He's about to start graduate medicine in UCC, but his thoughts couldn’t be further from anatomy, physiology and biochemistry.

Paul and Gary O'Donovan won their lightweight men's double sculls World Championship quarter-final to progress to the A/B semi-final.

So near and yet so far was the story for Denise Walsh and Aoife Casey at the World Championships yesterday in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, where they missed a semi-final place by the narrowest of margins.

The Irish rowing team have claimed two medals at the World Rowing Cup I in Belgrade this morning.

As the domestic regatta season draws to a close, the international scene is also reaching the business end.

Rowing Ireland will be looking to continue their rich vein of form having set off for Hazewinkel in Belgium where they will compete in the Coupe de la Jeunesse this coming Saturday and Sunday.

As the frenzy of the Irish Championships subsides, attention once again turns to international affairs this week.

A bumper weekend of racing is in store in Cork as the 2017 Irish Rowing Championships take place at the National Rowing Centre from tomorrow through to Sunday. 

Lonely Planet has declared Ireland one of the best countries in the world for 2015.

IRELAND U19 boss Paul Doolin admitted his charges were beaten 2-0 by a superior Bosnia and Herzegovina side in Plovdiv, Bulgaria on Saturday which leaves them needing to beat Russia tomorrow to clinch their place in the elite phase.

UEFA U19

HOW much would you pay to hear Tony Britten’s Champions League anthem fill the evening air at your football club?

At least eight passengers were killed when a bus carrying 31 people rolled on to its side and burst into flames in southern Bulgaria, police said.

DARREN O’NEILL can’t wait to don the gloves and get his European boxing championships campaign underway in Liverpool.

Joe Ward and Charles Gallagher had to settle for bronze medals at the European Junior Championships in Bulgaria this afternoon despite brave semi-final performances in Plovdiv.

WITH the national championships starting tomorrow night week at the National Stadium, boxing fans are looking forward to the seemingly inevitable middleweight battle between champion Darren Sutherland and challenger Darren O’Neill.

Irish boxer Roy Sheehan has beaten Michele Cirillo of Italy (37 to 19) in his opening bout of the Welterweight division of the European Senior Boxing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria today.

DARREN O’NEILL, a student teacher from Kilkenny, will fill the middleweight berth on the Irish team when the European Boxing Championships get under way in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, later today.

At least 10 people have been killed and two are missing as storms and floods hit large areas of the eastern Balkans, leaving thousands of people stranded.

A BULGARIAN government investigation has concluded the country has no links with an IRA money laundering operation.

A BULGARIAN lawyer yesterday confirmed that he met with Phil Flynn and Ted Cunningham several times in January and planned to help them buy property in Bulgaria.

INVESTIGATORS in Bulgaria probing alleged IRA money laundering have sent their initial findings to the Irish authorities.

LIGHT heavyweight Kenneth Egan got Ireland’s Olympic qualification bid back on track yesterday when he stopped Spaniard Mairo Duro on the 20 point rule 15 seconds into the third round of his opening contest.

PAUL McCLOSKEY is one fight away from the Olympic Games following another spectacular victory at the qualifying tournament in Warsaw yesterday.

KENNETH EGAN has joined Paul McCloskey in the semi-finals of their respective Olympic qualifying tournaments, just two fights away from qualification for Athens.

PAUL McCLOSKEY is just two fights away from the Olympics after another resounding win at the qualifying tournament in Warsaw last night where he overwhelmed the highly rated Croatian, Borna Katalinic 40-19 to advance to the quarter-finals.

IT IS 7am on St. Patrick’s Day and three young men climb out of their beds in a Dublin B&B. While the nation snoozes, taking advantage of the holiday for a lie-in, this trio is off to work.

PAUL McCLOSKEY got his Olympic boxing qualification campaign off to the perfect start when he beat Halas Martin of the Czech Republic 37-13 in Warsaw last night.

WITH Limerick southpaw Andy Lee safely through to the Olympics, the remainder of Ireland’s Athens boxing hopefuls are currently training in Heidelberg in advance of next week’s qualifying tournaments in Plovdiv, Bulgaria and Warsaw.

WINNING an Adidas Belt at the Box Cup Tournament in Hamburg may not have compensated James Moore for the loss of his national senior crown but the performance, coupled with the defeat of his conqueror, Henry Coyle, in Helsinki over the weekend, has re-ignited his hopes of Olympic qualification.

The Vatican acknowledged for the first time today that it may have to curtail papal travel because of Pope John Paul II’s feeble condition, suggesting that planned stops in Mexico and Guatemala in July could be dropped.