Sligo Rovers 3 Drogheda United 0

Anthony Elding said he couldn’t have written the script better as his dream ending to the season saw him win the FAI Ford Cup for Sligo Rovers.

Miroslav Djukic looked a dead coach walking after his Valencia side’s 1-2 home defeat to La Liga’s bottom club Almeria on Wednesday.

Newmarket-on-Fergus 0-15 Ballyea 1-07

I am glad I didn’t write this column immediately after the final whistle on Saturday, otherwise this would have been a rant of epic proportions (like you haven’t read that before).

Mount Leinster Rangers (Carlow) 1-15 Castletown-Geoghegan (Westmeath) 1-13

Ballinacourty 2-07 Dromcollogher-Broadford 0-11

Ballymun Kickhams 0-20 St Vincent’s 1-17 (aet)

Tipperary legend Brendan Cummins brought the curtain down on a glittering inter-county career last evening – with a record 73 SHC appearances under his belt.

A planning application to transform the State’s largest toxic waste dump into vast public parkland as part of a €40m clean-up is due to be lodged within weeks.

Republic of Ireland 3 Kazakhstan 1

Team selection may still be up in the air following Munster’s embarrassing defeat to Edinburgh but whoever faces Gloucester at Thomond Park on Saturday, head coach Rob Penney will send out a side desperate to atone for that shock Heineken Cup defeat.

Team selection may still be up in the air following Munster’s embarrassing defeat to Edinburgh but whoever faces Gloucester at Thomond Park on Saturday, head coach Rob Penney will send out a side desperate to atone for that shock Heineken Cup defeat.

St Patrick’s Athletic 2 Sligo Rovers 0

Apart from the early stages, Limerick played second fiddle to a well-drilled Cork outfit in the first-half but took over after the break, with their defence on top for the crucial last ten minutes.

Cork wing-back Tom Kenny believes that being short one man for the second half clearly affected the Leesiders’ performance in the punishing hot conditions in yesterday’s defeat to Limerick.

We can talk about the history in a bit, and before long we’ll get to Donal O’Grady, the Limerick captain, and his groundbreaking rendition of Limerick You’re A Lady, not to mention the best final-whistle pitch-invasion we’ve seen in many years.

So Kilkenny are an ageing, burned-out, exhausted side, playing their fourth big game in three weeks of the hottest weather we’ve had for years.

You can talk about development squads, you can talk about managers, you can talk about coaches, you can talk about backroom staff, but no one will ever do as much for hurling as the players.

When the great boxing trainer Eddie Futch stopped Joe Frazier from going out to face Muhammad Ali late on in Manila all those years ago, he had good reason.