If last weekend’s Cork Regatta is a reliable barometer, the National Championships next month (July 14-16) will draw unprecedented entries to the National Rowing Centre at Farran, Cork.

PJ Nolan has spent at least two decades spreading snooker’s gospel.

Arthur Gaskin won his fifth Irish Senior squash title last weekend. The 32-year-old from Co Carlow has lived and trained in America since 2013, and moved to Orlando, Florida, before Christmas. 

Siobhan Horgan makes her seventh appearance at a World Championships today but it’ll be her first since 2012 and her maiden attempt at the time-trial, having always done the road race before now.

The inaugural Eventing Ireland National Championships at Ballindenisk, Co Cork, will be a “major affair” according organiser Peter Fell. 

Qatar’s Mutaz Bashirm was just centimetres off setting a new World high jump record at tonight’s AIT international arena, as Ciarán Ó Lionáird ran out of gas.

Katie Taylor heavily criticised RTÉ’s boxing coverage yesterday, but the national broadcaster insists it “has consistently supported Katie in her successful quest for titles”.

Eddie Dunbar was named the Irish Male Cyclist of the Year at the Cycling Ireland Awards night over the weekend.

Ireland’s Dan Martin stepped up his preparations for the upcoming Vuelta A Espana and next month’s World Championships with a solid result in his main build-up race last night.

The shock announcement on Sunday that Fionnuala Britton will run in the marathon at the European Championships on August 16 is a high-risk strategy which has raised eyebrows in the athletics community.

One of Ireland’s best long-distance runners has all but given up hope of competing at the European Championships in Zurich in two weeks’ time as his application for Irish citizenship has yet to come through.

One of the country’s most exciting prospects, Ryan Mullen, took the biggest road race victory of his young career when he soloed to a stunning win at the National Championships at Multyfarnham, Co. Westmeath yesterday.

Athlete competes in National Championships while 34 weeks pregnant.

When Pádraig Marrey was booted out of the An Post Rás last year along with 28 others for missing the time limit on stage three, he would have been be forgiven if he decided to call time on his 27-year racing career.

It was national title number seven for Belfast's Paddy Barnes as he scored a unanimous decision over Hughie Myers at the Men's Elite Boxing Championships in Dublin.

Billy Walsh hasn’t diluted his ambition of Ireland finishing top of the boxing medal table at the next Olympic Games despite the raft of changes which threaten to squeeze the number of qualifiers under his charge.

Plans are afoot for Katie Taylor to fight in Cork at the end of the month, as the Olympic champion faces into a year where she hopes to defend her European and World titles.

Irish athlete Tomas Rauktys has been banned for two years after being found guilty of doping offences.

Middle-distance athlete Laura Crowe may have to throw in the towel on achieving qualification for next month’s World Championships.

Confusion reigned at the launch of the IABA’s National Elite Championships yesterday, with the news that Ireland won’t be hosting the European Women’s Championships this year.

The new ‘Nicolas Roche Performance Cycling Team’ has announced its roster for the coming season with an eight-man line-up comprising some of the most talented underage riders in the country.

The fairytale ending may not have materialised but Derval O’Rourke had few regrets as she bade farewell to her third and final Olympic Games in London last night.

Derval O'Rourke says there is nothing better than being involved in the Olympics Games, as she counts down the days to London 2012.

The controversy surrounding the Irish women’s 4x400m relay team may yet run through until next Monday – four days before the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony – after confirmation yesterday of the details surrounding Catriona Cuddihy’s appeal.

CIARÁN Ó LIONAIRD is set to take his place among the great middle distance runners after a cool, calculated and confident run in the 1,500m heats at the world championships in Daegu yesterday.

THE chairman of Ennis Show organising committee has issued an invitation to his ShowjumpingIreland (SJI) counterpart to visit the Clare venue “to clarify any misconceptions and rectify any problems that are identified”.

GRÁINNE MURPHY, Melanie Nocher and Aisling Cooney represent Ireland at the European Short Course (25m) Swimming Championships which begin in Eindhoven today.

NUMBERS were better than expected yesterday at the opening of the Millstreet Horse Show All-Ireland Championships, as many of the show jumping fraternity defied the threat of sanction by the sport’s national governing body to attend the Cork event.

HOPE turned to despair for Olive Loughnane in Barcelona yesterday when a stomach bug forced her to pull out of the women’s 20k walk after 5,000m and dashed her hopes of adding a European medal to the silver she won at the world championships in Berlin last year.

Athletics Ireland has announced a 30-strong team for the 20th European Athletics Championships in Barcelona from July 27 to August 1.

PAUL HESSION underscored his European championship credentials in a fighting finish with arch rival, Brendan Christian (Antigua & Barbuda), in the men’s 200m that ended in a dead heat at Cork City Sports on Saturday.

Nicholas Roche will carry Irish hopes at this year's Tour de France which starts this Saturday with an 8.9 kilometre prologue around Rotterdam.

LAST year, Ciara Mageean (Assumption, Ballinahinch) took her career to a new level when she broke Sonia O’Sullivan’s long standing national junior 800m record at the Irish schools track and field championships.

DERVAL O’ROURKE goes to the World Indoor Championships in Doha next month looking for a repeat of Moscow four years ago when she turned in a succession of storming performances en route to the 60m hurdles title.

HEAD coach Billy Walsh is convinced he has the talent to better the three-medal haul from Liverpool when he takes his team to the European Championships in Moscow next June.

Four Jamaican athletes who produced positive tests at their National Championships in June have been suspended for three months.

The 12th IAAF World Athletics Championships got off to a disappointing start for Ireland this morning as Wicklow's Roisin McGettigan failed to qualify from the 3000 metres Steeplechase heats.

Back, knee and calf muscle. It is hard to believe that 400 metres starlet Joanne Cuddihy is on the cusp of her Olympic debut, after a summer full of injury frustration.

Ireland's Alistair Cragg and David Gillick both put in solid displays at today's Aviva London Grand Prix, claiming third place finishes as they continued their build-up to Beijing.

OLYMPIC race walker Olive Loughnane claims she is in “really good shape” ahead of next month’s Olympic Games in Beijing.

The hunt for World championship glory is not something which fazes Derval O'Rourke and the Cork native has her feet firmly on the ground as she makes last minute preparations for the competition in Osaka, Japan.