THREATS to rural post offices come in many forms — liberalisation of the postal market — rationalisation of services and depopulation of the countryside among them.

For natives of Mullinavat, Waterford is town, 11 miles away. For natives of Ballyhale, seven miles north, Kilkenny is town, 13 miles away. 

Fr Tommy Maher, who died on Tuesday evening, has been described as a "legendary figure in Kilkenny and in hurling generally" by Kilkenny County Board chairman Ned Quinn.

PORTLAW WITH CURRAGHMORE ESTATE, COUNTY WATERFORD

Who best to talk about Henry Shefflin than those who knew him best — his team-mates.

Kilkenny 1-23 Waterford 1-14

The Irish Council Against Blood Sports has called on Iarnród Éireann to prosecute a Kilkenny hunt for trespass after hounds were killed in a collision with the Dublin to Waterford train.

A 42-year-old man has died after the car he was driving hit a bridge.

KILKENNY SHC FINAL:

The starting of races in Ireland, which has long been a bone of contention, reached farcical proportions for the opening Maiden Hurdle at Tramore yesterday.

HOW many restoration projects for classic modernist houses are there in this country? Very few is the anecdotal answer. As a race we’re still in thrall to the Georgian — Victorian and Edwardian barely cut it — and our modern vernacular is a mash of simple farmhouse and country manor — all neo-Georgian, of course.

PORTLAW-CURRAGHMORE LOOP

PORTLAW AND KILBUNNY CHURCH LOOP

Organisers are stepping up their promotion of the Willie Loughman Memorial Forestry Rally.

Ballyhale Shamrocks 0-16 Dicksboro 0-12

Dysart Dancer, far from one hundred per cent in the morning, stripped fit and well to land the 2012 Tramore Races Centenary Year Maiden Hurdle at the seaside venue yesterday.

The Fire Service is continuing to battle a major blaze at an oil depot in Co Kilkenny this evening.

Three men have been arrested after gardai seized more than 400 cannabis plants, thought to be worth around €360,000, during a raid in Kilkenny this morning.

The first phase of a €23 million water scheme which will enable major industrial and residential expansion in the South-East will be officially opened later this week.

THE number of people killed on Irish roads in 2011 has risen to 182 following a number of fatal accidents over the holiday period.

A 19-year-old man remains in hospital this morning after a crash which claimed two lives in Co Kilkenny on Friday.

A second man has died, and a third man is being treated for injuries, after a car crash in Co Kilkenny yesterday.

A second man has died after he was involved in a crash in Mullinavat in Co Kilkenny yesterday.

One teenager has been killed and two others injured in a single-vehicle car crash in Co Kilkenny.

BUILT in the 1980s, and almost doubled in size when upgraded four or five years ago, this Co Kilkenny bungalow home has a good balance of living space for those who don’t need loads of bedrooms.

More than 950 voters on islands off Donegal and Mayo go to the polls this morning as the election campaign enters its last two days.

Treacherous road conditions are being reported right around the country again this morning following a night of sub-zero conditions.

A 41-YEAR-OLD man became the 167th person to die on Irish roads this year after the car he was driving was involved in a horrific crash with a lorry on the main Cork to Limerick road.

THE Powers of Carrickshock are no strangers to All-Ireland finals but Sunday’s events in Croke Park will be extra special even by their dizzyingly high standards.

A COUPLE in their 70s were among four people arrested after gardaí smashed a sophisticated cannabis factory in rural Kilkenny.

The Noughties: From Glitz to Gloom

The journey time from Dublin to Waterford will be cut by up to half an hour when a new section of the M9 motorway opens in Co Kilkenny today.

Gardaí are appealing for the public's help in tracing a 14-year-old girl who has been missing from her Kilkenny home since Thursday.

FLOOD waters around the country are expected to recede today as weather forecasters predict better weather for the remainder of the week after another day of intense rainfall that left many homes suffering millions of euro in flood damage.

Gardaí have today released the name of the 71-year-old man killed in yesterday's road accident in Mullinavat.

A COMPLETION date of 2009 is anticipated for phase two of the planned Waterford-Dublin motorway, Transport Minister Martin Cullen said yesterday.

Kilkenny 3-18 UCD 0-14

TWO separate inquiries are under way into a mix-up that sent firefighters to the wrong address while the house at the centre of the emergency burned to the ground.

A pensioner in his early 70s died today in a house fire in Co Kilkenny.

This coming Sunday the TG4 Underdogs side, managed by former Offaly boss Pat Fleury, will take on the might of Kilkenny's senior hurlers on the hallowed turf of Nowlan Park (throw-in 1.45pm).

AN BORD Pleanála has given the green light for work to begin on the long-awaited Waterford to Kilcullen dual carriageway, despite close to 20 major objections from land and home owners.

Four people have died in road accidents in Ireland over the weekend, bringing the total number of deaths on the country’s roads this year to 336.