DERVAL O’ROURKE has withdrawn from next weekend’s Woodies DIY All-Ireland indoor championships at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast but her coach, Sean Cahill, insists there is no need for concern.

DERVAL O’ROURKE moved a step closer to her target — the European championships in Paris in a month’s time — when she finished third in the 60m hurdles in 8.03 secs at last night’s international indoor meeting in Lievin.

Guitar legend Eric Clapton will perform one night in Dublin as part of his 2011 tour, concert promoters said today.

DERVAL O’ROURKE is in a medal-winning frame of mind according to the Irish coach, Patsy McGonagle.

Two extra dates have been added to Rod Stewart's Irish tour, it was announced today.

IT will be difficult for those following in the footsteps of Alistair Cragg and David Gillick at this weekend’s European indoor championships in Birmingham.

Paul Hession was the outstanding performer at the Irish Indoor Athletics Championships in the Odyssey.

ROBERT HEFFERNAN will be looking for the performance of a lifetime when he faces double European champion, Francisco Fernandez, in the 5,000m walk at the Irish Indoor Championships at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast tomorrow, with Gillian O’Sullivan also looking for something special.

DAVID GILLICK has not run an indoor 400m since the European indoor championships final in Madrid a year ago, when he stormed home to win a treasured gold medal.

DAVID McCARTHY (St Augustine’s, Dungarvan) made an impressive return to cross-country running with victory in the senior boys’ race at the Kit Kat Munster Schools Championships at St Augustine’s College on Saturday.

A new nationalist daily newspaper is being planned for Northern Ireland, it was confirmed today.

CIARAN McDONAGH, who has been plagued by injury since he became the first Irishman to long jump over eight metres at the world championships in Seville in 1999, will be back in an Irish singlet at an International meet in Cardiff next weekend.

Dressed in his pink garb, Dubliner Jim Rock might get a few wolf whistles in Belfast’s Odyssey Arena tomorrow night but he is as hard as they come.