At one point yesterday, it was probably harder to find messages on social media platforms that were not about Paul O’Connell, as tributes flooded in for the Ireland rugby captain who has now played his last game for his country.

TV3 could bid against RTÉ for Irish TV rights to the Olympic Games if, as expected, free-to-air rights are sub-licensed to an Irish broadcaster.

The League of Ireland is facing a formidable threat to its future attendances after the English Premier League confirmed it will screen live Friday night games from 2016.

Sir Alex Ferguson will be honoured with a special Diamond award to mark the 60th anniversary of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year show in Leeds tonight.

The 11 host cities for the 2018 World Cup in Russia have been announced.

John Treacy has expressed his satisfaction with the performance of Team Ireland at the 2012 Olympics and welcomed sentiments from Minister of State for Tourism and from Sport Michael Ring that results in London will help augment the sector’s budget.

Team Ireland’s chef de mission Sonia O’Sullivan was not consulted when initial plans were being made for a medal winners’ homecoming, it has emerged.

IT was hardly blue murder, more a case of bureaucracy gone mad.

DUBLIN Marathon Race Director Jim Aughney yesterday had good reason to feel like a lottery millionaire with the announcement that the National Lottery is the new title sponsor for the October Bank Holiday weekend event.

RTÉ chiefs have expressed delight at securing the broadcast rights to next year’s Rugby World Cup.

“DUBLIN 2011 — The Final Adventure” is how UEFA are branding the Europa League final, which will take place at the Aviva Stadium on Wednesday May 18, 2011.

I HAVE stated a few times in this column that people underestimate Dessie Farrell at their peril. Some people in the GAA saw him as a soft touch but everything he has done has proven those doubters wrong.

MUNSTER chief executive, Garrett Fitzgerald, believes Munster could benefit long-term off the back of Tuesday’s hugely successful Zurich Challenge between the Heineken Cup champions and the All Blacks.

Italian state TV broadcaster RaiSport wants Fabio Capello to continue his work with the channel through to Euro 2008 – even if he becomes the new England head coach.

Villarreal are unlikely to win the Spanish title, but on the 13th day of the season they went mighty close to taking over from Real Madrid at the top of the league.

GARETH TURNBULL won’t be out of pocket as a result of the lengthy battle to clear his name after testing positive for a banned substance in 2005, the Irish Sports Council confirmed yesterday.

RTÉ yesterday announced details of its mammoth World Cup coverage plans.

THE GPA’s commercial director Donal O’Neill is hopeful that the Government can be persuaded to pass legislation early next year that will provide all inter-county hurlers and footballers with annual grants of between €1,000 and €2,500.

DOWN around Killorglin, they reckon that John O’Donoghue can walk on water. Certainly he was well able to make a splash when the local rowing club was out of its depth while building their new boathouse.

Richard Caborn stepped into the Liverpool bidding war today and stated that clubs have a fundamental duty to try and retain their links with the community.

SWIM IRELAND are confident the Irish Sports Council (ISC) will reinstate their funding within a month.

RTÉ have secured rights to broadcast 15 FA Barclaycard Premiership games live during the 2004/2005 season.

A joint FAI and IRFU delegation today presented the Minister for Sport with the results of a feasibility study into the building of a 65,000 all-seater stadium.

Minister for Sport, Dr Jim McDaid, said he would still like to see a partnership with the FAI on the new national stadium.