Winning times are down - but how much of it is due to better track maintenance, asks Tommy Lyons.

Jesse Owens challenged racists in the US and Nazi Germany. A new film delves into his amazing story, writes Will Lawrence

Welshman Nigel Owens has been appointed to referee Saturday’s Rugby World Cup final between New Zealand and Australia at Twickenham, with Ireland’s John Lacey taking charge of the bronze medal match between South Africa and Argentina.

The head of a Cork educational authority has insisted that both funding for teachers’ salaries and the body’s capital expenditure were not cut as a result of legal settlements it paid out over a number of years.

Guiness Pro12

Cork 0-17 Limerick 0-17

Watching last Wednesday’s Munster U21 final on TG4 in the company of my better half’s father proved a useful exercise.

Another gripping weekend of European rugby knockout games is upon us.

Kilcormac/Killoughey 2-12 Rathdowney/Errill 0-14

Ireland tighthead Mike Ross has given his two cents on that crucial 74th minute scrum in last weekend’s contest in Christchurch.

Jonathan Sexton missed out on his chance to kick Ireland to a maiden Test victory over New Zealand in yesterday‘s second Test, but he is eager for one more chance to topple the world champions.

NIGEL OWENS is once again embroiled in a social networking debate, after Ospreys boss Scott Johnson claimed it was “lunacy” that the international referee was allowed use Twitter.

Outspoken Samoa centre Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu has been hit with a misconduct charge after accusing Welsh referee Nigel Owens of bias.

UP to now, games between London and Waterford were played out well below the nation’s radar. Ruislip or Fraher Field, it didn’t matter. Here were two bottom-feeders fighting for scraps at the bottom of a tank packed with far bigger fish.

DAVY FITZGERALD will have his appeal against a 12-week ban heard by the GAA’s Central Hearings Committee (CHC) at Croke Park this evening.

IT WAS not the performance Ireland would have wished for but Declan Kidney’s side just about got back to winning ways at Murrayfield yesterday.

NEWLY appointed Waterford senior football manager John Owens yesterday spoke of his “surprise and delight” at landing the job.

LEADING referee, Nigel Owens, will take charge of the all-Ireland Heineken Cup semi-final between Munster and Leinster at Croke Park on May 2.

Croke Park in three weeks’ time, where Munster will bring more far more nous, class and belief to face an opponent over which they hold the Indian sign.

NIGEL Owens will referee Munster’s Heineken Cup clash with Sale Sharks at Thomond Park on January 16.

HISTORIC victories are at a premium in Fermanagh and as long as they kick almost double the amount of wides, 14, than points, eight, that’s probably how things will stay.

WE’VE had four weeks to digest the remarkable story that is Barry Owens’ return to football but, like that movie you’ve watched time and again, his is a tale you can’t hear enough.

Ronan Gallagher’s return to arms is one of a myriad of plots surrounding Fermanagh’s progress to Sunday’s Ulster final. Brendan O’Brien explains.

WHY Guy Noves waited until after Saturday’s game to stress his annoyance at the ERC’s decision to appoint Nigel Owens as match referee is bizarre.

A trusted inmate who smuggled mobile phones and drugs into Mountjoy Prison has been given a three-year suspended sentence by Judge Martin Nolan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

US regulators ruled today there was nothing indecent about a steamy introductory segment to US television’s Monday Night Football featuring actress Desperate Housewives star Nicolette Sheridan appearing to jump naked into the arms of a football player.

DR JOHN OWENS, chairman of the Mental Health Commission, is to be congratulated for the strategic plan he has written and just launched for the commission.

MALLOW’S Mervyn Owens lived up to his intention to “keep everything simple” as he captured the Shell South of Ireland Championship at Lahinch yesterday.