CANCER services and rising fuel prices were top of the agenda when Enda Kenny carried out a whistle-stop tour of Donegal yesterday.

BLACKPOOL pulled off an impressive victory over Tottenham to move five points clear of the Barclays Premier League relegation zone last night.

FOR 35 minutes, the few thousand who bothered to come to Croke Park to see the Dublin hurlers take on Tipperary in round two of the Allianz Hurling League on Saturday evening were left frustrated, disappointed.

ARSENE WENGER feels Arsenal’s disappointing Champions League exit against Barcelona now means his squad will not be “overloaded” as they aim to beat Manchester United to the domestic double.

ARSENE WENGER accepts his battle-weary Arsenal squad could do with the psychological boost of FA Cup victory at Barclays Premier League title rivals Manchester United tomorrow.

ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger and midfielder Samir Nasri are likely to face bans after being charged by UEFA for comments made to referee Massimo Busacca at the end of Tuesday’s Champions League defeat to Barcelona — and there could be more charges for the club’s media comments after the game.

WOE betide the Irish player that falls foul of Jonathan Kaplan’s whistle in Cardiff this Saturday evening, with the wrath of Kidney awaiting.

BARCELONA are the best side in the world by some distance, and possess its most exciting and devastating player in Lionel Messi, but even the greatest can occasionally do with some assistance from the referee.

MACEDONIA will come to the Aviva Stadium for today’s Euro 2012 qualifier with a simple game-plan — to attack Ireland from the first whistle.

WEXFORD YOUTHS advanced to the next round of the EA Sports Cup with a two-goal victory over a hard working Cobh Ramblers at a bitterly cold St Colman’s Park last night.

SOMETHING strange happened at Croke Park last Thursday week. Five points up and sucking diesel approaching half-time in the All-Ireland club final, O’Loughlin Gaels were blown out of it in the second half and eventually lost by 12 points to Clarinbridge. In doing so they became the third Kilkenny team to lose an All-Ireland club final in recent weeks.

IT TOOK until the second-half, but Kerry eventually showed their undoubted class in this Munster U21 football semi-final at the Gaelic Grounds last night.

JAMES MILNER insists Fabio Capello retains the full confidence of the entire England dressing room.

ROBIN VAN PERSIE maintains Arsenal still hold the destiny of the Barclays Premier League crown in their own hands and can use the “real blow” of recent disappointments to focus fully on delivering the title.

I DON’T think we’re going to end up in a GPO-type situation here. That is to say, it’s unlikely that in years to come hundreds of thousands will lay retrospective claim to having been in the Aviva Stadium on the evening of March 29, 2011 to witness the rising of the latest star in Irish football.

GAA chiefs have denied official Pat Fox has been sidelined from refereeing matches for refusing to upgrade a yellow card to Tyrone’s Ryan McMenamin against Donegal last month.

A CULTURE of fanatical greed in Irish public life has been laid bare by the Moriarty report, Enda Kenny told the Dáil.