New Cork City manager Roddy Collins says the club has been victimised and bullied by the football authorities in Ireland and if the club is expelled from the League of Ireland it will spell the end of the competition. In an interview with the Cork Independent, Collins said he would have no trouble in recruiting players to play with Cork City this season and is adamant he is the only man to lead the team.

Shannon 32
Dolphin10
Dolphin's injury crisis got worse at the weekend as team captain Barry Keeshan suffered a reoccurrence of a groin injury in the warm up. With four forwards and two backs injured and none of their Munster contingent available, it was always going to be a difficult battle away to the champions.

Hello punters!
As an opening gambit in our annual Cheltenham/Aintree memory lane slot, I will this week review the absolutely splendid record of our own 'maestro', Vincent O'Brien, at these two historic venues. About two weeks ago, I covered a lot of Vincent's more important forays in the sphere of the flat racing world, but purposely saved his 'over the sticks' exploits until now.

McGrath Cup semi-final Friday 2.30 pm
CIT v UCC @ CIT Grounds
Cork are guaranteed representation in the final as a result of this pairing, both of whom, recorded good wins over Limerick and Clare in the previous round.

There are a number of warning signs for Munster ahead of Friday night's Heineken Cup pool decider against Northampton at Thomond Park. With Munster virtually guaranteed of a place in the quarter-finals for the eleventh season in-a-row there is a risk that complacency will sneak into their mindsets. No matter how the team will try and eliminate any notions of taking it easy against Northampton, the fact is that Northampton need to win, Munster don't.

UCC Demons 88
Neptune 83
The two northside rivals produced another classic at Neptune Stadium on Sunday and with the game in the melting pot right until the end, Demons just about progressed to a National Cup Final against Killester.

The saga of Bohemian's manager Pat Fenlon proposed move to Dundee United offered tantalising glimpses of just what professional football is all about. In the past there would have been many people who would have thought it self-serving on the part of Bohemians to obstruct a move that would have offered a significant progression for Fenlon's career.

The intercounty season got back into full swing last weekend, but with the Cork footballers on holiday it was the county's hurlers who were the centre in attention. This will be the hurlers' first uninterrupted season for a number of years, so it gives manager Denis Walsh a chance to experiment and try a number of players in the Waterford Crystal Tournament.

Munster front row pair Jerry Flannery and Marcus Horan are facing an uphill struggle to be involved in either of the province's final two Heineken Cup pool games. Flannery, who is recovering from an Achilles injury, has already been ruled out of this Saturday's away match to Benetton Treviso, kick-off at 1.35pm (Irish time), while it was hoped Horan would have got some game time for Shannon in the AIB League last weekend, but the game was postponed.

It came as no surprise when Ben O’Connor was named AIB Club Provincial Hurler of the year this week. Such was his dominance for Newtownshandrum in their march to provincial honours that he topped the media vote with a record number of nominations. The All-Star and Cork sharp-shooter was central to helping his team secure their place in the All-Ireland semi-finals, where they will face Leinster champions, Ballyhale Shamrocks of Kilkenny.