It was an extra special back-to-school day for 11-year-old Saoirse Hayes from Kinsale, Co Cork, as the sensory room she designed for her school opened for use for the first time.

For many parents, school starting times pose a headache as their working day begins at the same time, writes Ailin Quinlan

The direct involvement of the Sisters of Mercy in primary education is almost at an end in a Kinsale school where six nuns first taught 700 girls at the end of the Great Famine.

Villiers gave Ashton a good test before succumbing 5-1 in an entertaining Munster Senior Schoolboys Cup final at Garryduff yesterday.