Clonoulty-Rossmore 0-19 Toomevara 1-10

Second place on the Sunset Rally at Nutts Corner for Belfast’s Jonny Greer (Citroen DS3R5) was enough to win the McGrady Insurance Northern Ireland Rally Championship and deny Derek McGarrity an eighth title.

Cavan’s Gary Kiernan (Escort) and his Limerick co-driver Keith Moriarty took a late victory in the Midleton based Imokilly Rally, round four of the PlasticBags.ie Southern 4 Rally Championship after long time leaders Jonathan Pringle/James Fulton (Escort) crashed out of the lead on the penultimate stage.

Is there a lesson to be gained for Irish rally organisers from Sunday’s Midleton based Imokilly Rally? 

With four rounds completed Sam Moffett (Ford Focus WRC) is marching towards success in the Triton National Rally Championship.

They’re an obstinate bunch, Tipperary football folk. Small in number but big in pretty much everything else — it took three pleas from the PA announcer in Croke Park to convince them to leave the stadium long after the players had retired to their dressing room.

The dream week for Tipperary hurling, anything but for neighbours Limerick.

Racing driver Jake Byrne has abandoned his Motorsport Ireland Young Driver of the Year programme with immediate effect after it appears he is unhappy with his UK Formula Ford campaign - the prize for winning the prestigious award.

Cian O’Neill has so far done everything asked of him since he finally took the reins in his native county.

Kildare forward Niall Kelly believes new boss Cian O’Neill is right to be unhappy with his players despite their flawless record in the Allianz Football League. 

Seán Óg Ó hAilpín is to make his first foray into the area of club management following his appointment as coach of Na Piarsaigh’s senior hurling and premier intermediate football teams.

A Wexford man who murdered his ex-girlfriend’s partner when he should have been in jail for assault has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

A man accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend’s partner set fire to a blood-stained hoodie he had been wearing on the night of the fatal fight, the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday.

Dublin defender Philly McMahon has so far escaped sanction following claims of eye-gouging Kieran Donaghy in the All-Ireland final.

Jason Ryan last night stepped down as Kildare manager after two years in charge. Ryan had previously been coach and selector under Kieran McGeeney in 2013.

A dejected Jason Ryan conceded yesterday’s defeat to Kerry was a more chastening one than the loss to Dublin.

Kerry 7-16 Kildare 0-10

Three games were played at Thurles last weekend, two of those set the talking points for the week and one county led the discussion, writes Steve Neville.

Alan Smith believes Kildare have nothing to fear against Kerry in Sunday’s All-Ireland quarter-final meeting at Croke Park, now that they have finally claimed the scalp of one of football’s traditional heavyweights.

Kildare 1-21 Cork 1-13: Fionn Fitzgerald has a lot to answer for.

Former National Rally champion, Warrenpoint’s Peadar Hurson (Subaru WRC), and his Monaghan co-driver Damien Connolly took a start to finish victory in the POC NI Distribution Tyrone Rally.

Brian Cuthbert’s body language as he exited the Kildare dressing-room after delivering his congratulatory speech late on Saturday wasn’t suggestive of a man who was keen to shoot the breeze, but the question had to be asked.

Thurles on a Saturday evening for knock-out championship with two teams still searching for their true identity.

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.

Former Cork footballer Mick Slocum has warned of a massive backlash if Brian Cuthbert’s charges exit the All-Ireland championship this weekend.

Sitting in the Hogan Stand two weeks ago watching John Heslin roll in the game-clinching goal, it was hard not to get drawn in by the pure joy and excitement the Westmeath squad and supporters were experiencing.

Longford 0-11 Kildare 2-24: Just last week, Offaly manager Pat Flanagan asserted that so-called weaker counties consistently got the short end of the stick when it came to getting decisions against teams with higher profiles.

Kildare 1-15 Offaly 1-13

Kildare great Dermot Earley has revealed his frustration with the decision of David Hyland and Darroch Mulhall to walk out on the panel midsummer.

Dublin 5-18 Kildare 0-14: With pins the size of swords, Dublin popped Westmeath’s party balloons less than an hour after they had been blown up yesterday.

Peter McNamara assesses the live matches this weekend.

Ciarán Whelan didn’t quite do a Tomás Ó Sé on it, but he is seriously dubious about Kildare’s chances of beating Dublin in Sunday’s Leinster semi-final.

Kildare 3-18 Laois 1-11: Not even their own supporters held much hope of Kildare beating Laois given their injuries and a horrible league campaign but manager Jason Ryan insists he and his coaching staff retained faith in their methods despite some of the vitriol being aimed in their direction.

Three of football’s ‘Big 4’ are in action this weekend, with All-Ireland champions Kerry, Mayo and Donegal all facing tough tests.

Kildare 0-16 Laois 0-16: Tommy Moolick capped off a barnstorming performance off the bench with a wonderful injury-time point to rescue a draw for Kildare at the end of a thoroughly entertaining Leinster SFC clash with Laois at O’Connor Park.