Larry Ryan - Treating the week’s sport like scum

It’s an unlikely pairing, I know, but my mind has been drifting between former president Mary McAleese and former footballer Jamie Carragher.

Jamie Carragher can console himself that there’s always someone worse off.

Jamie Carragher has promised to “apologise again properly” over a spitting incident as he thrashes out his future with Sky Sports following his suspension yesterday.

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has been suspended from his duties as Sky Sports analyst.

The former Liverpool defender, and Sky pundit, arrived in London this morning to meet with his bosses after he appeared to spit at a 14-year-old girl.

Jamie Carragher has apologised to a 14-year-old girl for appearing to spit at her after Manchester United beat Liverpool 2-1 at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Diego Costa last night made a goalscoring return to Atletico Madrid with a second-half strike in their comfortable 4-0 Copa de Rey win at Lleida.

Virgil van Dijk is ready to prove his worth by helping Liverpool win more trophies after Southampton agreed to sell the centre-back in a world-record £75m deal.

They could make a film about Liverpool optimism; Gone In 60 Days.

Jamie Carragher believes "99 per cent of footballers" have made horrific tackles in the same category as the one Neil Taylor made on Seamus Coleman during last weekend's World Cup qualifier in Dublin.

They don’t half put you through it. Three points always make a difference to the mood but there was no real improvement in the performance.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic knows what’s coming. “I respect every decision,” he said on Saturday, when asked about the prospect of retrospective punishment for elbowing Bournemouth defender Tyrone Mings in the face.

Jamie Carragher feels Leicester's performance in a 3-1 victory over Liverpool vindicates the criticism meted out to the Foxes players in the wake of Claudio Ranieri's sacking as manager last week.

There’s been some fanciful talk that, with Manchester United’s 0-2 win away to Zorya — and its confirmation of Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s belated arrival as a significant influence — Jose Mourinho might well have negotiated one of those famous ‘turning points’ so beloved of teams in, to put it at its most charitable, transition.

A point two minutes from time from Mayo midfielder Barry Moran clinched Castlebar's place in the AIB All-Ireland club SFC final for the second time in three years.

Small wonder nobody can figure this team out. You don’t know what you’re watching from one week to the next.

Rafael Benitez has hit back at claims from Sam Allardyce that he had nothing to do with Liverpool’s 2005 Champions League success.

Everton 1 Liverpool 1: Liverpool began their search for a new manager last night after the club’s owners Fenway Sports Group sacked Brendan Rodgers.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is once again suffering death by legends as the club’s high profile former players line up to criticise his tactics — and the big question now is ‘How much longer can he last?’

Manchester City are about to find out whether Raheem Sterling has the ability to justify his enormous price tag or is just another over-rated young English footballer motivated purely by his bank balance.

Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling did not report for training yesterday after claiming he’s ill.

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has praised his old club for getting ahead of the game in the transfer market as a sixth summer signing edges closer in the form of Southampton’s Nathaniel Clyne.

Liverpool’s hard-line stance in an increasingly acrimonious stand-off over the future of Raheem Sterling will not impact on the player in the short term.

Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling has come under a withering attack from two of the club’s former stalwarts over his apparent reluctance to sign a reported £100,000 (€139,000) per week contract.

PREMIER LEAGUE

The pipes, the pipes are evidently calling Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling,

Police in Glasgow have located a man they believe is seen on CCTV speaking to missing Cork student Karen Buckley, Players' Union chief says Raheem Sterlling needs understanding for laughing gas incident, a physics quiz to get your mind working and how to get a free ice cream today. These are some of the latest and most read news on irishexaminer.com this lunchtime.

Luis Suarez graced the Anfield turf again last night and vowed that if he ever returned to England, it would only be to play for Liverpool.

Jamie Carragher, a childhood Everton supporter turned Liverpool legend, says that the one player currently in blue he’d love to see playing in red is Irish international James McCarthy.

When Cristiano Ronaldo collected his third Ballon d’Or in January, it was to almost universal acclaim, based on a recognition that the award had indeed gone to the greatest player on earth in 2014, as evidenced by his Champions League medal and a staggering 56 goals for Real Madrid.

Claire 1-11, Armagh 3-11:

Premier League

Two county team physiotherapists have expressed concern about how many players are opting for surgery as a "quick fix" solution to injuries.

Armagh 1-10, Fermanagh 1-10:

No matter how successful they might go on to be in management or anything else associated with the game - Liam Mackey writes - I’ve yet to hear a former footballer suggest that his new career ever comes even close to replicating the buzz he experienced as a player.

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard will leave his boyhood club this summer with a heavy heart but he plans to return in a different role in the future.

Jamie Carragher thinks Liverpool did not do enough to prevent Steven Gerrard’s "surprise" exit from Anfield.

Social media has been alight overnight with the news that Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is set to announce today that he is to leave his boyhood club at the end of the season.