Cork Harlequins, Catholic Institute and Cork C of I all grabbed the results they wanted to make it a perfect weekend for Munster hockey on the national stage.

Frits Potgieter has been appointed as general manager of the 5-star Muckross Park Hotel & Spa in Killarney, part of the iNua Collection.

Catholic Institute face the biggest test to their impressive early-season credentials with tomorrow’s trip to Monkstown.

Do you live on the Wild Atlantic Way? You may want to read this.

Megan Frazer has been included in Graham Shaw’s squad of 18 players for next month’s World Cup in London despite concerns over her fitness.

Couples who suffer a fatal foetal abnormality are treated differently in this country depending on the choice they make, the master of the National Maternity Hospital has said.

Seldom will a ridiculous 23-0 result in the Oceania Cup mean so much to those 17,000 kilometres away but Australia’s crushing of Papua New Guinea proved the outcome that confirmed the Irish women’s team will go to the 2018 World Cup.

Cork Harlequins ended UCD’s incredible 20-game unbeaten run in Belfield as Roisin Upton and Naomi Carroll struck for an excellent 2-1 win to open up the delayed women’s EY Hockey League.

Roisin Upton is hoping to make up for lost time with the Irish women’s team as they look to land a 2018 World Cup spot over the course of the next two weeks.

Women’s hockey international: Germany 3 ( Keibel, Huse, Schroder) - Ireland 1 (Russell)

Rebecca Barry is hoping there is more glory around the corner on her road less travelled, as she chases the rare distinction of consecutive Irish Senior Cups with different clubs.

The strong-running, tight-railing Absolutely Ace landed the featured Macra Na Feirme A2 525 final on Saturday night’s card at Curraheen Park.

Best known for her focus on natural beauty, Bobby Brown’s philosophy is that “women want to look and feel themselves, only prettier and more confident”.

Tracks ****

TV show The Great British Sewing Bee looks set to make wardrobe revamps all the rage. In a week when designers paraded expensive labels across London catwalks, we set an ‘upstyler’ a challenge — create four catwalk looks from a charity shop, with a budget of just €30.

Róisín Upton gave Catholic Institute the perfect goodbye present as she nicked the winner in a hard-fought 2-1 win over Cork C of I.

Kate Upton has split with Maksim Chmerkovskiy.

There has been widespread shock and condemnation following the drive-by shooting of a 16-year-old boy.

Irish hockey has waved goodbye to some of its brightest female prospects in recent weeks, as the trickle of talent heading to America turns into a flood.

Margins have been fine in this year’s Munster Senior Schoolgirls Cup, and it took sudden-death penalty strokes to crown Bandon Grammar as the 2012 champions in yesterday’s dramatic decider in Rosbrien.

BARRY O’HARA edged Jason Conroy in the fight of the night at the National Intermediate Championships finals last night.

RÓISÍN UPTON’S whirlwind 12 months came to a fitting end at the Burlington Hotel on Saturday night, as she was named U18 Female Player of the Year at the sixth annual ESB Electric Ireland Irish Hockey Awards.

REPLACEMENT hooker Mefin Davies sealed the Ospreys a bonus point victory with a try five minutes into injury time to give the region their third successive Magners League win.

NEWPORT GWENT DRAGONS secured revenge over Connacht for an opening day Magners League thrashing in Galway this season by clinching a one-point victory at Rodney Parade.

THREE ROCK ROVERS sprung a South African surprise on Cork Church of Ireland on Saturday, as Jody Hosking’s double helped them to a noteworthy 2-1 Irish Junior Cup round one win at Garryduff.

PAUL O’CONNELL’S return after an eight-month injury lay-off attracted a fine crowd to Thomond Park last night, and they were well rewarded for coming out on a bitterly cold and wet night as Shannon pipped Young Munster by a single point in a highly competitive AIL Division 1A encounter.

CONNACHT were denied their second home victory of the Magners League season when the Ospreys struck for a match-winning try in the 78th minute at the Galway Sportsground last night.

IN a derby fixture in which no side forged ahead by more than three points, a 15-15 draw appeared a satisfactory result.

GENDER has nothing to do with the recent decisions by two senior Labour women to resign from politics, according to party leader, Eamon Gilmore.

The Labour leader Eamon Gilmore has said he is surprised at Mary Upton's decision to leave politics at the next General Election.

THE Labour Party was hit with another political blow last night as a second high-profile female TD in just a number of weeks announced she would not be seeking re-election.

Labour's Mary Upton is quitting politics.

Another Labour Party TD looks set to call time on politics as Dublin South Central Deputy Mary Upton is expected to make a formal announcement this evening.

A TEAGASC energy research project at Moorepark is evaluating new technology, such as more efficient milk tank coolers, solar panels, heat pumps and variable speed vacuum and milk pumps for dairy farms.

SO-CALLED “zombie” hotels should be turned over for community use as part of a major effort to rescue Irish tourism from the recession, Labour insisted last night.

International online gambling sites will be forced to pay tax on Irish bets, under Opposition proposals revealed today.

CONNACHT are on course for a seventh European quarter-final after consolidating their leadership of Pool Two with a well-deserved victory over Montpellier at the Galway Sportsground last evening.

THE Government says it has no intention of introducing a “supertax” on bankers’ bonuses similar to that adopted by Britain.

JEAN de VILLIERS silenced his critics for the second time in six days when crashing over in the last minute to score Munster’s bonus- point try in their 35-3 Magners League victory over Connacht at Thomond Park on Saturday night, a win that puts them within touching distance of the leaders going into the new year.

LIMERICK-based radio station Spin South-West remains on course to break even by the end of 2011 despite its latest set of accounts showing a loss of nearly €1 million.

CARDIFF BLUES moved above the Scarlets in the Magners League table with a victory over bottom side Connacht which hinged on two tries in a six-minute spell by Tom James.