FESTIVAL TIME: All Together Now and Indiependence are among the events making the most of the bank holiday weekend, with strong line-ups over the next few days.

John O’Shea has returned to Reading as a first-team coach.

As Olympian Michael Carruth prepares to fight for charity, Deirdre Reynolds looks at the growing appeal of boxing

On this day in 1971, Led Zeppelin played a gig at the National Stadium in Dublin. John Daly recalls an event that was also his first ever gig.

Reigning welterweight champion Kieran Molloy takes on precocious challenger Patrick Donovan in what looks a certain show-stealer at this year’s National Elite Finals.

Galway middleweight Gabriel Dossen insists he’s still not the finished product despite eliminating a defending champion at the National Elite Championships at the National Stadium on Saturday night.

It’s not what you would call gripping TV. But it’s soothing. If it were made now, it would be called ‘Slow TV’, something which is apparently All The Rage In Norway.

Des O'Driscoll shares this week's talking points from the world of music, TV and film

Latest: The leader of the Labour Party, Brendan Howlin, says it's clear that any hope the new Sinn Féin leadership would herald the dawn of a new era has now disappeared.

Roy Sheahan claimed the inaugural Last Man Standing middleweight title and a €25,000 purse after a hat-trick of wins at Dublin’s National Stadium on Saturday.

Argentina’s Victoria Bustos has been confirmed as Katie Taylor’s opponent for a title unification bout in New York.

Greg Dowling is one half of Irish house music duo Fish Go Deep, as well as being a label owner and club promoter. 

When asked to cast his mind back to the last time he took part in a competitive boxing match, all Conor McGregor can do is glance skywards and let out a long exhale of breath. It has been so long for him that he can’t even remember.

Dean Gardiner comes across as the kind of guy who greets triumph and disaster with much the same shrug of the shoulders.

Chelsea have issued an apology after admitting Instagram posts by Kenedy had caused "great offence and hurt the feelings of the people of China."

Pedro will return home from Chelsea's pre-season tour after he suffered concussion during Saturday's friendly victory over Arsenal.

The Script have announced two Irish shows next month.

“I make no apologies for it — I’m the guy who wants to bring the Olympics to Dublin.”

Paschal Collins is not a man to aimlessly wander along with the consensus. While many boxers decry a certain forthcoming ‘super-fight’ as “bad for boxing”, the head trainer of the Celtic Warriors Gym takes a different view.

Irish Athletic Boxing Association chief executive Fergal Carruth has described this week’s crunch talks at the National Stadium as “positive,” as the organisation forced a new rulebook over the line in order to meet a June 30 deadline set by Sport Ireland.

Irish Athletic Boxing Association officials were last night locked in talks at the National Stadium in an attempt to cease the organisation’s much-publicised civil war.

The secretary of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) has resigned amid a deepening boardroom crisis within the organisation.

As a former gold medallist at the competition, one might think Ray Moylette would be taking an eager interest in next month’s European Championships after yet another selection controversy dominated the week’s headlines.

A member of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association’s divided Board of Directors has predicted that a dispute between the organisation’s two warring factions will end up in court.

Punches were finally thrown in the ring at the National Stadium last night as a mooted box-off to decide Ireland’s super-heavyweight representative at next month’s European Championships resulted in a split-decision victory for Dean Gardiner.

Des O’Driscoll with the latest entertainment news and events

Bernard Dunne admitted he would need to fully immerse himself in his new role as High Performance Director at the IABA in order to gain a grasp of the changes required within the Irish amateur boxing realm.

Hopes of reclaiming Ireland’s prominence in the boxing ring at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo are being undermined by a high performance system roundly criticised by the ‘Rio Review’, according to heavyweight Darren O’Neill.

Paddy Barnes is eager to upstage his friend and fight-night headliner Jamie Conlan tomorrow night in Belfast.

New York based Cork welterweight, Noel Murphy, hopes to return to Ireland in the summer for an Irish title shot. He had his first professional win at home over the weekend.

Three years and three days on from the contentious judges’ decision that encouraged Noel Murphy to abandon his amateur career, the Cork welterweight hopes to make a victorious return to the National Stadium tonight.

Joe Ward last night hailed his first Irish title win since 2014 as the start of his journey back to international success.

All may have appeared to have changed utterly in Irish boxing, but the presence of veteran Darren O’Neill in tonight’s National Elite Championship finals is both a link to glories of the recent past as well as the possibility of a brighter future.

Cork welterweight Noel Murphy will fight for his first title in the professional ranks at the National Stadium on Saturday, February 25, the Boxing Union of Ireland (BUI) confirmed.

Michael Carr is originally from Dublin, but has lived in Cork for 16 years. He co-runs Blue Monkey PR agency, looking after a variety of clients, and also presents The Green Room on Cork’s 96FM on Saturdays at 6pm.

This will be his 23rd concert appearance in Ireland since first playing the National Stadium in Dublin in 1979.

MUSIC NEWS: After Body & Soul and Castlepalooza, the muddy fields of the midlands take a break from festival season this weekend. Probably for the best as Beyonce gets her Beyhive in Formation for a show that’s not quite sold out at Croke Park tomorrow.

Paddy Barnes believes fears surrounding the zika virus are overblown as the two-time Olympic medallist prepares for his third Games in Rio this summer.