OFFALY boss Joe Dooley was circumspect about his future at the final whistle on Saturday afternoon.

IN a west London pub on Saturday night, packed to the rafters with boisterous Gaels, London attacker Eoin O’Neill was beckoned onto the stage for a song.

WITH little enough to keep us going at all these days, weeks like the one Rory McIlroy and Conor Niland gave us mean all the more. But even in better times, the life-affirming rallies known as Irish sporting bandwagons have been good to us.

SHELBOURNE Park will stage one of the most competitive Oaks finals in recent years tonight.

FORMER Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr sympathises with Northern Ireland’s continued loss of young talent to his old side and admits players switching allegiance “doesn’t sit right” with him.

GOLFERS arriving at Atlanta Athletic Club yesterday for this week’s PGA Championship were greeted with heat in the American south reaching three-digits on the heat index.

RORY MCILROY was a star long before he set foot on Augusta National this year but when you need security guards to patrol your back garden at night for fear of stalkers, you know you’ve reached the celebrity stratosphere.

FORGET the talk of a two-tier Europe.

NEWMARKET proved too strong for Ballinora in yesterday’s Cork Premier IFC fourth round clash at Macroom, but will have to wait for their quarter-final opponents as the second of the double headers ended in stalemate between Kiskeam and Naomh Abán.

BANDON withstood a late Dripsey comeback before eventually prevailing at Brinny on Saturday evening.

SUBSTITUTE Jordan Philpott’s 20th-minute goal proved the decisive score in this keenly contested fourth round tie at Riverstown on Saturday night.

I HOPE we’ll have a continuation tomorrow of the kind of entertainment we saw between Limerick and Cork in the Munster U21 final on Wednesday night.

Economist Jim Power is a proud Waterford hurling fan who believes sport can lift the mood of a nation

Diarmuid O’Flynn and John Fogarty argue both sides of the debate

DERRY CITY went top in Terryland Park last night as Galway United set a league record for consecutive defeats, last night’s loss being the 19th league game on the trot in which they have tasted defeat.

THE only source of surprise from Kerry’s All-Ireland Croke Park outing came long after the final whistle had blown as Mayo knocked All-Ireland champions Cork out of the race for Sam Maguire.

SPORTING a plaster across the bridge of his nose in Saturday’s post-match press conference, it appeared Jim McGuinness was also wearing the wounds of battle.

Ireland Under-19 0 Spain Under-19 5

SIXTH time here, five times a winner... All-Ireland quarter-finals are old hat to Jack O’Connor.

John Galvin has given his footballing life in the pursuit of glory with Limerick but now, with Croker in sight, the cruciate ligament injury victim will be forced to watch his teammates from the sidelines.