Chloe and Sam Magee guaranteed Ireland a bronze medal in badminton’s mixed doubles at the European games after pushing aside Poland’s Pawel Pietryja and Aneta Wojtkowska 21-18, 21-12 in just over 30 minutes.

Ireland’s senior women will lose coach Darren Smith after June’s Olympic qualifiers — regardless of whether they get to Rio or not.

Paul Doolin has confirmed he’s penned a contract extension to manage Ireland U19s for the next two seasons.

There is long-term good news and short-term bad news for Martin O’Neill ahead of Ireland’s friendly against Serbia at the Aviva Stadium next Wednesday.

Darren Clarke will have to wait to make his 500th European Tour appearance after pulling out of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters through injury.

The last sighting we had of Robbie Keane on the pitch of the Municipal Stadium in Poznan pretty much summed up Ireland’s Euro 2012 — a proud man vainly chasing a lost cause.

It was the elephant in the Oak Room of the Mansion House last night as the great and the good, including the managers of Liverpool and Celtic, gathered to raise the curtain on today’s ‘Dublin Decider’ at the Aviva Stadium.

Accumulated profits at the promotions firm owned by one of Ireland’s top rugby stars, Johnny Sexton, raced ahead last year to €225,188, new figures show.

Paul McGinley promises to be the most well prepared captain Europe has ever had when he leads the side at Gleneagles next September.

Shane Long has been named in the provisional Republic of Ireland squad for the double header against Sweden and Austria later this month, despite having picked up an ankle injury while training with West Brom. Yet the big story is the surprise inclusion of Reading defender Stephen Kelly.

Ian Poulter and Luke Donald last night backed Paul McGinley to lead Europe at next year’s Ryder Cup. The pair took to twitter to support the Dubliner.

Rory McIlroy last night turned up the heat under golf’s great debate by tweeting his backing of Paul McGinley as the ideal captain to lead Europe’s defence of the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles in September 2014.

West Cork-based food group Carbery has opened a manufacturing and technology centre for the group’s taste and flavour division Synergy Flavours in Sao Paolo, Brazil.

Robbie Brady maintains he’d rather be in Sligo than Serbia tonight.

Carbery Group has announced positive results for 2011 today with revenues increasing by 14.5% to €256.5m and profit before tax rising by 27.8% to €8.7m.

EUROPE’S top cross-country runner, Fionnuala Britton will be one of the favourites for the gold medal when she leads the Irish women’s team into next month’s European cross-country championships in Slovenia.

As Scandinavians take to the first organic Irish cream liqueur with gusto, First Ireland Spirits is looking to expand its customer base by tapping new markets and extending its portfolio with whiskey products, writes Trish Dromey.

MAYO in 2006. Kerry in 2007 and Cork in 2010. None of those are days that any Dubliner would care to remember with any great fondness but Bernard Brogan believes all three semi-final defeats served his side well against Donegal on Sunday.

ROBBIE KEANE has predicted he will soon find a new home in the Premier League.

JIM STYNES has taken a major step towards making what seemed an improbable recovery from cancer by having his last brain tumour removed in Melbourne.

ALL BLACKS hierarchy have complained about Irish referees’ lack of fitness for the second time in less than six months with head coach Graham Henry taking a swipe at Irish whistler Alan Lewis.

RICHIE TOWELL believes a baby-faced Republic of Ireland U21 side can use the final game of a forgettable campaign as something to build on for the future.

IRELAND’S Pádraig Harrington provided a timely reminder of his ability to European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie with a second solid round to leave him in contention at the Barclays.

Ireland’s Padraig Harrington provided a timely reminder of his ability to European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie with a second solid round to leave him in contention at the Barclays.

A PRE-TAX profit of €2.7 million on turnover, which fell by 10% to €183.8m, was recorded by the Carbery Group for last year.

Padraig Harrington was in contention going into the final day at The Barclays at Liberty National in New Jersey, hitting a third-day 67 to sit at four under, five shots clear of Paul Goydos and Steve Marino at the top of the leaderboard.

More and more angry fans are complaining about television coverage of big games. This could also be down to more fans staying away from the games and preferring to watch them in the – cost-free – comfort of their own homes or their local pub. Anyway, this week again, there’s praise and criticism in equal measure again for RTÉ and TV3.

ABSURD as it may sound, there’s a theory doing the rounds that Roy Keane’s beard is a barometer of his mood: the longer he goes without shaving, the less he is enjoying life.

Europe’s Ryder Cup team are eagerly awaiting every “nugget of wisdom” from captain Nick Faldo ahead of their bid for an unprecedented fourth straight victory at Valhalla.

Paddy Barnes will get Ireland's quest for an Olympic boxing medal underway today when he meets Polish light flyweight Lukasz Maszczyk in a high noon quarter-final showdown at the Worker's Indoor Arena in Beijing.

The fans aim at a wide variety of targets this week. For example, how the format of the championships leads to so many one-sided games and particularly to Kilkenny’s dominance in hurling … Cork footballers are faulted, as are critics of Kerry’s mercurial captain Paul Galvin …Those profligate Dublin hurlers who shot off enough wides to beat Wexford twice over …and question marks over the great Eoin Kelly’s free taking technique.

Padraig Harrington today returned from a trip to the dentist to talk about the one great thing in his favour if he finds himself battling Tiger Woods for the Masters at Augusta on Sunday.

It has been reported that Tiger Wood's wife has issued libel proceedings against The Dubliner magazine for publishing what they alleged were fake nude pictures of her at the beginning of the Ryder Cup.

Ding Junhui reached his first ever major quarter-final with an outstanding 6-1 win over former world champion Ken Doherty at the Riley’s Club Masters at Wembley.

COLIN MARTIN, the Irishman who has served over seven years in a Thai jail for a murder he claims not to have committed, wants to stay in the country if he is released, as expected, in the coming weeks.

England’s Luke Donald moved on to the heels of Darren Clarke when the United States PGA championship resumed at Whistling Straits today.

FAI chief executive Fran Rooney yesterday praised the role of international team manager Brian Kerr in securing Roy Keane's return to international football.

Dubliner Paul McDonald cruised into the semi-finals of the West of Ireland Championship with a one hole win over international Johnny Foster at Rosses Point today.

Central defender Pat Scully has become the fifth out-of-contract player to be released by Drogheda United in the close season, as manager Paul Doolin continues to make wholesale changes at the Co Louth club that avoided the promotion/relegation play-offs last year by just one point.

New Republic of Ireland boss Brian Kerr is no stranger to success, with a remarkable record in charge of national under-age teams since his appointment by the Football Association of Ireland six years ago.

THESE are interesting days to be a Dub. More so when you are chairman of Dublin GAA Supporters Club and are engulfed by the hysteria of late August anticipation.