When Jurgen tells the band to play, they’re always guaranteed to raise a smile.

Naomi Carroll’s hat-trick saw Cork Harlequins sweep aside Trinity 5-1 in the women’s EY Hockey League, boosting the Farmer’s Cross club into a share of top spot.

In the 15 excruciatingly long years between 1991 and 2006, Manchester City registered not a single victory over Arsenal. To say the Gunners had become a bogey team was to underestimate the state of affairs quite radically.

Michael Moynihan reports back from after the 2023 Rugby World Cup and tells us missing out was no bad thing. 

Last week’s recommendation that South Africa should host Rugby World Cup 2023 was reached, in part, because our infrastructure was deemed inadequate.

Simon Lewis looks at what Ireland boss Joe Schmidt will be looking to gain from three games in November

Dermot McElroy made a superb start to the second stage of European Tour Qualifying School with a two-under 70 at El Saler, Spain.

Acloud of confusion settled over Rugby Country this week, its people truly baffled by the notion of choosing somebody for a job purely on merit.

South Africa began the day as favourites to land the hosting rights for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. 

The question: Do the Premier League’s big games disappoint?

Who knows how much money he would have made, how many caps he’d have earned, how many honours he’d have won, had Colin Healy not had his leg badly broken by an awful tackle when he was just 23. 

Well, we got our backsides handed to us, and then some.

Here's your lunchtime news bulletin.

Arts editor Des O’Driscoll selects the must-see movies at the Cork Film Festival.

Ireland’s 2023 World Cup bid committee has come out punching in support of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s assertion that their challenge to host the tournament is still very much alive.

There was some degree of befuddlement in UCD earlier this week when Ross Byrne and Ross Molony found themselves being quizzed on the possibility of featuring in a Rugby World Cup in Ireland in 2023.

When Des Cahill called on potential benefactors to “#coughup”, circling the Green Army’s “actively seeking sponsorship” biography line, it gave the sport one of its rare moments in the spotlight.

Given how precious and frail dressing-room confidence can be, you’ll take all the positive bounces you can get, even if they are not of your making.

The assault on the importance of language and facts continues apace. Propagandists are not new to our world, but their capacity to spread their message is now much greater than before.