HURLING: Congratulations to the SMA priest Father Bernie Cotter, who berated the striking Cork hurlers from the altar at a mass to honor deceased members of the GAA at Pairc Ui Chaoimh before last weekend's county convention. In a shock attack Cotter, himself a former county hurler, claimed among other things that the striking players are "making Cork the laughingstock of the country." The unlikely assault was both full blooded and brilliant. Well done, sir. Well done.

GAA: The Wicklow footballers will have to do without the services of James Stafford and Derek Daly in the New Year as both young men have left Ireland to find work in Australia. Sadly, their emigration is about to become the norm again as the credit crunch deepens and our pathetic politicians scratch their heads in amazement without doing anything effective to solve the problem.

SOCCER: Bizarre story from Ashbourne in Co. Meath, where a referee asked a young footballer to remove his turban before he would allow his football match to continue. Thankfully the FAI have promised Karpeet Singh's family that they will investigate the matter fully. I suspect an apology will follow in due course.

SOCCER: Roy Keane is 10-1 with some bookies and 20-1 with others to succeed Paul Ince, sacked as Blackburn manager on Tuesday. The Blackburn players were clearly none too worried about their manager's future after Saturday's humiliating defeat at Wigan - they spent the weekend partying in Dublin!

GAA: Congratulations to Dunshaughlin's Mairead Delaney, who became the first woman ever elected to the Meath County Board on Sunday when she was voted in as the new development officer. And a great job she'll do too.