Dan Kneen is 'in a good place' in build-up to Dundrod 

Dan Kneen is confident he can return to winning ways at the 2015 Metzeler Ulster Grand Prix as the Manxman finally feels he has found a strong set-up with his Padgett’s Honda.

Biting back: Fear factor is gone from GAA in Ulster 

There once was a time when southern GAA teams coming north for games would treat the six counties of Northern Ireland as a serious threat to their safety. Perhaps they might even have been right.

Grand Slam coach Philip Doyle joins Ulster women’s team 

Former Ireland Women’s Head Coach Philip Doyle will take charge of the Ulster women’s team ahead of the 2015 inter-provincial series.

Spurs set to gain from NFL's new deal 

It's coming. Sounds like a tag line for Jaws 10. What I'm actually referring to is a NFL franchise in the UK. The Yanks, delirious at all the Wembley sell-outs their sport delivers on an annual basis, have wanted one for ages. Their dream scenario moved a step closer this week with Tottenham announcing they would host a minimum of two NFL games per season over 10 years at their new stadium.

Biting Back: It's better when it's all picture, no sound 

BBC Radio One made me giggle on the way to work. On the breakfast show they were having a quiz to see who could tell whether the ear-piercing noises being broadcast came from Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka or a fox.

Rory McIlroy's injury could happen anywhere 

With Rory McIlroy seemingly set to miss next week's Open Championship, the debate over his decision to relax with some five-a-side rumbles on.

Chris Froome leads the Tour de France pack 

After a time-trial won by Rohan Dennis on Saturday and a sprint finish taken by Andre Greipel yesterday, today's belated introduction of some hill climbs to the Tour de France should see the battle for the famed yellow jersey really begin.

Biting Back: Current GAA system is still an improvement 

Right about now, the top brass of the GAA in Croke Park will be sifting through a number of different proposals on how best to re-imagine the All-Ireland football and hurling Championships. The deadline for any proposals has now passed and we pity those whose task it is to go through all the documents.

Biting back: Silverstone set to dominate our screens 

The eyes of the sporting world will be fixed on Silverstone this Sunday when the iconic Northamptonshire circuit plays host to the British Grand Prix.

Biting Back: Conor McGregor must bin the trash talk 

I must admit, I am not fully sure if I 'get' the Conor McGregor UFC fighting phenomenon. On closer consideration, I have concluded it is a generational thing.

Biting Back: Shocking failure to nurture tennis talent 

Wimbledon is back so let’s all unpack the champagne and smoked salmon sandwiches and watch some tennis.

Serena's chance to become best ever female player 

In a glittering career that has already brought her 20 grand slams titles, Serena Williams is still chasing one piece of elusive history as her Wimbledon 2015 campaign begins against Margarita Gasparyan this afternoon.

Sepp Blatter still craves heat of the limelight 

He hasn't gone away you know. There's plenty of life left in this old dog. Just when you thought Sepp Blatter had left the stage, he's rushed back on, unable to live away from the spotlight. Blatter's lust for power is quite something. The Fifa president just won't accept he has done anything wrong.

Brash Broner an affront to the noble art 

The boxing website, badlefthook.com, had it right with their take on Adrien Broner after he lost his weekend prime time, welterweight contest in Las Vegas to Shawn Porter, and with it, all the respect that had been slipping away from him as a fighter.

Biting Back: Has West Ham sealed the deal of the summer? 

It's not a question that's often asked, but have West Ham clinched the deal of the summer?

Biting Back: Here European competition means more than money 

There are still four days until the new Irish League fixture lists are revealed but, for a select band of fans, it's today when the fun really starts.

Wishing Frank Lampard well for New York move 

Frank Lampard was in Dundonald this week. Just in case Glentoran fans get any ideas, the ex-England star was not in the area to sign for Eddie Patterson's team (though he probably digs the Oval outfit's groovy new strip)!

Biting back: Criticism of Humphreys is just bizarre 

It's always amazing the things people find to get disgruntled about when there's no games to be played but, even so, it still seemed odd to hear Gloucester Director of Rugby David Humphreys forced to defend his decision to bring Jonny Bell on to his coaching staff.

Biting Back: The elation, the disappointment and the passion at Etihad Stadium 

Events at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday night were pure hectic.

Investment needed at grass roots level, to nurture new talent 

After the excitement of the weekend's Euro 2016 qualifiers, you'd be forgiven for not knowing that the European Games were in full swing in Azerbaijan.

Gormley deserves his chance to hit the big time 

For as long as I've known the Irish League it was been attacked, ridiculed and a few observers wouldn't lose any sleep if it disappeared.

Biting Back: Eligibility issue could benefit Northern Ireland 

Northern Ireland's preparations for their big Euro 2016 showdown with Romania at Windsor Park on Saturday couldn't have been more bizarre.

Biting Back: McGeeney's perspective is pitch perfect 

The trick when listening to managers and players is to identify when they are saying something for calculated effect.

Biting Back: Delight in Tiger's demise lacks class 

Golf can be a lonely sport when things aren’t going your way, but Tiger Woods suffered through a special kind of isolation at the Memorial on Sunday.

Sporting greats like Rory McIlroy and Serena Williams will stand the test of time 

As the famous saying goes, in order to be the best you have to beat the best. But as time moves on and we become obsessed with ever-changing modern technology and medical research, is that ever really possible?

Dettori out to prove he's back to his best 

Frankie Dettori can join Ulster legend Tony McCoy as a true horse racing great this weekend - but for very different reasons.

Sir Bradley Wiggins... cometh the hour 

Sir Bradley Wiggins is expected to comfortably surpass the UCI Hour Record on Sunday evening but perhaps more important than the number of laps of the velodrome made by the 2012 Tour de France winner is the star power he brings to the once iconic feat.

Biting Back: Dessie Farrell should be applauded for comments 

The following are some quotes from a sporting figure yesterday on the practice of goading your opponent. Please read carefully.

Biting Back: Pirlo has shown why he is the old master 

It's one of sport's most famous phrases - form is temporary, class is permanent. And no-one epitomises the old saying more than Andrea Pirlo.

Biting Back: James and Curry make a hot combination 

Recently becoming a parent presented me with many, many life-changing epiphanies, but it is an ill wind that doesn’t blow some good.

Biting Back: Manchester United's Milk Cup withdrawal hurts both sides 

Everything ends badly, otherwise it wouldn't end. If proof was ever needed, the souring of the 25 year love affair between the Milk Cup and Man United is testament to the truth of the saying.

Biting Back: Steve Thornton's strategies are bearing fruit 

When you're a coach or a manager and things haven't gone as you'd hoped or expected you can do one of two things:

Biting Back: Football Association's chief executive takes the biscuit 

You've got to admire the optimism of the Football Association’s new chief executive.

Biting Back: Big changes lie ahead for Irish League 

With another Danske Bank Premiership campaign done and dusted, managers, players and supporters are assessing where it went right and wrong.

Biting Back: Managers must have more trust in players 

There's a series on ITV4 at the minute called 'The Football Mavericks.'

Biting Back: Spanish football's uneven playing field 

Surprise, surprise. So there won’t be an all-Spanish European Champions League final for the second year in succession. Even so, the theorists will still insist that the Spanish model is the one clubs and leagues throughout Europe must aspire to. Chance would be a fine thing.

Biting Back: Michael O'Neill ensuring Northern Ireland have stars for future 

Jim Magilton made a good living out of football by being able to keep possession. He had other qualities too, like awareness, touch and an ability to score the odd cracking goal, but more than anything the midfielder's game was built around passing. Long and short.

Biting Back: Seaside towns gear up for start of North West 200 

We're on the grid for another North West 200 week. The big bikes are throttling up for first practice around the iconic Portrush-Portstewart-Coleraine triangle course tomorrow, while the seaside towns gear up for the influx of tens of thousands of fans from home and abroad for the area's biggest earner of the year.

Setanta Cup needs a big fix or it's gone 

I'm not sure when exactly it happened, but there is no doubting that the Setanta Cup has totally lost its lustre.

Biting back: Ulster Rugby captain Rory Best's choice is not the one for me 

Sporting facts you may not know, number 57: Rory Best is a big Middlesbrough fan.

Biting Back: The saddest words - what might have been for snooker legend Jimmy White 

Jimmy White this week offered the starkest of warnings to aspiring sports stars to ‘do as I say, not as I do’.

Biting Back: Money is making the sporting world go round 

If you sat up for the charade that was Mayweather-Pacquiao, chances are the figures on show had your head spinning. With a reported purse of $300 million, it’s only natural to think what you could do with that kind of capital.

Biting Back: Juventus have emotional incentive to win 

It's semi-final time in the Champions League. No English teams, but no worries. There is more than enough quality to keep us interested and entertained tonight, tomorrow and next week.

Biting Back: No sympathy for Nigel Pearson if Leicester go down 

Nigel Pearson in press conferences. Discuss. If you don't know who he is, he would probably call you an ostrich.

Biting Back: National League finals - give them a point 

I found myself watching Fermanagh v Armagh on Saturday — which is a tough penance at the best of times — and just realised the utter pointlessness of such a match.

Biting Back: Crusaders' victory rounds off a truly exciting season for Irish football 

It was with inevitable irony that Irish League football would produce one of its most intriguing ever seasons right on the eve of the Northern Ireland Football League's implementation of new structures to heighten 'excitement' in the game.

Biting Back: Legend Winkie Murphy has given a lot to Irish League football 

William Murphy retires from the Irish League tomorrow. Winkie, as everyone in local football knows him, will go down as one of the greats.

Biting Back: Referee calamities make football a laughing stock 

This season's William Hill Scottish Cup final is likely to have all the glitz and glamour of a wet weekend in Stranraer thanks to a referee, his less than eagle-eyed assistant and the intransigence of football's ruling godfathers to bring us kicking and screaming into the bright new world.

Biting Back: IFA public relations handling as shaky as Windsor Park stand 

Sometimes, when you witness the public relations car crash of their handling of the Windsor Park and Irish Cup Final twin crises, you'd be forgiven for thinking that football in Northern Ireland flourishes in spite of rather than because of the dear, old Irish FA.

Biting Back: Football coaching simply not up to scratch 

What does coaching mean to you? A fairly open-ended question, admittedly, but there is a broad consensus that soccer coaching on these islands is not on a par with that of the sophisticated continentals.