SINGING the blues never sounded so good.

GO UP to Cork Airport, or roll out the road to Shannon today, or tomorrow morning, and you’ll clock them immediately in the queues.

GEORGIOS SAMARAS claims Celtic are a better team than Rangers – and insists the Ibrox side will be undeserving champions if they clinch the title against Dundee United on Sunday.

JIMMY Barry-Murphy’s late father, John Barry, or John B as he was affectionately known in his club St Finbarr’s, had a saying when describing heavy defeats suffered by his club: “They were too numerous for us.”

FOR homegrown footballers such as Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher hearing the Liverpool fans singing deliriously after the weekend’s late, late win against Fulham must have been inspiring.

DERMOT EARLEY will be given until right before throw-in to prove his fitness for Kildare’s All-Ireland semi-final with Down on Sunday.

EAMON RYAN will take time out to consider his future in charge of Cork’s ladies senior football team following Saturday’s TG4 All-Ireland quarter-final defeat against Tyrone.

CESC FABREGAS inspired Arsenal to a Champions League thrashing of Braga as the Gunners opened their Group H campaign with a 6-0 win at the Emirates Stadium and then warned of tougher battles to come.

THE sheer effervescence of Raffaele Cretaro relieved the pressure around Dalymount Park as he scored twice to give the champions a morale-boosting win.

JAMES McCARTAN wore the look of a relieved man after the breathless finish to yesterday’s All-Ireland semi-final.

YOU will have no problem identifying the Cork people in your vicinity today.

PORTSMOUTH boss Avram Grant admits it is becoming tough for his players to ignore the cash-strapped club’s off-the-field issues.

THERE was no romance in the FA Cup third round tie between Championship sides Ipswich and Blackpool as the latter were reduced to nine men and had manager Ian Holloway dismissed to the stands as they were beaten 2-1 on home turf.

IRELAND have been handed the keys to unlocking the Welsh defence from the unlikely source of a Yorkshireman working in France.

NO SOONER are we sure that our Premier League dance is done, than fate goes and gives Gooners reason to believe.

IT didn’t take long last year, just a few minutes after the final whistle and with the masses already breaking onto the sacred sod, before the announcement blared over the Croke Park tannoy system – ‘Gardaí and stewards, to Plan B please, Plan B!’.

DAVID COLDRICK is the surprise appointment to referee the All-Ireland senior football decider between Cork and Down in Croke Park on September 19.

THE jeers at the final whistle told its own story.

IT was a far cry from the carnival atmosphere and soaring temperatures of Rio for Brazilian football legend Socrates, who came out of retirement at the weekend for lowly Garforth Town.

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