- No sooner had Shane Lowry decided there’s no time like the present and turned pro’ than Minister Cullen was backing growing calls for golf to be admitted to the 2016 Olympics, which if Gay Mitchell had his way could (cough) have been staged in Dublin. The Sports Minister met with the President of the International Olympic Committee, Dr Jacques Rogge, in Dublin last Wednesday and cited the sport’s crossover, generation-bridging, unisex appeal. “I believe golf would be a significant addition to the spirit of the Olympics,” he said, noting that Tiger Woods and Pádraig Harrington, who’ll be 40 and 47 respectively when those Games take place, are all for it. Lowry and Rory McIlroy will still be in their twenties, mind, and hopefully still shooting in the sixties.
- Independent Blues Supporters Club chairman and Stoke City fan Owen Tubbritt will be delighted to see Liam Lawrence among the four uncapped players called up by Giovanni Trapattoni. Waterford man Eddie Nolan of Preston North End is also in the squad for Friday’s friendly against Nigeria at Craven Cottage.
- I only saw the lowlights, but Sunday’s Ulster Championship ‘clash’ between Derry and Monaghan was a great advertisement for hurling. Roll on June 14.
- Talking to someone about the Geordie Nation’s national week of mourning, I was amazed to find that this died-in-the-wool Waterford man didn’t even know there’s a Newcastle in this here county. For the uninitiated it’s a village beside the Suir in north Waterford, on the white & blue side of the Tipperary border, overlooked by the Knockmealdown Mountains. Wonder has Gazza ever ended up there by accident?
