OUT ON a hurling field temporarily set up for a hot afternoon of competition in New Jersey recently, the big NYPD detective who had offered to stand in goal for us explained why he was better than we’d expected.

A man who shot the “doting” father of a 3-year-old in Blarney, Co Cork, and claimed he had only been trying to scare off the victim, was yesterday found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.