Brian O'Driscoll to win 100th cap for Ireland v Wales in Six Nations

Captain Fantastic Brian O’Driscoll will become the latest member of Irish rugby’s 100 cap club against Wales at Croke Park on Saturday.

O’Driscoll has recovered from the bang to his head from Paul O’Connell’s knee that forced him off after 64 minutes of the win over England at Twickenham two weekends ago.

Declan Kidney's Irish rugby side just won’t quit

There is nothing new in an Ireland team beating England these days; it’s almost common practice when you consider that Saturday’s win at Twickenham was the sixth for the Irish in their last seven encounters with the oldest enemy.

It was still sweet nonetheless. As Jamie Heaslip said in the tunnel afterwards, beating England at anything is sweet for any Irishman, be it rugby, table tennis or even tiddly winks.

How ironic then that Ireland now needs the same England team to do them a favor when they go to France on the final day of the season and for the final game of the campaign.

Trapattoni getting more and more like Jack Charlton!

THE older Giovanni Trapattoni gets, the more Jack Charlton-like he becomes if you follow my drift in this first “drink free” column of the Lenten era.

Having given up not just the pints but also the coffee for the 40 days and 40 nights of Lent, things are looking a lot clearer these days. Or so it seems.

Irish manager Giovanni Trapattoni wants Stephen Ireland back in the squad

Giovanni Trapattoni has offered another olive branch to Stephen Ireland, and Manchester City’s new Italian manager Roberto Mancini could pave the way for an international return for the troubled midfielder.

Trap has revealed that he still wants stay-away Ireland back on board for the European Championship qualifiers and has spoken to Mancini about the issue as he renews his efforts to entice the Man City star to return to the fold.

Ireland hasn’t played for his country since the infamous Grannygate affair that followed a 2-2 draw in Bratislava almost three years ago.

Irish rugby captain Brian O’Driscoll not interested in history

A few weeks ago in London the inevitable Thierry Henry question landed at the feet of Irish captain Brian O’Driscoll at a press conference to celebrate the launch of the 2010 RBS Six Nations season.

Robbie Keane answers Celtic’s prayers

Irish soccer striker Kevin Doyle a star in every way

Kevin Doyle is going to make the most of his absence from the World Cup finals with the Ireland team this summer. He’s going to get married.

On the day that Mexico face the hosts South Africa in the opening game of the 2010 tournament, Doyle will be walking down the aisle of a Limerick church with his new wife Jennifer at his side.

Cheat Thierry Henry won’t pay the price

French cheat A Henry will now lead France into the World Cup finals despite the global condemnation of his act of treachery that was slammed by the Irish players and the Football Association of Ireland ( The But Irish boss Giovanni Preston defender Sean St. Ledger summed up the anger within the Ireland camp when he told BBC Radio 5 live on Monday, “I’m shocked but not surprised really.

“Obviously I don’t want to see players getting banned but at the same time it promotes, ‘if you can get away with it, then do it’. I saw it, the handball, again today and I still believe the second time he intentionally “Across the board we are all hurt from it. I think it’s appalling that “If they’ “It won’t surprise me if France go on and win the World Cup.”

What's ahead for Irish sport in the New Year

The budget is killing us Irish, but at least we'll always have sports

They say to never start a column with a question so here goes with two of them -- Budget Day 2009, how was it for you? And how was it for those of us paid to watch sport for a living, a wonderful gift we should never take for granted?

Let’s start with you. If you’re lucky enough to be reading this latest nonsense on American soil then congratulations -- chances are you got out of here just in time.

Any day soon the last person to leave Ireland will be asked to switch off the lights on the way out. That’s what happens, as one Irish exile in Canada told RTE Radio on Tuesday morning, when the country fails to save for a rainy day.

The top 10 sporting moments of 2009

1. Remember Paris?
The World Cup summer is going to hurt like hell without Ireland in South Africa. The manner of the defeat in Paris and the cheek of Thierry Henry’s handball will be debated forever, but the reality is that Ireland had the chances to win the game long before extra-time, and had they played throughout the group as they did in France then they’d have qualified automatically.

2. Darren Sutherland’s Tragic Death
People called the World Cup defeat to France a tragedy, but the real tragedy in Irish sport this year was the decision by world title contender Darren Sutherland to take his own life just over a year after he won the heart of the nation with one of three boxing medals at the Beijing Olympics.

3. Ireland’s Grand Slam
Sport allows us to overcome the hurt of recession and the failure of our political leaders to maintain a just society, and never was the power of sport to thrill more evident than in March when Declan Kidney and Brian O’Driscoll led Ireland to a quite sensational Grand Slam win on a Cardiff afternoon never to be forgotten.

Forget the English kids for Ireland, Trappatoni

Giovanni Trapattoni went back to work this week and saw not one but two games in England as life gets back to something approaching normality for Irish football post Paris.

Our Trap, with loyal assistant Marco Tardelli at his side on both occasions, was in Portsmouth’s Fratton Park on Saturday and Fulham’s Craven Cottage on Sunday.

The papers here at home have made much of the fact that Trap saw Andy Reid play for Sunderland as they lost to Damien Duff’s Fulham. Sadly, it wasn’t Andy’s best game of recent times by all accounts.

Great end to a great rugby year for Ireland

Ireland ended the Grand Slam year on a high as the Northern Hemisphere champions turned over the World Cup and Tri-Nations winners at Croke Park last Saturday.

And victory was extra sweet for Brian O’Driscoll and eight Irish teammates as they gained revenge for their Lions humiliation in South Africa last summer into the bargain.

Rookie out-half Jonathan Sexton kicked all 15 Irish points, three of them from unanswered second half penalties, as Ireland overcame a 10-6 halftime deficit to record a famous win.

Please, let’s let the World Cup go!

Start packing the bags -- the great Bono has intervened in the World Cup scandal and called on FIFA to admit Ireland as a 33rd team in South Africa next summer.

He’s not alone, by the way. Last Friday an FAI delegation met Sepp Blatter and FIFA in Zurich and pleaded with them to let us in through the back door at the 2010 finals.

The FAI, well aware that FIFA were never going to offer us a rematch against the French frauds, have got desperate, you see, in their bid to earn a slice of the huge World Cup income.

Horrific Thierry Henry isn’t worth spit

Roy Keane had to stick his oar into the great Paris debate this week and good luck to him -- as a former Irish captain he’s as entitled to his opinion as anyone, and more so than a lot of people.

Now before you fall off your chair with that opening sentence, let me tell you that I agree with a lot of what Roy had to say about the 1-1 draw in France on Wednesday of last week that will never be forgotten, and for so many reasons.

Yes, Ireland should have had the game won long before Thierry Henry blemished one of the most marketable reputations in world sport and turned himself into nothing more than a fraud and a cheat.

Trapattoni coaches visitors to GAA restrooms

It's incredible what you find in the toilets at Croke Park some 125 years after the formation of the GAA at a meeting in a backroom of Hayes Hotel in Thurles.

There I was on Saturday night, in situ for the Star’s annual GAA awards banquet, when the need arose to spend a penny.

We were high up on the premium level of the impressive Hogan Stand when nature called, and I excused myself from a table that included the great Kilkenny hurler Eoin Larkin.

All to play for Ireland vs. France in Croke Park

It was a classic Jimmy Magee line at the start of a week he described as momentous as Irish soccer folk gathered in Dublin’s oldest pub on Monday night.

The venue was the Brazen Head, the quaint and very old boozer on the side of the Liffey and in close proximity to St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

The occasion was the launch of a charity CD for the Christmas market featuring the singing talents of the former Irish soccer manager Eoin Hand.

Irish manager Trapattoni says team won’t fear France

Giovanni Trapattoni has sounded a World Cup rallying cry to his South African hopefuls after the playoff draw on Monday threw Ireland in against the superpower that is France.

The former World Cup winners will travel to Dublin for the first leg of next month’s playoffs on Saturday, November 14, with the second leg in Paris four days later.

France are red hot favorites in many eyes to put Ireland out of the competition, even though Trapattoni’s team were unbeaten in 10 Group Eight qualifiers.

Brave Donal Og Cusack ushers in new era

First up, I was never a great fan of the Cork hurling goalkeeper Donal Og Cusack.

Until now that is.

Over the years he has always struck me as a little too forthright in his opinions, and a little too dramatic in his actions.

It’s okay to freak out, Signor Trapattoni

Giovanni Trapattoni is one of the greatest diplomats of our time, and it’s starting to annoy many of us with the hopes and aspirations of Irish football engraved across our hearts.

On Saturday night at Croke Park, Trapattoni’s Irish team committed not one but two sins that would be regarded as mortal in his native Italy.

First, they failed to protect an 87th minute lead goal from Sean St. Ledger against the world champions on their home pitch.