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Rory McIlroy and England's Brian Davis finished the first round one shot off the lead at the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston where the effects of Hurricane Earl forced a one-hour delay in play.

KILKENNY’S historic ‘Drive for Five’ got a massive boost last night when their totemic leader Henry Shefflin was named to start at centre-forward in tomorrow’s All- Ireland SHC final against Tipperary.

Leinster's hopes of making a winning start to their Magners League campaign were shattered as Glasgow came from behind to assume control of the game in the second half.

Out-half Niall O'Connor was the hero as Ulster pulled off a sweet-tasting victory at the start of their Magners League campaign claiming the bragging rights over defending champions Ospreys at Ravenhill last night.

MUNSTER go into their opening Magners League clash with Aironi at Musgrave Park tonight (7.30) bolstered by the best pre-season of the four Irish provinces.

THE method may have been one-dimensional, but the purpose of this mission was the gathering of three points. As they say in football parlance, job done.

EVEN though the internet was in its infancy back in the mid '90s, there were plenty of scammers on the web only happy to relieve young, gullible people like me of their money.

There was a certain inevitability to this week's confirmation that Emmet McNamara has opted to relocate to England. Not because the youngster's career here had gone into terminal decline or anything, but because the past was always likely to be a pointer to his future.

The Tattersalls Millions Irish Champion Stakes has produced many thrilling duels in recent renewals and another keen battle for supremacy, invariably involving a couple of Ballydoyle stars, is in prospect today at Leopardstown.

Twice a winner earlier this season, Jembatt appeals as a sporting wager to upstage more fancied rivals in a race which the Lynam yard won in recent years with Endless Power and King Of Tory.

It's back to basics tomorrow for the title-chasing Irish jockeys at Dundalk when the unrelenting quest for winners, which won't be ending until the second week in December at the all-weather track, brings them into competition again on a modest card.

Leinster's hopes of making a winning start to their Magners League campaign were shattered as Glasgow came from behind to assume control of the game in the second half.

Out-half Niall O'Connor was the hero as Ulster pulled off a sweet-tasting victory at the start of their Magners League campaign claiming the bragging rights over defending champions Ospreys at Ravenhill last night.

MICK O'Dwyer has always contended that Kerry's five-in-a-row ambitions in 1982 were derailed not when Seamus Darby smashed the ball to the net late in the All-Ireland final, but when Jimmy Deenihan broke his ankle in training 15 weeks earlier.

Power, Pace, Poise, Precision, Pattern, Persistence, Perception. Not so much the seven deadly sins as the seven heavenly virtues which underpin so much of what successful teams do and how they achieve it.

2007 2008 2009

In Palmerstown House yesterday on the outskirts of Naas, 50 teams lined up at €800 apiece to play the superb PGA National golf course and raise funds -- through the vehicle of the Tipperary supporters' club -- for the senior hurling team's training fund.

The last time a team had an unprecedented five All-Ireland titles in-a-row chance snatched away from them, seven-year-old Brendan Cummins sat on his father's lap in the upper deck of the Hogan Stand and "cried like the rain" at what unfolded in front of him.

Championship

MONAGHAN are the latest county to go looking for Kerry legend Mick O'Dwyer to fill their vacant senior football manager's position.

CONSIDER this. If Leinster coach Joe Schmidt had a full squad to select from for their Magners League opener against Glasgow, chances are that only second-row Nathan Hines, No 8 Jamie Heaslip and open-side Sean O'Brien (if he could hold off the challenge of Shane Jennings) would survive in the positions they fill at Firhill tonight (7.05).

CONSIDER this. If Leinster coach Joe Schmidt had a full squad to select from for their Magners League opener against Glasgow, chances are that only second-row Nathan Hines, No 8 Jamie Heaslip and open-side Sean O'Brien (if he could hold off the challenge of Shane Jennings) would survive in the positions they fill at Firhill tonight (7.05).

All eyes will be on the Tipperary half-forward line to see how they cope with the ever- dominant Kilkenny half-back line. But I think the Tipp half-forwards get a lot of unfair criticism.

ONE member of the Tipperary back-room team is dearly hoping for a 50pc return from spending successive Sundays at Croke Park.

In a county where Masses have been all-ticket since the great man's knee buckled on August 8, maybe a Ballinspittle moment was always on the cards.