Those who participate in sport as sole practitioners must have the loneliest and most soul searching roles in sport. Be it the boxer, golfer, athlete, snooker player, whatever the sport, there must be times when their lot is a very lonely one.
David Gillick must have felt that way last week. The 400m runner was tipped to win a medal at the European Championships in Barcelona but it didn't work out for him in the final and he finished fifth.

Alex Higgins died at the weekend. A complex personality, Higgins was undoubtedly an absolute genius at snooker. Single-handedly, he transformed the game and in the '70s and '80s he was responsible for snooker becoming a hugely popular television event.
The iconic pictures, relayed over and over at the weekend, of him hugging his wife and daughter after winning the world title for the second time are up there with the great sporting images of all time.
He was a remarkable player, probably the snooker equivalent of his

Having spent a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon in the vicinity of McHale Park, it seemed a lot more people had travelled from Sligo than from Sligo. They also appeared to be much more confident of victory than their Roscommon neighbours.
After beating Mayo and Galway, that was understandable enough and it must have come as a huge shock to the Sligo fans when they failed to win.
Imagine how frustrating it must feel for them. Defeating Mayo and Galway and still not winning the provincial title must be hard to take. But that's what happened and credit to Roscommon.