The RaboDirect Pro12 will be approached in a more serious fashion by Munster, and all competing sides from next season, according to Munster chief executive Garrett Fitzgerald.

Shanghai Shenhua are ready to challenge Didier Drogba’s move to Galatasaray, claiming the Ivory Coast striker remains under contract with them.

Manchester United said it expected revenue to grow in the current financial year after paying the price of a rare barren season on the field in 2011/12.

IT’S hard to get excited about the increasingly odious English Premier League soccer competition that begins this weekend, rioting and police response permitting.

Manchester City have been taken over by the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment, according to a statement released on behalf of group representative Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim said today.

LIVERPOOL’S newest fan has arrived in Limerick just in time for her cousin Steve Finnan’s big night.

Roy Keane’s departure from Manchester United yesterday has come as a surprise in the way that the death of someone with a terminal illness often comes as a shock, even though everyone knew the end was approaching.

Liverpool supporters Karl Burke and Franny Norton had more cause for celebration when the trainer and jockey teamed up successfully with City For Conquest in the Stapleton Maiden Auction Fillies’ Stakes at Catterick today.

HE’S played 505 games for Manchester United, scoring 33 goals. He’s won the Premiership six times, the FA Cup three times, the European Champions League, the European Cup Winner’s Cup, the European Super Cup and the League Cup.

SHARES in Manchester United leapt by nearly 5% yesterday following confirmation Malcolm Glazer is making a third attempt to buy the former Premier League champions.

THOUGH brave faces were plentiful in public, one suspects that behind the scenes, the power brokers of the Premiership must be left a little bewildered by the imprint of Lady Luck at Nyon, Switzerland, yesterday.

Two goals in the last 10 minutes of Shelbourne’s European Champions League first qualifying round match with Iceland’s KR Reykjavik has given the Dublin side cause for optimism in the second leg.

The Toyota Cup is to be replaced by the FIFA Club World Championship from 2005.

Roy Keane will be free to play in Europe from the start of next season after UEFA withdrew its appeal against their own disciplinary sanction against the Manchester United captain.

A 23-YEAR-OLD man shot dead in a Dublin pub on Wednesday night is thought to have received a warning around a week ago from drug dealers he may have owed money to.

SINCE Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea in July hardly a day has gone by without speculation that some other premier league club will soon become the prey of another tycoon.

The transfer window has slammed shut for another four months with a number of deals completed but relatively little money changing hands.

BAYERN MUNICH’S German international goalkeeper Oliver Kahn has insisted he is ready for a move abroad despite the Bundesliga giants’ determination to hold on to him.

JUVENTUS coach Marcello Lippi is coming to the Spanish capital brimming with confidence ahead of tonight’s European Champions League semi-final first leg with holders Real Madrid.

Manchester United are giving shareholders a special dividend after posting better-than-expected profits.

Scotland is welcoming a host of VIPs to Glasgow for tonight’s European Champions League final at Hampden Park.

England captain David Beckham today thanked the thousands of well-wishers who are praying his broken foot mends in record time.

The crisis over television revenues for the Football League shouldn't affect the Premier League.

Leeds United have slumped into the red after the absence of European Champions League football this season took its toll.

It is expected to be confirmed today that Dwight Yorke will move to Middlesbrough for £6m.