Shane Lowry will forever remember 2016 as the year he got married and then learned he will become a father five weeks before the 2017 Masters.

Robbie Henshaw is planning to use his head to kick on and become a Leinster star. The 23-year-old is still a couple of months off making his debut for the province, after his summer switch from PRO12 Champions Connacht.

Everyone loves Shane Lowry. He’s not just one of us in that he’s Irish. He’s one of us in that he loves his GAA, he seems as if he’d be more at home in your local than some highlife nightclub; the kind of fella you’d love to have a pint with, all the more because he comes across as the kind who’d be all on for having that pint with you as well.

Dubliner Robert Barrable, better known for his rallying forays, will compete in this season’s British GT Championship where he will team up Northern Ireland’s Wilson Thompson in a Team HARD-prepared Ginetta G55 GT4.

Banbridge driver Kenny McKinstry (Subaru WRC) with Kenny Hull calling the pacenotes won the Carey Cleaning Machines Icebreaker Rally in the forests of north Antrim.

McNulty, the first driver to win both National and Irish Tarmac titles in the same season, will make a competitive return to rallying on next month’s Corrib Oil Galway International Rally.

I must be hanging around in the wrong circles.

If you’re a beleaguered fan of Munster or Leinster, pining for the glory days when knockout rugby in European competition could be taken for granted at the turn of the year, then you’re in good company.

Aided by plenty of positive reinforcement, Tommy Bowe made amends for his pre-season Twickenham nightmare with a couple of World Cup tries at Wembley on Sunday.

While some people will really savour the prospect of a ‘traditional’ final between Dublin and Kerry — I’m not one of them.

It seems as though there is no end to Ian Madigan’s talents.

The decision by Motorsport Ireland to phase out the one-time popular single stage rallies has worked in favour of one of the newest motor clubs in the country, the Imokilly Motor Club.

Ireland’s World Cup to do list:

Moving into the lead on the second stage, the Waterford/Cork pairing of Andrew Purcell/Liam Brennan brought their Kumho shod Mitsubishi EvoIX to victory in the Donegal Forest Rally, the second round of the Valvoline Irish Forest Rally Championship.

Top seed and leader of the Valvoline Irish Forest Rally Championship Michael O’Brien (Ford Focus WRC) can expect a stern test in tomorrow’s Donegal Forest Rally, the second round of the campaign.

When pushed on it afterwards, Aogán Ó Fearghail insisted he was referring to himself more than anybody else, writes John Fogarty.

It’s attention to detail that makes Ireland a bit special, writes Kieran Shannon.

The new Triton Showers National Rally Championship got underway with the Abbeyleix Manor Hotel Rally and victory went to Donegal’s Donagh Kelly (Ford Focus WRC) and his Derry co-driver Kevin Flanagan.

Motorsport: A new season of the Valvoline Irish Forest Rally Championship is marked by a very competitive entry for tomorrow’s Donegal Forest Rally in Pettigoe.

Enda McNulty has claimed the Kerry and Tyrone teams of the noughties were "weaker teams" than the Armagh side he played for and that it is a "disgrace" that the Orchard county won only one All-Ireland when they were "in a position to win nine".

If you were to believe everybody who said they were there at Thomond Park on October 31, 1978 the attendance would run into the hundreds of thousands.

He’s always backed himself. So when it came to telling his colourful life and football story, the only person he’d trust to put proper context on all those raucous and riotous moments was his own hand. Galvin In His Own Words. It has bestseller written all over it

If you hear an Irish rugby player in the coming year using the term ’Always Compete’ or ’Fail Fast’ or admitting to spelling words backwards when they’ve felt over-anxious, you can probably put it down to a recent conversation between Joe Schmidt and a psychologist Dr Michael Gervais.

Brian O’Driscoll has outlined how being overlooked for the 2009 IRB Player of the Year was one of the biggest disappointments of his career, while the Grand Slam win that year was one of the highlights.

Enda McNulty is understandably wary of the Monaghan threat this evening. If history has taught him anything, it is to never underestimate the white and blue shirt.

Sports psychologist and former Armagh footballer Enda McNulty says it was predictable that Luis Suarez would become embroiled in another biting controversy.

After playing for one of the most mentally tough GAA teams of recent times, former Armagh star Enda McNulty has helped a generation of Irish rugby players develop a winning mindset

You heard the views of the Irish camp after losing to New Zealand last November.

Ireland sealed the deal to claim only our second Six Nations title in dramatic fashion at Paris on Saturday night but the long-term benefits we will derive from winning a tight game will stand to this side.

Sports psychologist Enda McNulty can help Ireland belie the weight of history and shrug off “superstition” to claim the RBS 6 Nations title in Paris on Saturday, according to Joe Schmid

They weren’t always the double act we know them as now.

I was at a function recently with a few people and we bumped into Anthony Tohill, the four-time All Star and All-Ireland medallist. Tohill stands 6ft 4ins tall.

For the recent visit of the All Blacks to the Aviva Stadium, I was on a radio panel with Irish legend David Wallace and Kiwi and Ulster player Nick Williams.

A quick glance at the Dublin club hurling roll of honour and one trend becomes instantly apparent.

Laois coach Enda McNulty is adamant the introduction of the black card will have no impact in curbing cynicism in the game.

Bringing in a sports psychologist was a master move by Limerick manager John Allen

“Know your enemy” — Sun Tzu, The Art of War

INTERNATIONAL TEST:

Stringent new rules are needed to deal with increasing incidents of violence, verbal abuse and spitting, at GAA games.

Brian O’Driscoll says “the head is good” but the Ireland centre will face a cognitive test today to determine if he can face Italy in Saturday’s final Six Nations clash.

The linebreak from Sean O’Brien was all power, the phases that followed stretched Scotland to breaking point and when the home defence finally creaked, Irish patience in the build-up was rewarded by a clinical finish from Craig Gilroy.