UNEASY lies the head that wears the crown is an old saying that applies very directly this week to sports managers.

THE exit signs at Breffni Park in Cavan are of exactly the same colour as the jerseys which the Ernesiders wore afield for their sun-drenched encounter with Monaghan in the Ulster championship.

THE difference between winning and losing sides is all too obvious but the disparity between the victorious Meath and Louth players after yesterday’s pair of Leinster semi-finals was truly revealing.

IT was a weekend of trials and tribulations for the Old Firm of Connacht football yet at the close of business in Pearse Stadium yesterday, Galway were still just about standing.

IT was another Connacht championship afternoon fraught with tension for Joe Kernan.

THE above were just some of the notes that I jotted down during a disappointing game in Pearse Stadium yesterday.

TROUBLE ahead for the Bride Rovers and Glen Rovers in Cork, after the mass brawl before half-time in their tempestuous Cork SHC clash in Páirc Ui Chaoimh yesterday.

FERNANDO TORRES was caught up in what FIFA would call a simulation controversy as Spain edged their way into the last 16 with a narrow 2-1 victory over 10-man Chile, but only after some theatrics from the Liverpool striker resulted in Marco Estrada being sent off.

WATERFORD will include five of the team which won last year’s Munster MHC for tonight’s semi-final against Cork in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

LOUTH forward JP Rooney admits he had little sympathy for under-fire referee Martin Sludden as he was bundled out of Croke Park last Sunday.

A WEEK may be a long time in politics but for Darren Clarke the last seven days have been among the sweetest of his career despite his failure to win the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond.

MEATH attacker Joe Sheridan insisted that his controversial goal which decided yesterday’s Leinster decider against Louth was legitimate.

WE SUSPECT whatever faint chances Louth had of being granted a replay vanished in those minutes when some rippling specimens of Wee County manhood waddled in to leave their mark.

THE howls of protest will gush from the Wee county deep into the summer and beyond but any slim chance of Meath offering a rematch disappeared into the ether within half-an-hour of yesterday’s astonishing end game.

LOUTH boss Peter Fitzpatrick last night insisted that if the GAA have ‘any decency’ they will replay yesterday’s Leinster SFC final.

WELL, one thing’s for certain — there won’t be a word this week about the World Cup final, certainly not in the north-east.

CROKE PARK stadium director Peter McKenna has promised that there will be wholesale review of the venue’s security operation after referee Martin Sludden was physically assaulted by spectators after yesterday’s Leinster final.

IN a season of shock results this one might just slip under the radar, but Longford’s minor footballers achievement in claiming a Leinster title deserves tremendous credit.

HAPPY days for the Dubs, then, right? Twenty-one points scored, an eight-point buffer at the final whistle and only one goal conceded after the five they leaked against Meath.

IN THE build up to this second round qualifying game, the rumour mill was working overtime with regard to the Dublin squad’s wellbeing following their comprehensive loss to Meath.