Stoke midfielder Dean Whitehead believes there are few strikers in the top flight better than Peter Crouch at the moment.

Many great minds in football — and Alan Shearer — have struggled to explain how Chelsea have gone from being serial losers to serial winners in the space of just a few weeks, from a team which was written off as, appropriately enough, almost pensionable, to one which can now look forward to Champions League and FA Cup semi-finals.

Remember Perpignan!

The French champions are under reconstruction, but write them off at your peril

Croatia captain Dario Srna has tipped Ireland to get a result against Spain on Thursday after praising Giovanni Trapattoni’s team following Sunday’s 3-1 win.

It’s the kind of complicated, high degree of difficulty flick you really only see nowadays on the very biggest occasions.

At half-time and facing a nine-point deficit having only managed two points from play Limerick manager Maurice Horan put one simple question to his players — “what are ye doing?”

Ahead of our departure for Poznan, we caught Poland’s dramatic 1-1 draw with Greece on television in Sopot last night.

Carry on Cullen, 71 not out

ENDA’S Dáil M for Merkel mystery continues to linger.

Where have you gone Shay Given — a nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

In one of those peculiar, yet typically frequent, twists of footballing fate, Harry Redknapp now needs a favour from the last man who, little over a week ago, represented his biggest rival.

Juventus last night won their first Serie A crown since 2003 as a Diego Milito hat-trick sunk title rivals AC Milan.

After a closely contested hour in Mallow, St Michael’s held out for a narrow one-point win over Kiskeam in the opening round of the Cork Premier IFC.

Having produced a fantastic team performance for 55 minutes, the Kildorrery players were out on their feet in the final stages of this IFC opening round clash at Rathcormac on Saturday but still did enough to survive a late Glanmire onslaught.

Brian Cody was his usual self at the full-time whistle in Thurles yesterday.

Notwithstanding the fact that this year’s final boasts a collision of two modern heavyweights, the FA seems to be going out of its way to further dull the sheen of the once revered trophy which still bears its name — albeit now with a certain brew on the side.

Tuesday night training session in the Bronx. The whistle blows and powerful New York full forward CJ Molloy stiff arms his marker and shoves him away.

From film to fashion, movies to music, food to travel, our critics reveal their Hot 100 choices for the summer.

Using the most sophisticated technology of the time, the Eucharistic Congress of 1932 captivated the country, writes Dan Buckley