Worlds collide on the home front

PITY the World Cup doesn’t come around more often. Yesterday, 53,286 squeezed into Semple Stadium for the old order of Cork and Tipperary in the Munster hurling final — and Michael Jackson wasn’t among them.

As they took the field, 68,000 were streaming out of Croke Park, as the Dubs had their first championship outing of 2006 at headquarters. Paul Caffrey’s side crushed Laois 3-17 to 0-12 to progress to a Leinster final. Laois’ prize? A football qualifier against All-Ireland champions Tyrone next weekend.

Between the two games, we had six goals and 57 points, more than England have managed in their entire German campaign.