A FEW of us spent a most enjoyable and rewarding hour in the company of three Irish football heroes of yesteryear on Monday morning as Tony Cascarino, Frank Stapleton and Paul McGrath mixed some astute analysis of the Premier League and Trapattoni’s Ireland with a few entertaining detours down memory lane.

IN the last recession during the 1980s the cream of a generation were forced to emigrate. It was an eminently forgettable period, except in the area of sport.

BEFORE the events of this week, the last time I had written about Roy Keane was in the immediate aftermath of his shock departure from the Stadium of Light when, amid the general air of gloom and doom on Wearside, I asked that people spare a thought for the owners of a public house in Sunderland who had just been forced to put their business up for sale.

JUST when you think you’ve heard all the great Irish football stories, along comes one that goes straight into the top ten.

IT seems that RTE can't make a sports quiz without a brolly being in it somewhere.