ARSENAL captain Cesc Fabregas has been charged with improper conduct by the FA following allegations he spat at Hull assistant boss Brian Horton after the FA Cup tie at the Emirates Stadium on March 17.

SO much for reaching the semi-final of the Champions League without incident eh? Last week saw the game of the season and only Chelsea could attempt to throw away a foregone conclusion, not once, but twice during 90 minutes.

LEADING referee, Nigel Owens, will take charge of the all-Ireland Heineken Cup semi-final between Munster and Leinster at Croke Park on May 2.

THE race to win a place in the AIB League Division One play-offs enters its final hurdle this weekend with seven teams still in the hunt for one of the top four places.

SHARING the points in Parnell Park yesterday was of no significance to a Kerry team already assured of its place in the Allianz National Football League final.

IN Mayo they might be inclined to call this a start, something to be going on with after a patchy, morale-sapping league campaign.

TIPPERARY manager John Evans admitted that he could have cried when Cork’s U-21s snatched an injury-time victory in last Saturday’s provincial final and he was on the verge of tears again yesterday as the senior team clinched promotion from Division 3.

SO what’s the recipe, Declan? What forged a collection of talented individuals into historic Grand Slammers in a few months? Five of Ireland’s Six Nations heroes tease out the key developments in a season to remember.

EUGENE McERLEAN, a solicitor by profession, joined AIB in 1991 and became group internal auditor in 1997.

WITHIN minutes of the final whistle in Ireland’s Grand Slam win over Wales in Cardiff last Saturday, coach Declan Kidney was in ‘deflection’ mode.

While his peers’ long-term job prospects rest on keeping their squads sweet with a stream of meaningless platitudes, Hiddink can shoot from the lip with impunity.

IT was routine business for Kerry yesterday afternoon in Austin Stack Park, Tralee as they deposited another two points in their NFL Division One account.

THE PHRASE “the sublime to the ridiculous” could have been penned for Chelsea FC. Whether it be Osgood to Mayes, Mourinho to Grant or last Wednesday’s spectacular performance up at Anfield to the extraordinary finish to Saturday’s game against Bolton.

LEINSTER’S semi-final slot was in doubt right up to the final whistle when Harlequins did everything to engineer a winning drop goal from Nick Evans. Had he succeeded, all hell could have erupted as his re-entry to the field was shrouded in controversy.

THOUSANDS of Georgians took their campaign to oust Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili to his office yesterday, the fifth day of protests against his rule.

GIVEN that Roy Keane’s resignation from Sunderland was apparently provoked by the notion of encouraging his players to smile during training, perhaps it was for the best the Cork man did not bear witness to their post-match ritual on Saturday.

CARDIFF BLUES claimed revenge for their shock 28-0 defeat in Scotland in November, but a second-half comeback by Glasgow made it a lot harder than looked likely at the interval of this Magners League encounter.

IT WAS one of the strongest images from the All-Ireland hurling final, or rather, its immediate aftermath. With Kilkenny supporters milling around the turf of Croke Park, mobbing their heroes, a Waterford jersey was in amongst them.

OWEN MULLIGAN haslabelled Tyrone’s first-halfperformance against Kerry onSunday a “disgrace”.

CELEBRATIONS, celebrations; the 125th anniversary of the foundation of the GAA, a clash of two of hurling’s most ancient and celebrated rivals, new floodlights being switched on in what many see as the true home of hurling, Semple Stadium.