Sean O'Shea

Orb quite simply looks unbeatable in the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown at Pimlico today.

Don’t take my word for it ask the owners and trainers of the second, third and fourth place finishers behind Orb at the Kentucky Derby.

So for once the talking horse was the running horse too.

Kentucky Derby

It is a puzzling Kentucky Derby this year with no outstanding candidate and favorite Orb set to go off about 4/1.

There appears to be a half dozen or so horses in with a chance but on this big day it is always best to stick with those with Derby winning experience.

Irish pro golfer Rory McIlroy could be the latest star to be affected by what people are calling the ‘Curse of the Nike.’

The 23-year-old champion golfer made headlines for the wrong reasons when he walked off the course midway through the second round of the Honda Classic on Friday.

End of the line for Tom Brady in Super Bowl appearances?

At one point it appeared likely that the two greatest Irish American quarterbacks of their generation, Matt Ryan of the Falcons and Tom Brady of the Patriots, would meet in Super Bowl 47.

Let's face it, for most Notre Dame fans Monday night's national championship game felt like a three hour visit to the dentist.

The Fighting Irish were, to put it mildly, routed. And one rather strange man who predicted the outcome also claims he knows why.

Fighting Irish fans prep for game day

Is Notre Dame dissing Alabama not so subtly with their BCS Bowl ad which they have just released?

With ESPN predicting a record all time viewership for a college game, all eyes will be on the Irish and the Crimson Tide on Monday night.

Everett Golson

Coach Brian Kelly has no doubt that Everett Golson will rise to the occasion in Miami in he BCS bowl game.

"The kid started three or four games that were on national television and in pretty hostile environments," Kelly said, reports the Times Free Press. "He started at USC, at Oklahoma and at Michigan State, so he's got enough seasoning. I would be very, very surprised if he can't handle the moment."

Contrary to popular belief Notre Dame had a tougher schedule than Alabama which makes them an even better prospect to beat the spread on January 8th in Florida.

And they went unbeaten unlike the Tide who lost to Texas A&M.

In an excellent article in CSN Chicago J.J. Stankevitz notes that the Irish schedule was definitely tougher as they played fewer patsies, only Boston College and Wake Forest ranked 122nd and 117th respectively.(Wow how BC have fallen)

Wonder what he will have to do when they beat Alabama?

Notre Dame need not fear the Alabama team we saw eke out victory over Georgia on Saturday night.
Notre Dame need not fear the Alabama team we saw eke out victory over Georgia on Saturday night.

This was an Alabama team that will play into Notre Dame's biggest strength-- stopping the run. Sure Lacey ran for 200 yards or close to, but I cannot imagine a defense that handled Denard Robinson and Le'Veon Bell and other hotshots this year, failing to stop him.

On the other side of the ball, Alabama looked vulnerable to a mobile deep threat quarterback -- step up Mr. Golson.

Manti T’eo must surely have increased his chances of the Heisman Trophy given that once again he made the pivotal play of the game, intercepting a Landry Jones pass. That interception left the Irish two scores ahead with under 3 minutes to play. A famous night, a famous victory and Brian Kelly can say he has answered his critics and joined the legends. .

: 1.

They could well crack the top 4 in the BCS bowl rankings on Sunday something that was far from most expert's minds at the beginning of the year. Back then the fear was that the secondary was too inexperienced and the defense would ship too many points. Just how wrong can the experts be?

‘I’ve seen it myself, it’s a very hard thing to stay at No 1 and Caroline was No 1 for two years, with all the expectations that raises,’ said McIlroy. ‘But she has got a lot of good people working around her and she’s the hardest working person I know, so I don’t think there’s any question that she will be back.’

Well winning the Barclays would certainly do that and I have the feeling that Harrington likes nothing more than a challenge and will give it a right go. Good  luck to him.

"He's 23 now and will be 27 when Rio comes round, so it's not even something to discuss at this stage," said Ridge of the Dublin sports management firm Horizon, which represents McIlroy and Graeme McDowell.

When the game started, Galway raced to a 2-12 to 0-4 points lead and everyone just sat stunned. Kilkenny came back in the second half but never came close. The Galway fans, the few that traveled, were singing ‘The West’s Awake” long before the game ended. Awake indeed.

All the more reason why Rees would be the safest choice. If he can limit the interceptions he can go on to be the comeback kid.

I won’t hold my breath.

However, the Northern Ireland teen has been plagued by inconsistency since and tabloid allegations he is spending too much time with tennis star Caroline Wozniacki.

Graeme McDowell has addressed the issue of whether he is Irish or British, which has become a big talking point after his U.S. Open victory.

Patrick Sean Payton was called after the "Rosary Priest", the irish-born Father Patrick Peyton who was a huge figure in irish Catholic circles in America.

But there is little of the priest abut Payton, who despite the altar boy looks has a deadly streak of competitiveness in him which has now landed him in trouble.

If his Irish Catholic childhood in a Chicago suburb taught Peyton one thing it was not to turn the other cheek but to compete and be the best.

Will freshman Gunner Kiel, (pictured), lead the Irish offense against Navy on September 1st in Dublin in their first game of the new season?

The possibility is definitely on the cards as Coach Brian Kelly has made clear that his four quarterbacks, Kiel, Andrew Hendrix, Everett Golson and incumbent Tommy Rees will all start from the same page literally.

Kelly said he has dialed back the playbook so that Rees will not have an advantage in the stakes to be the No. 1 signal caller.

Ireland avoided defeat in Paris when they tied France 17 -17 in their rugby international clash on Sunday.

The game had been rescheduled after originally being canceled because of weather conditions in Paris in February.

The Jeremy Lin hype is starting to annoy me.

Hopefully, the bubble burst with the defeat by New Orleans, the worst team in basketball last night.

Lin himself seems insufferable especially with his playing for Jesus stuff reminding everyone of Tim Tebow, the most sanctimonious athlete alive.

Woverhampton Wanderers have sacked former Irish international manager Mick McCarthy with immediate effect.

In a short statement, the Premiership club said that they took the “difficult decision” because of the poor run of recent results.

A 5-1 defeat at home to West Brom on Sunday sealed McCarthy's fate.