St Munchin’s dominated territorially and were by far the greater physical force, yet they were fully extended to overcome Limerick city rivals Ardscoil Rís in the quarter-final of the Avonmore Milk Munster Senior Schools Cup at Clifford Park yesterday.

CBC Cork’s Adam Finn touched down for two tries as his side cruised to victory in their opening Avonmore Milk Munster Senior Schools Cup clash yesterday.

Crescent College Comprehensive hope their recent junior success can translate into rewards at senior level when they face PBC Cork in today’s Avonmore Milk Munster Senior Schools Cup quarter-final at Musgrave Park (3pm).

WITHIN hours of arriving in Ireland Dutch cyclist, Dion Beukeboom, outsprinted the race favourites Brian Kenneally and Paul Griffin to win the first stage of last year’s Kerry Group Rás Mumhan, and trailed them all the way to the finish three days later when he ended up third overall.

CYCLING IRELAND have chosen Philip Leigh, a former Great Britain international, to plot the route to London 2012.

Mark Cavendish made it a superb three-in-a-row of stage wins at this year's Tour of Ireland after sprinting home in a thrilling bunch gallop into Galway city.

JUST a week after winning the coveted Route du Sud in the Pyrenees, Daniel Martin returned to Ireland to claim the shamrock jersey of the national champion with another power-packed display on the Ballinacurra circuit, near Midleton, yesterday.

WITH three of Ireland’s four Olympic cyclists in the field, Sunday’s national road race championships in Midleton promise to be the most competitive in recent years.

STEPHEN GALLAGHER (An Post/Sean Kelly/Martin Donnelly/ Grant Thornton) won the overall title and the national road race champion, David O’Loughlin (Pezula Racing), won the high-profile final stage of the FBD Insurance Rás in Skerries yesterday as Irish riders reclaimed control of Irish cycling’s showpiece.

CIARÁN POWER (Pezula Racing) put five days of misery behind him to win the stage and put himself right up in contention for what would be a sensational third FBD Milk Rás victory at the end of a 112 mile trip from Skibbereen to Clonmel that wrought havoc at the top of the general classification sheet where Simon Richardson (Plowman Craven) now holds the overall lead and former race leader, Stephen Gallagher (An Post/Sean Kelly), moves back up to within 10 seconds of reclaiming pole position.

EXACTLY 25 years and a day after his father, Philip, claimed his first yellow jersey in the FBD Insurance Rás, Mark Cassidy donned the yellow fleece for the first time in Lisdoonvarna after yesterday’s dramatic stage from Claremorris.

LAST October Ken Hanson came over from California to visit his aunt and cousins in Leitrim and yesterday his relations were celebrating his return to the county of his ancestry as he claimed the first yellow jersey of this year’s FBD Insurance Rás in Ballinamore.

CIARAN POWER (Pezula) would like to take his place among the legends of Irish cycling next week by winning the FBD Insurance Rás for the third time.

THE organiser of the FBD Insurance Rás has had to turn down a request from the Italian Cycling Federation to have their Olympic track team included in the line-up for this year’s showpiece which gets under way on Sunday week.

THE Shay Elliott Memorial Classic in Bray tomorrow is the big event this weekend with the evergreen Malcolm Elliott returning to defend his title.

CIARAN POWER’S performances in the Kerry Mountains during Rás Mumhan over the Easter Weekend could strengthen his claim to a place on the Irish team for the Olympic road race.

CIARAN POWER (Pezula Racing) put his hallmark on a spectacular weekend when he won the final stage of the Pauline Sugrue Auctioneers Rás Mumhan, to copperfasten his overall victory in blustery conditions at Killorglin yesterday.

CIARAN POWER (Pezula Racing) strengthened his grip on the Pauline Sugrue Auctioneers Rás Mumhan when he won a three-man sprint into Waterville to take yesterday’s gruelling South Kerry Climbs. His victory highlights his disgust with having been denied a Sports Council Grant this year and Cycling Ireland’s refusal to put forward an appeal on his behalf.

CIARÁN POWER (Pezula Racing) may have been dumped on the scrapheap when the Sports Council were handing out their grants to elite sports people, but he was at the top of the pile yesterday evening when he won the opening stage of the Pauline Sugrue Auctioneers Rás Mumhan into Killorglin.

THIS is Olympic year so we can expect big things from Ciarán Power — the most experienced Irish professional in the peloton — according to Martin O’Loughlin, who is former manager of the Olympic cycling team.

TRALEE’S Denis Dunworth has been named in the An Post Sean Kelly Development squad for the traditional Pauline Sugrue/Ras Mumhan 4-Day International Cycle Race over the Easter weekend.

BOBBY POWER, one of the legends of Irish cycling, will be back on the bike on Sunday for the Lacey Cup in Tralee — a race he won back in 1975.

SEAN KELLY left Cork yesterday on his Tour of Munster stage across the Vee, on to Cashel and to Limerick but he will be back next Wednesday to see how the young guns of world and Irish cycling handle the notorious St Patrick’s Hill climb when the Tour of Ireland hits it at the end of its first stage from Kilkenny.

PHILIP DEIGNAN’S performances to date in the Tour of Germany would indicate he has hit form at precisely the right time in advance of the Tour of Ireland professional cycle race which gets underway with an exciting stage from Kilkenny to Cork tomorrow week.

PÁIDÍ O’BRIEN can claim his first national senior title on Friday night in the criterium championship in Killarney where a closed 700m circuit will ensure plenty of entertainment.

DAVID O’LOUGHLIN (Navigators Insurance) dug deep into his vast reserves of experience and knowledge to win the national road race championship in spectacular, if not dramatic, fashion in Waterford yesterday where he outsprinted a six-man leading group for his third title.

NICOLAS ROCHE bids to succeed in one of the few races his famous father, Stephen, failed to win when he lines up for the national road race championship in Waterford on Sunday.

THE potential presence of Stuart O’Grady with Team CSC could add an exciting dimension to the inaugural Tour of Ireland (August 22-26).

THE world’s leading cyclists contest the five day Tour of Ireland next August.

A new professional cycle race is set to take place in Ireland, it was revealed today.

CIARAN POWER (Dan Morrissey) claimed his second stage victory and the race leadership changed hands twice in a matter of hours as the 1996 winner, Tommy Evans (Dublin IRC Usher Insulations) took custody of the yellow jersey in the morning team time trial only to pass it on to Kristian House (Recycling.co.uk), the form man going into the race, when the FBD Insurance Rás arrived in Westport last evening.

CIARÁN POWER (Dan Morrissey) claimed stage victory in a sprint with Lukasz Modzelewski (Poland Legia Bazylisek) in a spectacular finish to stage four of the FBD Insurance RAS in Listowel last evening.

DANNY PATE, a former world under-23 time trial champion and member of the US TIAA-CREF team, inflicted what could prove to be irreparable damage on the peleton when he sprinted up the hill to Cobh Cathedral to win the second stage in this year’s FBD Insurance RAS and claim the raceleader’s yellow jersey.

DEFENDING champion, Chris Newton (Recycling.co.uk), pipped former winner, Tommy Evans (IRC Usher Insulations) in the first stage of this year’s FBD Insurance Rás from Tallaght to Enniscorthy yesterday.

CHRIS NEWTON goes to the start line in Tallaght tomorrow defending his FBD Insurance Rás title.

HOPES of wresting the FBD Insurance RÁS title back from England’s Chris Newton got a major boost yesterday with news that two-time winner Ciaran Power is making a dramatic return on O’Connell Street on May 21 to lead the Dan Morrissey/Tipperary team.

EUGENE MORIARTY (cycleways.com) returns to his native Listowel on Sunday bidding to reclaim the trophy that perpetuates the memory of the man who inspired him to take up cycling, his late grandfather, Gene.

IT began with a few notes on the back of a paper napkin, but yesterday in a Brussels suburb, leading figures from the world of sport gathered for the official dedication of the Sean Kelly Cycling Academy.

Spaniard Luis Sanchez, 21, representing Liberty Seguros, won the third stage of the Jacobs Creek Tour Down Under and with it took the coveted yellow jersey after yesterday’s 139km stage from the bayside suburb of Glenelg to the seaside town of Victor Harbour.

Lack of decisive climbs on stage three of the Tour of Britain yesterday ruled out the possibility of any change to the top of the leaderboard.

Philip Deignan, one of Ireland's young cycling talents, moved up to 20th overall in the Tour of Britain this evening, after a bunch finish in the 379.3km stage two ride from Leeds to Sheffield.

ALL-IRELAND winning captain Jimmy Deenihan has called for the creation of an Irish Institute of Sport based on the world renowned Australian model.

IRISH people have to learn to be realistic about what the country’s athletes can achieve in the ultra-competitive Olympic arena, Irish Sports Council Chief Executive John Treacy said yesterday.