GIVEN the desert wasteland nature of this week’s Bahrain course, the European Tour issued a special rules notice to all Volvo Champions event competitors declaring – “There is no bunkers on this course”.

JUST for the record, the last train out of Dublin’s Heuston Station to Cork tonight is at nine o’clock.

CLARE had no problem at Cusack Park, Ennis, yesterday in dismissing the challenge of Down in the Allianz HL Division 2.

THREE ROCK ROVERS sprung a South African surprise on Cork Church of Ireland on Saturday, as Jody Hosking’s double helped them to a noteworthy 2-1 Irish Junior Cup round one win at Garryduff.

MANCHESTER UNITED will avoid the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid in the last 16 of the Champions League after coming from behind to draw 1-1 with Valencia and finish top of Group C; but, as so often this season, it is hard not to feel a little underwhelmed.

ALAIN ROLLAND will help kick-off the 2011 RBS Six NationsChampionship when he referees the opening day clash between Wales and England at the Millennium Stadium on February 4.

TYRONE’S Sean Cavanagh admits he would sacrifice the prospect of winning another provincial title to take a detour through the championship’s back door.

HAVE you noticed it’s always those who tell you to “chill out” who snap first? During the pre-match tipple we speculated on the forthcoming fare, and few saw anything other than a comfortable victory.

ANTHONY DALY is a smiler.

WHEN the public address proclaimed Tipperary’s final substitute of the day in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday, it took Brendan Cummins a few moments to register that he was the player to be withdrawn.

ALL-Ireland finals have tended to be joyous occasions for Jack O’Connor, his Kerry managerial record defined by days where he steered the county towards September success.

A BIGGER and more physically imposing Midleton side were simply too strong for Millstreet in a pulsating U21 AFC quarter-final at Castletownroche last night.

THE WEEKEND of the British Open, which is detailed elsewhere in these pages, is a perfect cue for talk of tradition and the past, though the (doubtless) heroics of various slacks-wearing, v-neck sporting super-athletes need not detain us here.

All-Ireland SFC Qualifier(R3)

DRAW a line through Kilkenny’s last two championship meetings with Dublin and it would appear that the Leinster and All-Ireland champions have somehow managed to improve on their impossibly high standards since 2009.

BRAZIL’S relentless march to the latter stages of this World Cup continued with an effortless victory over Chile last night.

THE exit signs at Breffni Park in Cavan are of exactly the same colour as the jerseys which the Ernesiders wore afield for their sun-drenched encounter with Monaghan in the Ulster championship.

CROKE PARK stadium director Peter McKenna has promised that there will be wholesale review of the venue’s security operation after referee Martin Sludden was physically assaulted by spectators after yesterday’s Leinster final.