SOCCER: Henrik Larsson turned down the chance to go back to Celtic when the Swedish season is in hibernation for the winter, and he was dead right now that Manchester United have come calling for his services. The Parkhead legend will earn almost $2.5 million for a three month stint at Old Trafford, but that will be money well spent if his magic can wrest the Premiership title from Chelsea. Larsson is so good and so charismatic, even in his mid-30s, that I won’t be at all surprised to see him inspire a title charge by the current league leaders in England.

GAA: The Central Council meeting scheduled for Croke Park this Saturday could spell the end of the Compromise Rules series against the Aussies if the word on the street is anything to go by. Pity then that Aussie manager Kevin Sheedy, whose side kicked their way to victory in the second test at Croke Park last month, wants to preserve the hybrid game. “We shouldn’t be thinking about ending the series,” he said the other day. It’s a pity he didn’t tell his players that before they hit out at anything that moved in Croker.

BASKETBALL: The weather was so bad at home on Sunday that a Meath League basketball game was called off, even though it was due to be held indoors at the Dunshaughlin Community College. The good girls from Wilkinstown declined to travel because of the high winds and the danger of falling trees, so that will give you some idea what it was like for the footballers of Derry City and St. Patrick’s Athletic for the FAI Cup final at Lansdowne Road.

HURLING: The Galway hurling board secretary John Fahey has lashed out at the media for their coverage of the county final when Portumna’s teenage prodigy Joe Canning was left in need of stitches to a deep facial wound. It’s just a pity the self-righteous secretary and his board didn’t lash out with the same venom at those responsible for the wound to Canning’s face, but that would be tantamount to fair play, wouldn’t it?

RUGBY: The budding basketball stars of Meath weren’t the only ones affected by the weather. Ulster and Leinster played with no fewer than 25 internationals on display in their Magners League game at Ravenhill on Saturday and could only produce 12 points between them, six kicked points apiece, as the raging wind wrecked the derby game.