The perfect spot on the sand goes best with the perfect plot in the hand. Marjorie Brennan selects the best summer fiction to put in your suitcase.

If Meath’s Michael Newman had swapped jerseys with Niall Scully before the start of yesterday’s Leinster final, then all six starting Dublin forwards would have been on the scoresheet.

A late entry, Donegal’s Declan Gallagher (Toyota Starlet) and co-driver Derek Heena had an emphatic win in the Acesigns Laois Heartlands Rally. With the best times on all six stages, they finished a minute and 32.4 seconds ahead of the Ford Escort of fellow Donegal crew Mark Alcorn/John O’Donnell. Oldcastle’s Gary McNamee co-driven by Brian Brady took an impressive third in their Class 16 Honda Civic — 11.2 seconds further behind.

The powerful midfielder crashed home a goal in the 31st minute to put Meath into a lead they wouldn't relinquish and his second with nine minutes to go killed the contest.

Two goals in as many first-half minutes laid the platform for favourites Meath to cruise past Carlow in Portlaoise and through to the Leinster SFC quarter-finals.

Bryan McMahon saved Meath's blushes with a late goal to turn a potential disaster into a battling Leinster SFC win for the hosts in Navan.

Meath 2-12 Fermanagh 0-11

Meath snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to take a major step in their quest for a return to top-tier football with this victory in driving snow at Páirc Tailteann yesterday.

There was a sensational ending to this fully-blooded Division 2 NFL encounter as a penalty goal from Barry Dardis in added time strengthened Meath’s promotion push at Pairc Tailteann.

Bruce Springsteen’s Glory Days blared out over the tannoy prior to the start of this Allianz League Division 2 tie at breezy Páirc Tailteann yesterday and while that may have been a bit premature for the Royals there were some positive signs in this hard-fought victory.

Declan Bonner, the Donegal manager, commended the resolve shown by his young side as they came from four points down late on to overcame Meath in a frost-bitten Ballybofey on Saturday night.

The fare on offer from both side was well short of what will be needed to win promotion but it was Meath who were happiest at the end of this dour Division 2 tie at Páirc Tailteann yesterday.

Volkswagen’s T-Roc is late to the compact SUV market, but it is pretty and classy, writes Declan Colley

Jonny May ran in both tries as England kept their Grand Slam aspirations alive by edging Wales 12-6 in a brutally competitive NatWest 6 Nations clash at Twickenham.

4/5

Cyber crime insurers largely avoided costly claims from the recent attacks that hit businesses around the globe but the next global virus could change that, a leading global insurer has warned.

Six major film and TV studios have brought a legal action here aimed at stopping allegedly “massive” illegal downloading of their films and other products.

Welcome to 2017. Already it’s better than last year simply because it’s not 2016, even if some of you are probably still a little fragile this morning.

Illegal ivory, alligator and crocodile heads were among the items seized by Customs tackling the banned trade of endangered animals this year.

Gabriel Rangers (Cork) 1-13 Clonoulty-Rossmore (Tipperary) 1-4: Cork champions Gabriel Rangers defied treacherous conditions to reach their first Munster Club JFC final at a bitterly cold Clonakilty on Saturday.

Tyre choice for the final pair of stages proved crucial and decisive as Ballylickey’s Daniel Cronin and his Killarney co-driver Shane Buckley won the Banna Beach Resort Kerry Winter Rally for the second time in three years.

The AW16 catwalks brought us heaps of nail-spiration. Katie Wright reveals how to polish up your seasonal look.

Heritage Council chairman Conor Newman has decided to step down after eight years in the post.

Tributes have been paid to the referee who collapsed and died on Saturday as he officiated a camogie game in Cork.

Two outspoken community activists whose home has been attacked have called for a multi-agency taskforce to tackle serious anti-social behaviour in their estate.

"A POEM is always aware, for me, of what’s happening around it.”

A lawyer for an accountancy firm which sought to jail former politician Ivor Callely over an unpaid debt has rejected a statement that the case had been already settled by the time a court issued an arrest warrant.

IF YOU’RE reading this, it’s already too late. This column has travelled back in time to warn you, erm, not to read the first line of this column.

Galway 0-15 Meath 1-12: You can only imagine the scale of the inquests in Meath this morning had Mick O’Dowd’s men not rescued a draw with a scramble of points in the closing stages of this bizarre game at a cold, wet Salthill.

Meanwhile substitute Cian O’Brien was the hero for Meath as his late equaliser rescued a draw.

Businesswoman and former Dragons’ Den investor Sarah Newman was recently adjudicated bankrupt in the UK, the Commercial Court has heard.

George Kennedy, the tough-guy character actor who won an Academy Award for his portrayal of a chain gang convict in the 1960s classic Cool Hand Luke, has died.

A woman unlawfully claimed almost €17,000 in one-parent family social welfare payments after she got married, a court had heard.