Government ministers and the chief medical officer are meeting their Northern Irish counterparts in Armagh this afternoon.

Their boss ‘Banty’ McEnaney has effectively worked off a core of just 20 players so far this League campaign, writes Paul Keane.

Donegal’s Donagh Kelly and his Monaghan co-driver Conor Foley (VW Polo GTi R5) won a dramatic TF Royal Hotel/Casey’s and Mulroy’s Londis Mayo Rally, the opening round of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship.

The Division 2B final will also be an all-Ulster affair.

Backboned by six champions, the Triton Showers National Rally Championship gets underway on Sunday with the TF Royal Hotel/Casey’s and Mulroy’s Londis Mayo Rally that returns to Castlebar for the first time in 11 years.

Roscommon reeled off their third successive win in Division 2 to leave themselves with every chance of returning to the top flight following a routine victory against Westmeath at Dr Hyde Park.

Connacht prop Paddy McAllister will make an emotional return to South Africa for the first time in 11 years to take on the Southern Kings.

DARRAGH Corcoran struck a brace of classy points in stoppage time to give Waterford their first win in four attempts in this year’s Allianz Football at a weather-bashed Markievicz Park on Saturday afternoon.

Sligo dropped their first points of the league after coming up against a Wicklow team which undoubtedly had the greater incentive to win at Aughrim.

Craig Breen’s return to the World Rally Championship with Hyundai Motorsport has given the Waterford ace the opportunity to showcase his ability on this weekend’s Rally Sweden, where, just two years ago he secured his best ever result (second) in the WRC.

A strong second half from Longford saw them retain their unbeaten start to Division 3 and inflict a second defeat on near neighbours Leitrim at a wet and windy Glennon Brothers Pearse Park.

The Sinn Féin president has said her phone call with Breege Quinn, mother of murder victim Paul Quinn, went “very well”.

If he was a man under pressure, Leo Varadkar wasn’t showing it during a leisurely visit to St Joseph’s College in the Dublin suburb of Lucan.

The mother of an IRA murder victim has demanded that Sinn Féin sack one of its Stormont ministers for accusing her son of being a criminal.

Paddy Tally didn't want to mention the elephant in the room but after winning a game that could have massive consequences for Down's summer, he could let his guard down.

John Fogarty and Eoghan Cormican preview the weekend's GAA fixtures.

The event goes ahead after financial support was received privately and from the sport’s governing body Motorsport Ireland as the Galway club faced significant financial losses due to the lack of entries.

It wasn’t always pretty, and there were times when it seemed like it would be Ryan McMenamin who would be leaving St Conleth's Park with a first league win for his new team, but Daniel Flynn’s 58th-minute goal proved crucial as Jack O’Connor began life in Kildare with a win.

The dynamic of this year’s Irish Tarmac Rally Championship — that is being launched in Galway tonight — sees a major shift towards the Hyundai i20 R5 for many of its top competitors.