I recently made a return visit to the US. The purpose was a vacation, as the Yanks would call it. I couldn’t quite believe it had been around 14 years since my last trip there. I was genuinely curious, given all that has happened, how different it might feel.

Here are all the latest headlines this lunchtime.

Here's your morning news bulletin...

Ireland’s Cricket World Cup qualifier against Afghanistan is playing away on the TV in the background as Rob Ryan sits in the Clanna Gael Fontenoy clubhouse in Dublin, gripping a hurley, and holding court on all things American football.

The Super Bowl interaction between coach and player was something to behold. For Foles to feel so empowered in that moment, and for a coach to be willing to relinquish control of such a hugely significant play call was remarkable, writes Mike Quirke.

The GAA needs to acknowledge that, along with its much-heralded community and amateur status, there is a pervasive cynicism that is ‘unique to our games’, writes Kieran Shannon

Cast aside once in Philadelphia, Nick Foles delivered the city its first Super Bowl title.

Donald Trump has accused Democrats of being "un-American" and maybe even treasonous for failing to applaud him during his State of the Union speech.

Here's your morning news bulletin...

Liam Blackburn looks at some of the lines that could dominate the Super Bowl.

Tom Brady and the New England Patriots are going back to the Super Bowl in search of a sixth title and will face a Philadelphia Eagles team looking for their first Lombardi Trophy.

Who’d be a sports administrator, wonders Michael Moynihan

Sensational!

Tom Brady tossed four touchdown passes — including two to Rob Gronkowski — as the New England Patriots pushed through injuries and a mistake-filled game for a 35-17 victory over the sliding Miami Dolphins.

The Georgia Dome, the stadium in Atlanta that hosted 1996 Olympic events and which was the venue for two Super Bowls, has been reduced to rubble in an implosion.

Aaron Rodgers threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Devante Adams with 11 seconds left to lift the Green Bay Packers to a 35-31 NFL victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.

United States president Donald Trump followed up his scathing comments about protesting NFL players by withdrawing an invitation to NBA champions the Golden State Warriors to attend the White House.

Rookie kicker Younghoe Koo missed a last-gasp field goal for the second successive game as the Los Angeles Chargers lost their home opener 19-17 to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.

Myles Garrett was the first overall pick by the Cleveland Browns in the NFL Draft, while three quarterbacks were chosen in the opening 12 selections of a first round.

The Carolina Panthers bounced back to winning ways with a 30-20 NFL victory over the Arizona Cardinals at the Bank of America Stadium.

Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo did not miss a beat as he stepped in for the suspended Tom Brady in his first NFL start and led the New England Patriots to a 23-21 win over the Arizona Cardinals.

The start of a new American Football season rekindled some old — and troubling — issues for the NFL.

Quarterback Cam Newton threw five touchdown passes to lead the Carolina Panthers to a 10th straight NFL victory on Sunday, a 44-16 pounding of the Washington Redskins.

Tom Brady threw for two fourth-quarter touchdowns and notched a career rushing first, leading New England to a 30-23 win over the New York Jets that kept the Patriots unbeaten this NFL season.

Joique Bell’s arms stretch behind his head as if pulled by an individual rope.

The Philadelphia Eagles’ play-off ambitions suffered a near-fatal blow with a surprise 27-24 loss to the Washington Redskins on Saturday.

The Dallas Cowboys blew a 21-0 lead before rallying to beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-27 and move to 10-4, one game ahead of Philadelphia at the top of the NFC East standings.

Menelik Watson admits he can scarcely believe that his journey has taken him from Longsight in Manchester to one of the NFL’s most storied franchises.

IT’S hard to avoid this repeated hand wringing about the NFL and its inability to stay opaque in our overwhelmingly transparent era of journalism.

Charlie Sheen has offered to give a waiter $1,000 after he was left a 20 cent tip by an NFL star.

A family friend, who spent about 40 years in America, was a regular visitor at Lincoln Financial Park, home of the Philadelphia Eagles.

A stunning comeback sent the Indianapolis Colts through to the next round of the NFL play-offs at the expense of the Kansas City Chiefs as the post-season got off to a thrilling start.

The NFL play-off picture was completed on Sunday with a dramatic final series of regular season games delivering big results for the Green Bay Packers, the Philadelphia Eagles and the San Diego Chargers.

The NFL couldn’t have scripted it much better heading into the last week of the regular season.

The Green Bay Packers needed their biggest comeback in history on Sunday to somehow keep their play-off hopes alive ahead of the long-awaited return of Aaron Rodgers from injury.

A win over divisional rivals Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday evening saw the Denver Broncos emerge from the toughest part of their NFL campaign relatively unscathed and in poll position in the AFC and will now retain home advantage throughout January’s play-offs.

I was going to kick off this Monday by saying that mental health had popped up on the agenda once again last week, but it doesn’t seem to drift too far from the agenda at any stage nowadays.

As mourners filed past the coffin of the slain John F Kennedy in the US capital, 140 miles away the Washington Redskins kicked off against the Philadelphia Eagles.