REALITY is very quickly catching up with Quique Setien, whose first month in his dream job as Barcelona coach has not gone as he would have hoped.

Tiger weighed in for the first time on two significant stories – the proposed Premier Golf League that threatens to take stars away from the established PGA and European tours and the recently released yardage report from the R&A and the USGA.

His qualification completes a remarkable transformation in recent years given Scullion retired from the sport several times in his 20s before re-committing in 2015, at which point he was a regular smoker and drinker and weighed 85kg.

With the Chrismas clasico just a few weeks away, Barcelona and Real Madrid put on impressive weekend displays at the top of La Liga.

Paul Pollock has run the fastest marathon by an Irishman in 31 years, the 33-year-old smashing his personal best in Valencia to clock 2:10:25, which was a Northern Irish record.

ARSENAL likes to boast it is 'always ahead of the game.' Maybe they were, once, but now the club is in a mess of their own making having sacked head coach Unai Emery less than halfway through his second season in charge.

Lampard’s Chelsea face Ajax at Stamford Bridge tonight, knowing a repeat of their victory in Amsterdam two weeks ago should put them within touching distance of the Champions League knockout stages.

Four hundred friends packed into St Agatha's Church, Kingston in London today for the funeral service of Trizia Fiorellino, who wrote on all matters Chelsea for this newspaper.

For uninitiated members of the hockey bandwagon who joined in the last 18 months, they would be forgiven for thinking every contest ends in a shoot-out.

Gary Neville, the former Manchester United and England defender, believes Roy Keane is a significantly smaller managerial “risk” for clubs now than at any stage of his coaching career.

Ireland’s Under-21 women and men’s team salvaged upbeat wins to their European campaigns though the ultimate feeling will be of missed opportunities for both.

Edu has returned to Arsenal to become the club’s first technical director.

As I just wrote to friends living on a Mediterranean island: “It’s been summer here for the last few weeks, wonderful weather, 18C to 20C, but everything is very green or flowery, all the whitethorns in bloom and a procession of wildflowers in the ditches and on the old stone wall, mixes of colours and forms and vegetable constructions to take the breath away."

After seeing housing costs jump by more than 50% in the past five years, officials in Barcelona are moving to introduce Spain’s most aggressive rent controls.

SuperValu owner Musgrave is eyeing the potential roll-out of a standalone coffee shop chain as part of its expansion plans.

With visions of Mediterranean summers, there’s hardly a garden in the country that hasn’t been transformed into an outdoor living space supported by decking, patios and raised beds. But Spanish-born horticulturist Monica Alvarez is not impressed.

An Italian man accused of raping a British teenager on a Mediterranean cruise has been released without charge by Spanish authorities because of a legal loophole.

The annual Spanish Wine Week runs from next Monday (April 8) until the following Sunday (April 14) with wine and food events around the country. For a full list of events and promotions visit www.spanishwineweek.ie.

Young farmers can ensure their own future profitability by playing a lead role in the co-operative movement, according to the president of Spain’s leading agri co-op.

Spain captain Sergio Ramos scored for the fifth international in succession as his side made a winning start to Euro 2020 qualification against Norway.

Sergio Ramos scored the winner from the penalty spot as Spain recorded a 2-1 victory over Norway in Valencia to begin their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign.

What’s bugging Mo Salah? asks Liam Mackey.

So little about this Manchester United season has been extreme. This is a team with rounded edges, who send watching supporters and journalists into an slumber.

As I write this the weather has turned remarkably mild so I’ve abandoned my original topic of winter warming wines in favour of good value wines suitable for parties — parties can happen in good and bad weather after all. Christmas seems to start earlier and get more expensive every year so in the coming weeks I’ll try to keep value as much in mind as much as quality.

Martin O’Neill says he understands what James McClean is going through, having himself experienced hostility from the crowd at Windsor Park when, as a young Catholic during the Troubles, he first broke into the Northern Ireland team in the early 70s.

Unai Emery has set a mean stall out. On Arsenal’s pre-season tour of Singapore, the team coach drove by the hotel from the airport and straight to the training ground. A signal of intent to his new players, perhaps, and certainly an instant contribution to the ‘narrative’.

IT’S A beautiful day and we look out on a bay full of ferries coming and going and honking and hooting and waking us up earlier than we usually wake: they are going to Barcelona, to Valencia, to the next door small island of Formentera and to Talamanca, a beach across Ibiza Bay, writes Damien Enright.

The Irish women’s team’s Olympic Games hopes received a huge boost as they were confirmed as one of the host nations for the next phase of qualifiers for Tokyo.

Irish coach Alexander Cox is set to make his first significant squad announcement next Tuesday as the men’s hockey World Cup in India comes into view.

He smiled, charmed, and quipped his way through a relatively stern interrogation from the media yesterday but, after the dust had settled on Jose Mourinho’s press

Uefa has opened disciplinary proceedings over Cristiano Ronaldo’s red card against Valencia in the Champions League on Wednesday night.

The drop-top version of BMW’s instantly recognisable hybrid sports car is now on sale. Jack Evans heads out to Valencia to see what it’s like

Salah's shoulder injury should keep him out for a maximum of three weeks.

Rio Olympian Lizzie Lee insists age is no impediment to running fast marathons and says becoming a mother has actually helped her, physically and mentally, to get even quicker this year.

Investigators believe prisoners started the blaze that killed 68 people in one of the worst jail fires in Venezuela's history by setting some mattresses on fire, the country's chief prosecutor said.

Pep Guardiola has clearly won his private, and long-standing, feud with Jose Mourinho for this season at least but, to listen to beaten manager Carlos Carvalhal on Saturday, the all-conquering Catalan should make the most of his current dominance.

Easter is almost upon us and many of us will be preparing traditional roast lamb.

Variety and versality have marked this Cork musician’s journey to date, writes Cathy Desmond

A tale of two contrasting regions this week — Burgundy and Murcia in Eastern Spain.

Munster prop Dave Kilcoyne looks set to miss Ireland’s opening two games of the NatWest 6 Nations but Joe Schmidt is confident Ulster wing Jacob Stockdale will return to training by the end of the week.

James Cronin was the lucky recipient of a trip to Spain yesterday after an injury to Munster team-mate Dave Kilcoyne ruled him out of Ireland’s Six Nations warm-weather training camp.

January is a time to look ahead in hope and my main hope for 2018 is that independent, quality wine shops can stay in business. 

Wolves want to bring Robbie Keane back to Molineux to help them secure promotion to the Premier League.

Ryanair has announced extra flights on 40 different routes from Cork, Dublin, Knock and Shannon airports for summer 2018.