For the first time in the history of the PwC All-Stars, there are four candidates for the footballer of the year including two goalkeepers, David Clarke and Stephen Cluxton, writes John Fogarty.

After an injury-enforced lay-off Cian O’Connor is set for a return to jumping action this coming weekend in Germany. The Meath rider heads for Wiesbaden’s four-star meeting with his top horse Good Luck, along with Copain du Perchet and his newly-acquired Cybell.

Kildare football manager Cian O’Neill has urged supporters to cut Paddy Brophy some slack and give him the necessary time to readjust to life as a Gaelic footballer again.

Allow me to set the scene — in 2013, Dr Cian O’Neill arrived in Cork Institute of Technology to head up a new department called Sport, Leisure & Childhood Studies.

Cian O’Connor is hoping the celebrations that greeted the arrival on Wednesday of a second child, Cara Louise, to him and his wife Ruth will continue this weekend at the Global Champions Tour (GCT) final in Doha, Qatar.

Memories of how Dublin supporters took out their frustrations on the team’s bus after his championship debut keep Cian O’Sullivan’s feet firmly on the ground.

While much of the focus on links between Mayo and Kildare revolve around Cian O’Neill - the Lilywhite manager who served as coach with the westerners when they reached the All-Ireland final in 2012 - there are other connections between the counties.

Cian O’Neill has reiterated his annoyance with the rescheduling of Kildare’s Leinster championship game against Wexford.

Kildare boss Cian O’Neill bemoaned his side’s failure to put Clare away during their period of dominance along with the concession of so many “needless” frees.

Show jumper Cian O’Connor boosted his Olympic aspirations when runner-up in the Million Dollar Grand Prix in Ocala, Florida, last night.

Kildare 1-11 Limerick 1-10: Kildare recorded their fourth successive win in Division 3 at St Conleths Park yesterday to put them firmly on course for an immediate return to Division 2, but manager Cian O’Neill was left deeply unimpressed by their performance.

Cian O’Connor continued to demonstrate the Olympic credentials of Good Luck on Saturday, the pair finishing fourth in the five-star grand prix at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida.

Horse Sport Ireland has not ruled out taking the case involving Cian O’Connor to the Swiss federal courts.

New Kildare manager Cian O’Neill insists the huge expectations of the county’s passionate supporters will not have any bearing on his targets.

Show jumper Cian O’Connor yesterday said he had “no regrets” after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected his appeal against the debacle at the European Championships that cost Ireland a place in the Olympics.

Show jumper Cian O’Connor celebrated Christmas with a sixth-place finish in the Longines World Cup contest at London’s Olympia, yesterday.

New Kildare boss Cian O’Neill begins the search for his backroom team this week.

Kerry trainer Cian O’Neill explains to Michael Moynihan the philosophies behind success...

Cian O’Sullivan may have been helped off the field after Dublin’s semi-final replay victory over Mayo last Sunday, but Jim Gavin was bullish yesterday about the centre-back’s prospects of facing Kerry in the All-Ireland final.

Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) is confident it has a “valid” case as it prepares to file an appeal to the Federation Equestre International (FEI) Tribunal by today regarding the debacle at the European Championships that saw Cian O’Connor impeded in his round and Ireland denied a place in next year’s Olympics.

The director of show jumping for the Federation Equestre International, Capt John Roche, says he has no memory in his almost three decades with the organisation of a ground jury waiving faults accrued by a rider in a situation similar to that experienced by Cian O’Connor last Friday, writes John Tynan.

Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) is to “exhaust every possible avenue of appeal” after its protest over interference by a steward to Cian O’Connor’s round in the European Show Jumping Championships was last night rejected.

The mind games are underway. Cian O’Sullivan believes Kerry are better than they were when they won last year’s All-Ireland title and have superceded Dublin as favourites to lift the Sam Maguire Cup next month.

Ireland is joint second-last in the Furusiyya Nations Cup Series, but it was news to Cian O’Connor yesterday.

Mattie Kenny may have missed out on the Galway job at the end of last year but the Cuala manager hasn’t been passing on any secrets to Cian O’Callaghan or any of the club’s other Dublin players.

Dublin are on the brink of Allianz football league history but Cian O’Sullivan has admitted he’d prefer to have done it the stylish way.

Some called it tapping up, others described it as a coup, but there was little equivocation about Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s motives when he approached Mayo trainer Cian O’Neill in August 2012: the man had a plan.