A Tipperary man who raped and sexually abused a girl for almost a decade from 1994 has been jailed for 12 years.

A child rapist was able to travel to the UK and commit further offences after being interviewed by gardaí here who had seen a video of him raping an 11-year-old girl.

He gave the impression of having the same knowledge as an armchair fan but that is what made him such a great broadcaster, writes Special Correspondent Michael Clifford

With doe-eyed ‘stud boys’ and hissing ‘breeding queens’ ruling the roost, the RDS rivalled Dublin’s legendary gay nightclub, The George when it hosted the inaugural TICA Magnifikatz cat show with six international judges throwing their eye over 117 moggies. Most were armed with ostentatious cages a Russian trophy wife could settle down in.

You are so very old.

We hear much about the magic of sport, but after a week like this might it be worth reflecting on what has become of that other great sport of magic?

Few people know the words of ‘Amhrán na bhFiann’, and fewer still know what they mean, so why, asks Ryle Dwyer, is playing ‘Ireland’s Call’ at rugby matches such a big deal?

Veteran sports commentator Jimmy Magee says it was a shame former Irish Olympic swimmer Michelle Smith didn’t have any role in the Irish leg of the Olympic Torch relay.

TWO weeks ago, in this column, I wrote about how a suspension of disbelief was required to make the most of watching the Olympic Games.

KATIE TAYLOR has inspired the nation with her outstanding performances at the Olympic Games, for which we are grateful.

The mixed fortunes of our Irish competitors in the London Olympics has prompted me to write a defence of our most successful Olympian, Michelle Smith de Bruin.

UNFORTUNATELY, enjoyment of the Olympic Games often requires something that one associates with screen or theatrical drama, or fiction: a suspension of disbelief.

Four years after he climbed to the top of Olympic achievement, Michael Phelps took the last step he needed to reach the absolute peak.

Drugs cheats at London 2012 will be caught but athletes who put in world record-breaking performances should be given the benefit of the doubt, the Olympics’ world body said yesterday.

John Leonard, the executive director of the World Swimming Coaches Association, last night compared Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen’s winning performance in the women’s 400m individual medley to Irish swimmer Michelle Smith.

Des O’Driscoll picks his highlights from the coming week’s TV schedule

A mother found guilty of poisoning her own baby with a powerful pain killer murdered out of a craving for attention, a judge told her today.

Sycerika McMahon, Irish swimming’s newest sensation, produced a brilliant performance to take a silver medal in the women’s 50 metres Breastroke at the European Senior Championships in Debrecen in Hungary yesterday.

Seventeen-years old Sycerika McMahon, who qualified for the Olympic Games on Tuesday, finished a creditable fifth in the final of the women’s 100 metres breaststroke at the European Swimming championships at Debrecen in Hungary

Sycerika McMahon has qualified for the women's 100m freestyle at May's European Swimming Championships in Debrecen, Hungary.

Two Irish records have been broken in the morning heats on day three of the Irish Swimming Championships and Olympic Trials at the National Aquatics Centre.

One of Irish swimming’s oldest records fell on day three of the Irish Long Course Swimming Championships and Olympic Trials, as 20-year-old Bethany Carson slipped under Michelle Smith’s 100m butterfly mark from 1996.

THE targets set post-Athens were realised and, in some cases, exceeded according to the Irish Sports Council’s review of the preparation of athletes and their subsequent performances in the Beijing Olympics.

IRISH records continued to tumble at the Kantrida Indoor Swimming Complex in Rijeka, Croatia yesterday on the second day of competition at the European Short Course Swimming Championships 2008.

PAT HICKEY, Olympic Council of Ireland president, has admitted that Ireland’s name has ‘a bad name’ internationally due the drug scandals that have tainted medals won at two of the last three Games.

BELFAST’S Melanie Nocher yesterday smashed Michelle Smith’s 14-year-old Irish 200m backstroke record at the Speedo western Canadian swimming championships.

“A CROWD of us were going along the Shepherd’s Bush Road when out of a lane came a chap with a donkey — just the sort of donkey and just the sort of cart they have at home,” Michael Collins recalled. “He came out quite suddenly and abruptly and we all cheered him. Nobody who has not been in exile will understand me, but I stand for that.”

IT WAS dark outside, on that night of the year once celebrated in ancient Ireland as the Celtic festival of Samhain. Inside the brightly-lit Connemara Coast Hotel, 500 guests gathered to enjoy a reception hosted by RTÉ.

JUSTIN GATLIN became only the second man in World Championship history to complete the 100m/200m sprint double in Helsinki last night when he outgunned the young pretenders to add the 200m title to the 100m crown he won on Sunday.

NO DISRESPECT to either, but as surprise of the year, Nano Nagle winning RTÉ’s Ireland’s Greatest Women contest beats Liverpool winning the Champions League.

IRELAND'S greatest woman is an 18th century nun credited with establishing girls' education in the State.

An 18th Century nun, credited with establishing girl’s education in the State, was today named Ireland’s Greatest Woman.

DISGRACED Olympic swimmer Michelle Smith is in the running for the accolade of Ireland’s greatest woman after being nominated in a radio competition, it emerged yesterday.

Donal Musgrave

AS usual, swimming took pride of place during the first week of the Olympics and one of the features has been Germany’s failure to win a gold medal. As of yesterday they were reduced to just one bronze.

CATHAL LOMBARD, the 28-year-old Cork runner, has acknowledged that he tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug, EPO.

IN 1999 the Irish Sports Council established an anti-doping programme amid a good deal of fanfare. Now it seems to be living up to the hype.

AN ENGLISH mother whose 14-year-old daughter was allowed to have a secret abortion without her knowledge after talks with school advisers yesterday said it had left the schoolgirl “traumatised”.

WORLD number eight Pádraig Harrington believes golf should be inducted into the Olympics for the 2008 Games in Beijing.

Greg Norman’s belief that golf should be inducted into the Olympics for the 2008 Games in Beijing was heartily endorsed by world number eight Padraig Harrington today.

IRELAND is a very different country since it last held Europe's greatest honour — the EU presidency in 1996, says European Affairs Minister, Dick Roche.

Republic of Ireland soccer manager Mick McCarthy will go head to head with Tipperary hurler Tommy Dunne and champion horse trainer Aidan O'Brien for the prestigious Canon Hayes national sports awards.