Mary White gives the lowdown on the eight teams in the top division of the Lidl NFL...

Swimming sensations Ellen Keane and Nicole Turner continued their successful Games, both reaching the final of their respective events yesterday.

When it was over, Pat O’Leary strapped back on his left leg and walked off down the pontoon in Rio de Janeiro’s spectacular Lagoa Stadium to find his family.

They marched in their hundreds, retracing the footsteps of the volunteers who took to the roads of Co Cork on Easter Sunday 1916.

St Nicholas 1-8 Clonakilty 0-7:

Carrigaline 0-9  Castletownbere 0-7: Both teams deserve credit for producing a hugely competitive game in miserable conditions in the Cork PIFC in Castletown Kenneigh on Saturday evening, with a more potent Carrigaline the deserving winners.

High-level approaches were continuing yesterday to ensure the Liebherr Group maintains its commitment to the Killarney plant and does not go ahead with threatened measures that would affect employment in its Irish operation.

Bishopstown 5-10 Carbery Rangers 0-14

A Co Cork Volkswagen main dealer has failed to get an injunction preventing the termination of his dealership as part of a nationwide reorganisation of VW outlets.

Bantry Blues 0-17 Kinsale 0-09

The endless energy and determination of a mother who died suddenly two weeks after the birth of her seventh son was remembered at her funeral yesterday.

Castlehaven 1-07 Duhallow 0-09

Catlehaven 0-12 St. Finbarr’s 0-09

Most of the top lady golfers from Ireland and Britain, including Curtis Cup stars, will compete in the prestigious Ladies Home International Championships at Cork Golf Club next week.

They were made to sweat before they could think of a last eight clash with Avondhu, but O’Donovan Rossa just about squeaked past spirited Aghada in Saturday night’s Cork SFC fourth round clash at rain-lashed Brinny.

Ireland is bracing for flash floods after Met Éireann issued localised flood alerts and small craft warnings last night.

A Kerry factory, which has become a global leader in container crane production, is beating the recession and intense competition on the world market to reach the highest employment level in its 54-year history.

For the second successive year O’Donovan Rossa surmounted a West Cork challenge in the opening round of the SFC when they defeated Dohenys in Clonakilty on Saturday night.

Last season’s finalists Castlehaven won their opening battle for supremacy in the Cork senior football championship in Newcestown yesterday afternoon after a fiercely contested tie against East Cork outfit Aghada.

An injury-time point by Colm O’Neill kept last year’s semi-finalists Avondhu in this year’s Cork SFC.

Soldiers serving in Afghanistan have been forced to put St Patrick’s Day on hold because of duties on the frontline.

A MAJOR expansion at the Liebherr (Ireland) Ltd plant in Killarney will help consolidate the company’s position in the area, according to the German-owned firm.

BALLYDESMOND had only themselves to blame for defeat in this uninspiring IFC quarter-final at Mallow.

FRESH entrepreneurial thinking will help lead Ireland to growth and prosperity.

THE father of a brain-damaged mother-of-one, who has been campaigning to bring his daughter home from hospital, has raised up to €170,000 so far.

SO some of our banks, who can wade in behind failed developers and be bailed out by the public, refuse Pat O’Leary a loan to make arrangements for his paralysed daughter (August 18)

A DEVOTED father who has watched his paralysed daughter languish in hospital for almost 19 months has been refused a loan by several banks that would help get her home.

NEMO Rangers five-in-a-row title dream ended when they crashed out of the Cork SFC at the quarter-final stage at the hands of West Cork divisional outfit Carbery in Bandon last night.

THE father of a paralysed mum forced to travel abroad for rehabilitation pleaded with health bosses last night to fund her treatment.

A FATHER whose paralysed daughter can’t get a rehabilitation bed has launched a desperate appeal for help.

WHEN the going gets tough, the tough get going but when the going gets easy, there’s nowhere to go.

When Roger Loughran won the Grade Two Tied Cottage Chase at Punchestown on Central House nobody could deny him his moment in the spotlight.

The southern branch members of the ILGU at the AGM in Mallow were advised to study the implications of the Unified Handicapping System proposed by the Council of National Golf Unions.

PETER LAWRIE has become the first Irish golfer to be named as the European Tour’s Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year.

JUNIOR Justice Minister Willie O’Dea has called on vintners to call off their pub bans against Travellers until talks aimed at resolving the dispute get underway.