I don’t know whether it was shock or despair or whether he was hoping something light would lighten the shock and despair, but Damian Martin was somehow trying to introduce a sense of hope after yesterday’s game in Tullamore.

For sports columnists in search of topics to write about, there’s always a swivelling quality — swivelling, I said — to the days running up to deadline.

Ireland has come some way in tackling inequality in the past 40 years but still has a long way to go towards gender equality at the top of organisations, says Kyran Fitzgerald

Rockboro Avenue’s Annville has been fully rebuilt from the ground up and was then extended, finds Tommy Barker.

Limerick’s net casts wider than ever before as proven by the presence of Kildimo-Pallaskenry’s Kyle Hayes and Feoghanagh-Castlemahon’s Seamus Flanagan in last year’s All-Ireland final team.

Leave beige in the shade with this season’s new power palette, says Annmarie O’Connor.

Whenever Cork City host Derry City, memories of the title decider at Turner’s Cross in 2005 inevitably loom large. In this long-running tale of two cities, Cork’s 2-0 win in front of a packed house remains the stand-out chapter.

Last week I pressed ‘send’ to an email, before immediately regretting it as I walked into my kitchen. I’d just arranged a meeting with someone who’d never been to my house and my messy kitchen didn’t strike me as visitor friendly, writes Tric Kearney

Gareth Bale was once again feeling the heat

I’m conscious that I write about coaching on these pages quite a lot, but it’s not the case that I’m claiming to be some sort of all-seeing, all-knowing Oracle.

IN A previous life, the comedian Chris Kent used to work as an electrician. He says on stage that whenever he used to see a fire engine whistling past on his home patch, Cork city, he’d bless himself — in case his wiring work might have caused the fire.

It was the final whistle for former Dublin footballer Denis Bastick, who last night became the sixth

Meath snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to take a major step in their quest for a return to top-tier football with this victory in driving snow at Páirc Tailteann yesterday.

Dublin’s second-half revival secured a deserved five-point win at a damp Dr Hyde Park, a result which was harsh on their hardworking hosts.

After exchanging a few heated words with the Clare sideline in the closing minutes, John Kiely was a model of diplomacy and even bonhomie upon Paud O’Dwyer’s final whistle.

Goals from Con O’Callaghan and Dean Rock enabled Dublin to maintain their push for a berth in this year’s league final after overcoming a spirited Roscommon challenge in wet conditions at Dr. Hyde Park.

The ever-dependable Scott Deasy came to the rescue of defending All-Ireland League champions Lansdowne as his late penalty guided them to a tense 25-24 victory over a stubborn Young Munster

The Kilmacud Crokes-Craobh Chiaráin Dublin league game threw in yesterday morning at 10.30am.

Clare just about beat Wexford to the tape in this hugely entertaining NHL 1A encounter in Ennis, the visitors coming back from 14 points down to within two with time running out.

The Ireland Women matched their hosts' four-try haul in Parma but were made to pay for some sloppy defending as they lost to Italy for the first time ever in the Women's Six Nations.