An Irish golfer holidaying in Spain had the shaft of a golf club embedded in the back of his head when a Spanish taxi went out of control and somersaulted into a ravine, the Circuit Civil Court was told yesterday.

Chelsea 5 Newcastle 1: Chelsea may be way off the pace in the Premier League, but they are still one of England’s big beasts and the gulf between them and Newcastle will be demonstrated clearly over the next week or so.

A week spent playing golf with two former Northern Ireland soccer players along with the acquisition of a very expensive putter has put Michael Hoey in contention at the BMW International Open in Munich.

Could your county board do with an extra €5m? Would your county board like this €5m to come in the form of one of those great Fifa loans that don’t actually have to be paid back?

Stephanie Roche’s plans to embark on a fresh club challenge face a race against time.

As Stephanie Roche first took her seat in the Kongresshaus in Zurich, she suddenly found herself alongside the 2013 world player of the year — and the man who would claim the Ballon D’Or again last night — but she wasn’t interested in Cristiano Ronaldo’s hopes of lifting it again.

Unlike her rivals for the Fifa Puskás Award, James Rodriguez and Robin van Persie, Ireland’s Stephanie Roche will be taking the rocky road to Zurich for the prize-giving ceremony on Monday week.

The best football manager I have ever met believes with every fibre of his being that "the best system wins".

The Republic of Ireland have been handed a tough task after being drawn to face 2009 winners England, 2012 victors Sweden and Spain in Group B of the Uefa Women’s U19 Championship finals in Norway this summer.

Republic of Ireland striker Stephanie Roche is hoping her winning goal against Switzerland at the Cyprus Cup yesterday will be the beginning of a hot streak.

Waterville ace David Higgins felt right at home in producing his lowest first round score in nine months and be just one shot off the lead on the opening day of the Spanish Open at Seville.

I noticed this week that a front cover of Sport — the free London magazine — has been nominated for UK magazine cover of the year.

THE night before Armagh played Roscommon in the 1980 All-Ireland semi-final Joe Kernan “rambled out for a drink to help me sleep”.

THERE was joy in southern Spain last night for four Irishmen who battled their way through Stage 2 of the European Tour qualifying process and now go forward to the marathon six-round decider beginning at Catalunya, Girona, on Saturday.

THE MAJORITY of the 13-strong Irish contingent at the second stage of the European Tour School in Spain remain in contention for places in next week’s final Tour School.

MUNSTER golfers Cian McNamara, Aaron O’Callaghan and David Higgins yesterday played themselves into promising positions after the first day of the second qualifying stage of the European Tour School at four venues in Spain.

YOU could be forgiven for thinking the end of the competitive golf season had finally arrived now we are almost into the month of December.

WHAT is it about this generation of Kerry player that their All-Ireland final appearances tend to get twinned with another?

Wigan midfielder James McCarthy is still undecided about his international future, according to his club manager Roberto Martinez.

Injured Munster captain Paul O'Connell has revealed that he has acted as waterboy during a recent training camp whilst recovering from injury – a role he is anxious to abandon.

Scotland’s Kylie Walker shot 64 to take a two-stroke lead after the first round of the Finnair Masters in Helsinki.

THE MEDICAL treatment is over, he has returned to the gym and the running track, and at last Paul O’Connell can think about playing rugby again.

Denis Leamy has been handed the captain's armband for Munster's seasonal opener against Leicester Tigers in Musgrave Park tomorrow (7pm).

The Munster squad and management have embarked on a week-long training camp in warm weather at La Manga in Spain.

IRELAND are within one match of completing back-to-back victories in the European Girls’ Team Championship after another highly successful day in Denmark.

IRELAND are within one match of completing back-to-back victories in the European Girls’ Team Championship after another highly successful day in Denmark.

CONNACHT GAA officials will make a decision tonight about whether they can stage Saturday’s ESB MFC quarter-final tie in Pearse Stadium between Galway and New York due to the air travel restrictions caused by the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland.

DURING the last decade of decadence anyone who visited an airport at this time of the year was almost certain to bump into a county squad destined for the sunny climes of the continent.

JUST over 20% of intercounty GAA teams went on an overseas holiday after the 2009 championship season and only one county has definite plans to send a team on warm weather training camp in 2010, according to a survey of the 32 GAA county boards in today’s Irish Examiner.

VICE-CAPTAIN Barry Cahill has admitted even he’d struggle to predict Dublin’s team for Sunday week’s Leinster SFC opener.

Shunsuke Nakamura is an injury doubt for Celtic’s Clydesdale Bank Premier League trip to Aberdeen after suffering a groin injury in training.

THE effects of the global downturn can be seen everywhere, and the lack of inter-county teams travelling for pre-season training in the sun is one example. But Brendan O’Brien met the man who found a silver lining in that particular cloud.

Manchester City have made an official approach for Hamburg midfielder Nigel de Jong, the Bundesliga’s director of sport Dietmar Beiersdorfer confirmed today.

Diarmuid Connolly's intercounty future with Dublin is in doubt after reports that the St Vincent's star was sent home from the county's Spanish training camp.

Dublin 0-06 Wicklow 0-09, Parnell Park

THEY have been the GAA’s Celtic Tiger equivalent of the New York shopping trip: fashionable, hassle-free and, according to many, excellent value for money, but the foreign training camp is in danger of becoming another victim of the recession.

Dublin 0-15 Offaly 1-07, Tullamore

DUBS STARS SENIOR FOOTBALL CHALLENGE MATCH: DUBLIN 2-11 DUBS STARS 2-11

CORK hurling manager Gerald McCarthy last night launched an astonishing attack on former All-Ireland winning skipper Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, accusing him of “flip flopping around the place and changing his mind about my abilities as a coach, to suit the agenda of the day”.

JASON SHERLOCK was one of 43 players named in new manager Pat Gilroy’s first Dublin squad yesterday.

Having hauled himself back from the brink of international obscurity, Jason White is determined to pay Scotland coach Frank Hadden back for giving him the opportunity to play against New Zealand on Saturday.

Scotland’s scrum-half crisis eased today following positive reports on the fitness of Rory Lawson and Mark McMillan.

HECTIC. That’s the first word that leaps to John Gardiner’s mind when you ask about the last few weeks for the Cork hurling camp.

Collective training existed before in the GAA, but it was never like this. The Cork and Tipperary hurlers went to warm-weather camps in Spain and Portugal, Kerry the same. Michael Moynihan put on the sunscreen and investigated