Cork selector Ger Cunningham says players and managers are looking for hurling referees to be more consistent in their officiating.

The focus of the Gaelic football community was trained on Croke Park that Sunday in mid-April but a short distance south from those Division 1 league semi-finals was a game of huge significance irrespective of the lower grade.

Last year’s beaten finalists Fr O’Neills came from six points down with five minutes to go to fashion an unlikely two point victory over Barryroe in the opening round of the Cork IHC at Ballygarvan yesterday.

Clare selector and former Mayo midfielder Liam McHale has called on the GAA to ban blanket defences at underage level.

County boundaries have always provided the most fertile of grounds for deep-seated rivalries in the GAA but some enmities are bred by means other than geography.

Balotelli.

THINGS ain’t what they used to be.

Leinster’s second-string put in a first-class performance at the RDS last night as they scored eight tries on the way to an impressive annihilation of a sorry Edinburgh side.

As GAA trends go it’s been a curious one. When the dejection at losing the 2010 All-Ireland final had dissipated, Down could at least reflect that they were not far from the top with one point separating themselves and Cork at the final whistle.

Barcelona defender Eric Abidal is recovering well after undergoing a liver transplant on Tuesday, club president Sandro Rosell has said.

Borussia Dortmund moved a step closer to a successful defence of their Bundesliga title thanks to a win over their nearest rivals, Bayern Munich, last night.

They may be meeting for the first time this season but there is plenty of familiarity between Cork and Kerry ahead of tonight’s provincial showdown in Austin Stack Park.

Falling in love with the game. Falling out of love with the game. And now, after years of thinking his chance had passed him by, the opportunity to represent his country at the European Championship finals. West Brom and Ireland midfielder Keith Andrews tells his story

Douglas, Cork €267,500

THE other day, Cheryl Cole had a lovely dream.

When Fernando Torres’ goal hit the net, I literally held my head in my hands in stunned and silent disbelief before going absolutely mental, joyous screaming and punching the air with utter abandonment.

AT the end of a beautiful West Cork peninsula, a simple plaque marks the site of a former industrial school that housed inmates known locally as ‘blue legs.’

The team selection against Arsenal demonstrated once and for all (had confirmation been necessary) where the priority for this season lies. Eight changes from the team that faced Barcelona had me fearing the worst but we managed to nullify the threat of Van Persie and without him on song, Arsenal have very little else to offer — the one-man team label looks more than accurate.

The provincial spotlight is set to remain firmly focused on Leinster and Ulster this week as Munster are at least a week away from announcing who will fill the hot seat on Tony McGahan’s departure at the end of the season.

If ever a game encapsulated the topsy-turvy nature of results and performances in football’s top-flight this season then this was it.