Random thoughts on week just gone

1.WHY aren’t there more Irish rugby players with tattoos? Every second Welsh player last weekend had some kind of ink curling out from underneath a sleeve, leaving the boys in green looking a little... pasty in comparison.

2. That apart, what are the odds on this weekend being half as eventful?

3. In fact, what are the odds on any weekend in the next ten years being half as eventful?

3. Does anyone else think that deep down Bernard Dunne wouldn’t have minded fighting maybe 24 hours later?

4. The Damned United movie is out today: does anyone else think that Peter McDonald is about eight inches too tall to be credible as Johnny Giles?

5. Are Ireland rugby players going to be at Croke Park tomorrow for the Bulgaria game, complete with trophies, to parade before the crowd?

6. If so, won’t they look an awful lot bigger than Bernard Dunne if he’s also there with his belt?

7. And while we’re not naturally inclined to discuss a lady’s weight... if Bernard weighed in at 8st 9lbs for the Cordoba fight last weekend, and Katie Taylor fights at 60kg, or just over 9st... just how small is Bernard Dunne?

8. All this talk about the rear diffuser in Formula One. Can anyone explain it without a degree in motorcarology from the University of Top Gear?

9. People are getting on Davy Fitzgerald’s case about bringing the Waterford hurlers to the Bernard Dunne fight. With all due respect, though, in 20 years’ time how many people will remember the Dublin-Déise result in the NHL? How many people will remember being at the Dunne world title fight?

10. (We raised the Bernard Dunne size issue, by the way, to allow a revival of one of our favourite John D Sheridan stories: he once attended a boxing match and saw a couple of combatants enter the ring who were so small he thought he’d have had no trouble elbowing them out of the queue for the number 16 bus. After 30 seconds of the fight, of course, he realised how many close escapes he must have had in the bus queue over the years).

11. The Indian Premier League tournament will be in South Africa rather than England... apply same level of interest as number 16 below.

12. You don’t know who John D Sheridan was? You’re beyond help.

13. Sudden flash regarding point one: if Stephen Ireland returned to — er — Ireland duty, at least our international sportsman tattoo quotient would be a lot higher. Isn’t that reason enough on its own to bring the guy back?

14. Tiger Woods is back as well, if that’s your bag (see what I did there?). He’s been very complimentary about Pádraig Harrington before facing the Irishman: “If you look at Paddy’s career, all around the world, how many times did he finish second? But once he learned how to win, how many times has he won since? And once he won a major, he won two last year. It just shows you that you can do it.”

To which we have to say: Paddy? Dude, you’re called after someone on a cereal box and you’re calling Harrington Paddy?

15. Lion is a far cooler name, anyway.

16. “You could say this goes back seven to nine years and some of the responsibility has to rest with the Cork County Board,” says GAA director-general Pauric Duffy; “We’ve done everything correctly since day one,” says Cork County Board chairman Jerry O’Sullivan. That’s the end of that for today, promise.

17. Lance Armstrong still on Twitter even as he goes to surgery to have 12 screws put in his collarbone. For God’s sake, would this guy not take up sudoku?

18. Apropos of nothing, Spandau Ballet play the O2 in October. Gold! Always believe in your soul...

19. When Billy Rackard died during the week it was another blow to people’s memories of uncomplicated games in the fifties.

And finally . . .

20. What, exactly, comes after you’ve fulfilled the ambitions of two generations of Irish supporters? Doing it all again next year?

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