Munster may be without out-half Joey Carbery for the opening two rounds of the Champions Cup against Ospreys and Racing 92. Defence coach JP Ferreira said the priority was to get him and all the Irish internationals right for the season on their return from the World Cup.

Breaking Sonia O’Sullivan’s 24-year-old Irish 1500m record is one of the key things keeping Ciara Mageean motivated while drug scandals continue to haunt and damage her sport.

Munster coach Johann van Graan fears that the twelve players returning from the bitter disappointment of the squad’s World Cup flop may well suffer from “mental block” that will not be easily overcome.

It was the numbers beyond the 45-5 scoreline which truly showed how productive Munster’s pre-season win over London Irish was.

Former Leicester and Bath wing Steve Booth has died at the age of 42.

On International Kissing Day we recall the kisses we best remember, writes Rita de Brún.

Carmel Collins and her family faced down violence and intimidation from gangland thugs who murdered her innocent son Roy, so that other families would not have to suffer a similar hell, her funeral mass heard today.

Steve McClaren has been sacked as QPR manager, the club have announced.

Balancing the highs and lows of John Delaney's tenure as FAI CEO.

One of those glorious nights to remember in Irish athletics as Mark English and Ciara Mageean scored European Indoor bronze medals within 90 minutes of each other in Glasgow.

Tom Hanks would be proud. A charity shop is saving Private Ryan’s medals for his relatives after a chance discovery made in an old jacket handed into it.

The festival, in its eighth year, continuously sells out and continues to grow in popularity.

"I didn’t know anything about anything, I was just spinning off the top of my head.”

Steve Hansen will leave his role as New Zealand head coach with his record “unsurpassed”, according to All Blacks chairman Brent Impey.

It’s the worst secret in golf and even Pádraig Harrington, one of the most affable men in golf, is tiring of being asked if he’s going to be the next captain of the European Ryder Cup team.

Bruce had a cabbage thrown at him before last night's game.

Brian Kerr expects the Republic of Ireland side will do enough next month for Martin O’Neill to ride out the remnants of the storm that has engulfed the Derryman in the last week.

Lady Caroline Lamb would have loved social media. She would have been a highly-paid fashion influencer, offering tips like “spray a fine mist of water on your gauzy gown, before you go out for the night, because the mist will make it cling to your body in a way that’s to die for”.

BBC news presenter Rachael Bland has died after being diagnosed with incurable cancer, her family has announced.

Football’s back! Which, incidentally, is something you only say if you enjoy deliberately trolling League of Ireland fans.

Weirdly, also named Dave and Steve.

Irene Teap wrote of how the joy on her two sons’ faces on a family trip to Disneyland was “the very best medicine” just two months before she died of cervical cancer.

Gaynor French wants to die wearing her Christmas socks and trainers, with Depeche Mode playing on the sound system and her husband and children by her side.

Steve Smith’s future as Australian cricket captain remains in jeopardy despite standing down as skipper of Indian Premier League side Rajasthan Royals as the furore surrounding cricket’s latest ball-tampering row deepens.

As a two-time world champion, Conrad Smith knows what it takes to be the best in the world.

Sometimes, things just slot into place.

Roy Sheahan claimed the inaugural Last Man Standing middleweight title and a €25,000 purse after a hat-trick of wins at Dublin’s National Stadium on Saturday.

Almost 20,000 L-drivers fail to show for their driving test every year, resulting in a €1.7m windfall for the Road Safety Authority.

For Mark English the 800m is like a jigsaw, and it’s one he’s been trying to piece together for several years, often with varying results.

Steve Wickham helped the Lost Brothers find their mojo on their best album yet, writes Ed Power

Fire And Fury, the White House expose met with outrage from Donald Trump, is heading to television after the rights were purchased in a deal reported to be worth seven figures.

The four members of the Alexander family who were killed in a car accident in Co Wexford earlier this month were laid to rest in Illinois on Saturday.

The partner of a US police officer, killed in a car crash that claimed the lives of four people in Wexford on Monday, has paid tribute to the man described as “an exemplary officer” by colleagues.

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Investigators have met the brother of the Las Vegas gunman while friends and relatives of the 58 killed and other concert-goers returned to the scene to reclaim shoes, phones and bags left behind in the panic as they fled.

There’s always hope following Mayo. A vicious type of hope that leaves you writhing in your seat, jamming your fists into your eyes as if you’re watching a horror movie, but it’s hope all the same, writes Caitriona Lally.

Crystal Palace are preparing to appoint Roy Hodgson as manager after sacking Frank de Boer following only four Premier League matches in charge.

Sam Allardyce has ruled out returning to Crystal Palace after Frank de Boer was sacked just four matches into the Premier League season.

Latest: President Donald Trump has tweeted his thanks to Steve Bannon after the latter left the White House.

A Dublin man who died after a freediving accident in Egypt has been named locally as Stephen Keenan, writes Ciara Phelan.

Former Premier League stars Shay Given, Alex Bruce and Wes Brown are training with Vanarama National League side Macclesfield.

The British & Irish Lions returned to the training field relaxed, rested and ready to take themselves to the higher level they believe will be necessary to beat the All Blacks in Saturday’s series-deciding final Test at Eden Park.

Paschal Collins is not a man to aimlessly wander along with the consensus. While many boxers decry a certain forthcoming ‘super-fight’ as “bad for boxing”, the head trainer of the Celtic Warriors Gym takes a different view.

Warren Gatland saw his British & Irish Lions lay down a marker ahead of the Test series with the All Blacks and described rival head coach Steve Hansen was sledging his team because he was worried.