If the first weekend is anything to go by, this season’s Munster Junior League should be another captivating campaign. Some early favourites started off impressively and will be aiming to follow up their opening-day victories.

The Munster Junior Leagues get back under way this weekend and it should prove to be a captivating opening programme.

Kilfeacle proved too strong for St. Mary’s in the Munster Junior Clubs Challenge Cup while Douglas lost their Martin O’Sullivan Cup crown.

The recent bad weather means there will be a host or rearranged games taking place this weekend in the leagues and cups.

When Christy McCormack hung up his uniform for the last time it marked the end of an era for rural policing in Galbally, Co Limerick.

Galway’s All-Ireland U21-winning midfielder Fiontain Ó Curraoin has been named in the side for the opening defence of their crown in tomorrow night’s Cadbury’s Connacht U21FC quarter-final against Mayo in McHale Park but remains a major doubt due to an ankle injury.

Going into the final two games of the Munster Junior League many issues could be finalised this weekend.

Things will be getting serious in the Munster Junior Cup from Sunday as most of the big guns enter the fray at the fourth round stage.

WITH three games remaining in Division One of the Munster Junior League, all 14 sides are still in the hunt for the title or trying to avoid relegation.

ALTHOUGH they haven’t been in action recently, it has proved to be a good period for Richmond’s Munster Junior League ambitions with some of their main challengers losing valuable ground.

SKIBBEREEN continue to lead the way at the top of Division 1 of the Munster Junior League, with five teams just behind them.

MARC SHEEHAN hits you with a blizzard of statistics. There’ll be 4,200 children in action in Cork over the next three days in the 2011 instalment of Féile na nÓg, lining out for 181 teams and going into action in 40 venues.

THE Junior Interprovincial series begins this evening in Charleville with the clash of Munster and Leinster.

MOST teams finish their League campaigns this weekend with the final full round of fixtures across all three divisions. While some of the major issues are sorted there is still plenty to play for in all three Divisions.

WHAT looks set to be the biggest game of the season on the Munster junior rugby scene is down for decision this weekend as Cashel travel to Canal Bank to face Richmond in what is effectively a league decider.

THE Munster Junior Cup dominates the fixture list this weekend, but the biggest match is arguably taking place in the top flight. Second-placed Richmond, who currently trail Cashel by seven points, play their game in hand at home to Waterpark.

THERE is a full programme of League fixtures this weekend with the battle for the Division One Title looking like it has boiled down to a two horse race.

PADDY RYAN — P.S. Ó Riain — whose death took place on Saturday night, gave a life-long commitment to the GAA in Limerick and was one of the best-known figures at national level with close to 35 years of continuous service on the Central Council.

THE Heineken Cup match in Limerick on Sunday has seriously hampered the junior programme as a lack of referee availability has forced several clubs to rearrange their fixtures with a handful now going ahead on Saturday.

ALTHOUGH it is early days in the First Division of the Munster Junior League, many of the early favourites are up at the right end of the table.

THE Mayo County Board are set to delay appointing John O’Mahony’s replacement as county senior football boss until after they have undertaken a review that will look into root and branch reform of football in the county.

LIMERICK and Tipperary are both bidding to break the stranglehold that Cork and Kerry have exerted in the Munster minor football grade, when the semi-finals of the competition take place tonight.

THE two remaining semi-final spots in this season’s Munster Junior Cup will be up for grabs this weekend with a pair of very interesting quarter-final ties.

THE battle for promotion is the highlight of this weekend’s Munster junior rugby fixture list as Clanwilliam and Galbally bid to join Old Christians in the top flight next season. The battle for relegation is every bit as interesting, with three sides trying to avoid the drop.

LIMERICK GAA chiefs have slammed the GAA and GPA for failing to help in resolving the hurling standoff in the county with one official claiming the Players’ Association ‘have held up progress and undermined the negotiations.’

THE three top teams in the First Division face stern challenges on Sunday as they battle for league glory, but the weekend’s standout game is in the Second Division, as two of the pacesetters, Old Christians and Galbally, come face to face.

LIMERICK’S hammering in the All-Ireland hurling semi-final against Tipperary should serve as a powerful motivation for the team going forward, writes county secretary Mike O’Riordan in his report to last night’s annual convention in Caherconlish.

SHINING KEANO, the property of Pat Treacy from Kilmallock, Co. Limerick, proved a worthy winner of the Maryville Stakes, and the 800 that went with it, at Fedamore Co. Limerick yesterday when he defeated Tom Barrett’s (Co. Limerick) Seefin Oscar in the decider.

CROSSHAVEN can book their place in the semi-final of the play-offs for the Heineken Munster Junior League if they beat Ennis at the Clare venue in their outstanding league tie this weekend.

HEINEKEN Munster Junior Cup holders, Nenagh Ormond will open the defence of their title in the second round with a trip away to the winners of the Young Munster-St. Senan’s clash.

The draw for the first two rounds of the Heineken Munster Junior Cup has been announced.