NOBODY could question the vital importance of Oisin McConville’s 55th minute goal in terms of inspiring a wonderful first ever All-Ireland football title for Armagh in yesterday’s Bank of Ireland championship decider in Croke Park.

MANCHESTER United striker Wayne Rooney has been banned for two matches following his sending off against Villarreal for a sarcastic clap at referee Kim Milton Nielsen.

Meath 2-10

Manchester Utd 5 Panathinaikos 0

Famed for ski slopes, chocolate and pen knives, Switzerland is now desperate to gain respect for it’s footballing talent. James Whelan reports from Berne.

IT MIGHT NOT have been pretty, but the historians won’t give a second thought to the quality of An Ghaeltacht’s first ever provincial football success.

Fulham 2 Bolton 1

THE SIX stood waiting to pounce, hoping the play and the clock would stop long enough for them to pick up another cap before the final whistle.

THE manner in which Kilkenny secured their 28th All-Ireland title, with more graft than craft, bodes well for a team already knocking on the door marked legendary.

Mount Sion 1-14 Ballygunner 2-11

DESPITE the huge number of open-air concerts last year, new arrival Electric Picnic proved the hit of the summer and with another star-studded line-up just announced, it looks poised to repeat the trick.

Portugal 2 Holland 2

REAL MADRID will run out at the Nou Camp tonight to an ear-shattering round of whistles, jeers and insults from a Barcelona crowd sick of Real’s undeniable superiority and their own side’s slide into mediocrity.

An Ghaeltacht 0-12 Laune Rangers 2-4

THERE were matches aplenty to savour at Belfield yesterday afternoon as the third day of the five-a-side competition drew to a conclusion on the 25 sun-parched pitches at UCD.

IN the end the only politician named during the funeral homily of Sean Doherty was Charlie Haughey.

CHILDCARE looks set to emerge as the “break-out” issue of the next election, the Irish Examiner/Lansdowne poll reveals.

CELTIC captain Neil Lennon will hope the Scottish Football Association’s disciplinary committee will take his previous good conduct into account when they examine his behaviour at Ibrox on Saturday.

AND so it came to pass. We had feared that the season could end despairingly for Irish rugby, that Leicester might prove too cute and Biarritz would be too hot to handle for Leinster and Munster respectively.