TV View:A mixed bag of a week, that one. Mind you, a perfect week for Jackie Fullerton and Norn Iron. "HEEEEEEEEEALY," he's taken to bawling into his microphone, even when David is just tying up his bootlaces. But you can hardly blame Jackie for his enthusiasm; when Healy's in shot a goal is usually imminent, and it's a commentator's job to anticipate these things.

Norn Iron gaffer Lawrie Sanchez can, of course, do no wrong these days, but he was generous enough on Saturday's Football Focus to offer his support to those managers less fortunate than himself, especially the ones getting a hard time from their media, despite winning on Wednesday.

"I've never known any national team manager to get as much stick so early as Steve," Mark Lawrenson agreed, though Lee Dixon felt Steve wasn't helping himself: "Whoever's advising him on his PR, I'm not so sure they're getting that right. Coming out and saying what he does after games is not ideal."

Garth Crooks even had something to say on the subject, suggesting Steve's exceptionally brief press conference last week hardly helped enhance his "poor relationship" with the media. In fact, he suggested, it made it a whole lot worse.

Steve McClaren, then, is having a tricky time of it, which must leave Steve Staunton thanking his stars he has such a chummy relationship with his media.

Well, okay, maybe he hasn't had universal support. A smile, surely, must have crossed your lips if you read reports at the weekend that the chief reason behind the BBC losing its rights to ITV and Setanta to show FA Cup ties and England home games was FA chief executive Brian Barwick's anger over criticism of the English team by the BBC panel. You know, scathing comments like Alan Shearer suggesting McClaren "would be disappointed" with England going in at half-time 0-0 against Andorra. And people still wonder why we prefer RTÉ?

You'd pay a considerable sum to hear Barwick's reaction if Shearer had declared he'd be supporting Andorra, in the hope a defeat for England would bring an end to McClaren's reign.

"He'll soon be back in that very, very good England side," said Lineker, with a grin, of Peter Crouch on Saturday's Match of the Day.

"That's more like it," you could almost hear Barwick say.

If our win over Slovakia was the week's high point, our rugby lads had us catapulting earthward come the weekend. A rare-enough occurrence, that. In the absence of George Hook on Friday night's panel, after Munster's defeat, Tom McGurk sharpened his tongue.

"This is one of the most successful teams in Europe but there wasn't a single person they could take off the bench tonight to change anything. They had a man playing at fullback who was an embarrassment. It was a shambles," he said.

Cripes, can it be less than a year since we had M-U-N-S-T-E-R tattooed on our hearts? The same hearts, McGurk told us, were now broken, and he nigh-on launched a "Declan Must Go" campaign, asking if Munster needed "a change of leadership" in light of Kidney's post-match intimation that there was no need for new blood, McGurk accusing the coach of failing to assemble an adequate panel and saying "half a dozen of the people he signed are useless".

It was a Sheareresque eruption . . . just kiddin'.

"There's always Leinster," was the gist of McGurk's adieu, but . . .

"Leinster without Brian O'Driscoll is a bit like The Beatles without John Lennon - they'd still sound good, but they wouldn't be quite the same," said Sky's Mark Robson at kick-off.

By evening McGurk was so dejected he was inclined to let it be. But not George. "A Cook Islander, for crying out loud, and an out-of-shape Australian reject from Newcastle," he said of two members of the Leinster squad, which we took as meaning he felt they were weakish links.

Munster, Leinster, not to mention our cricket defeat by the minnows England . . . sporting desolation by the week's end. But at least yesterday raised a cheer, the Irish women beating Hungary at the start of their European Championship campaign. We note Katie Taylor equalised with a splendiferous shot from 35 yards, the Hungarian defence saying, "After you." Wouldn't you? She's a world boxing champion, after all.

The highlight, though, of RTÉ's report on the game was the tune a bunch of small girls in the crowd treated us to: "Two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate? Not the king, not the queen, Ireland's women's football team!" A hoot of an end to a bumpy sporting week.