Gardaí believe that the Co Limerick family held hostage by an armed gang on Wednesday night were targeted mistakenly.

Gardaí have today appealed for information after a family was tied up and robbed at their home in Co Limerick overnight.

Five men from the Mullingar area have been questioned by gardaí following the confiscation of fireworks worth an estimated €20,000 from vans parked near Kilmallock mart.

A child sex offender ordered by an English judge not to leave Britain was found staggering in a drunken state on a Co Limerick road, a court heard yesterday.

Former Clare hurler Ollie Baker has been put forward as the new Offaly senior hurling manager, following a recommendation from the selection committee involved.

OLLIE BAKER is set to follow his former Clare All-Ireland-winning teammates Davy Fitzgerald and Anthony Daly into inter-county senior management, after being recommended by an Offaly County Board appointments committee to succeed Joe Dooley as the county’s new manager.

FORMER Clare manager Mike McNamara admits he has had second thoughts about his decision to step down from the post.

THERE was frost on the ground in Clare yesterday morning, a genuine feel of Christmas in the air as Ger O’Loughlin headed off to his day job as Director of Sales with the Burke Shipping Group.

CLARE GAA chairman Michael O’Neill has vowed to put measures in place to ensure that there is no repeat of the bitter dispute that led to Mike McNamara’s resignation as the county’s senior hurling team manager.

DUBLIN senior hurling manager Anthony Daly has hailed the imminent appointment of Ger ‘Sparrow’ O’Loughlin in his native Clare.

All-Ireland winner Ger ‘Sparrow’ O’Loughlin is set to be named Clare senior hurling boss following the resignation of Mike McNamara and his management team last night.

ALL-IRELAND winner Ger ‘Sparrow’ O’Loughlin is set to be named Clare senior hurling boss following the resignation of Mike McNamara and his management team last night.

TALKS aimed at resolving the crisis in Limerick hurling on Saturday night proved ‘totally inconclusive’ according to a senior board official.

MIKE McNAMARA remains in situ as Clare senior hurling manager following last night’s lengthy meeting with his players – but sources within the Banner County expect McNamara to walk away in the next day or two.

A NUMBER of Limerick hurlers who have quit the county squad have declined to meet with manager Justin McCarthy according to a board spokesperson.

A CLARE player delegation led by captain Brian O’Connell look set to meet with county board chiefs within the next 48 hours to outline their opposition to the retention of manager Mike McNamara for the 2010 season.

THE dispute between players and management in Clare has claimed its first victim with former All Star Tony Griffin retiring from intercounty hurling.

CLARE chairman Michael O’Neill is ‘optimistic’ that the dispute between the county’s senior hurlers and the management team of Mike McNamara can be resolved quickly.

MIKE McNAMARA’S managerial future is set to be decided at a meeting of Clare County Board in Ennis tonight.

ANOTHER standoff is brewing in Clare with player unrest over the expected re-appointment of Mike McNamara as senior hurling boss at tonight’s meeting of the county board in Ennis.

There are no players from Cork selected to start for Munster in their Martin Donnelly Interprovincial Hurling semi-final with Connacht at Pearse Stadium, Galway on Saturday.

The decision by the Clare County Board to appoint Mike McNamara, instead of Tony Considine, as senior hurling manager for the coming season may result in a comeback for one of the most decorated players in the game.

FORMER midfield star Ollie Baker is hoping that his experience with the Clare hurlers over the past decade will assist him in his new role as a selector along with Alan Cunningham, Fr. Harry Bohan and manager Anthony Daly.

Former captain Anthony Daly's tenure as Clare senior hurling manager was officially extended at last night's county board meeting in Ennis.

THERE will be no decision on the Cork senior hurling management until after Sunday's SHC final between Cloyne and Newtownshandrum.

ANTHONY DALY and his more senior players will make no impulse decisions over their futures with Clare, according to captain Sean McMahon.

FOR all the criticism levelled at Clare on different occasions this season, getting to another Guinness All-Ireland hurling semi-final represents a major achievement for Anthony Daly and his players.

Anthony Daly was ratified for a second term as Clare hurling boss at Tuesday night's meeting of the county board.

Two-time All-Ireland winning captain Anthony Daly was last night ratified for another year's term as manager of the Clare hurling team.

THERE are two ways of looking at the challenge that confronts Anthony Daly and Clare in Croke Park on Sunday in the quarter-final of the Guinness All-Ireland hurling championship.

AFTER their failure in the League final last weekend, Waterford can either be inspired to energise their challenge tomorrow or, alternatively, be subdued by it.

REIGNING champions Coláiste na Sceilge have an injury crisis ahead of tomorrow’s crucial Irish Examiner Corn Uí Mhuirí clash with Coláiste Choilm, Ballincollig, at Kilcummin.

ANTHONY DALY is relishing his appointment as manager of the Clare senior hurlers. However, Daly, who celebrated his 34th birthday last week, is under no illusions about the mammoth task he has undertaken along with Fr. Harry Bohan, and Alan Cunningham.

ANTHONY DALY, the man who captained Clare to two exhilarating All-Ireland senior hurling championships, was last night appointed manager of the Banner county for the coming season.

CLARE’s stance on the GAC probe into the ‘Gerry Quinn affair’ was strongly defended by Banner GAA chiefs at yesterday’s annual convention in Ennis.

AFTER all the speculation surrounding the potential appointment of Anthony Daly, it came as a surprise when former forward star Ger O’Loughlin was named as the third senior selector, to replace the outgoing John Minogue on the Clare management team.