SUNDAY taught us that there are worse things in the world than not beating Norwich.

HERE are the Seven Steps, those psychological stages you go through after the ‘bereavement’ of a historic thrashing like Sunday’s.

JUST minutes after seeing his Shamrock Rovers side secure back-to-back titles in hugely dramatic fashion at the UCD Bowl, manager Michael O’Neill last night gave his strongest hint yet that he is committed to staying with the club — despite speculation linking him to the vacant Northern Ireland job, amongst other roles.

TOTTENHAM may have been able to recover from a grim start but it seems there will be no way back for Steve Kean.

ARSENE WENGER has always disliked the accusation that Arsenal are a one-man team, whether it be from the days of Thierry Henry or Cesc Fabregas, or now with Robin Van Persie.

ALL SQUARE at Nowlan Park yesterday, with 6,974 spectators seeing favourites Ballyhale Shamrocks level the Kilkenny SHC final deep in injury-time, depriving underdogs James Stephens a famous victory.

WITH a perfect sense of timing, today is a bank holiday in New Zealand.

LESS than 48 hours after being crowned Young Footballer of the Year, Cillian O’Connor fired Ballintubber to their second consecutive Mayo SFC title at a rain-soaked McHale Park, Castlebar.

SUDDENLY, it has all become crystal clear: Cork City will travel to Tolka Park next Saturday knowing that a win against Shelbourne will deliver the First Division title and promotion to the Premier Division.

GARRYOWEN gained vengeance for last year’s final defeat as they beat Bruff 19-9 in a keenly contested ODM Financial Munster Senior Cup decider at Thomond Park last night.

WITH a few weeks to go, I feel we are still at a safe enough remove from the European Championship play-offs for your (admittedly nervous) correspondent to make an unusually bold prediction: Ireland will qualify for the 2012 finals in Poland and Ukraine.

YOU would have got some odds on Manchester United scoring as many times as the winning side in Croke Park yesterday but Pat Gilroy wasn’t about to join in the chorus of disapproval that accompanied Donegal’s less-than-popular tactics.

ARSENE WENGER refused to consider stepping down after watching his side suffer their most humiliating defeat in 115 years and cited ‘special circumstances’ for the way his side were demolished by champions Manchester United at Old Trafford.

WORLD referees boss Paddy O’Brien is confident there’ll be no video howlers at the Rugby World Cup after firing off a memo instructing match officials to stay within IRB guidelines when calling on the man upstairs for a ruling.

Dublin are on the verge of qualifying for an All-Ireland final, something the county hasn’t done in 16 years. Paddy Christie will miss out on that experience but his passion for coaching is helping future generations of Dublin footballers win in all kinds of ways, and not just All-Irelands

CORK and Laois battle for an All-Ireland final place when the first of the Ladies senior football championship semi-finals is played in Cashel this evening (6pm, TG4).

Cork legend Ronan Curran on the highs and lows of a career in intercounty hurling

QUALIFICATION for the group stages of the Europa League? One million euro. The emotional reward for the players, staff and supporters of Shamrock Rovers? Priceless.

IN A snakeskin monokini and pink denim hotpants, Lea T emerges from a faux tropical portico and saunters into the bright lights.

IT’S been an interesting couple of weeks for Jimmy Barry-Murphy, and we’re not just referring to the fact that he celebrated his 57th birthday last Monday.