Leading from the start Donegal’s Donagh Kelly (Ford Focus WRC) swept to a fifth successive victory in the Quality Hotel West Cork Rally. Co-driven by Monaghan’s Conor Foley they finished 45.8 seconds clear of Monaghan’s Josh Moffett and co-driver Andy Hayes with Irish Tarmac champions Monaghan’s Sam Moffett and Cork’s Karl Atkinson (Fiesta R5) in third.

There are events that will always buck the trend in Irish rallying and this weekend’s Quality Hotel West Cork Rally, the opening rounds of the Irish Tarmac Championship and the PlasticBags.ie Southern 4 Rally Championship is a prime example.

POLICE: INTRUDER CAUGHT COOKING CORN IN HOME

1. The King

KILKENNY SHC FINAL:

There was a dramatic finish to the Quality Hotels West Cork Rally in Clonakilty, with Carrigaline’s Brian O’Mahony and Mayo co-driver John Higgins (Subaru WRC) coming through to take the honours.

An online petition has been set up in the hope it will force AIB to reverse decisions to close two branches which would leave an entire West Cork peninsula without any banks.

Kilkenny legend Eddie Brennan fears that James ‘Cha’ Fitzpatrick may be the one player the All-Ireland champions simply cannot do without.

Knowing that every second counts, Midleton’s Daragh O’Riordan is favourite to win the Quality Hotels West Cork Rally this weekend.

Already shaping up to be a good contest between the Subaru S11 quartet of Dunlop regulars Kevin Barrett and Niall Maguire and newcomers, Thomas Fitzmaurice and Brian O’Mahony, the Dunlop National Rally Championship continues on Sunday with the Claremorris based McWilliam Park Hotel/Fleet Transport Magazine Mayo Rally.

For those who were hoping the recent spate of retirements would cause a little slackening of intensity within the Kilkenny panel, Sunday’s demolition job on Tipperary in the opening round of the 2012 Allianz Hurling League is bad news.

The conversation with Noel Connors of Waterford took an odd turn early on.

Met the proverbial man in the pub last weekend.

Kilkenny’s Jackie Tyrrell isn’t a fan of the new hurling league structures, which offer fewer games and give managers fewer chances to look at players.

Eamon Dunphy and George Hook kissing each other.

Kilkenny manager Brian Cody has spoken out about the retirements of John Dalton and Cha Fitzpatrick from the Kilkenny panel — and expressed his wish to see Lar Corbett back on the playing field.

Kilkenny midfielder Michael Fennelly suspects retired stars James ‘Cha’ Fitzpatrick and John Dalton will return to inter-county hurling in the future.

Common sense takes week off — now that is a dealbreaker.

“It’s an epidemic,” said Michael Kavanagh yesterday, as news that John Dalton — citing work commitments — became the latest Kilkenny player to retire from the 2011 panel.

Irish boxing has gone from strength to strength over the past decade and more, medals galore won at European, World and Olympic level.

Kilkenny manager Brian Cody has made one change in personnel to his starting line-up for Sunday's All-Ireland SHC final against Tipperary at Croke Park (throw-in 3.30pm).

IT’S the third year in-a-row we’ve had Tipperary-Kilkenny in the All-Ireland hurling final – is it all getting a bit stale?

FORMER Kilkenny star Christy Heffernan has claimed Tipperary people have yet to get over the penalty that paved the way for the Cats’ 2009 All-Ireland final success.

THE Kilkenny senior hurling league final, which will be played two weeks after the All-Ireland final, will be contested by champions Ballyhale Shamrocks and old city foes James Stephens.

It comes as no surprise that Kilkenny manager Brian Cody has tonight opted to name an unchanged team for Sunday's All-Ireland SHC semi-final against Waterford at Croke Park (throw-in 3.30pm).

MAURICE SHANAHAN is a major injury concern for Waterford’s hurlers ahead of next Sunday’s All-Ireland SHC quarter-final against Galway in Thurles.

THREE years ago, a promise of glasnost swept through Leinster hurling.

Tommy Walsh will start for Kilkenny when they battle it out with Dublin in tomorrow's Leinster SHC final at Croke Park (throw-in 4pm).

KILKENNY have made a single but significant change for tomorrow’s Leinster Senior Hurling Championship final, recalling former Hurler of the Year Tommy Walsh in defence.

ELEVEN DAYS out from facing Dublin in a second decider in as many months, Tommy Walsh has been moved to declare Kilkenny don’t have a discipline problem.

Five players struck down with the injury.

BACK a couple of years ago, when that ‘If Teams Were a Pop Star/Item of Clothing/Car’ concept beloved of newspaper sports sections was at its height, someone — it might even have been yours truly — declared that if Kilkenny were a film character they’d be The Terminator.

FORMER Kilkenny star Charlie Carter believes the Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) will be monitoring the Cats for the rest of the season following their indiscipline in last Sunday’s defeat to Dublin.

The Leinster Council have decided to move Dublin's Leinster SHC quarter-final against Offaly from its original venue of Parnell Park to Croke Park.

KILKENNY paid a heavy price for their ill-discipline in last Sunday’s Allianz Hurling League Division 1 final when two of their players were hit with suspensions for unsavoury incidents during the Croke Park game.

Kilkenny's John Dalton and Eoin Larkin has been hit with suspensions by the GAA's Central Competitions Control Committee this evening.

ALL STAR defender Jackie Tyrrell has delivered a damning verdict on Kilkenny’s Allianz National Hurling League final display, describing it as “the worst performance I was ever involved in with Kilkenny.”

Kilkenny manager Brian Cody spoke out in support of Eoin Larkin following his sending-off in yesterday's Allianz Hurling League Division 1 final at Croke Park.

IT WASN’T pretty, it wasn’t very competitive — in fact, truth be told, this was an ugly beast of an Allianz Hurling League Division 1 final in Croke Park yesterday, a one-sided affair that never got off the ground.

WELL, Emerson said the best period to be born in is when the old and the new stand side by side (Ralph Emerson, by the way; not Hughie).

BRIAN CODY last night defended his Kilkenny team’s discipline in the face of Eoin Larkin’s sending off and a couple of other extreme exchanges involving his players during their 0-22 to 1-7 defeat to Dublin in yesterday’s Allianz Hurling Division 1 final.

Kilkenny manager Brian Cody has announced his side to face Dublin in Sunday's Allianz Hurling League Division 1 final at Croke Park (throw-in 4pm).