Irish companies involved in the production of silicon chips say they could create more jobs if there were enough skilled engineers in the country.

Kilmallock 1-15 Na Piarsaigh 0-14

Katrina Brooker meets the tech investors with the Midas touch

Manchester United will have a new kit supplier next year after American sportswear giant Nike opted not to extend its lengthy association with the club.

Martin O’Neill, the FAI and the Irish players are awaiting clarity on Roy Keane’s next move. Not to mention an Irish public whose fascination with the Cork man showing little sign of dimming.

In today’s “rigged” US stock market, large investors such as Greenlight Capital are like “dumb tourists” led to a casino where the card games are fixed, according to Michael Lewis, whose book Flash Boys has touched off a national debate about high-frequency trading.

UNUSUALLY early for my interview with Daniel Radcliffe, I am making my way leisurely up the stairs at the BAFTA offices in Piccadilly, when a smartly dressed young man bounds up past me.

"Jesus, it was unbelievable … he slaughtered everyone … it was horrendous … venomous … he absolutely overstepped the mark … the worst imaginable spectacle…”

At first blush, Warren Buffett’s decision to invest nearly $1bn of his investors’ money in the VHI would go a long way to explaining his waning powers of Midas, as regards his Berkshire Hathaway investment vehicle.

Ian Bell’s third hundred in successive Ashes Tests underpinned England’s partial recovery from their false start on an eventful first day at Lord’s.

We all know how nervous players can get before big games.

IT giants such as Google and Facebook are facing a skills shortage in Ireland that is forcing them to go abroad to recruit staff.

“Championés, championés” – that was the cry from the Newmarket-on-Fergus dressing-room following Sunday’s Clare SHC final as the players celebrated the storied club’s first county title in 31 years.

Why would between four and five thousand people turning up in Ballyconnell in Co Cavan last weekend to support a family who by their own admission tried, and are still trying, to hide assets from the State — in effect, from the taxpayer?

If the old axiom ‘success breeds success’ holds true, then new Galway manager Anthony Cunningham should be on the road to All-Ireland glory.

THE volume of freight traffic through Ireland’s ports continued to fall in the third quarter of the year.

MUNSTER, and more specifically Cork, looks set for a jobs bonanza as the principal hub of Ireland’s surging microelectronics sector.

THOUSANDS of jobs are to be created in the microelectronics industry.

MORE than 100 jobs are to be created in the technology sector following two separate announcements in Limerick and Dublin.

US firm ON-Semiconductor is pumping €13m into expanding its Design Centre in Limerick, creating 69 new roles.

SO YOU THINK could be set for a mouthwatering clash with last year’s Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe hero Workforce after making a successful European debut.

JUST four years ago Seán Quinn was Ireland’s richest man worth almost €5 billion.

THE progressive Rajik looks a solid choice in the listed Ardilaun Hotel Oyster Stakes at Galway this evening.

Ladbrokes St Leger fancies Midas Touch and Rewilding put their Classic claims on the line in the sportingbet.com Great Voltigeur Stakes at York on Tuesday.

JIM Bolger has two shots at interrupting Aidan O’Brien’s monopoly on the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby as Puncher Clynch and Carraiglawn head for the Curragh tomorrow.

SUPPLEMENTARY entry Monterosso is as low as 3-1 in one book for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the Curragh on Sunday.

AIDAN O’BRIEN finalised his Investec Derby plans yesterday and will take a team of three to Epsom.

Aidan O’Brien has warned ante-post punters to hold their bets before the Investec Derby at Epsom next week.

THERE may be only four runners in tomorrow’s Group 2 Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial at Leopardstown, but this does look a tricky little contest.

QUINN Group’s reluctant acceptance of the appointment of two administrators is welcome for many reasons.

Sligo, Cavan, Wexford and Louth have all won their NFL Division Three matches today.

AIB LEAGUE DIVISION 1B:

Aston Villa 1 Manchester United 2

ROY KEANE knows all about winning and losing, the highs and lows of football, and what it takes to succeed.

NED QUINN is the man with the Midas touch.

HISTORIC swindler Bernard Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison yesterday for a fraud so extensive that the judge said he needed to send a symbolic message to potential imitators and to victims who demanded harsh punishment.

STEPHEN FERRIS attributes Ireland’s spiralling confidence levels to head coach, Declan Kidney, saying that the whole squad is “buying” into the Cork man’s methods.

IS NOTHING in hurling beyond the reach of Cha Fitzpatrick?

Blackburn 3 Stoke 0

BILLIONAIRE businessman Seán Quinn will be glad to see the back of 2008 for a number of reasons.

The Galway minor hurling machine is rolling once more. Yesterday at Croke Park, Mattie Murphy guided another batch of Galway youngsters to success over Cork in the All-Ireland MHC semi-final and the victory pitches the Westerners into their fifth decider in six years against Kilkenny next month.

RAFAEL BENITEZ has rallied his troops for one last surge to reach the Champions League final by declaring: “Can we get to Moscow. Why not?”