If Martin O’Neill was seeking encouragement about the talent pool for the next campaign, the Ireland manager should have received some assurance from the display of the next generation.

Ireland U21 0 Norway U21 0

Declan Rice admits the desire to resume working with Roy Keane endures but helping Ireland’s U21s break their major finals duck is his immediate objective.

In an U21 qualifying group which underdogs Kosovo have taken the early initiative, victory for Ireland in Azerbaijan today (4pm Irish time) is a must for their 2019 European Championship hopes.

St Pat’s Maghera 2-14 Summerhill, Sligo 3-10: St. Pat’s Maghera are through to the Hogan Cup final after staging a late comeback to edge past a devastated Summerhill College Sligo team at Brewster Park in Enniskillen yesterday afternoon.

Presentation, Thurles 1 Presentation, Kilkenny 0: Sarah McKevitt’s first-half strike secured the Bank of Ireland FAI Schools Senior Girls National Cup for Presentation Thurles in the Carriganore sunshine yesterday.

Longford 3-07 Dublin 2-15: Holders Dublin fired off half a dozen late points without reply in Navan to finally shrug off brave Longford and secure their place in the Eirgrid Leinster U-21 football final.

Longford u21s 1-17 Louth u21s 1-04: Longford advanced to the semi-finals of the Leinster U21 Championship for the third year in-a-row with 13 points to spare over Louth.

Longford 4-13 Wicklow 1-5

Cork Constitution 13 St Mary’s 15: Luckily for Cork Constitution, they have retained their place in the top four of the Ulster Bank League despite a disappointing home loss to struggling St Mary’s College at Temple Hill on Saturday.

Galway 1-13 GMIT 0-5

Sligo 1-13 GMIT 0-08: Veteran forward Mark Breheny scored 1-5 as Sligo secured their first win under new boss Niall Carew thanks to an improved second-half display against plucky GMIT in an entertaining FBD Connacht League Section ‘B’ fixture at Collooney’s Connolly Park.

What was expected to be a fiercely contested clash between two clubs that have been regular participants in the Leinster club championship surprisingly proved a one-sided encounter as Rhode overwhelmed Moorefield.

Dolphin 18 St. Mary’s College 27

ULSTER BANK LEAGUE DIVISION 1A:

Moorefield (Kildare) 0-17 Rathnew (Wicklow) 2-7

St Mary’s College 20 Lansdowne 38

Moorefield 1-15 Sarsfields 1-06 Moorefield cruised to victory and retained their Kildare SFC crown after a dominant display in a largely one-sided replay at St Conleth’s Park.

Sarsfields 1-13 Moorefield 0-16

Moorefield 2-14 Sarsfields 0-13

Tyrone 1-13 Kildare 0-10

Tyrone 1-13 Kildare 0-10

Kildare 2-7 Dublin 2-20

Dublin 2-20 Kildare 2-7

Offaly 1-9 Kildare 1-12

Kildare 1-13 Carlow IT 0-7

On a weekend when the provinces showed their class in the Heineken Cup, Munster, Ulster and Leinster also had big wins in the British and Irish Cup.

Munster A 15 Connacht Eagles 19

Kildare 3-20 Cavan 1-9

Having watched their hurling counterparts win by 44 points, Kildare footballers ran riot on Westmeath to register an equally impressive 17-point victory.

Kildare 3-23 Westmeath 1-12

Kildare’s push for promotion got a further boost at Drogheda yesterday, this four-point win over struggling Louth putting them in prime position for the second of the qualifying spots.

Tom Croft has revealed how a radical shift in the attitude of the England squad since the World Cup debacle has helped take his game to new heights.

Ireland’s Club XV retained the Dal Riada Cup, beating their Scottish counterparts 26-21 at Anglesea Road last night.

Changed times in Meath.

Kildare 0-18 Meath 2-11

A worthwhile exercise for both Kieran McGeeney and Jack O’Connor as the Lilywhites edged to victory at the official reopening of the Ballymacelligott GAA pitch on Saturday.

Holders Rockwell dealt admirably with the awful weather conditionsprevailing at Clanwilliam Park, Tipperary, yesterday to emerge decisive victors over Castletroy in the quarter-final of the Avonmore Milk Munster Schools Senior Cup.

Tyrone 2-11 Kildare 0-12

DERRYTRESK last night launched an appeal process ahead of Sunday week’s All-Ireland Club JFC final against Galway champions Clonbur after being slapped with a reported eight suspensions following their controversial semi-final win over Kerry’s Dromid Pearses in Portlaoise last month.

KIERAN McGEENEY doesn’t see any reason why Kildare would support a proposal to bring forward the Bord na Mona O’Byrne Cup final.

CROKE PARK will not be seeing any American Football action this year after the NFL confirmed they have ruled out staging a second regular season game in Europe in 2012.

KILDARE made light work of a desperately uncompetitive Offaly to set-up an O’Byrne Cup semi-final with All-Ireland champions Dublin that has an exciting feel to it, even at this early juncture of the season.

KIERAN McGEENEY is a hard taskmaster, which is why Kildare have progressed from also-rans to consistent contenders since his arrival as manager at the end of 2007.