Kilkenny teenager Mark Power is gunning to become the youngest winner of the West of Ireland since Rory McIlroy in 2006 after he completed two impressive wins on the opening day of matchplay combat at Rosses Point.

The Beast from the East brought an unexpected gift; a brambling turned up in the mist net in my back-garden.

A deal has not been reached on who will build, own and run the new National Maternity Hospital (NMH) despite planners giving it the go-ahead this week.

Planning permission has been granted to build the new National Maternity Hospital on the campus of St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin.

More than 300 different parts of the 1,500km road network across the Inishowen peninsula were damaged by last Tuesday’s floods.

John Brady (Rosslare) and Mark Power (Kilkenny), two of the brightest prospects on the golfing scene for many years, are waging a great battle at the top of the leader board after 36 holes of the Irish Boys Open Championship at Castletroy.

Is that you, Ken Brockman?

Leading qualifier Mairead Martin (Kanturk) is safely through to the last 16 at the Irish Women’s Close Championship at Mullingar.

Chloe Ryan, 23, from Limerick’s South Circular Road, won the Irish, Ulster, and Munster girls’ golf titles in her teens and first played for Munster Ladies when she was just 15.  She plays off a +3.5 handicap for Castletroy Golf Club and Ireland. This week, she is playing in the Irish Women’s Close Championships in Mullingar GC.

Plans for a new maternity hospital are back on track after the board of Holles Street overwhelmingly voted in favour of re-endorsing the deal struck last November that paved the way for its transfer to the campus of St Vincent’s University Hospital at Elm Park.

Last Sunday, shortly after lunchtime, Peter Boylan, the eminent ex-master of the National Maternity Hospital at Holles St, picked up his phone to send a text.

Latest: The deal to move Holles Street Hospital to St Vincent's in Dublin has been published.

Minister for Health Simon Harris said he does not believe there is a need to revisit the November agreement which was supposed to pave the way for the transfer of the national maternity hospital to the campus of St Vincent’s University Hospital in Elm Park.

The State’s investment in the proposed €300m national maternity hospital will be protected and it will be free of religious interference, according to Health Minister Simon Harris.

An agreement has been reached to form a new company for the new National Maternity Hospital.

A Tidy Towns initiative in a Cork suburb has sparked an acrimonious turf war between two neighbouring areas over the location of the local boundary.

A five-month jail term was imposed yesterday on a driver who fell out the door of her car after a drink-driving escapade which saw sparks coming from the front wheel in the early hours of the morning.

Sparks were seen coming from the front wheel of a car in the early hours of the morning as it swerved from side to side — and the driver was so drunk that she literally fell out the door of the car onto the side of the road.

Dermot Weld’s Postulation faces eight rivals in the Belmont Derby over a mile and a quarter at the New York track tomorrow.

Found can extend the record-breaking exploits of jockey Ryan Moore by taking the Coronation Stakes this afternoon at Royal Ascot.

Aidan O’Brien is chasing a fourth consecutive Epsom Derby success and, while he may not have a stand-out performer in this afternoon’s feature, the Ballydoyle trainer may be able to extend his record with the strong-staying Hans Holbein.

There we were all ready to put up Dermot Weld’s Zawraq as the most likely winner of this afternoon’s Investec Derby at Epsom and the horse goes and suffers a setback.

John Gosden would be “concerned” for Jack Hobbs if the ground at Epsom continues to quicken in the build-up to the Investec Derby on Saturday.

French raider Epicuris has his sights set firmly on the Investec Derby as the field for the Epsom Classic began to take shape yesterday.

A host of big names have been entered for the Qipco Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown on September 12.

Andrew Balding is looking forward to seeing leading Derby hope Elm Park stretch his legs on the famous Epsom turf at the Breakfast With The Stars morning today.

Aidan O’Brien hopes John F Kennedy and Ol’ Man River can get bounce back to form in today’s Betfred Dante Stakes at York and, in doing so, boost their Investec Derby hopes.

Golf returns to the Olympic Games next year after more than a century in the wilderness but a ceremony conducted on the fifth tee at Ballybunion over the weekend served as a reminder that the game has made a small contribution to Irish sporting success on the world’s biggest stage.

A man who tried to murder a 10-year-old girl "to see what it was like to kill someone" has lost his latest appeal over a life sentence.

An eight-year-old girl who was injured in the eye by a forceps during delivery has settled her High Court action for €198,000 damages. The High Court heard the child, Princess Ibeh, has had to wear glasses but will be able to stop doing so shortly.

An eight-year-old girl from Cork is to receive €198,000 in a settlement with the HSE over an eye injury she allegedly suffered at birth during a forceps delivery.

Andrew Balding is in bullish mood as Elm Park bids to provide the trainer with a first domestic Group One victory in over a decade in this afternoon’s Racing Post Trophy (3.50 Doncaster).

Irish Women’s Senior Cup final

Three teenagers yesterday steered Killarney brilliantly into this morning’s (10 o’clock) final of the AIG Irish Women’s Senior Cup at Mount Wolseley, Co. Carlow.

Competition specialists Royal Portrush and Douglas have again qualified for the final stages of the AIG Irish Ladies Senior Cup at Mount Wolseley, Carlow on Friday and Saturday.

East of Ireland champion Colm Campbell and leading qualifier Stuart Grehan were forced to dig deep to make it into the last 16 of the AIG-sponsored Irish Amateur Close Championship at a sun-kissed Seapoint.