Cork singer Caludia Rose Long and Republic of Ireland footballer Sean Maguire are celebrating their Christmas engagement.

Iain Henderson will start against the All Blacks for the first time today, a testament that good things come to those that wait.

Aaron Connolly is very much in Mick McCarthy’s mind for a starting place in Geneva tomorrow night but if the Brighton bright spark is to be given the nod, the manager suggests he might need support up front.

“It does help that we’re both from Cork and we can understand each other.”

It’s easy to forget just how big this weekend will be for the players.

The All-Ireland replay on Saturday has the town of Kenmare buzzing. Two of Kerry’s top stars play with local club Kenmare Shamrocks and since the drawn final two weeks ago almost every boy is puffing his cheeks and taking frees like Stephen O’Brien and Sean O’Shea.

Perhaps it will be Stephen O’Brien that he follows around Croke Park come Sunday. Or maybe Sean O’Shea if he’s not playing as an inside forward. But whatever task Tyrone’s Conor Meyler is handed this weekend, he will not lack for resilience.

The Super 8 series will enter its third and final trial year in 2020 shrouded in doubt, but Kerry forward Stephen O’Brien is full of praise for the increased number of games.

When I was in charge of Kerry one of the our mantras at different stages was: “Earn the right to play, then play.”

For Sean O’Shea, there was no bedding-in period. No cameo appearances off the bench to ease him into life at the top grade.

I got the odd fracture, but a lot of dislocations because of catching the ball as a goalkeeper - the ball might wobble as it dropped, land on the very top of your fingertip and jolt the joint out.

Kevin Flahive says he and his Cork teammates weren’t surprised when Limerick dumped Tipperary out of the championship.

O’Brien missed what should have been his final game for his home province due to a hip injury but captain Sexton asked the Tullow Tank, who will depart Leinster for London Irish after the World Cup, to take the captain’s role and lift the trophy after a hard-fought victory in Glasgow.

A talented hurler, and a member of the Co Waterford senior hurling panel, Seanie Barry noticed that lately he always seemed to feel thirsty and dehydrated.

Brendan O’Brien Conan: We didn’t play the Leinster rugby that got us to the final

So then, Sean, tell me why you don’t like Mondays?

Kerry boss Peter Keane believes managers must re-examine their replacement strategies in the wake of the GAA’s decision to reduce permitted subs from six to five.

Rob Kearney hopes to have his contract situation sorted in the next month or so and the veteran full-back admits he has a big decision to make as he contemplates the closing chapters of a glittering career.

Martin O’Neill has accused Alan Shearer of not doing his homework before singling out Cyrus Christie for criticism on MOTD2.

With the Nations League double-header against Denmark and Wales looming, Callum Robinson fired a reminder of his talents to Republic of Ireland boss Martin O’Neill when scoring twice as Preston moved off the foot of the Championship table after a 4-0 win over Wigan.

Kilmallock 4-27 Murroe-Boher 0-13

The prospect of a compromise management team taking over the reins of Kerry senior football reins has become a possibility.

Leinster’s defence of their Champions Cup title is set for an early boost with the expected returns from injury of an influential back row trio comprising of Sean O’Brien, Josh van der Flier, and Dan Leavy.

Kerry U20 manager Jack O’Connor has hit out at the ban on inter-county challenge games, a rule he believes is totally lacking in common sense.

Seamus Coleman will be only too delighted to hand over the armband — for one game only, mind — when John O’Shea leads the Irish team out on his 118th and final appearance in the green shirt at the Aviva tomorrow.

ON Wednesday, Seánie McMahon, Liam Doyle and I sat down with John Fogarty, of this parish, in Dromoland Castle. We rolled back the good times, regaled ourselves with old stories and rekindled those magical flames which burned in our hearts throughout our Clare careers (the details of the conversation appear elsewhere on the Irish Examiner website today).

A quick glance around the club dressing-rooms of Cavan tells Micheal Lyng all he needs to know about the value of what’s on offer in Sunday’s AIB Ulster club SFC final.

Alan Bennett has admitted that Cork City celebrated well but not wisely between winning the league and losing the cup final in 2005.

Leinster have been hit with a massive injury blow ahead of tomorrow's Champions Cup match against Montpellier at the RDS.

It’s not for nothing that Rory Best is captain of Ulster and Ireland and the studied diplomacy so often required in such roles was evident even when he administered a light slap on the wrists yesterday for Sean O’Brien.

Mayo aren’t the only team in Ireland trying to end a famine, you know. Some club teams in the Rebel County enjoyed reaching the promised land last weekend, as Michael Moynihan found out 

Cork City boss John Caulfield is taking a “wait and see” approach to his contract talks as he keeps focus on securing the club’s first title in 12 years.

After winning the listed Coolmore Ivawood Stakes in 2016, the Aidan O’Brien-trained Capri went on to much greater things, winning the Irish Derby, and his trainer completed back-to-back victories in the Tipperary race, doing so with a filly, Ballet Shoes.

New surroundings, same narrative. Sean Maguire has got used to that winning feeling this year; his goals ensuring Cork City have turned this season’s Airtricity League Premier Division title race into a procession.

Keith Andrews has lavished praise on Sean Maguire, saying the in-form striker is exactly what Ireland are crying out for, as Martin O’Neill prepares to name his squad for next month’s games against Georgia and Serbia.

Kevin O’Connor and Stephen Dooley are both doubts for Cork City’s Europa League rescue mission against AEK Larnaca in Cyprus tomorrow night.

Cork City’s gruelling schedule sees them back in league action tomorrow against crisis club Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle Grounds (4pm) as they look to increase their lead at the top to 15 points once again.

Cork City boss John Caulfield has hailed Sean Maguire as the club’s greatest ever striker ahead of his last home game for the club tonight.