A pre-finals pep talk from All-Ireland hurling hero Joe Canning has helped Galway Golf Club return to today’s AIG Barton Shield decider at Carton House, where they will bid to avenge last year’s defeat to Warrenpoint.

Warrenpoint’s Jamie Fletcher kept a cool head to hold off a late rally from Athenry teenager David Kitt and win the AIG Irish Amateur Close by one hole at a sun-splashed Galway.

After a series of outstanding matches throughout the provinces, the way has now been largely paved for the national finals of the AIG Irish Cups and Shields at the O’Meara Course, Carton House, Kildare next month, (September 20-23).

The great Lahinch links, especially when it is swept by a seriously strong wind from the Atlantic, never fails to provide great matches over the closing stages of the Pierse Motors South of Ireland Championship. 

Caddie Ricky Elliott gave up on his tour dream to become a humble assistant pro but he never lost his love of the game and got the thrill of his life — and a $216,000 (€193,427) bonus — when he helped Brooks Koepka win the US Open at Erin Hills on Sunday.

One of the Port of Cork’s most senior figures has blasted multinationals and the export industry for failing to support the regions in exporting goods to the UK and continental Europe.

The wife of one of the pilots killed in the Rescue 116 helicopter crash off the coast of Co Mayo last March has issued an open letter thanking the public for their support.

The British Chancellor has warned a Brexit would mean implementing new borders between the Republic of Ireland and the North.

Irish Amateur champion Colm Campbell saw both sides of tour life this week. While he could look back on his Irish Open debut and lament missing the cut after being put on the clock completely destroyed his rhythm, he will remember it fondly instead thanks to Martin Kaymer.

There were smiles all round at the EMC Lee Valley Senior Scratch Cup as newly-crowned champion Colm Campbell got the perfect boost for a busy schedule ahead and tournament organisers got a winner of the calibre they feel their event deserves.

England’s Andrew Johnston hailed a dream come true after holding off a final-day charge from tournament host Sergio Garcia to win a first European Tour title in the Spanish Open.

The Lee Valley Senior Scratch Cup will step into a new era this season as the 2016 renewal will see the prestigious 54-hole tournament sponsored by EMC and carrying world amateur ranking points.

West Waterford’s Gary Hurley fired five birdies in an opening 68 to get his qualifying bid off to a positive start in the 72-hole European Tour Qualifying School Second Stage in Spain.

Paul McBride, a student at the famous golfing academy of Wake Forest in North Carolina which numbers Arnold Palmer, Eoghan O’Connell and Darren Clarke among its alumni, demonstrated once again at Lahinch yesterday that Malahide continues to produce young golfers of the highest calibre.

It may be over 20 years since Billy Twomey last competed in his native Cork city, but he had no problems recalling it yesterday, considering he won a puissance on a horse called Larry Hagman.

BECAUSE of the cyclical nature of power in a democracy, the past is a far more active player in our present than we might always imagine or accept.

Muskerry Golf Club have the chance to bury their demons of three years ago when their quartet bids for an All-Ireland title in the AIG Barton Shield at Carton House today.

Often described as ‘a guitarist’s guitarist’, Pierre Bensusan is celebrating his 40th-anniversary world tour this year. Also celebrating 40 years is Irish luthier, George Lowden, of Lowden Guitars. The two have a long working relationship.

Whitehead’s John-Ross Galbraith made a small killing with the bookies as he put Pat Murray to the sword with a one-hole win in the AIG Irish Amateur Close Championship final at Seapoint.

East of Ireland champion Colm Campbell and leading qualifier Stuart Grehan were forced to dig deep to make it into the last 16 of the AIG-sponsored Irish Amateur Close Championship at a sun-kissed Seapoint.

Old campaigners Pat Murray and Gary O’Flaherty can make their experience count in the first round of the AIG- sponsored Irish Amateur Close at Seapoint today.

Dungarvan’s Kevin Stack and West Waterford’s Gary Hurley kept Munster interest alive in the Radisson Blu sponsored West of Ireland Championship at a sun-kissed County Sligo.

The GAA and the HSE launched a joint venture yesterday in Cork which seeks to address the problem of stress in Irish society.

Plans for a cross-border bridge at the site of one of the worst atrocities of the Troubles have been dealt another blow after funding from Europe was pulled.

A Turkish waiter has been jailed for life for the murder of two women from Co Down — but his father has walked free.

A Turkish waiter has been found guilty of murdering two Irishwomen on holiday two years ago, it was reported today.

The youngest daughter of bankrupt billionaire Seán Quinn has settled an action for unfair dismissal against the insurance company once owned by the family.

Eighteen people were treated after a toxic gas leak on a ship docked at a Northern Ireland harbour.

Eighteen people are being treated after toxic gas used to kill rodents escaped from a ship docked at a harbour in the North.

The 2012 cups and shields get off to flying start at Kinsale Golf Club today with the Barton Shield semi-finals.

Kinsale Golf Club will continue its centenary celebrations in the grandest style this week when it hosts the Golfing Union of Ireland’s National Finals of the Cups and Shields, sponsored by Chartis Insurance.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has criticised what he said was an “extraordinary slight” on the legacy of former taoiseach Jack Lynch by reports about the Smithwick Tribunal.

Gardaí were ordered by a former Taoiseach not to cooperate with an investigation into the IRA killing of 18 British soldiers because of paratroopers’ involvement in the Bloody Sunday shootings in Derry, it was claimed tonight.

A former Taoiseach ordered Garda chiefs not to co-operate with an investigation into an IRA attack which killed 18 British soldiers in 1979, it has been alleged at a tribunal.

CARLINGFORD, Co Louth, is a small and particularly beautiful village situated in the extreme north-east corner of our little Republic — the very place, in fact, where you can see the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea.

A former British double agent in the IRA has denied being a pathological liar over claims a suspected Garda mole destroyed evidence from one of the worst atrocities in the Troubles.

THE busy South Cork guild at Innishannon got the past year off to an altruistic start with two whist card drives which raised proceeds for the Bandon Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber and Rehab.

THE FIVE major titles at stake were evenly distributed around the country when the Chartis Irish Cups and Shields festival came to a conclusion at Castlerock, Derry, on Saturday.

A TEENAGE girl whose boyfriend is the prime suspect in her mother’s murder has paid an emotional farewell at her funeral.