The disappointment is palpable, but it’s important to separate the lessons that need learning from the hysterical over-reaction in some quarters to Ireland’s World Cup exit, writes Ronan O’Gara.

Donegal 0-11 Mayo 2-13: The perception that Donegal’s powers are on the decline will skew the prism through which this game is viewed, but Mayo’s All-Ireland quarter-final victory on Saturday evening owed as much to their own strengths as to the weaknesses of others.

With Kerry, Donegal and Mayo all winning last weekend and Dublin likely to do likewise next weekend, the cosy consensus is that the Big Four of last year’s championship are going to have it all to themselves again this year.

The greatest managers in football don’t just manage players, they manage a season — and Arsene Wenger, at last, seems to be getting this one right.

Stan Wawrinka added a win over Rafael Nadal to his list of firsts in a stunning run to his maiden grand slam title, extending his rival’s injury-cursed run at the Australian Open with a 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-3 upset in yesterday’s final.

It was the most English of distances — a couple of paces less than a cricket pitch — yet for Paul Casey the 20-yard walk to pull the ball out of the hole on the 18th green on the Montgomerie Course was the most pleasant of journeys.

If there’s an exact science to producing a conveyor belt of golfing talent, it’s yet to be discovered.

It’s hard to know what’s the most daunting challenge in world sport right now but whatever it is, it exists at the upper echelons of men’s tennis.

Novak Djokovic became the third member of the ’Big Four’ to make it through to round three at Wimbledon after sweeping past South Africa’s Kevin Anderson 6-3 6-4 6-2.

The stunning form of Novak Djokovic in 2011 has seen him turn the perceived two-way battle between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at the head of the game into a three-way contest, but Nadal insists that has always been the case.

TOTTENHAM’S hugely enjoyable flirtation with the big time, which began a year ago with a 1-0 victory at Eastlands to qualify for the Champions League for the first time, is in danger of ending at exactly the same venue tomorrow.

CHELSEA are back, at least their fans think so, after an emphatic 4-0 victory at Bolton that saw Carlo Ancelotti’s side return to the top four in the Premier League and drew a line under what has been a miserable three-month period for the champions.

ARSENE WENGER has warned Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas that moving to Spain would be a step down.

ARSENAL’S hopes of closing to within a point of leaders Chelsea may have been frustrated by the weather last night but Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has predicted that less could prove more in this season’s title race.

Manchester City defender Kolo Toure has hit back at Alex Ferguson's criticism of his club, claiming the Manchester United manager is "worried" by the revolution under way at Eastlands.

ASTON VILLA will have to wait until today to confirm the signing of defender Richard Dunne from Manchester City.

I HAVE noticed that the following is a sentence I never used write, but it has become more frequent over the past 18 months: thank goodness for this international break.

RAFAEL BENITEZ will not be best pleased after the announcement of the fixtures for the 2009/10 Barclays Premier League campaign yesterday landed Liverpool with some tough scheduling after European games.

EVERTON may have fallen short at the final hurdle in their bid to win a major trophy for the first time since 1995 but there is a growing sense at Goodison Park that they are well positioned to become the first club to finally break into the Premier League’s Big Four.

WHEN John Carew limped out of action at the start of November, Aston Villa’s hopes of mounting a sustained challenge to the Big Four’s monopoly appeared to disappear with him.

OUR football correspondent LIAM MACKEY is back in top form and full of energy after his holiday this week. He casts his eye over your comments and gives his own critical analysis of the goings on throughout the world of football.

FOOTBALL fans are being hit with hefty rises of as much as 17.5% in the cost of tickets to watch the English Premiership’s giants next season.

ITALY 0 England 3 read the headlines in Italy yesterday and the third consecutive English win in the Champions League over Italian opposition left the journalists asking why their clubs do not seem able to compete with the best in the Premier League.

Darren Clarke suffered a disastrous third day at the MCI Heritage in South Carolina.

Irishman Darren Clarke was on form with his driver as he fired a six-under-par 65 to lie in third place after day one of the MCI Heritage in South Carolina.

England’s David Howell set the early clubhouse target wen the second round of the Masters resumed at Augusta National today – but not quite with the score he hoped for.

Lee Westwood overcame a double bogey to regain the outright lead when golf’s richest event, the £4.5million Players Championship in Florida, resumed briefly today.

On paper Darren Clarke’s build-up to two of the biggest weeks of the golfing year looks good.

ERNIE ELS returned to America yesterday — after a brief stopover at his Wentworth home to “hug the kids” — flying high in every sense.

ERNIE ELS may have banked more than £15 million from his exploits on the golf course, but it has not sated the hunger for major trophies felt by Europe’s new number one.

Ernie Els may says he is still hungry for more major trophies.