KAZAKHSTAN coach Bernd Storck is on a mission to get his country known for football rather than comedy character Borat — and he is deadly serious about facing England at Wembley.

MORE than 5,000 students took to the streets yesterday to hammer home their bitter opposition to the reintroduction of third-level fees.

It should have been the perfect day. Croke Park, brimful with expectation, had opened its doors to rugby for the first time but, on a historic day of outward celebration for Irish sport, all was silenced by a piece of late Gallic magic.

FOLLOWING the fireworks in Croke Park on Saturday night, an occasion chosen by the GAA to mark the opening of its 125th year celebrations, Kilkenny and Galway served notice yesterday that hurling too is ready to play its part in what could yet be a really special year for the GAA.

IT was billed as the night to kick-start the GAA’s 125thanniversary celebrations but when last Saturday is recalled in years to come, it will be as the day Stephen O’Neill announced his second coming.

LAST week I was in England, visiting friends in a rural part of Devon.

DUNDEE UNITED midfielder Willo Flood missed the crucial penalty in an incredible penalty shoot-out to send Celtic into the Co-operative Insurance Cup final.

THE driver of the sightseeing bus was conveying his collection of assorted tourists past the Mansion House — home of the first Dáil, he explained loudly so the two passengers on the open deck upstairs could hear — when suddenly he came across a sight not on his itinerary.

ALL that is good about Gaelic football was served up by these two schools in a thrilling Corn Uí Mhuirí first round at the Legion Ground, Killarney yesterday.

ABOUT 10,000 placard-carrying and slogan-chanting students took to the streets of Dublin to protest the possible reintroduction of third-level fees.

BOTH Tony McGahan and Michael Cheika can enjoy a brief period of positive reflection as the Heineken Cup takes a short hiatus until December. The events of last weekend in particular not only bode well for the two provinces but Irish rugby as a whole.

Éire Óg 1-8 Ballygarvan 1-5

ROBBIE KEANE handed boss Giovanni Trapattoni a precious victory in his first competitive game on home soil as the Republic of Ireland gained revenge over Cyprus at Croke Park last night.

MARTIN JOHNSON believes victory over South Africa today would be a seminal moment in his quest to re-establish England as the dominant force in world rugby.

HE was battered, he was bruised, but on a night when another slice of history was denied only by a harsh call from referee Roman Poite, Mick O’Driscoll couldn’t have been more proud of his men.

THIS was supposed to be more about the occasion than the game. Yet what transpired was a contest that nobody could have anticipated.

MANAGER Maurice Aylward believes Ballyhale Shamrocks’ progression to the Leinster club SHC final on Saturday represented a victory on two fronts.

JUANDE RAMOS is bearing the look of a condemned man.

THE relief on the face of St Finbarr’s coach Tony Leahy was palpable at the final whistle as his side won back their senior status after just one year in the lower grade.

Valley Rovers 0-10 Ballydesmond 0-7