The received wisdom for Leinster’s loss was poles apart in the moments after Saturday’s final whistle and in the hours that followed when thousands of post-mortems had been undertaken in the pubs and eateries around Newcastle.

Late points from Conner Hegarty, Dylan Downes and Keith Smyth saw Clare over the line in a tight and tense curtain raiser in Walsh Park that was level seven times.

Nothing has typified the indomitable will of both Leinster and Ireland in recent years so much as their habit of sticking the knife into opponents in the moments and minutes approaching half-time.

The agony and ecstasy riff is a familiar one in sport but rarely can it have had a more literal application than to the bittersweet situation in which Alan Judge found himself at the conclusion of Ireland’s 1-1 draw with Denmark in Copenhagen in June.

Garry Doyle halflength cut Saipan: The year was dominated by that single word. Chances are no-one in Irish football had ever heard of the place before but by the time 2002 was out, it was as infamous as the other distant battlefields young Irishmen had fought in — Ypres, Gallipoli, and the Somme.

Last Sunday’s All-Ireland final was the epitome of edge-of-the-seat viewing. The fact that the build-up was more subdued than normal is likely to have contributed to the surprise element of such heightened tension on the day.

Vermont-born singer-songwriter Sam Amidon will be in Cork next week to performing his tribute to Harry Smith and “his wild and woolly Anthology of American Folk Music”. The gig takes place at Live St Luke’s as part of the Sounds From A Safe Harbour festival on Sunday, Sept 15, at 5.30pm.

The case of a woman who was accused of witchcraft in Co Cork and prosecuted at a sensational trial in 1661 forms the plot of a new opera by the acclaimed avant-garde composer, Raymond Deane.

Kya deLongchamps is gasping for a cuppa from the best-performing and most stylish kettles of the season

They start in August, the recurring back-to-school dreams.

Georgie Kelly was UCD’s leading scorer last season with 14 goals to greatly help their promotion push last year before his summer move to Oriel Park.

Shane Duggan’s 93rd-minute penalty rescued a point for Waterford at RSC yesterday.

The Grace investigation into claims a severely disabled mute woman suffered decades of sexual abuse at a State foster home has asked to delay its findings until the end of the year — pushing back the start of inquiries into 46 other cases at the home.

Hendrick’s sweet volley handed Burnley the lead against the run of play, Chelsea failing to clear a corner.

“Goodison is no place to go with a Spanish hangover,” fretted your pessimistic correspondent here last week, although not even I thought the week would turn out quite this badly.

Tiger, eh? I have to confess I didn’t echo the calls for his canonisation last weekend. I’m not a golf man, for one thing, and I find Tiger Woods a fair turn-off, to put it mildly.

Hard work did a young Na Piarsaigh side make of this first-round Cork SHC clash.

A 1-6 haul for Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh was enough for Kerry to book their place in the Lidl National League Division 2 final, where they’ll face either Cavan or Waterford in two weeks’ time.

An injury-time point from Pa Cronin secured victory for Bishopstown in this hugely entertaining Cork SHC first-round clash.

This Cork senior hurling championship round 1 game didn’t survive to half-time as a contest, with a vastly experienced Sarsfields side putting away Kanturk with a devastating first-half scoring burst.