I’m a little late focusing on the Rugby World Cup, but with the final group matches this weekend there will be a lot of tension around and you may need a glass of wine to calm your nerves.

The menu would think nothing saddling up Neidín and travelling to Cavan and back for a taste of Silke Cropp’s Corleggy Cheese alone but throw in the Taste of Cavan 2015 food festival (Aug 7-8) and he’d be near tempted to shoulder the bould Neidín himself.

In recent days the vineyards of Champagne and those of the Cote d’Or in Burgundy were both given United Nations World Heritage Status for the continuity and quality of their wines and ancient vineyards.

Father’s Day is tomorrow so this week I want to focus on wines your dad will probably like. 

Much has been made of defensive systems and tactics in Gaelic football in recent weeks and how they affect teams who want to play open, attacking football.

Still another full week of January to go but I recommend you cheer yourself up by checking out the line-up for the Ballymaloe Litfest which has just been announced.

To find out how a club with just 300 playing members will have five players on active duty in Sunday’s All-Ireland finals, go back to 1979.

Time once more for A Taste of West Cork Food Festival (September 5 to 14), celebrating the produce and food culture of The Menu’s spiritual hinterland of West Cork, kicking off with a Taste of West Cork Gala Dinner at the Inchydoney Island Lodge and& Spa. 

Despite the summer stretch in the day, The Menu feels nothing short of a turbo-booster for the bould Neidín will enable him to attend every last one of an ever-increasing proliferation of food festivals around this glorious island.

Over the course of The Menu’s career as a professional stove-jockey many moons ago, the apex of his career remains a prolonged spell as apprentice to sorcerer Seamus O’Connell of the Ivory Tower.

Bord Bia has announced the organisation’s latest round of recruitment to select 20 graduates for the Bord Bia Marketing Fellowship.

Mayo 2-8 T Sligo 1-11