It was the only time he took it lying down — beaten but far from broken.

AS someone who has admired Eamon Gilmore on a personal basis, and who regards him as a deeply honourable and committed politician, I believe he did the right thing yesterday afternoon.

Dublin Writers Festival hit the right note with an engaging programme, says Orlagh Ní Arrachtain.

This is what you get when you falsely promise a democratic revolution. Three years ago, Enda Kenny looked the electorate in the eye, struck that ham actor pose of his, and promised that he would usher in a "democratic revolution". He and his government did no such thing. Last Friday, the electorate declared that they won’t get fooled again.

LEINSTER SFC QUARTER-FINAL:

South Africa couldn’t afford it. Brazil doesn’t want it. Russia mightn’t be right for it. Qatar shouldn’t have got it.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been re-elected in a landslide yesterday, capturing another seven-year term in the middle of a bloody three-year-old uprising against his rule that has devastated the country.

THE Government’s Green Paper on Energy Policy in Ireland, which is out to public consultation until the end of July, reads like a manuscript from the past discovered during an archaeological dig.

Famous for whale watching, and with a limit of 150 visitors at any one time, Lady Elliot is a castaway paradise island.

England’s repeated failure from 12 yards at World Cups prompted Ben Lyttleton to go in search of the perfect penalty kick.

In Brazil, another generation of France’s mix of ‘black, blanc, beur’ (black, white, Arab) will try to unite the country through football, writes Eoin O’Callaghan.

Parades, bands, flags.

MUNSTER SHC QUARTER-FINAL REPLAY:

Jimmy Barry-Murphy was sharp and to the point at the final whistle yesterday.

CONNACHT SFC SEMI-FINAL:

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin’s call for nothing short of a "full-bodied" judicial and independent investigation into every mother-and-baby home in Ireland effectively pre-empts the Government ‘scoping’ initiative to decide what kind of inquiry should be held into the mass burial of deceased babies.

Milford 0-6 Ardrahan 0-5

Kildare 1-21 Tyrone 3-16

Maybe it was the half-hour or so he took to put the subs through the drills after the final whistle but Jason Ryan was at least able to resort to humour by the time he got round to sharing his thoughts on being sucker-punched.

CIT 1-17 UCC 0-19