PAT McENEANEY has been surprisingly overlooked for the All-Ireland football final by GAA chiefs, who’ve handed the prestigious job to Sligo whistler Marty Duffy.

I HAVE noticed that the following is a sentence I never used write, but it has become more frequent over the past 18 months: thank goodness for this international break.

DANNY GUTHRIE fired Newcastle to the top of the Coca-Cola Championship last night as the depleted Magpies edged their way past Leicester.

1. KERRY have learned their lessons from the past.

WHEN you’re six ft six, the view over the horizon is as good as the one over your shoulder. Mike Quirke appears an unlikely weathervane for the state of Kerry football, but he has an unique perspective of the Kingdom’s pasts, present and its future.

Barcelona 1 Shakhtar Donetsk 0

TUESDAY evening before six o’clock and Kerry selector Eamon Fitzmaurice is pacing out and aligning training cones in Killarney with the precision of an engineer.

DJ CAREY yesterday launched an impassioned defence of Kilkenny wing-back Tommy Walsh whose no-nonsense style of play has been questioned by some pundits.

AN Irish mother suffered a “significant delay” in being diagnosed with breast cancer because her doctor refused to accept the lump was anything other than a clogged milk duct.

THE likelihood of Lisbon surviving could hinge on the dominant issue in this campaign – the economy and employment prospects.

THE majority of the Munster team that under-performed so disappointingly against Leinster last week have an opportunity to redeem themselves in this evening’s Heineken Cup opener against Northampton Saints at Franklin’s Gardens.

THE Green Party is coming under increased pressure to secure a wide range of concessions from Fianna Fáil as negotiations on the revised Programme for Government (PfG) enter the final two days.

SOMETHING for both protagonists in yesterday’s Dr Harty Cup clash in Dromcollogher as Midleton CBS and Ard Scoil Rís refused to be separated at the final whistle.

THE final whistle has been blown on one of the country’s best known travel agencies, Ray Treacy Travel, following the decision of its owner to retire from business.

IT might have been a little too close for comfort at the finish, but nothing could detract from Na Piarsaigh’s achievement in winning through to their first Live95fm Limerick Senior Hurling Championship final at the fourth attempt in the Gaelic Grounds yesterday.

IF this really was Carlo Ancelotti’s first serious test as manager of Chelsea, the Italian passed it, and comfortably so.

MUNSTER skipper Paul O’Connell insists “the morale of the team is the same as it ever was” despite back-to-back defeats against Leinster and Northampton.

TOURISTS looked bewildered and day trippers stopped to stare as Alice in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare and the Dormouse trooped through Kinsale yesterday, followed by up to 200 revellers eating and drinking their way though the town.

ANOTHER great night for European rugby at Franklin’s Gardens saw Northampton deservedly claim the Heineken Cup points but only after French referee Christophe Berdos came up with a highly controversial decision at the death that clearly irked Munster veterans Paul O’Connell and Ronan O’Gara.

COMMITTED, exuberant and, by the end, they threatened to blow the roof off the stadium.