Manager Alex Neil says Norwich are looking forward with confidence as they return to the Barclays Premier League next season and that they will not just be there to make up the numbers.

The days of Ireland’s starting 11 being alluded to, or even revealed, by Giovanni Trapattoni 24 hours before games are long gone.

Rugby Europe is to analyse the performance of the Romanian referee in charge of Belgium’s controversial upset of Spain this weekend in a meeting on Friday.

On arriving outside the Ludgate Hub in Skibbereen, Co Cork, Minister Michael Ring was told that he’d brought the sunny weather with him. “We have it 52 weeks a year, so we have,” came the instant reply.

Rank-and-file gardaí have said the breath test scandal was “entirely” the fault of Garda management and warned they would not be “scapegoated”.

Laois 1-22 Carlow 0-14

A man walked into a bank in Ireland during the Celtic Tiger and demanded €3m to set up a nightclub in Dublin, which he was granted with scarcely any background check, according to Robert Webb of Nottingham University, who is trying to figure out why this happened.

The Garda Ombudsman said it “does not anticipate difficulties” in its high-profile investigation into the penalty point controversy.

Now that the greatest series, in living memory, of the All- Ireland hurling championship has just concluded, it would be reasonable to expect that the main protagonists would come in for unqualified praise. Not so, however.

Summerhill 1-13 Na Fianna 1-10

Ian Baraclough yesterday insisted he’s had no contact with struggling English League One side Notts County after reports in a Nottingham newspaper linked the 42-year-old Sligo Rovers boss with the managerial vacancy.

More locally items of small antique furniture have emerged as a definite new trend.

Former tánaiste Michael McDowell has said "it is the business" of Taoiseach Enda Kenny to explain to the Dáil the controversial circumstances surrounding the resignation of the Garda Commissioner.

Joe Schmidt’s Ireland played safe, smart rugby in dispatching South Africa on Saturday and made a mockery of their underdog status with the bookmakers.

Southampton 0 West Ham 0

St Jude’s and Ballyboden St Enda’s progressed to the Dublin SHC semi-finals after overcoming Faughs and Cuala, respectively, at O’Toole Park yesterday.

An All-Ireland-winning Dublin footballer has blamed a "warrior ethos" within many sports, including GAA, for driving the determination of concussed players to finish a game.

Happiest man in Limerick on Saturday evening?

A series of events will take place this week to mark the centenary of the sinking of RMS Lusitania off the coast of Cork.