VIPs and young and old alike enjoyed Charleville Agricultural Show’s celebration of all that is good in Irish farming.

Ballincollig 0-13 Valley Rovers 0-8

Day two of the Ballabuidhe festival featured the Murphys/Western Beverages Grand Prix final, with six runners who qualified from Sunday’s heats.

A former hotel worker who is alleged to have been involved in the importation of drugs from Spain was refused bail yesterday at Limerick Circuit Court.

VETERAN Limerick senior hurlers Damien Reale and Donie Ryan will not be involved in new manager John Allen’s plans for next season as they have announced their retirement from the inter-county game.

AHANE, the 19-times champions, will play Na Piarsaigh in the October 2 Limerick SHC final after last night’s 3-13 to 1-12 semi-final replay win over Emmets at the Gaelic Grounds.

MARK FOLEY could be on the verge of a sensational return to the Limerick senior hurling panel.

THURLES CBS survived a late rally by Blackwater Community School at Clonmel yesterday to book their place in the knockout stages of the Harty Cup after Christmas.

LAST June they played out a wondrous game of hurling in Páirc Uí Chaoimh that reached the dizzying scoring heights of 5-17 apiece and that is the backdrop which tonight this year’s Cork and Tipperary minor hurlers meet in the ESB Munster MHC quarter-final in the same venue at 6.30pm.

MIKE O’BRIEN doesn’t normally do interviews, notoriously gun-shy when it comes to facing any kind of microphone, so when you get a call from him saying he wants to talk, you know that this is an upset individual.

AT a time when Limerick hurling is in turmoil, the young hurlers of Ardscoil Rís wrote a glorious chapter in their school’s history yesterday by winning the Dr Harty Cup for the first time at the third attempt at McDonagh Park, Nenagh.

THE third episode of this year’s Dr Harty Cup final saga takes place at McDonagh Park, Nenagh today between Thurles CBS and Ardscoil Rís and, if it’s half as good as the two previous games, then hurling fans are in for another treat.

TOMORROW’S Harty Cup final is a welcome distraction for hurling fans in Limerick. Given the problems regarding their senior hurling team, it’s a boost for the county to see a school from Shannonside contesting the decider.

THIS year’s Dr Harty Cup (Munster Colleges SAHC) has produced outstanding games and tomorrow’s semi-finals should continue that trend.

IT WAS like old times at Claughaun yesterday as Thurles CBS held out for a thrilling one-point victory over St Flannan’s in a superb Harty Cup quarter-final clash before a huge crowd.

THE British government issued a long-awaited apology yesterday to victims of a half-century-old thalidomide drug scandal, and confirmed a £20 million (€22.5m) funding package to help them.

The Limerick hurling crisis looks set to drag on for another few weeks after last night’s meeting of the county board in Ballyagran decided that the club delegates of the players affected would meet with the county board at 8pm on Saturday, December 12, in Claughaun clubhouse.

THE Limerick hurling crisis looks set to drag on for another few weeks after last night’s meeting of the county board in Ballyagran decided that the club delegates of the players affected would meet with the county board at 8pm on Saturday, December 12, in Claughaun clubhouse.

HEADING inexorably down the same rutted briar-ridden cul-de-sac as that travelled by Cork GAA several times over the past decade, that’s Limerick hurling today.

FORMER Limerick hurling captain Damien Reale last night confirmed his decision to quit intercounty hurling claiming he had “to stand up for what I felt was right”.

FORMER Limerick hurler Ollie Moran has blasted Justin McCarthy’s decision to cut 12 players from the 2009 panel describing the development as ‘shameful’.

LIMERICK senior hurling manager Justin McCarthy has sensationally dropped several high-profile players from the panel that took part in this year’s league and championship.

FIVE points by Denis Maher helped Thurles CBS to a comfortable victory over their sister school from Nenagh in round two of the Dr Harty Cup at Templemore yesterday.

THERE’S a book going to hit your shelves in a few weeks’ time, ‘Unlimited Heartbreak’, by Henry Martin — it should be made compulsory reading for every Limerick hurling supporter.

WATERFORD have made one change from the side that lost to Tipperary in the Munster final for Sunday’s All-Ireland SHC qualifier with Galway at Semple Stadium, Thurles.

MIKE McCARTHY plays his first competitive game for Kerry since the All-Ireland final back in September 2006 after being handed the number six jersey by Kerry boss Jack O’Connor for tomorrow’s home qualifier against Sligo in Tralee.

PRIDE restored and his own record of never having lost a game in Wexford intact. However, as euphoric as the Limerick hurling manager was in the aftermath of this hard-fought qualifier win in terrible weather in Wexford Park on Saturday, Justin McCarthy’s experience in the game was alerting him to bigger challenges next weekend.

LIMERICK manager Justin McCarthy introduces James Ryan and Paul Browne for his side’s NHL clash against Cork at Páirc Uí Chaoimh tomorrow.

HENRY SHEFFLIN returns to the Kilkenny side for his first appearance of the year in tomorrow’s NHL showdown against Tipperary. Shefflin comes in at centre-forward in place of Willie O’Dwyer, while Ballyhale Shamrocks clubmates TJ Reid and Michael Fennelly are also drafted into the team.

THE major concern for Kilkenny manager Brian Cody after this fine NHL contest in Nowlan Park yesterday wasn’t how close his side had come to losing to a well-drilledLimerick team — it was the well-being of the two players simultaneously stretchered off the field after a sickening accidental collision.

MIKE REIDY provided the inspiration as Dromcollogher/Broadford won their fourth Limerick County SFC title in eight years in emphatic style at the Gaelic Grounds yesterday.