This evening’s 2014 Ballon D’Or ceremony in Zurich brings an end to a long build-up period to the award which seems to have started almost as soon as Cristiano Ronaldo won the 2013 prize last January, writes Dermot Corrigan.

Stephanie Roche has insisted her wonder strike, which will be celebrated at Monday’s FIFA Ballon d’Or gala, was not a fluke.

Chelsea 2 Newcastle 0: Jose Mourinho is having one of his tactical strops — we’ve seen it all before — and refuses to speak to the media; but you don’t need to attend a press conference at Stamford Bridge to understand Chelsea have the body language of champions this season.

Last week, your columnist rolled north on the iron horse to visit the Business of Sports Science conference in the RDS, and a rewarding trip it was, writes Michael Moynihan.

It’s ladies to the fore as the 2014 Cork Person of the Year will be announced this week.

Former world number one Tiger Woods has confirmed he will start his 2015 season at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, arguably the most raucous event on the PGA Tour. 

For many years, England worried about squeezing Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard into the same midfield. Now America frets about getting them into the same league, writes Larry Ryan.

Joe Schmidt is "one of the best coaches in the Test arena" and could lead the Lions in 2017, according to Will Greenwood — who has backed Ireland to win the World Cup.

Anthony Foley has warned Keith Earls will have a battle to reclaim his place in the Munster side after naming the Ireland international in the replacements for the Pro12 clash against bottom-of-the-table Zebre today.

Ireland’s Jared Payne returns to a strong Ulster’s match-day squad for tomorrow’s difficult Pro12 trip to Treviso.

Paul Kelly writes that in 1964 Denis Law scored 50 goals in 51 matches, a staggering return that earned him the Ballon d’Or.

Mick McCarthy says Ipswich represent his best chance of a return to the big time as he doubts a Premier League club will employ him.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has accepted an apology from goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny for smoking but has hit out at claims made by German striker Lukas Podolski after his move to Inter Milan.

As we approach the halfway point of the Premier League season we reflect on the ups and downs, successes and failures of the last five months.

TODAY 

More than 24,000 of the 26,500 tickets available have been snapped up for Friday’s Guinness Pro12 clash of Munster and Leinster at Thomond Park.

When Willie Mullins won the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle with the mare Tourist Attraction in 1995 you would have needed more than a crystal ball to predict how dominant he would become in the world of National Hunt racing.

Ten years ago he wouldn’t have been home for Christmas. Instead 23-year-old Chris Craig from Arizona was over here, playing with and coaching Kieran Donaghy and the Tralee Tigers. The National Cup semi-finals and final were in January and he had a team to prepare.

An early Christmas present — that is how Waterford’s Craig Breen described the announcement that will see him remain with Peugeot Sport next season and along with tackling the European Rally Championship (ERC) campaign, he will also compete in seven rounds of the WRC2 category within the World Rally Championship.

Real Madrid centre-back Sergio Ramos wrote himself indelibly into his club’s history by scoring the opening goal and then deservedly winning the player of the tournament award in Saturday’s 2-0 Club World Cup final win over San Lorenzo of Argentina.