Darran O’Sullivan: I’d love to playing soccer like Lionel Messi...

Darran is a fan of shepherd's pie, House of Cards, Dave McIntryre, Messi and especially Giggsy.

Fenit Harbour in Kerry was deemed the best place to land guns from the German ships, and it was decided that the rail network would be the best means of distribution of the weapons in the South-west, says Niall Murray

France 34 Ireland 13: First-half tries from Peter Claffey and James Ryan weren’t enough to secure Ireland’s first win in five Six Nations outings, as the French were too good at Narbonne.

Time and Time Again

Robert Blair Kaiser

While the words on the banner hung in front of Liberty Hall (‘We serve neither King nor Kaiser but Ireland’) still resonate a century on, representing the values of a patriotic anti-imperialist neutrality, they mask an historical reality that was a good deal more complex than is generally allowed (Letters, July 4).

Franz Beckenbauer has become the highest-profile casualty of Fifa’s probe into World Cup bidding after the German was provisionally banned for 90 days while he is investigated for refusing to cooperate.

Clare 1-12 Cork 0-11

HOW great is the gap between the official teaching of the Catholic Church, especially in the sphere of sexuality, and the actual practice and behaviour of Catholics? Thanks to an initiative by Pope Francis, we are about to find out.

Clare and Dublin will play in next Saturday’s All-Ireland senior camogie quarter-finals, having come through their play-offs at O’Moore Park.

Camogie’s new blood continued to progress today as Clare and Dublin won their play-offs at O’Moore Park to make it to the All-Ireland Senior quarter-finals.

This 200-year-old home is in great shape, with lovingly tended gardens. Tommy Barker finds it has been beautifully enhanced

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has hosted a private gathering at an Arizona resort for American billionaires who have pledged to give away at least half their wealth.

IT’S often I look in bewilderment at an article in the sports pages with an expression similar to those which Usain Bolt’s competitors convey as the Jamaican sprinter glides past like he’s on rails.

Franz Beckenbauer has explained why he has decided to step down from FIFA’s Executive Committee next year, saying he does not want to miss out on seeing his children grow up.

The Kaiser’s Holocaust

GERMANY legend Franz Beckenbauer has claimed England have been “stupid” to have been left facing a World Cup last-16 clash with Germany.

MATTHEW UPSON has warned Franz Beckenbauer that England will adopt the tactics that win the games and ignore his barbed comments about the Three Lions’ style of play.

FRANZ BECKENBAUER has predicted a place in the semi-finals for Germany at the World Cup, but warned them at the same time not to underestimate their opening opponents Australia.

ISN’T it funny how often, a seemingly innocuous trigger like the distinctive scent of drying paint will, without warning, jerk you back to a certain time and place.

THE internet has emerged as one of the greatest threats to rare species, fuelling the illegal wildlife trade and making it easier to buy everything from live baby lions to wine made from tiger bones, conservationists said yesterday.

THE couple responsible for the death of Baby P can be identified today after a court order protecting their anonymity expired.

Bayern Munich president Franz Beckenbauer has named Chelsea coach Guus Hiddink as the man he would most like to see in charge of his club next season.

Octuplets mother Nadya Suleman fired a non-profit group of nurses that helped care for her children, accusing the group of spying on her and reporting her to child welfare officials, her spokesman said.

The mother of the octuplets born in the US last month apparently has bigger worries than taking care of her 14 children, it was revealed today.

THOUGHT for a minute there that I’d come up with a wizard idea for this week’s column. Letter From Tbilisi, I was going to call title it, beneath which I’d pen the single word, ‘oops’.

Prince Frederic von Anhalt, the husband of actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, said today he plans to file a paternity challenge to gain custody of Anna Nicole Smith's infant daughter.

BAYERN MUNICH president Franz Beckenbauer has opened the door for Manchester United to sign England midfielder Owen Hargreaves, but only if they stump up €30 million.

Franz Beckenbauer will be standing for the role as Bayern Munich president once again at the club’s Annual General Meeting in November.

Franz Beckenbauer has called for a footballing summit to crack down on diving and cheating.

SOME vital points regarding 1916 have been totally ignored not only by official Ireland, including all sides of the Dáil, but in the media and among the clergy.

The editor-in-chief of the newspaper whose cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed sparked a worldwide furore today said he had no plans to resign over the issue.

JYLLANDS-POSTEN, the Danish newspaper that first published the cartoons of the prophet Mohammed that have caused fury throughout the Islamic world, refused to run drawings lampooning Jesus Christ, it emerged yesterday.

FRANZ BECKENBAUER, president of the World Cup 2006 organising committee, has hit back at a report which claims some of the venues for this summer’s tournament are not up to scratch.

Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson is eyeing a walk-on part in Australian soap opera Neighbours.

POPE Benedict will watch the most important matches of next year’s World Cup and believes Germany has a strong side, World Cup chief Franz Beckenbauer said after meeting the Pontiff yesterday.

A Roman Catholic bishop was shot to death near his church in northern Kenya last night, the Vatican Embassy in Nairobi said.

WEST GERMANY’S 1974 World Cup winner Franz Beckenbauer has refused to rule himself out of the running to succeed Lennart Johansson as UEFA president in 2006.

GERMANY’S football legend Franz Beckenbauer let his wife find out he planned to divorce her by letting her read about it in the local media.

The 75th anniversary of the first east-west crossing of the Atlantic by air will be marked this weekend by a repeat flight in a modern-day propeller aircraft.

German soccer legend Franz Beckenbauer has left his wife because he wants to spend more time with his illegitimate son.