Well, there you have it.

Ireland’s trio of Walker Cup stars left Royal Liverpool with mixed emotions as the United Stages ran riot in the singles and romped to a 15½-10½ victory.

The clock had long dipped into the red at the end of the first-half by the time Jonathan Sexton attempted one of those trademark wraparound moves only to be swallowed by a bear hug of a tackle and then held up by a posse of supporting Welshmen.

CJ Stander has never shied away from the dirty work. Picture the Munster back row in action and it’s highly likely the image will involve a freeze frame of him with ball tucked under an armpit and ducking his head into contact for the umpteenth time.

Rory Best parked an emotional farewell in front of the Aviva Stadium crowds to stay focused on the next job as Ireland depart for Japan and the World Cup this week.

It is difficult to imagine a coach as demanding as Joe Schmidt putting his feet up on Saturday night and thinking he has this World Cup campaign nicely sized up.

Joe Schmidt has revealed Ireland’s 2019 Six Nations title defence took second place in priority to this autumn’s bid for a first World Cup semi-final place.

Touchy, aren’t we? A few people took offence at my quip last week that I was taking the Henry Kissinger line on the Iran-Iraq war regarding the Dublin-Kerry.

If you can’t march and you don’t want to be global activist, but you are still concerned about the planet, Joyce Fegan has 20 simple ways to go green.

Padraig Harrington finished up best of the Irish at the Porsche European Open in Hamburg today.

With Ireland chosen to host a major exhibition on European craft, we’re treated to everything from unconventional ceramics and traditional basket making, to the application of new technology, writes Carol O’Callaghan.

Irish rugby player Alison Miller has announced her retirement from international rugby.

Ronan O'Gara has said the Irish rugby team need to learn how to chase a game.

It is a recurring theme in a coach’s lexicon when discussing the loss of players to both injury or poor form that one player’s misfortune is another’s opportunity.

This was the day when England and former Republic midfielder Declan Rice found out whether Dexit was really worth all the aggro and, unlike the current political shenanigans haunting London, his strategic exit turned out rather well.

A giant photo of Olympic silver medallist Annalise Murphy took centre stage when Irish Sailing unveiled its new High Performance HQ in Dun Laoghaire yesterday - but not the one you would expect.

Pride, passion, humility.

The Ireland U20s were not long celebrating their remarkable Six Nations Grand Slam before the demands of the rest of the season kicked back in and they had gone their separate ways.

This is a story of a Cork schoolboy, though not the one we’ll begin with.

Here’s one thing you knew about Páraic Fanning. He’s Mount Sion and Déise hurling royalty.