The longest day and RTÉ make a good start, getting the troops off the beaches and into commentary boxes all over Europe.

Good guy, Donal Lenihan, and a fine analyst both in print and on TV, but don’t ever ask him if you’re looking well — and if you do and he tells you you’re the picture of health, then depart rapidly in several directions, writes Enda McEvoy.

The best 40 minutes rugby we have seen in years upon years

“Will those rare tropical Australians survive the cold of an Irish winter?”

RTÉ broadcaster Tom McGurk and his wife, PR guru Caroline Kennedy, want to prevent a building firm’s residential development on a former hospital site near their home in Dublin 4.

"I have got it absolutely wrong. I have totally underestimated the extraordinary ability demonstrated by Joe Schmidt and the players.”

RTÉ pundit Tom McGurk sets the scene for Ireland’s first November international against the Springboks.

Westmeath man James Boyle delivered a cracker of a best man's speech at the wedding of his brother Lar recently - with some help from Michael Lyster, Pat Spillane and Colm O'Rourke.

For Munster, the Heineken Cup was always a source of emotional extremes, heartbreak or ecstasy and rarely anything in between.

When Leinster’s Six Nations heroes returned to provincial camp, they were met by the most advanced strand of medical and physical screening available.

It all starts so well.

An afternoon of light, sweetness and the return of the redhead from Limerick, with the latter occurrence contributing substantially to the former.

Big news. Distressing news. Bigger than the death of a Pope, more distressing even than Willie O’Dea announcing his retirement from politics and departure for a life of silence in a Trappist monastery. It turns out that the other Greatest Living Limerick Man, Paul O’Connell, has a chest infection and has had to cry off.

DANIEL O’CONNELL never had it this good. The original purveyor of the monster meeting would have been astounded as to the quality of debate among those in attendance at Saturday’s gathering of the Reform Alliance in the RDS in Dublin.

Master Schmidt’s second day in big school and it will not prove edifying. A host of lessons await, among them ones in maths, logic and biology.

How will the Cork man be able to face Brent Pope and Tom McGurk tomorrow?

Hopes, plans, dreams — all scaled back yesterday at the Aviva.

I AM INDEBTED to George Hook.

THE Irish back-row, in the hot kitchen, with a mish-mash: this game of Cleudo carried no mysteries for Inspector Hook.

A NATION, er, awakes.

SOMEBODY asked me on Sunday was I disappointed not to have won the Labour nomination for the Presidential election.

POLITICIANS are geared to think only as far as the next election. They go into liquidation if they lose their seat.

FORMER Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has claimed the Mahon Tribunal could bankrupt him if it does not find in his favour.

EARLIER this month I was asked to discuss Irish neutrality during the Second World War on Tom McGurk’s programme on 4FM.

JUDGES will be able to advise juries on the size of damages for libel by the end of next month, it was confirmed last night.

THEY might have struggled to climb on a trailer to promote Ireland’s new radio station, but the stars of 4FM made a much smoother transition to the airwaves yesterday.

CONVERSATION with Tom McGurk isn’t long taking a picturesque turn.

HE IS the ‘Big Fella’ of Irish broadcasting — bearish, avuncular with a roguish grin and friendly patter — but we won’t be hearing quite so much from Derek Davis from now on.

More than €7.5m was raised by the Irish public during the RTE People in Need Telethon, it was announced today.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern quietly endured taunts and abuse from unionists during delicate Northern Ireland peace negotiations, a former PR guru to the British government claimed yesterday.

Fianna Fáil’s annual think-in begins in Co Mayo today.

AS history shows, few issues have greater potential to cause division and strife among the people of the world than the vexed question of religion.

“WHY has Jesus Christ so far not succeeded in inducing the world to follow His teachings?” US President Woodrow Wilson of the United States asked in 1919.

RTÉ today announced details of television coverage for the forthcoming Rugby World Cup, which takes place this October in Australia.

RTÉ announced today that Buccaneers v Ballymena will be the live match covered by the national broadcaster this Saturday in the final round of matches in qualifying for the AIB League semi-finals.