"He treated me like an animal, like a dog. I was frozen solid with fear. He said if I told anybody, God would take my mum and dad and it was my fault."

Mary Cullen came perilously close to walking away from athletics.

Shamrock Rovers 2 Dundalk 2

Michael Clifford writes that Maurice McCabe is the driving force behind changes in Garda culture, a report criticises consistency in dealing with care orders, Liam Mackey pays tribute to Ray Treacy and a US mother leaves her dsabled son in a wood for a week. These are some of the latest and most read news on irishexaminer.com.

I have to say that Twitter comes into its own on sad occasions such as the passing of the great Ray Treacy and I’m sure it must come as some considerable consolation to his nearest and dearest to see the outpouring of affection and admiration on the internet which has shown no sign of drying up since the shocking news of his death emerged.

The time comes in every columnist’s life when he is forced to offer a glossary, and for me that time is now.

This time of year is all about being Irish.

Signing for Shamrock Rovers is a homecoming in more ways than one for Stephen McPhail, representing not just a return to the country of his birth after 19 years in English football but also to the team he supported in his youth.

Mary Cullen is planning to skip the indoor season in a bid to win a medal at the European Track and Field Championships in Zurich this summer.

By Will Downing

David McCarthy came close to breaking the US collegiate record for the mile with victory in the Boston University Terrier Invite Meet on Saturday (3:55.75).

WORLD youth racewalking champion Kate Veale (West Waterford), finished third in the junior women’s race at the prestigious McCain UK Cross Challenge in Bristol over the weekend.

GREETINGS from Moscow where, with our usual sense of timing, we arrived here late on Sunday night and managed to miss the Russian capital’s annual ‘City Day’ by a matter of hours.

THE winners of the senior men’s and senior women’s titles at Saturday’s Woodies DIY national inter-clubs cross-country championships at Santry Demesne are not interested in going to the world cross-country championships in Punta Unbria, Spain, on March 20.

SHANE QUINN (De La Salle, Waterford) was an impressive winner of the senior boys’ title at the AVIVA Munster Schools cross-country championships at the CIT Campus, Bishopstown, yesterday.

WHEN David McCarthy finished third in the Manchester Road Race on Thanksgiving Day, medal hopes for Ireland’s U23 men’s team at Sunday’s European cross-country championships in Albufeira shot through the roof.

WITH Ciarán Ó Lionáird committed to competing and David McCarthy set to return from Providence, the task of putting together a medal winning under-23 team for the European cross-country championships should be completed on Sunday at the Woodies DIY national inter-county cross-country championships at Gransha Park, Derry.

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.

A visit to the Aviva Stadium the night before last, for the launch of John Giles’ autobiography, in the company of a jovial cast of hundreds including Nobby Stiles, Liam Brady, Eamon Dunphy, Ray Treacy, Mick Martin, Packie Bonner and many more familiar faces from the world of football.

ROBBIE KEANE was celebrating on the double last night after he scooped both international player and international goal of the year at the 20th FAI International Awards.

ANDY REID is the victim of an ‘over-reaction’ from Giovanni Trapattoni on the night his international future was thrown into limbo – so says Ray Treacy, who was a bystander on the fateful evening in 2008.

COACH Ray Treacy insists it will take a massive performance to deny home hope Mary Cullen the gold medal in tomorrow’s SPAR European cross-country championships at Santry Demesne.

ALISTAIR CRAGG has made no secret of the fact that he fancies his chances in tomorrow’s SPAR European cross-country championships at Santry Demesne and his arrival yesterday added to the air of excitement that surrounds the Irish camp, situated just a stone’s throw from what is a resplendent course.

ALISTAIR CRAGG will get his place on the Irish senior men’s team for the SPAR European cross-country championships if he proves his fitness in tomorrow’s 5k road race in San Jose.

Mary Cullen has finished first in the senior women’s race at the Woodie’s DIY Inter County Cross Country Championships at Kilbeggan this afternoon.

QPR’s Martin Rowlands has been called into the Irish squad as Giovanni Trapattoni continues to sweat on a number of players who are nursing injuries in the run-up to Saturday’s big game against Italy at Croke Park.

Ireland’s top athletes will begin their quest for medals early tomorrow morning when the European Indoor Track and Field Championships begin at the Oval Lingotto in Turin, Italy.

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.

ROISÍN McGETTIGAN, who broke one of Sonia O’Sullivan’s old records when she finished fourth in the Reebok Women’s Mile at the Boston indoor meeting on Saturday, has been included in the Irish team for next month’s European Indoor Championships in Turin.

MARY CULLEN managed to win back some pride for Ireland with a fine fourth place in the senior women’s race at the SPAR European Cross-Country Championships in Brussels yesterday as Martin Fagan could only watch from his knees as his medal hopes faded after a crashing fall in the senior men’s race.

MARTIN FAGAN will go to the line among the favourites for tomorrow’s senior men’s race at the European cross-country championships in Brussels but the Mullingar Harrier knows it will be difficult to improve on last year’s seventh placing in Toro.

MARK CARROLL, who held national records from 3,000m to 10,000m and represented Ireland on the track at every level up to and including two Olympic Games, will make a belated European cross-country championship debut in Brussels next month.

ANDREW LEDWITH turned in the finest performance of his career to date when he finished third in the NCAA championships at Indiana State University yesterday.

HOLLY KNIGHT will be a new face on the Irish U23 women’s team for the European cross-country championships in Brussels on December 14.

IRELAND’S men’s under-23 team are capable of winning medals at this year’s European Cross-Country Championships, according to Mark Carroll.

A SMILING Roisin McGettigan last night compared the Beijing Olympic experience to her Community Games career after securing a place in tomorrow’s 3000 metre steeplechase final (2.30pm, Irish)

RACE walking legend Robert Korzeniowski arrives in Beijing today to help Robert Heffernan put the finishing touches to his preparations for tomorrow morning’s (2am Irish time) 20km walk.

ALISTAIR CRAGG is favourite to win the Woodies DIY National Cross-Country Championships at his first attempt in Belfast this afternoon.

THE Olympic qualification hopes of athlete Martin Fagan suffered a major blow last night when he was refused re-entry into the US as he returned from Sunday’s European Cross-country Championships in Toro.

MARTIN FAGAN can’t wait to line up for Ireland at the European cross-country championships in Toro, Spain, on Sunday.

JOANNE CUDDIHY took Irish women’s 400m running to a new level at the world championships in Osaka yesterday when she set the national record at a world class 50.73 secs and only narrowly missed out on a place in the final.

SEAN KELLY has dismissed as a “fallacy” the notion that the recent upsurge in sports funding and facilities will mean that all Irish athletes will soon train full-time in this country.

IRISH athletes Rose Anne Galligan and Thomas Chamney were among the big guns in US college track and field when their names appeared in Trackwire.com’s Dandy Dozen rankings ahead of the indoor season.

MARY CULLEN is ready to challenge for a medal in the senior women’s race at the SPAR European cross-country championships at San Giorgio su Legnana, near Milan, tomorrow but would be happy with a place in the top five or six.