THIS club hurling championship must be one of the strangest competitions around.

LIVERPOOL manager Kenny Dalglish knows he has some tough calls to make as he seeks to end Manchester City’s unbeaten start to the Barclays Premier League season.

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.

DUBLIN’S All-Ireland winner Stephen Cluxton has made contact with Tomás Ó Sé to explain he did not mean any disrespect by kicking away the All-Ireland final ball presented to him by the Kerryman after September’s dramatic decider.

HE began the game on the bench but by the full-time whistle, Joseph Barry had made a defining contribution in tipping yesterday’s Dr Harty Cup Group C encounter in Charleville, in the direction of St Flannan’s.

MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!

DROM & Inch goalkeeper Damien Young said the final whistle in last Sunday’s Tipperary SHC final had brought a “pure release of energy” from the team and supporters.

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.