A full house of 30,000 will watch Galway play Dublin in Boston in Super 11 hurling. It provides a platform to present hurling to larger audiences, writes Donal Óg Cusack from Boston.

A Dublin man who violently killed his ill dog in a park full of children because he claimed he could not afford the vet bill, has avoided a jail term.

Three weeks down, three more to go in the Boylesports Irish Greyhound Derby and, of the first half of the classic, one thing is certain: Ballymac Matt has been dominant.

Outright favourite Ballymac Matt produced another faultless display, when posting the fastest time of the second round of the Boylesports Irish Greyhound Derby on Saturday night at Shelbourne Park.

Our long-awaited trial of Irish greyhound racing, going live into thebetting shops, is only a few weeks away and, as a result, there are going to be some changes for the tracks involved.

The late absence of reigning champ Laughil Blake was the only disappointment in the first round of the Boylesports.com Irish Greyhound Derby, from which Ballymac Matt emerged with reputation most enhanced following his scintillating 29.43 success on Thursday.

One hundred and forty-four greyhounds will contest the opening round of the Boylesports Irish Greyhound Derby, following the draw, which took place yesterday morning at Shelbourne Park.

A man who claimed he could not afford vet bills for his sick dog will avoid a jail term for killing the animal in a park full of children.

Young Mallow golfer Liam Dowling has beaten competition from more than 20,000 golfers to win a trip to the Open Championship, starting tomorrow, at St Andrews Golf Course and meet world number one Rory McIlroy.

The Red Mills Unraced Bitch Stake series, run in conjunction with the individual track supporters’ clubs, continues be a great success, and last Friday night’s victory for Badminton Rossa, in the Youghal renewal, was further testament to that.

Ballymac Matt can prove himself a perfect fit for the six-hundred-yard test at Shelbourne Park by making a winning start to his Gain 600 bid.

The quarter-finals of the Laurels take centre stage tonight at Curraheen and Ballymac Alamo can make the most of a favourable draw in the first heat.

A very tough card greets patrons at Curraheen Park tonight but Kathrynspinefern gets the nap selection to make the most of a winning opportunity in the opening race.

Derby finalist Vulturi, trained by Liam Dowling (inset) took a major step towards another Classic final when winning a very competitive first quarter-final of the Kerry Agribusiness St Leger on Saturday night at Limerick.

There were very few upsets in Saturday’s second round of the Kerry Agribusiness Irish St Leger at Limerick but Droopy Nidge, a runaway winner in a record time in the opening round, had a very different experience in trying to justify odds of 1-5 in heat five as he was forced to pull out all the stops to see off the determined Burgess Oscar.

Some goals are bigger than others. Michael Moynihan has a look at nine of the most significant scores in the history of Cork v Tipperary.

We’d all like to see six dogs line up for the Derby — not least connections of Kereight King — but there are five great stories with those still standing and I don’t suppose whoever is lucky enough to pick up the trophy and the €125,000 cheque on Saturday night will worry about how many rivals his/her greyhound beat in the final.

It’s been a testing few weeks on the track, with the unfortunate injury to reigning champ Skywalker Puma and the prospect of ante-post favourite Ballymac Vic exiting the ETS Irish Derby without lining up for Saturday night’s first quarter-final at Shelbourne.

The bid to retain a greyhound racing stadium at Wimbledon is in real trouble, according to businessman Paschal Taggart, who has written a letter to numerous publications this week, expressing concern at the potential failure.

Tonight’s quarter-finals of the Connolly’s Red Mills Irish Laurels have an awful lot to live up to after last Saturday night’s spectacular fare, in which Ballymac Vic broke the 28-second barrier with a faultless display.

Saturday night’s second-round action in the Connolly’s Red Mills Irish Laurels saw racing at Curraheen Park brought to a whole new level when Liam Dowling’s Ballymac Vic became the first greyhound to break the 28-second barrier in competitive action at the venue.

Ballymac Vic, who was beginning to make a real impact on the Irish Derby when his challenge was cut short at the quarter-final stage, came out on top in the hottest of last Saturday night’s opening-round heats of the Connolly’s Red Mills Irish Laurels at Curraheen Park and he rates nap material to follow up this evening.

The draw for the Connolly’s Red Mills Irish Laurels took place at Curraheen Park yesterday afternoon and the track is set for a bumper night’s racing this weekend with the confirmation that all 11 first round heats will be run on Saturday.

Not only did the clear favourite, Ballymac Vic, make his exit but Tyrur Sugar Ray went from being a dog of big potential to the one to beat following a breath-taking victory in a scarcely believable 29.29 in the Ladbrokes Irish Derby quarter-finals at Shelbourne Park on Saturday night.

Only 22 will take their place in this evening’s quarter-finals of the Ladbrokes.com Irish Derby following the withdrawal of Stay Thirsty early in the week and the sad news that Broadstrand Lad has run his last race.

The 23 remaining contenders will go to war in the four quarter-finals of the Ladbrokes Irish Derby at Shelburne on Saturday and the big task is in pin-pointing the six dogs likely to make it all the way to the final on September 8th.

There are two withdrawals from the third round of the Ladbrokes Irish Derby but it remains highly competitive.

A shock defeat for Droopys Jet and the elimination of that great old veteran Tyrur Big Mike were the major talking points last night at Shelbourne when the first eight heats in the second round of the Ladbrokes Irish Derby were run.

Many of the top fancies go into action in the Ladbrokes Irish Derby at Shelbourne Park tonight.

Ante-post favourite Ballymac Vic will be the last of the big names to launch their Ladbrokes Derby challenge when he lines out in tonight’s final heat of the opening round at Shelbourne Park.

Milldean Panther will miss the upcoming Ladbrokes.com Derby and will not race again this year. That was the disappointing news that broke yesterday morning following the confirmation that he has an injured Achilles.

Last Saturday’s spectacular racing at Shelbourne really whetted the appetite for the forthcoming Ladbrokes Irish Derby.

Invariably the commencement of the Townviewfoods.com Champion Stakes signals the arrival of “Derby fever” at Shelbourne Park and there will be an extra lift to the racegoers’ strides at headquarters this evening where a high-class programme includes the three semis of both the Champion and the associated Plate.

With the Champion Stakes and Derby just around the corner, there are no major competitions currently underway and as a result it’s one of the more low-key Saturday night’s at Shelbourne.

Tomorrow night is one of the biggest nights of the year in Tralee, the Betdaq Night of Champions at the Kingdom greyhound stadium, and this year it will be broadcast live around the world on Sky Sports (8pm to 10.30pm).

There have been many great nights at Tralee over the years but Saturday’s Betdaq Night of Champions will surely be one of the greatest ever.

A mixture of Irish classic and major winners, brilliant local talent and two high-class English raiders make the Betdaq Race of Champions a huge attraction and the semi-finals should attract a smashing crowd to Tralee on Friday night.

The dreadful weather conditions yesterday made things difficult for some trainers heading for the English Derby at Wimbledon which starts tomorrow night with 11 Irish runners in action in the first session.

Except for a few high profile absentees most of the big names will be chasing the €25,000 prize when the classic commences at Shelbourne on Saturday.