Grand National-winning trainer Ted Walsh is among those who are backing the decision to cancel this year’s renewal of the Aintree spectacular because of the coronavirus outbreak.

All that glitters is not gold, a talented writer called William Shakespeare (you may have heard of him) once wrote. He was right.

He has now won three Grade 1s over hurdles, twice at the Cheltenham Festival, and if he is beatable, none of his rivals thus far have managed to find a chink in his armour.

If a poll was taken on the best riders at Cheltenham over the past couple of decades, Davy Russell would surely be somewhere near the top of the list.

Champions Dundalk bounced back from last week’s first defeat of the season with an assured performance against Finn Harps in Ballybofey.

Finn Russell could return for Scotland’s July tour after holding talks with head coach Gregor Townsend.

Alec Byrne’s second-half header saw Cork City register their first points of the season after a hard-earned 1-0 victory over an unlucky Finn Harps in Friday night’s SSE Airtricity League Premier Division game at Turner's Cross.

Finn Harps were devastated after conceding a 94th-minute equaliser at the Brandywell, but Ollie Horgan’s men also issued a statement of intent following what was a professional performance.

Former Limerick player Karl O’Sullivan bagged what turned out to the be the winner on his debut for Finn Harps as they opened their account with a north-west derby win over Sligo Rovers at Finn Park yesterday evening.

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend has told Finn Russell there will be no exceptions or compromises after the fly-half expressed frustrations over the international set-up.

Clare saved their most disappointing performance of this year’s Division Two campaign as they hardly raised a gallop on their visit to a wet and windy Dr. Hyde Park.

Scotland threw everything at the hosts in the closing stages but some heroic defence saw Ireland hold on.

There are two debutants today and they both happen to be No 8s – but whereas Caelan Doris has come through that well-established development pathway of Blackrock College, the Leinster Academy and the Leinster senior side, Scotland’s new face is a bolter from the blue.

Donal Lenihan looks at the recipe for opening day success in the 2020 Six Nations.

As Kerry showed off the Sam Maguire Cup on an open deck bus in Tralee in late September 1997, Pádraic Joyce watched the celebrations from his apartment.

Just five training sessions into his tenure as Ireland attack coach, Mike Catt is nevertheless expecting “some good stuff” from Andy Farrell’s team against Scotland in Dublin tomorrow.

Supporting Scotland is tough going at the best of times, but the last four-and-a-bit months — since that abrupt wake-up call delivered by Ireland on the opening weekend of the 2019 World Cup — has been particularly fraught.

So here we are again, on the cusp of another championship, the first of the decade.

Cork showed that they are in fine shape to defend their U20 All-Ireland title after they defeated Kildare in the John Kerins Cup final.

A converted free by John Heslin in the fifth minute of injury-time secured a vital brace of National Football League Division 2 points for Westmeath against Clare in Mullingar on Sunday afternoon.

Singleton’s Supervalu Brunell produced a ‘Houdini’ performance to dump championship favourites DCU Mercy out of the Paudie O’Connor Women’s National Cup with a stunning semi-final win at the Neptune Stadium.

Munster head coach Johann Van Graan admitted Racing 92’s late sucker punch was a bitter pill to swallow as his team’s Heineken Champions Cup hopes were all but ended.

It says much about Munster’s standing in rugby country that their current state of ill health is consuming more column inches and debate than Leinster’s relentless march towards further glories.

Will it all end in tears, just like Samcro?

Envoi Allen maintained his unbeaten record with a stylish display in the Lawlor’s Of Naas Novice Hurdle yesterday.

Two east Cork clubs will be involved in the All Ireland club finals on Saturday week in a Croke Park double header after Russell Rovers got the better of Micheál Breathnach

Cork just about did enough to record a deserved victory over Kerry in this John Kerins Cup opener in Tralee this afternoon as the hosts very nearly salvaged an unlikely draw from a deficit of five points entering injury time. 1-1 from substitute Darragh Hayes appeared to be enough to ensure Cork’s win but a penalty from Paul Walsh followed by a Killian Falvey point nearly ensured the match ended on parity.

The most famous story about George Best — at least off the field — is one probably everybody has heard.

Davy Russell hopes to return to the saddle this weekend after falling ill at Punchestown on Sunday.

Health Minister Simon Harris has acknowledged the abuse and stress staff running CervicalCheck were subjected to in the wake of the controversy that rocked the national screening programme.

A consultant has warned that frontline staff with the CervicalCheck service are bearing the brunt of public anger and are being subjected to abuse and abusive language.

All 15 of the doctors who oversee the running of CervicalCheck’s colposcopy services for women requiring further investigation following a smear test are considering resigning.

So a draw then. If you’d offered that to most of the fans at Thomond Park Saturday night around the 50th minute, they’d have likely snatched it off you and sprinted off towards the Shannon Bridge.

And so to the match between the haves and the have-lots to wrap up the opening weekend of Heineken Champions Cup rugby.

The Republic of Ireland blew the chance to surge joint-top of their women’s European Championship group heading into 2020 after conceding a sloppy stoppage-time equaliser against Greece this afternoon.

TOM Russell was recently thrilled to receive a package in the post from his old friend, Bob Dylan. Dylan had his people send his fellow songwriter a case of his new Heaven’s Door whiskey. Wrapped around the bottles were the lyrics to ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’, stylised so that it seemed Dylan had himself scribbled all over the printed words with a pen.

Samcro made a foot-perfect start to his career over fences on a Down Royal card dominated by his trainer Gordon Elliott.

Nothing new to report here - Douglas remain incapable of bettering Nemo Rangers in the championship, while the latter upheld a very fine semi-final record.

Nemo Rangers breezed past a tame Douglas challenge to set up a Cork SFC final date with Duhallow on Sunday, October 27.

Thomas Niedermayer was an apolitical figure — he employed 1,000 people with workers coming to the Grunding factory from Catholic and Protestant backgrounds.