The celebrities who strutted their stuff on the opening day of the national ploughing championships in Screggan, Tullamore, yesterday had plenty of competition from unexpected sources.

A 2016 hat-trick of Derry senior titles for Slaughtneil – football, hurling and camogie, writes Paul Keane

A row has broken out between the Financial Services Union (FSU) and Bank of Ireland over plans to close eight of the bank’s 36 branches in the North.

The Bank of Ireland is closing eight branches in the North.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today

It’s Thursday. The worst and weakest card of the festival. Eww. But that’s not all.

Inchydoney beach in West Cork has been named Ireland’s favourite beach by international tourists for the third year in a row.

Dan Martin made a brave but ultimately futile bid for a second ever Tour de France stage win yesterday, the Irishman finishing runner-up to Rafal Majka (Tinkoff Saxo) on a gruelling day in the Pyrenees.

Five-time Northern Ireland Rally champion Derek McGarrity S14 Subaru WRC heads the entry for tomorrow’s eight stage tarmac Ryan Bradley Memorial Tour of Sperrins Rally in Maghera, County Derry.

Jack Maddux of the US-based Hot Tubes Team won yesterday’s fourth stage of the International Junior Tour of Ireland as defending champion Eddie Dunbar survived another day of relentless attacks.

The Heaney house on the Fair Hill in Maghera wasn’t exactly a palatial spread, but it did the job.

Wet to the skin, cold to the bone, and saddle sore — the rain-drenched cyclists who rode The Glen to Glen Bike last Saturday will always remember the Downings GAA club in Donegal with fond affection.

The Coolnasillagh Road. Up until this year, this two-mile-long mountain pass was used only by stray sheep and the people who lived along its steep slopes.

The Quinns of Cavan/Fermanagh may not like the comparisons drawn between themselves and the fictional Ewings of Dallas.

ONE of my first heroes, Jim McGuigan, died on Saturday.

IT IS Saturday evening in downtown Calgary.

A GAA referee has collapsed and died during a game in the North.

An incendiary device has partially exploded under a van in the North.

HIS term as hurling’s missionary — also known as national coordinator — expires this weekend, but Paudie Butler remains true to the creed. “I’m going to commit the rest of my life to supporting coaches and clubs who want to develop hurling. Because I know that we’re winning.”

AS I stood getting dressed at the swimming pool last Wednesday morning it finally dawned on me what it is about rugby that I abhor so much. Don’t get the wrong idea.

A cigarette butt found at the scene of a policeman’s murder in the North almost 30 years ago carries the DNA of the man accused of the shooting, a court heard today.

A man will appear in court today charged with the murder of a policeman shot dead by the IRA in the North almost 30 years ago.

A man was questioned today about the murder of a policeman in the North almost 30 years ago.

Heavy snow and winds caused overnight chaos in parts of the North with up to 300 people rescued from a mountain road after conditions overwhelmed vehicles.

The Derry hurling panel have a new manager at the helm for the 2010 season following the ratification of James O'Kane's appointment.

Dungannon's Kris Meeke and Killarney's Paul Nagle (Peugeot 207 S2000) have moved into a two point lead in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge series after today's victory in the Sata Rally Azores.

At least 16 houses were evacuated last night after the discovery of a suspect package in the North.

Derry 0-14 Donegal 0-10

Derry 0-13 Galway 2-7

TWO young DJs who set up an in-store broadcasting firm have won the Shell Livewire Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.

A couple from the North who had their children taken into care on holiday amid reports they were too drunk to look after them have hired a top libel lawyer to seek damages over media coverage of the incident.

Former National Rally Champion, Peadar Hurson, driving a Subaru WRC, took a start to finish victory on the Tour of Sperrins Rally in Maghera today.

A FAMILY friend of Eamon and Antoinette McGuckin has strongly denied reports that the couple got so drunk that they were unable to look after their three young children during a holiday to Portugal.

A south Derry man was jailed for six years at Coventry Crown Court today for his part in a fuel-laundering scam.

Two women were arrested today in connection with the murder of a Scotsman who was assaulted and thrown under the wheels of a car while visiting the North earlier in the summer.

A teenager was today arrested in the North for questioning about the murder of a Scotsman.

Police investigating the murder of a Scotsman in Northern Ireland today revisited the scene one week on from the killing.

Police in the North have charged a third man with the murder of 36-year-old Ronald Mackie in Co Derry at the weekend.

Up to 30 people may have witnessed a Scotsman being beaten up before he was abandoned in front of oncoming traffic outside a soccer club in the North, murder squad detectives revealed today.

PSNI murder squad detectives are now questioning two men in connection with a mob beating that led to a hit and run killing in the North.

A senior Democratic Unionist tonight rejected claims by Gerry Adams that his party did nothing to help deliver peaceful Twelfth of July Orange Order marches.