THE All-Ireland football final. 82,300 spectators. The final whistle.

COMING up to two years on from the hand that rocked the world, and there’s still no getting away from it.

RELIEF for Sarsfields in advancing to the quarter-final of the Cork SHC but frustration for Na Piarsaigh over their failure to get their noses in front when they had the momentum to erase a narrow deficit in the closing stages in Páirc Uí Chaoimh last evening.

THE Blue army may not have been on hand in their droves to witness it but a new era of Dublin dominance may just have been ushered in at Croke Park.

AIDAN WALSH was hooked from the start. From his home in Kanturk, he can reach Fitzgerald Stadium in less than an hour and, growing up, there was plenty mystique surrounding Cork and Kerry football clashes in Killarney.

Just when it was hard to believe Luis Suarez and Liverpool Football Club could handle the fallout from last October’s race controversy any more badly, along came the battle of Old Trafford.

Harry Redknapp yesterday welcomed the final whistle on his bung accusation “nightmare” after his acquittal for tax fraud cleared the way for him to land the top job in English football.

FOOTBALL – bloody hell! as Alex Ferguson famously remarked.

DUBLIN have made it to a first league final since 1946, and while they needed a couple of other results to fall their way, beating Cork in sunny Páirc Uí Chaoimh was a fitting end to a successful campaign for the light blues.

Wigan 1 Manchester United 2

Celtic’s Champions League aspirations were given a huge boost with a convincing 3-0 home win over Benfica.

Newcastle 0 Sheffield United 1

Newcastle 1 Chelsea 0

A suicide car bomber killed 21 people in northern Iraq yesterday after insurgents lured police to the scene by shooting an officer, officials said.

Middlesbrough 0 Portsmouth 4

Arsene Wenger struggled to hide his concern after Arsenal’s stuttering start to the campaign continued with a 1-1 draw against 10-man Middlesbrough at the Emirates Stadium.

Kildare 0-15 Offaly 3-9

Israel 1 Republic of Ireland 1

Bitter rivals Manchester United and Arsenal will return to the Millennium Stadium on May 21 to put their seasons on the line in a mouthwatering FA Cup final.

Celtic 3 Dunfermline 0