Eileen O’Keefe cannot wait for World Championships hammer final to get under way on Thursday night in Osaka.

THE ‘very fast’ track in Osaka where the world championship medals will be decided the week after next will throw up some surprises, according to Ireland’s double European indoor 400m champion, David Gillick.

DERVAL O’ROURKE went under 13 seconds twice last night as she fine tuned her preparations for the world championships in Leverkusen.

DERVAL O’ROURKE will follow a familiar path when she concludes her preparations for the world championships in Germany over the weekend.

EILEEN O’KEEFFE launched herself into 13th position in the global rankings for the year when she took her national record to 73.21 metres en route to a seventh successive hammer throw title at the Woodies DIY National Track and Field Championships at Morton Stadium on Saturday.

EILEEN O’KEEFFE has had one eye on the weather forecast in the hours leading up to today’s defence of her hammer title at the Woodies DIY national track and field championships at Morton Stadium.

DERVAL O’ROURKE passed a major milestone in her build-up to the World Championships when she broke 13 seconds for the first time this season at last night’s IAAF Grand Prix meeting in Lausanne.

AFTER a weekend that has given much promise for the rest of the season, Derval O’Rourke will be back among the best 100m hurdlers in the world at the Grand Prix 1 meeting in Lausanne tonight.

DERVAL O’ROURKE rediscovered her winning form in the women’s 100m hurdles while David Gillick put the memories of his false start at The Mardyke behind him with an emphatic victory in the men’s 400m at the Honved International in Budapest last night.

EILEEN O’KEEFFE could break the Irish record in the hammer for a third time in just over a week if things go according to plan at the Lee Strand international track and field meeting in Castleisland tonight.

AFTER breaking the national 100m record for the second time this season with 10.18 secs for second place Saturday, Paul Hession put the finishing touches to a sensational weekend at the European Cup in Vaasa, Finland, by beating European silver medallist, Johan Wissman (Sweden), in the 200m yesterday.

DERVAL O’ROURKE finished last of the seven competitors in her Golden League 100m hurdles race at the Bislett Games in Oslo last night, in a time of 13.19 secs.

DERVAL O’ROURKE and Paul Hession head to the first Golden League meeting of the year — the Bislett Games in Oslo tonight — hoping for better weather than that which greeted them at an international meeting in Stavanger, Norway on Wednesday night.

DERVAL O’ROURKE runs in the Grand Prix meeting in Budapest tonight — lining up against a strong field for the 100m hurdles in better conditions than she experienced at The Mardyke last weekend.

Damien Fox's reign as Laois hurling manager got off to a very satisfactory start as the midlanders ended Down's Walsh Cup hopes with a 2-15 to 1-9 defeat at Rathdowney.

Ireland's hurdling heroine Derval O'Rourke will sit out the European Indoor Championships in March due to a back injury.

ALISTAIR CRAGG has his sights set firmly on the European Indoor Championships in Birmingham on March 2/3/4, when he will defend his 3,000m title.

New Mayo senior football manager John O'Mahony is hoping a well-timed trip to America and the Caribbean will have his players primed for the new season.

DECLAN KIDNEY was presented with the Philips Manager of the Year award yesterday, capping an unforgettable year for Munster rugby.

Athletics trainer Jim Kilty is set to join John O'Mahony's Mayo senior football management team

JOHN O’MAHONY is in the process of putting the final touches to his Mayo management team, with former Olympic coach Jim Kilty likely to be involved.

ATHLETICS Ireland could turn their back on Jim Kilty and move outside the country to fill the position of Director of Coaching which has become vacant following the resignation of Stephen Maguire.

DERVAL O’ROURKE has decided to call it quits for the season after disappointing runs in Friday night’s Golden League meet in Zurich and Sunday’s Super Grand Prix in Monte Carlo.

DERVAL O’ROURKE left for Zurich’s Weltklasse yesterday, following a path that has been well worn by the likes of Eamonn Coghlan, Ray Flynn, Marcus O’Sullivan, Frank O’Mara, Mark Carroll and Sonia O’Sullivan.

Wexford's first Hurling Development Administrator has been confirmed as ex-player George O'Connor.

DERVAL O’ROURKE will share the limelight with the stars of world athletics at the Golden League meet in Zurich next Friday night as she sets about reaping the financial rewards of the silver medal she won at the European championships in Gothenburg.

DERVAL O’ROURKE dashed into the history books last night to win silver at the European Athletics Championships and assume her throne as the new queen of Irish sport.

Joanne Cuddihy produced a lifetime best to guarantee herself a place in tomorrow night’s 400 metres final at the European Championships in Gothenburg.

DERVAL O’ROURKE put the perfect finishing touch yesterday in Nuremberg to her preparations for next week’s European championships in Gothenburg when she ran close to the new national record she set at 12.85 last week in both the heats and the final of the women’s 100m hurdles.

DERVAL O’ROURKE is hoping that one more race followed by some fine tuning will send her to Gothenburg in the shape of her life for the European Track & Field Championships.

DERVAL O’ROURKE turned in a superb performance to smash the Irish record for the 100m hurdles with a 12.85 sec run for third place at last night’s GE Money Grand Prix in Helsinki.

IRELAND’S new world champion Derval O’Rourke, fresh from her record run in Lausanne last week, and both European indoor champions, Alistair Cragg and David Gillick, will have a rare opportunity to parade their talents before the home fans when they line up for the Woodies DIY National Track & Field Championships at Morton Stadium over the weekend.

DERVAL O’ROURKE broke her national 100m hurdles record with a 12.92 secs run for fourth place at last night’s Grand Prix meeting in Lausanne with a promise of better to come at Friday night’s Golden Gala meeting in Rome.

DERVAL O’ROURKE will kick off her outdoor season at The Mardyke on Saturday, where she claims star billing at the BUPA Cork City Sports.

DERVAL O’ROURKE of Leevale achieved her second national record in eight days when she retained her 60 metres hurdles title in a sensational 7.90 seconds at the National Indoor championships at Belfast’s Odyssey Arena yesterday.

FRESH from another national record at Virginia Tech, where he jumped eight metres for the first time indoors to equal his outdoor mark, Ciaran McDonagh will be a top attraction at the national indoor championships at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast over the weekend.

CIARA SHEEHY may skip the 200 metres in favour of the 400 metres at the All-Ireland indoor championships at Belfast’s Odyssey Arena next weekend, despite three world-class performances at the AAA indoor championships in Sheffield last weekend.

MARK CHRISTIE is looking for a big performance at this year’s European cross-country championships in Tilburg, Holland, and has taken his preparations to a new level by travelling to Kenya to train at altitude.

Sprinter Paul Hession claimed Ireland's third medal at the 2005 World University Games medal in Izmir, Turkey tonight, battling hard for bronze in the 200 metres final.

SONIA O’SULLIVAN misses the Woodies DIY National senior track and field championships at Morton Stadium at the weekend.

Brendan O’Brien

AS the inter-county GAA season emerges from winter hibernation, Brendan Larkin and Therese O’Callaghan canvassed football and hurling managers on their close season training regime.