Conor McGregor’s up-and-down year in MMA made him Ireland’s most googled sports personality, edging out Gareth Bale and the worldwide clicks leader, Oscar Pistorius.

During the week I wrote a blog for the paper on the fate of Kevin Ware, the American basketball player who suffered a horrific injury last weekend.

Horrified team-mates wept as a player’s leg bone snapped during one of the most closely watched US college basketball games of the year.