WHETHER it was by design, or co-incidental, one major theme emerged at last Tuesday’s National Equine Conference: The need for more thoroughbred blood in the sport horse population.

STANDING at the bottom of this main street on a grey Galway day, it’s difficult to believe that nothing on either side of you is in fact real.

WHILE Tony McGahan had the luxury of naming an unchanged Munster squad for this Saturday’s Heineken Cup tie against Castres in Toulouse, the head coach downplayed hopes of a quicker than expected recovery for his long-term injured.

ANYONE who doubted Michael Swift’s ability to last the pace and stay the course with Connacht would be red-faced as the big lock forward gets ready to square up to European heavyweights Toulouse at the Sportsgrounds on Saturday.

BRIAN O’DRISCOLL is on the road to recovery after confirming yesterday that he has had successful surgery on his injured shoulder.

EDDIE O’SULLIVAN is set to make a return to European rugby, following his resignation as head coach of the USA Eagles yesterday.

MARTIN JOHNSON made a noble exit from Twickenham yesterday after taking the decision to stand down as England team manager on his own terms.

DENIS O’BRIEN and John Delaney were “too busy” savouring the moment at the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday night to speak of things so foul as contracts and dig-outs, but both were aware they were only delaying the inevitable.

AT best, Mick McCarthy was trying some individual motivation.

IT WAS fitting that Robbie Keane spent most of Wednesday with his head in the clouds as he made his way back to his American dream after finally realising a European one.

GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI would like Marco Tardelli to succeed him as Ireland manager.

GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI is ready and eager to sign on the dotted line and says he now sees no obstacle to an agreement being reached on a new contract with the FAI.

THE Montgomerie Course at Carton House will host next year’s European Amateur Golf Championships, with the August 8-11 event coming to this country for the first time in its 25-year history.

WHO would be a hooker with Munster? With Jerry Flannery out indefinitely and Mike Sherry missing for the next six to eight weeks, it’s not been a good time for the doughty men whose skills are so vital at set-piece time.

TOMMY BOWE has urged Ireland’s ‘Golden Generation’ not to hang up their international boots following their World Cup heartbreak.

THE Sonny Bill Williams publicity machine was working hard during the Rugby World Cup — with the All Black topping player searches using Google during the tournament.

JUST before she left her seat on flight EY460, the Australian woman who had been sitting beside me for 13 hours from Abu Dhabi welcomed me to her native city.

FRESH from his remarkable 11 strokes victory in front of his home fans in Castellon on Sunday, Sergio Garcia has moved down the coast in western Spain to Valderrama where the €3m Andalucia Masters gets underway tomorrow.

MUNSTER training might have had a stellar appearance to it yesterday but look a little closer and the creases on coach Tony McGahan’s furrowed brow were all too evident.

MUNSTER coach Tony McGahan yesterday moved to separate the fact from the fiction in terms of the province’s reasons for not splashing the cash on a pre-World Cup Hollywood signing.