikes home.