TJ Reid was the star man as Ballyhale Shamrocks snatched a Kilkenny senior hurling league victory from the jaws of defeat — but they couldn’t get themselves out of relegation trouble.

Colin Sheridan With the sporting summer we’ve so far had — Irish cricketers storming Lord’s, young Irish soccer players dazzling in Europe, young Irish sprinters winning medals, and some lad from Clara winning the Open up north, you could almost be forgiven for forgetting about the hurling.

From Sunday morning nerves to lifting the Claret Jug, Shane Lowry’s big day out at Royal Portrush turned the Irishman from nearly man into a force to be reckoned with among golf’s elite.

To grow up in Offaly in the 1980s was to live in a sporting wonderland. The hurlers and then the footballers and then the hurlers, again, performed feats that are without parallel in the history of the GAA.

The last thing Shane Lowry needs is to be a hostage to fortune — but while the new Open Champion insists he would retire happy with a single major win on his resumé, a steely ambition for further success lurks not far beneath the surface.

Shane Lowry may have been at the centre of a whirlwind of celebrations and media attention since his Open Championship victory at Royal Portrush on Sunday but he is hoping his hard-earned status as Ireland’s newest major champion will not change him.

A small town on the River Brosna in County Offaly with a population of over 3,000 people has earned its place on the map this evening following champion golfer Shane Lowry's homecoming party.

Shane Lowry said the feeling of winning The Open “hasn’t sunk in yet” as he was welcomed home to County Offaly.

Lowry left Dublin on Tuesday afternoon bound for his hometown after conducting interviews for the media at the end of a whirlwind 36 hours of celebrations in Dublin that followed his return from Portrush.

Michael Hayes All-Ireland winners Mike Quirke and Patrick Kelly believe the red carpet should be rolled out at Croke Park for Open Championship winner Shane Lowry.

After the historic Open win, the mammoth celebrations.

The scenes on Sunday evening in Portrush, Clara and pretty much everywhere across the country following his emphatic Open Championship victory confirmed Shane Lowry’s status as one of Ireland’s most popular sports stars.

The Dublin-based sports agency Horizon Sports which represents Shane Lowry had a positive swing in its fortunes last year even before the Clara, Co Offaly man’s runaway victory at the British Open.

People wonder how players keep their heads given the magnitude of what a prize like the Claret Jugre presents but it’s the madness of it all that overwhelms when the 18th approaches and the divide between those inside and outside the ropes begins to buckle under the waves of emotion.

It’s not often golf takes precedence over Gaelic games for me but this was an exception — and oh what an exception.

Well-placed after an opening four-under round of 66, Lowry had been contending with a bad cough that was disturbing his sleep through the week but his health issues took a turn for the worse early on Friday.

Aaron Buckley, from Clara, Co Offaly, died after getting into difficulty while swimming in the Abbey River, close to the Absolute Hotel, shortly after 1pm.

Majors are a test of mental strength, and Shane Lowry felt as much a winner as Brooks Koepka following his gutsy tie for eighth alongside Rory McIlroy in the US PGA at Bethpage Black.

We’ve a lot to learn from the students who responded to Greta Thunberg’s call for a global strike to protest about accelerating climate change, writes Donal O’Keeffe.

Augusta can be heaven when the putts are dropping and the roars are reverberating through the pines.

Fitzgibbon Cup champions UCC got their Cork SHC (Colleges/Divisions section) off to an impressive start in Páirc Uí Rinn last night. Played before the Cork/Kilkenny benefit game for former Cork footballer Kieran O’Connor, they now move on to a second-round tie against Muskerry next week.

Croke Cup holders St Kieran’s College will appear in their sixth consecutive All Ireland final at the end of the month as Ballyhale Shamrocks hero Eoin Cody scored eight points (five frees and three from play) in a nervy victory over CBC at the WIT Arena this afternoon.

When I took my seat in the stand in Nowlan Park yesterday, near the 45-metre line, I found myself beside a nice man from Clara. He was a quiet fella, who said very little, until he felt like making a point or asking a question. When Limerick made their final substitution in the 69th minute, the gentleman asked me who was the Limerick player being introduced. ‘Gearoid Hegarty,’ I said. ‘Jeez,’ he replied with an audible groan.

A strong second-half performance, lit up by the individual excellence of Sean Morrissey, saw Bennettsbridge end a 44-year wait for a place in the Kilkenny senior hurling championship final.

A powerful display from TJ Reid helped Ballyhale Shamrocks end Dicksboro’s reign as Kilkenny senior hurling champions.

The visit of Pope Francis to Knock at the end of August has impacted on club championship matches in Mayo.

Paul Dunne knows he must ignore the dream of a Masters debut if he’s to get closer to winning his PGA Tour card at the Houston Open in Texas. The Wicklow man and Clara’s Shane Lowry kept their Augusta dreams alive with battling second round performances.

The messages have been plentiful as they have been humbling. Heart-warming texts from Derek McGrath, Anthony Daly, and Nicky English. 

UCC 1-19 - CORK IT 0-12: UCC’s class was always going to be the telling factor. And so it proved, even if it took a little longer than expected to boil to the surface.

Clara Sequin is one of thousands of young people in Ireland living with epilepsy. She has had to grow up quickly, says Áilin Quinlan

Ballyhale Shamrocks showed a never-say-die spirit to fight their way to a share of the points against Danesfort in the Kilkenny senior hurling league on Saturday.

Shane Lowry is saddened there will be no repeat fairytale for an amateur in next month’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

One of Spain’s top female wine-makers is leading a promotion for her brand in Ireland, writes Deirdre Reynolds.

Tackling a taboo subject in the shape of caring for an elderly relative was the inspiration for her cathartic novel, Kate Beaufoy tells Sue Leonard.

Rickshaw-type trishaws are taking residents out of the nursing home and back to nature. It’s about Cycling Without Age, says Margaret Jennings.

When he first visited the Cork of his ancestors, Henry Ford was embroiled in a fascinating saga revolvong around an apparent bequest to charity. Dave Hannigan tries to seperate fact from fiction.

Kerry, who travel to Dr Hyde Park to face Roscommon in Division 1 of the Allianz FL tomorrow (2pm), have two changes in personnel, as well as a number of positional switches, following their loss to Monaghan.

On April 7, 1947, 30 years to the month after he set up his Irish company, Henry Ford died of a brain haemorrhage, aged 83, writes John Dolan.

Suddenly the Carrickshock supporters took to singing.