David Murphy beat James O’Donovan in the last shot of an enthralling, top class Munster senior semi-final at Béal na mBláth on Sunday.

Arthur McDonagh bowled impressively at Newcestown to beat Gavin Twohig by a bowl of odds in the Munster Senior Championship.

The declaration of the Director for Public Prosecutions, at the Court of Appeal, that longer sentences should be imposed for burglaries, because people in rural areas “live in permanent fear or dread”, will win popular support.

Reports of secret relationships and long-hidden affairs are being recalled in Co Kerry as a result of the renewed investigation into the death of the baby found stabbed on a beach near Caherciveen in 1984.

The Irish Film Board could reopen its office in Hollywood, with its CEO saying the plan is under active consideration.

There’s a distinctive smell that signals the opening day of Puck Fair — a mix of horse manure, chips, and cigarette smoke — although this year some smokers have traded their cigarettes for vaping.

Noonan Services, best known for its office-cleaning services, is eyeing growth in Ireland and the UK in the coming years after its €175m acquisition by South African fund Bidvest.

Having a keen interest in the work of German spiritual teacher and philosopher Eckhart Tolle, I was somehow willing the universe to introduce me to the teachings of homegrown philosopher, John O’Donoghue. 

As the world’s most famous film festival kicks off, Helen Barlow selects some of the highlights

BALLYMALOE LITFEST

Linda Kenny tells Colette Sheridan about her upcoming singalong show of classic hymns.

Vindicated, Shatter can carry on. But for Kenny, the damage is more significant, writes Daniel McConnell, Political Editor

The sentences handed down at Limerick Circuit Court on December 15 to two cousins, who were involved in a burglary in which the bachelor homeowner died of a heart attack when he went to challenge the intruders, is to be appealed by the DPP as unduly lenient.

Two criminals, both with long lists of previous convictions, ignored pleas for help from a dying man’s sister as they fled from his home which they had just burgled. They have now been jailed, but could be due for release within 16 months.

THE judiciary must be independent and demonstrably so. 

The niece of the Limerick bachelor who collapsed and died after he went to confront two burglars in his quiet rural home described how a few dark minutes on a beautiful day changed the lives of her family forever.

Five kegs of beer stolen from a premises in Cork City were delivered to a pub in West Cork a little over an hour later, leading to a man being convicted of handling stolen goods.

The widow of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe claims former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern snubbed her a number of times as she sought help to keep her husband’s killers behind bars.

Consideration of the arts takes up 600 words in a 160-page programme for government, writes Gerard Howlin

Mary Davis first burst into the public consciousness in 2003 as the Irish woman who spearheaded the Special Olympics moving out of the US for the first time.

From the high of the marriage referendum to domestic and foreign threats, and more Garda controversies, it’s been an extraordinary year for justice and law, writes Cormac O’Keeffe

An infrastructure of people, ideas, and places built up in better times has been ground down, writes Gerard Howlin

There is an old saying in rural Ireland that the only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. These are wise words that were never lost on the Healy-Rae political dynasty from Kilgarvan in Co Kerry.

Rural Ireland is in long-term decline principally due to economic forces, writes Michael Clifford

The controversial closure of 139 rural Garda stations is saving the State just €500,000 a year, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has admitted.

The Garda Commissioner has today expressed her sympathies to the family of a Limerick man who died following a break-in at his house last month.

Judges will be obliged under new laws to hand down consecutive sentences in multiple burglary cases and be allowed to refuse bail in certain situations.

Hopes that some good might come out of the tragic death of a beloved man were expressed at his funeral yesterday.

The Government is to shortly publish a bill which will specifically target repeat burglars and lead to tougher sentencing.

The death of a 62-year-old man who died after finding intruders in his home will not be in vain, as it has raised a national awareness of the fear elderly people are living with in rural communities in Ireland, a priest hassaid.

A man told gardaí “I really am sorry for the death of that man” after he was charged with a burglary at a house in Co Limerick where a 62-year-old man died after discovering intruders at his home.

Residents in the rural Limerick community which has lost its Garda station and where a man collapsed and died during a botched burglary earlier this week have resorted to storing guns in their homes to combat the mounting threat from criminals.