Thirty-six years old and in the form of his life, Rob Heffernan has very few complaints at present.

Retirement. Or, as Brian O’Driscoll described it earlier this month, the afterlife.

BALLINCOLLIG, CORK €285,000

An incident on Wednesday where a Ryanair flight was forced to make an emergency descent over the Swiss Alps was the second such incident involving the company in as many months.

Derval O’Rourke had a grin of satisfaction after reclaiming her 60m hurdles title at the Woodies DIY Irish indoor championships at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast yesterday in 8.21 secs — modest by her standards.

ROBERT HEFFERNAN will head for his training camp in South Africa today in buoyant mood after a solid performance at the Woodies DIY Irish indoor championships in the Odyssey Arena where he retained his 5k walk title in 19:09.56.

ROBERT HEFFERNAN got 2011 off to a record breaking start on his home turf when he smashed the national 30k walk record with a sizzling 2:07.48 in the Woodies DIY national walk championships around the Monahan Road/Centre Park Road circuit in Cork yesterday.

RICHIE TOWELL believes a baby-faced Republic of Ireland U21 side can use the final game of a forgettable campaign as something to build on for the future.

Two more Airtricity League players have been drafted into the Republic of Ireland Under-21 squad ahead of tomorrow’s UEFA European Championship qualifier against Turkey.

The Republic of Ireland Under-21s have been forced to make a number of changes to the squad ahead of Tuesday’s UEFA European Championship qualifier against Turkey.

IRELAND’S U21 side suffered a disappointing 1-0 loss to Switzerland in a UEFA Championships qualifier they could have won in Lugano.

OLIVE LOUGHNANE, Robert Heffernan and Jamie Costin will have Barcelona on their minds when they line up for their respective events at the Coppa Città di Sesto San Giovanni near Milan, the Italian leg of the IAAF Race Walking Challenge today.

Defending marathon champion Paula Radcliffe has been selected by UK Athletics for the World Championships in Berlin in August.

Nobel Peace Prize winner John Hume is to unveil a memorial high in the Swiss Alps to Ireland's last Gaelic chieftains, it was revealed today.

WOULD someone buy two adjoining Well Road houses just for the sake of a decent-sized site for one new home - even if it cost them €1 million?

London is facing competition from five other bids to host a stage in the 2005 Tour de France.

Singer Robert Palmer will be buried at his Swiss home, his manager said today.

Two British men who financed a jet-set lifestyle and owned property around the world from profits they made by laundering drug money have been jailed.

An 80-year-old Swiss man is fighting for his life after having both legs amputated instead of one.