Final laptop of honour

Changing of the guard.

Turning of the page. End of era. However you wish to phrase it at the conclusion of a seismic week in Irish football, it can only mean one thing: that’s right, your Irish Examiner Football Correspondent’s trusty laptop has given up the ghost.

That its last act should coincide with the end of Giovanni Trapattoni’s reign seems somehow fitting. After all, my faithful companion has achieved something of veteran status itself, having seen no less than three Irish football managers – Brian Kerr, Steve Staunton and now Trap – through the exit door in its time. Already filled to the brim with manager-speak, I can only conclude that a surfeit of Trappish simply blew its tiny little electronic mind and finally tipped it over the edge.