Sometimes there can be no excuses.

Galway captain Finian Hanley has been ruled out of the team to face Mayo in Sunday's Connacht SFC quarter-final clash at Pearse Stadium (throw-in 4pm).

Ballinasloe (Galway) 0-14 Kenmare Shamrocks (Kerry) 0-10

Michael Meehan will make his first start of this year's Championship when he lines out for Galway against Antrim in the All-Ireland SFC qualifiers tomorrow.

Galway manager Alan Mulholland has named an unchanged team for Saturday's Connacht SFC semi-final against Sligo in Salthill (throw-in 6pm).

After three years waiting for a Connacht victory on Irish soil, it was like two came at once for Galway yesterday in this emphatic win over Roscommon on their home patch.

Defenders Kieran McGrath and Keith Kelly will make their Championship debuts for Galway in Sunday's Connacht SFC quarter-final against Roscommon at Dr. Hyde Park (throw-in 4pm).

NOT even an 11th hour call from Kerry boss Jack O’Connor last week could persuade Tom O’Sullivan to change his mind over his inter-county retirement.

Galway manager Alan Mulholland has announced a 31-man squad for the 2012 Football Championship, but insisted he is 'not closing the door' on any players who have not made the initial cut.

Corkman Peter Creedon is expected to be ratified as the new Tipperary senior football manager next week, replacing John Evans.

It’s hard not to be impressed by the way Tyrone are going about their business and while it can be foolhardy to be basing championship notions on league form, the displays being produced by Mickey Harte’s men can’t be ignored either.

New Galway manager Alan Mulholland has selected his team for Sunday's Allianz Football League Division 2 encounter with Derry at Celtic Park (throw-in 2.30pm).

DERRYTRESK last night launched an appeal process ahead of Sunday week’s All-Ireland Club JFC final against Galway champions Clonbur after being slapped with a reported eight suspensions following their controversial semi-final win over Kerry’s Dromid Pearses in Portlaoise last month.

HIS sensational victory in last Saturday’s South Regional Cross-Country Championships in Hoover, Alabama will send Corkman Ciarán Ó Lionáird into Monday’s NCAAs among the medal favourites.

DERVAL O’ROURKE is out of next weekend’s World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar with a hamstring injury.

A Dublin man who broke into his neighbour’s home and attacked the family living there with a knife has been found not guilty by reason of insanity at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

A south Dublin man who slashed four neighbours with a knife told gardaí he had smoked cannabis beforehand and had been smoking it every night for about 20 years.

FOLLOWING his record-breaking run in Holland last weekend, Martin Fagan has returned to his training base at Flagstaff, Arizona, but he will be back in Ireland in two weeks when he will bid to become the first Irishman to win the Great Ireland Run in the Phoenix Park.

THE expression on his face as he powered his way up the home straight said it all as Drogheda athlete, Keith Kelly, buried 10 years of frustration at Santry Park yesterday by claiming the National senior cross-country title for the first time at the age of 31.

MARIA McCAMBRIDGE, who is currently well into her preparations for the Paris Marathon in just over a month’s time, will return to the scene of one of her greatest triumphs tomorrow when she contests the Woodies DIY national inter-club cross-country championships in Santry Park.

THE African dominance of global running was reinforced to stranglehold proportions at the world cross-country championships in Edinburgh yesterday where Ethiopians raced to all four individual gold medals and were deprived of gold in just two of the team races by their Kenyan neighbours who won both the senior and junior men’s contests.

THE terrain and climate might be more suitable than was the case when the European titles were up for grabs in Spain last December, but Ireland’s 21-strong team will still be up against it when the world championships take place in Edinburgh tomorrow.

The Irish team are in a positive mood despite two withdrawals ahead of this weekend's World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh.

Ireland's men's team have suffered two withdrawals ahead of next week's World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh.

ANDREW LEDWITH (Fr. Murphy’s) has been named on the Irish senior men’s team for the world cross-country championships at the end of the month in what could prove a very wise decision by the selectors.

MARTIN FAGAN’S hopes of a quick return to the US to complete his preparations for next month’s Houston Marathon were dashed yesterday when he failed to get a quick visa to re-enter the country.

ATHLETICS Ireland have been in touch with the Department of Foreign Affairs asking them for assistance in getting Martin Fagan’s status rectified so that he can re-enter the US and pursue his Olympic dream.

Galway 1-10 Derry 1-9

LAST year David Campbell made what might have seemed a disastrous financial decision — particularly for someone with a Masters Degree in Finance — when he sold up all his possessions and went to South Africa to pursue a career in athletics.

LIMERICK man Liam Reale added his name to the growing list of qualifiers for the European championships when he finished second in the elite men’s 1,500m race at last weekend’s Boston High Performance meeting.

PICKETS may continue to be placed at building sites operated by Collen Construction Ltd, campaign leader Richard Boyd Barrett warned last night.

Angry scenes continued at University College Dublin today as gardaí protected construction workers entering a building site.

A Garda was injured today when a protest in support of the Ballybrack Three turned to violence.

THE Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) was yesterday urged to withdraw from national pay talks as anger increases over the jailing of three Dublin construction workers.

FAMILY members of three building workers jailed for defying a High Court order yesterday urged a huge turnout at a protest rally in Dublin today.

The families of three jailed bricklayers have appealed to the public to join in a protest in Dublin tomorrow.

Three out of work bricklayers were today jailed for their part in a protest against a Dublin building firm which they claim refuses to employ local workers.

Three bricklayers from south Dublin face imprisonment for their part in an ongoing protest at a council house building site.

Keith Kelly and Pauline Kerley took top placings today in the annual adidas Irish Runner Challenge five mile race at the Phoenix Park.

MARK CHRISTIE qualified for both the European under-23 championships and the world student games with a career best performance in the 1,500m at the Solihull meet over the weekend and now the Mullingar athlete can’t wait for the BUPA Cork City Sports on Saturday.

HAYLEY YELLING, the European cross-country champion, will join Sonia O’Sullivan for the women’s 3,000m at the BUPA Cork City Sports on July 2 at The Mardyke.

SEAMUS POWER bids for a sensational ninth consecutive national inter-counties cross-country title on Sunday, and his training partner and arch rival, Peter Matthews, admits it will take a super human performance to dethrone the Clareman.