The GUI’s annual AIG Cups and Shields All-Ireland finals look primed to get off to a blistering start this morning when Munster champions Tralee meet Connacht kingpins Galway in the first Barton Shield semi-final.

Not making the GB & Ireland Walker Cup team that faced the United States at the weekend was disappointing but it was nothing I wasn’t expecting.

Tramore’s Robin Dawson remains on course for his maiden championship success after he battled winds gusting up to 40km/h to reach the last 16 of the AIG Irish Amateur Close at Galway.

Chemistry student Peter Kerr is hoping he can come up with the magic formula and win his maiden championship after leading the qualifiers for the matchplay stages of the AIG Amateur Close at Galway.

Golf

The great Lahinch links, especially when it is swept by a seriously strong wind from the Atlantic, never fails to provide great matches over the closing stages of the Pierse Motors South of Ireland Championship. 

A spectacular chip in for eagle at the final hole for a round of one under par 71 enabled Rowan Lester of Hermitage to ensure his place at the head of affairs after the second and final qualifying round of the Pierse Motors South of Ireland Championship at a wet and windy Lahinch yesterday.

Not a single member of one of the strongest fields to contest the Pierse Motors South of Ireland managed to break the par of 72 in yesterday’s first qualifying round of the 116th championship.

The latest phase in the 125th-anniversary celebrations at Lahinch Golf Club gets underway this morning with the first qualifying round in the Pierse Motors South of Ireland Championship and continues until Monday when many past champions will be honoured in a special competition followed by a gala dinner.

Nine of the eleven-strong Irish team that achieved a Grand Slam in last year’s Home Internationals and in the process completed a hat-trick of successes in the championship have entered for the Pierse Motors South of Ireland, starting with the first of two qualifying rounds at Lahinch next Wednesday.

Six PGA in Ireland professionals will compete at next week’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, hosted by the Rory Foundation at Portstewart.

Conor O’Rourke will spearhead the Irish attack as 16 stars travel to Scotland for the start of St Andrews Links Trophy today.

Royal County Down has a habit of punishing aggression but big hitting Douglas man Peter O’Keeffe kept his love of attack in check to open with a fine 70 in the Flogas Irish Amateur Open in idyllic conditions at the firm and fast Newcastle links.

A jury has failed to reach a verdict in the trial of a Dublin father-of-one, charged with murdering a 62-year-old by punching him repeatedly until he admitted to a sexual assault that he believed he had committed on another man.

A jury has heard closing speeches in the trial of a Dublin man, charged with murdering a 62-year-old by punching him until he admitted to a sexual assault that the accused had been told he had committed.

A witness has told a murder trial he went for hypnosis to try to remember how a fatal assault began in his home.

Conor O’Rourke, Naas, put a stuttering start to the season behind him by scorching to a stunning five under par 66 to grab a two-stroke lead after the first qualifying round of the Radisson Blu sponsored West of Ireland Amateur Open Championship at Co Sligo.

Tramore’s Robin Dawson hopes to wield his putter like a “hoover” rather than a deadly weapon as he seeks some AIG Irish Close Championship revenge in the last 16 today.

Whitehead’s John-Ross Galbraith claimed the leading qualifier’s silver medal at Ballyliffin and insisted he’s aiming to maintain his 100% record in the AIG Irish Amateur Close by winning it for the second time.

Ireland bounced back from their European Amateur Team Championship quarter-final defeat to Italy with an impressive 3½-1½ win against Spain over France’s challenging Chantilly course.

Three-under par rounds of 68 over the challenging Chantilly course by Walker Cup star Jack Hume and Stuart Grehan helped Ireland cruise into the quarter-finals of the European Amateur Team Championship.

Irish Amateur champion Colm Campbell saw both sides of tour life this week. While he could look back on his Irish Open debut and lament missing the cut after being put on the clock completely destroyed his rhythm, he will remember it fondly instead thanks to Martin Kaymer.

Warrenpoint’s Colm Campbell survived a spectacular back nine charge from Jack Hume to clinch a heart-stopping, wire-to-wire win in the Flogas Irish Amateur Open.

Warrenpoint’s Colm Campbell fired a second successive 68 to lead the Flogas Irish Amateur Open by two shots at halfway and immediately took his hat off to course record setter Marco Penge.

Kinsale’s Cathal Butler won the Munster Stroke Play Championship at Cork Golf Club yesterday in a sudden death play-off over the host club’s Gary O’Flaherty.

There were smiles all round at the EMC Lee Valley Senior Scratch Cup as newly-crowned champion Colm Campbell got the perfect boost for a busy schedule ahead and tournament organisers got a winner of the calibre they feel their event deserves.

England’s Andrew Johnston hailed a dream come true after holding off a final-day charge from tournament host Sergio Garcia to win a first European Tour title in the Spanish Open.