A house was barricaded with a stove as people armed with knives, golf clubs, and a machete threw bottles from inside during a face-off with gardaí, with a television thrown through an upstairs window.

THE littler All-Ireland, you could call it. The Cork county junior hurling title is widely regarded as one of the toughest GAA championships to win, and they know all about that around Ladysbridge and Ballymacoda in east Cork.