HAVING missed the drawn game through injury, returning All-Ireland captain Graham Canty’s presence at midfield for Bantry Blues in Carrigadrohid assisted their passage through to a semi-final meeting with Mallow in the Cork Premier IFC.

MUNSTER confirmed a triple injury blow yesterday with Denis Fogarty, Felix Jones and Ian Dowling facing lay-offs after Saturday’s Magners League victory over the Ospreys.

GOODBYE Munster, hello Leinster.

COACH Michael Cheika faces an anxious injury wait as he prepares Leinster for what could be his last game in charge before departing to France next season.

LEINSTER and Munster will meet at the RDS on Saturday night (8pm) in a late-season bid for Irish rugby bragging rights, following a dramatic day of Magners League action.

PRESENTATION BROTHERS COLLEGE, Cork, were crowned Avonmore Munster Schools’ Senior Cup champions for the 28th time at Thomond Park yesterday when they turned in a highly impressive performance in defeating Rockwell.

PRESENTATION BROTHERS COLLEGE, Cork, and Rockwell College, Co Tipperary, two of the traditional strongholds of the game, clash in this afternoon’s (3pm) final of the Avonmore Munster Schools’ Senior Cup at Thomond Park.

THEY really don’t come any more dramatic than this!

ROCKWELL COLLEGE, one of the traditional powerhouses in the game for more than a century, and Castletroy College, who have burst on to the scene in sensational fashion over the past few years, clash in an intriguing Avonmore Milk Munster Schools Senior Cup semi-final at Clanwilliam Park, Tipperary this afternoon (3pm).

ROCKWELL eased their way into the semi-final of the Avonmore Munster Schools Senior Cup with a deserved if hard-fought victory over gritty Ard Scoil Rís at Clanwilliam yesterday.

ROCKWELL’S demolition of St Munchin’s in the last round of the Avonmore Munster Schools Senior Cup will be of serious concern to Ard Scoil Rís when the sides meet in a quarter-final clash at Clanwilliam this afternoon (3pm)

SCHOOLS rugby is abundant with examples of father and son representation, but former Munster second-row Ray Ryan must be on the cusp of creating something of a record.

THE inactivity caused by the big freeze of recent weeks showed in Leinster’s lacklustre performance for much of this Heineken Cup clash against Brive on Saturday night before the champions upped gears to secure a bonus point victory.

JONATHAN SEXTON will return to the Leinster side for Saturday’s Heineken Cup clash with Brive and kickstart a fascinating battle for the No 10 jersey ahead of Ireland’s Six Nations Championship campaign.

AS DRESS rehearsals go, this was up there with the best. Ireland’s display against the inexperienced but gritty Fijians left coach Declan Kidney smiling despite the selection headaches he faces ahead of Saturday’s date with world champions South Africa.

LEO CULLEN is back to provide a captain’s guiding hand for Leinster in Saturday’s Magners League Halloween clash with Cardiff Blues at the RDS.

MUNSTER back-row forward Nick Williams faces at least six weeks out following knee surgery, but the Magners League champions will still have something to smile about for then new season.

LEINSTER coach Michael Cheika is a straight-talking Aussie who would evidently lose it if he suspected even a scintilla of complacency in the camp ahead of Saturday’s final of the Heineken Cup at Murrayfield.

THERE are reasons to believe that Castres might offer limited opposition in Friday’s return Heineken Cup clash at Stade Pierre-Antoine, but don’t say that within earshot of Leinster coach Michael Cheika.

IT came late, very late, but big Mark O’Sullivan’s 59th minute goal was crucial as Dripsey saw off stubborn Carrignavar to reach their first Evening Echo Cork Co JHC decider in their short history under lights at Páirc Uí Rinn on Saturday.

LEINSTER coach Michael Cheika has a guilt complex about playing Shane Jennings at number six rather than open side flanker following the latter’s exclusion from Ireland’s Six Nations squad.

SHANE HORGAN is poised to equal Reggie Corrigan’s Leinster Heineken Cup record of 61 caps against Toulouse on Sunday.

ARGENTINA’S World Cup star Felipe Contepomi is ready to launch another team towards tournament glory this weekend.

IT DIDN’T say much for the quality of the game that Christian Warner, Leinster’s goal kicker, won the man of the match award at the RDS in Dublin last night.

KEITH GLEESON is named in the Leinster team to meet Connacht at the RDS tonight (7.30pm).

SHANE HORGAN will make history when he becomes the first player from a junior club, Boyne, to captain Leinster for tonight’s Magners League clash with Glasgow at Firhill.

STEPHEN KEOGH is battling to be fit for Saturday’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against London Wasps in Adams Park (5.45pm, Sky Sports).

LEINSTER coach Michael Cheika expressed relief after Saturday’s Magners League derby victory and acknowledged his side must improve drastically if they are to overcome Wasps in the Heineken Cup next weekend.

IRELAND coach Eddie O’Sullivan admitted on Saturday night that he and his players were “a bit down in the mouth” at finishing runners-up to France for the second successive year in the RBS Six Nations Championship in spite of racking up 51 points against Italy at the Stadio Flaminio.

THE first match at Croke Park was supposed to be the celebration of a new era in Irish rugby.

THE padlocks on the gates of Lansdowne Road dictate that a ‘home’ Heineken Cup quarter-final draw is beyond their control but Leinster are adamant that their final Pool 2 game at Kingsholm next Friday is anything but a dead rubber.

“YOU don’t beat Munster twice in the same season,” has long been a mantra of the European champions and it’s one that will be put to a severe test at Thomond Park this afternoon (3pm, Setanta Sports) when Leinster make their first visit in nine years to the famous Limerick venue for an eagerly-awaited Magners League tie.

HE may have reached the ripe old age of 35 this year but David Humphreys is still the cog that keeps Ulster’s wheels turning, according to Leinster coach Michael Cheika.

THE big boys are back for Leinster and Munster — most of them at least.

New Zealand 34 Ireland 23

AS Leinster prepare for the Battle of Ireland on Saturday, Brian O’Driscoll has suspended cordial relations with his Triple Crown winning Munster colleagues.

England 24 Ireland 28

Ireland 19 Scotland 9

Ireland 26 Italy 16

Nemo Rangers 2-10 St Finbarr’s 1-5

LEINSTER coach Michael Cheika has all but given up on Will Green for Saturday’s Heineken Cup clash against Glasgow (RDS, 5.15pm. RTÉ Two).

Leinster 35 Munster 23