CARLOW manager Luke Dempsey has slammed referee Joe Curley for his decision not to award his team a late, close-range free in last Tuesday’s Cadbury’s Leinster U21 semi-final against Dublin.

THIERRY Henry earned Barcelona a draw on his return to France with a second-half equaliser against Lyon in a thrilling Champions League last-16 first leg at the Stade Gerland last night.

NATIONAL referees chief Mick Curley has insisted that weekend refereeing mistakes which saw two Gaelic football matches being concluded when the ball was in play were simply a result of ‘human error’.

JULIO BAPTISTA’S ‘will he, won’t he’ transfer saga with Arsenal continued yesterday with the Brazilian giving fresh hope to the Gunners by rounding angrily on Sevilla fans who booed him in a friendly.

’TWAS the nightmare before Christmas, when all through Leinster House, not a cabinet creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

ALEX FERGUSON leapt to the defence of Cristiano Ronaldo after the Manchester United forward was controversially sent off during his side’s derby victory at Eastlands.

WALES boss John Toshack admitted he was praying for the final whistle as his team hung onto a 2-1 victory over San Marino.

A BILL being proposed by the Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has been condemned as totalitarian and an outrage by opposition parties. The bill provides for a penalty of up to five years in prison for gardaí who disclose official information to a journalist or other parties.

TAXPAYERS forked out €250,000 for the Morris Tribunal to force a TD to name a whistle blower who had already made himself known to the inquiry, it was claimed last night.

UEFA has told Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho to stop criticising referees.

Ex-Anglo chief executive David Drumm has claimed his bank did not lend recklessly, was always open to regulation and that financial institutions have been unfairly blamed for the crash.

One of the newly-established opposition parties has vowed to jail “reckless” bank directors for up to 10 years, pay whistle-blowers a percentage of any money retrieved and create a special corporate criminal court to tackle white-collar crime policies — if elected to government.

A second garda’s allegations against senior members of the force and state agencies will be included in the tribunal into the alleged smear campaign against Garda whistleblowers.

Clare 1-15 Tipperary 0-7

FA chairman Greg Dyke has written to every Fifa executive committee member calling for "urgent action" to ensure ethics investigator Michael Garcia’s report into World Cup bidding is published in full.

Parma coach Roberto Donadoni was left “disgusted” by comments made by Napoli’s players and directors after their meeting on Sunday which ended 2-2.

Former Scotland captain David Sole has accused Ireland of creating a “smokescreen” after Ronan O’Gara was allegedly choked during Saturday’s RBS 6 Nations clash.