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.

CONNECTIONS of Grands Crus have not ruled out giving consideration to the Cheltenham Gold Cup for their talented novice chaser.

LITTLE did I know when addressing the issue of Martin Johnson’s resignation as England manager last Wednesday the calamitous fallout that was about to unfold as English rugby hit a new low.

MIKE TINDALL has blasted the RFU and accused them of making him a “scapegoat” in a statement released through the Rugby Players Association yesterday.

STEPHEN WARD has backed Giovanni Trapattoni to guide the Republic of Ireland to the 2014 World Cup.

GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI has taken a 30% pay cut to secure his position as Republic of Ireland manager for the next two years.

MANCHESTER CITY boss Roberto Mancini says it is little wonder England struggle in major tournaments when players get little respite between domestic fixtures.

A TOP Rugby League World Cup official last night described the enthusiasm for the sport in Limerick as “overwhelming.”

MIKE TINDALL was last night reinstated in England’s elite player squad and had a £25,000 fine reduced to £15,000 after an appeal against the punishment meted out for his off-field World Cup behaviour.

YOU could be forgiven for thinking the end of the competitive golf season had finally arrived now we are almost into the month of December.

IF THERE is one thing that frustrates Rory McIlroy it’s seeing new girlfriend, Caroline Wozniacki grasping golf quicker than he is taking to tennis.

GRAEME McDOWELL’S disappointing season came back to haunt him when he and Rory McIlroy again let victory slip from their grasp for a second time running in the Omega Mission Hills World Cup in China.

NOBODY who watched the last World Cup denied Spain were the best team in the tournament.

THE payoff may be later than a Wesley Snipes credit card bill, but this week the Rugby World Cup finally produced some of the entertainment it had promised as the mole in the RFU delivered a funnier script featuring a dwarf than Ricky Gervais appears to have managed.

WHILE the future of the Mission Hills World Cup was assured behind closed doors, Rory McIlroy continued playing his Pied Piper role as he and Graeme McDowell put Ireland into a share of the lead with two rounds remaining on Hainan Island in China.