Former Italian international rider Matteo Cigala claimed the final stage of the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan in Killorglin yesterday as overnight leader Dillon Byrne retained the yellow jersey.

Dillon Byrne is the new race leader of the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan going into today’s final stage after a thrilling finish in Waterville yesterday.

Tom Mazzone of the Isle of Man team will wear the first yellow jersey of this year’s Kerry Group Rás Mumhan after claiming a brilliant opening stage win last night in Killorglin.

The Kerry Group Rás Mumhan rolls out of Killorglin at 3pm today and another cracking race is expected with upwards of 190 riders set to do battle over the coming four days.

Eddie Dunbar avoided disaster to stay in contention for the yellow jersey at the An Post Rás yesterday, the young Corkman battling to limit his losses to just 14 seconds after a late mechanical threatened to derail his chances.

Ireland’s Nicolas Roche and Philip Deignan have been named in Team Sky’s nine-man roster for the Giro d’Italia, which gets under way this Friday in the Netherlands.

Christopher McGlinchey took the biggest road win of his career yesterday on the opening stage of the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan.

Damien Shaw was the toast of Irish cycling this weekend after he was crowned national elite road race champion for the very first time, beating many of the the country’s best amateur and professional riders on a memorable afternoon in Omagh.

Irish domestic amateur Damien Shaw came within a whisker of landing a stage win at the An Post Rás yesterday, emerging just metres short following a thrilling 160km of racing from Ballina to Ballinamore.

There has been only one Irish winner of the An Post Rás in the last decade and that trend is unlikely to change this year, writes Brian Canty.

Sean McKenna of the Irish National team is the new race leader of the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan after a thrilling stage around south Kerry yesterday afternoon.

With five former winners on the start-line and a large overseas contingent competing, this weekend’s Kerry Group Rás Mumhan certainly lives up to its name as one of the country’s foremost international stage races.

Kerry Group Rás Mumhan champion Mark Dowling has played down his chances of repeating his heroics of 12 months ago when the race rolls out of Killorglin on Friday.

Mark Dowling won the Des Hanlon Memorial in stunning fashion yesterday, blitzing the stellar field to win before a huge crowd in Carlow.

Mountrath Community School 3-22 Calasanctius College, Oranmore 1-9

Dillon Byrne holds a one-second advantage over Bryan McCrystal (Aquablue CC) and just a handful of seconds over half a dozen others going into today’s final stage of the Suir Valley 3-Day after an epic weekend’s racing around Tipperary.

Páidí O’Brien is one of the hot favourites to win the final major stage race of the domestic cycling season, the Suir Valley 3-Day, which starts in Clonmel today and runs until Monday afternoon.

Clemens Fankhauser of the Austria Tirol Cycling Team scooped the biggest victory of his career in Skerries yesterday when he won the An Post Rás.

Almost 10 years to the day since Mayo’s Davy O’Loughlin claimed an incredible solo stage win atop Carrick-On-Suir’s Seskin Hill in the latter stages of the An Post Rás, Austrian powerhouse Markus Eibegger did something remarkably similar in yesterday’s gruelling journey from Clonakilty.

Patrick Bevin is the new race leader of the An Post Rás after he stormed to a solo win on the second stage of the race into Lisdoonvarna, Clare, yesterday.

Mark Dowling claimed the biggest win of his career at the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan in Killorglin yesterday when he wrestled the yellow jersey from overnight leader Paddy Clarke by 12 seconds.

Paddy Clarke takes the yellow jersey into today’s final stage of the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan – level on time with Mark Dowling (DID Dunboyne) – following yesterday’s thrilling third stage.

Páidí O’Brien is the new Irish National Elite Criterium champion after using his sprint finish to great effect before a huge crowd in Cork City on Saturday, taking gold from a three-man breakaway.

The An Post Chain Reaction outfit are the men to beat in this weekend’s Suir Valley 3-Day in Clonmel, Tipperary.

Conor Murphy (Eurocycles) sprinted to a brilliant win in yesterday’s third stage of the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan as Ryan Sherlock (Iverk Produce/Carrick Wheelers) took custody of the yellow jersey after a gruelling 142-kilometre leg around West Kerry.

YOUR report headlined ‘Record day for wind energy’ (May 31) cited a figure of 1120MW achieved on Monday, April 5.

A 20-year-old last night appeared before a special sitting of Galway District Court as part of a major garda investigation into organised crime.

The body of a man who apparently tried to break into a US school was discovered in an air conditioning duct on the school’s roof, police said.

YOUR correspondent Paul Kokoski condemns civil unions in Britain and Northern Ireland (Irish Examiner letters, December 28).

JOAN MOODY (Irish Examiner letters, June 3) misses the worst flaw of the Shannon stopover.