Is it all over for sports analysis at long, long last? Have we finally gone over the brow of the mountain, beyond the peak and down the incline on the far side?

Kedge Island is unpopulated but is home to a myriad of seabirds.

Belgium are currently the number one ranked side in world football, overtaking superpowers like Brazil who they eliminated from last year’s World Cup. Simply put, no country per capita is remotely producing as many top footballers as they are. So what’s their secret?

Business as usual in Kilkenny, Tipp are kidding no-one, but it’s a revision of the best-laid week-one plans for Messrs Meyler, Fanning, and Kenny, says Derek McGrath.

When you are idle in a hotel room in Johannesburg, the pre-match statistics booklet for the Heineken Cup final offers welcome respite from the boredom. Where’s the oul paddies out here when you need one for a chat? Which is why a mass of statistics has become my coffee buddy for part of the week.

Many moderate and reasonable people were no doubt surprised to read that an estate agent was fined on grounds of discrimination for having advised a single mum with a toddler, who was on a HAP housing scheme, that the owner of the property ‘would prefer to rent to a couple’.

Nobody wants to say it out loud, but quite a few Reds are thinking it: has The Ole Bounce ended? A harsh suggestion, perhaps, after a ninth win in 10, and at a ground where even Manchester City have recently fallen.

There is a point in the career of a retired footballer when they go Full Pundit.

The main talking points from this weekend’s Allianz League action.

Provincial championship victories for Cork clubs over Kerry are infrequent enough for yesterday’s Munster Club SFC final to be toasted beyond the confines of Nemo Rangers’ expansive Trabeg base. But giddy suggestions their 0-16 to 0-11 victory over Dr Crokes may be the trigger for a Cork football resurgence might be stretching the point some.

Always try to start a column with a topical reference, they tell you at Hack School. 

From the meandering canals of Amsterdam to downing cheap bottles of wine on the sizzling Croatian coast — Kevin O’Neill explains the time-honoured allure of interrailing across mainland Europe.

Paul Rouse takes a look at the evolution of Gaelic football.

The former head of Beamish and Crawford has become the latest person to voice public fears about the future of the stalled €53m Cork event centre project on the former brewery site.

Forgotten Patriot is the story of Douglas Hyde, the first President of Ireland under the 1937 Constitution. He founded the Gaelic League in 1893 and was therefore responsible for the “cultural proselytising from which Irish sovereignty flowed,” according to Brian Murphy.

By way of an arresting intro I was hoping this morning to bring you exclusive news of Rich Ricci’s opinion of Davy Fitz and Brian Cody. Really. Just for the sake of it. Just by way of something different.

A sample of what made the pages of the Cork Examiner this week 100 years ago.

The names Peter Schreyer and Luc Donckerwolke might not mean much to the average Joe or Josie, but in the world of automotive design, they are hallowed legends.

As an eight-year old, I asked for a football for Christmas. Being a good little chap in those days, I got it. 

Between final exams at Maynooth University and a full amateur schedule, there has been a lot on Gary Hurley’s plate as he prepares to make another appearance in an Irish Open.

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?

Ah well. I did take care to insert a giddy-warning in last week’s column, and it turned out to be well-founded. United’s unexpected spring offensive duly found out that Stamford was indeed A Bridge Too Far.

Your guide to tonight's TV.

In the matter of Stephen Fry v George Hook and religion, the former is as much on the right track as the latter, given that even the Christian Bible teaches that we refrain from entertaining certainty because of the havoc religion and man-made gods can, and do, create in the world.

Manchester United: Our Angel ensures Christmas comes early

Woodward has one week to save season

Call it semantics but the finishing line hasn’t moved for them.

From the sunshine, smiles and autographs of the pro-am — it was strictly game faces at Fota yesterday. And that was just the spectators.

Shatter-gate and the story of the Garda whistleblowers refuse to go away.

You can be sure of one thing with Jose Mourinho; you can never be sure what he is going to do or say next.

Glasgow scrum-half Niko Matawalu has been cleared of allegations that he bit Munster opponent Donncha O'Callaghan during Warriors' RaboDirect Pro12 defeat on Friday night.

There is no escaping the fact that two of the more vulnerable segments of Irish society — elderly citizens in their twilight years and jobless young people seeking work — have been targeted by Fine Gael and Labour in the 2014 budget.

As the old saying goes, it’s a long road without a turn, and for Messrs Frank Dunlop, Jim Kennedy, Liam Cosgrave, Don Lydon, Colm McGrath and Tony Fox that fateful bend arrived yesterday when the damning last chapter of the Mahon Tribunal on Planning and Payments was finally published.

It would seem that the extremely well paid and cossetted minister for finance is unable to place any constraint on Richie Boucher, and other such giants of banking’s, immoral and grossly over-inflated pay packets.

Mayo 0-15 Kerry 1-06

Liverpool have agreed an out-of-court settlement with former owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett over the sale of the club in 2010.

LIKE the fox, it seems the otter is also adapting to living in urban areas, including Cork City where they are seen regularly at night on the River Lee.

The revelations this week of what the top brass at banks get in their pensions sparked outrage. But the banks should not be swayed by public anger into pursuing former executives for recovery of funds lost, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

Such are the peculiarities of footballing hysteria that a series of subtle, successfully-executed dives will bring about nothing like the binge of handwringing a bunch of botched, largely fruitless ones will.

Chelsea 4 Norwich 1

Only this week, I was reminded why Jim McGuinness’s first All-Ireland title as coach of Donegal was much longer than two seasons in the making.

There was a stage in my footballing life where Donegal was more important to me than Cork.

Changed times chez Moynihan.

It was a year ago at Wentworth that Luke Donald ascended to the top of the golfing pile, outlasting Lee Westwood in a play-off to win the BMW PGA Championship and oust his fellow Englishman as world number one.