GALWAY are looking for a financial return for helping to boost Leinster Council's coffers by making their senior hurling championship a more lucrative product.

A GOOD night for Fergus McFadden to make a statement.

Spaniards Jose Maria Olazabal and Miguel Angel Jimenez were reduced to tears after learning Seve Ballesteros is close to death.

THIS morning, Joe Higgins will go through a routine he has enjoyed since his teens.

Welcome to the game beamed into 600 million households around the world, the summit meeting of the Premier League's finest and the game that could end with Alex Ferguson on the brink of making history with Manchester United. Welcome to El Climactico, the deciding game of the season.

IRISH shares rallied yesterday, snapping a three-day loss, as broad based buying in Dublin meant the market posted its biggest one-day gain in five weeks.

THE building industry needs to get its "mojo" back and help drive an Irish recovery, according to the minister of state for finance.

Aer Lingus staff won't face further cuts until at least next year, but chief executive Christoph Mueller says he will push to secure a reduction in what he says are "insane" passenger charges at Dublin Airport.

Al-Qa'ida last night confirmed its leader Osama bin Laden was killed earlier this week and vowed revenge, saying Americans' "happiness will turn to sadness".

Tributes have poured in for golf legend Seve Ballesteros after the former world number one player died aged 54 at his home in Spain.

It was a quite a contrast to the previous referendum – the Good Friday Agreement poll – which was announced to vast crowds of waiting politicians, campaigners and the world’s media. With the final count completing in Fermanagh & South Tyrone, tonight’s regional AV referendum result for Northern Ireland was finally declared at 2.10am in [...]

This is absurd. It’s Saturday morning and nowhere near. Something must be done. Seriously I knows preferences etc. make it cumbersome but surely it’s time for technology to help. Input every vote into a computer and the elimination etc. stuff could be done in seconds.

Hobie Tiger F18 - 2006 Full race measurement certs and race rigged. White hulls.

A LITTLE boy who underwent life-saving brain surgery on Tuesday was yesterday scrambling up a climbing frame in New York's Central Park after making a remarkable recovery.

Mary Buckley, from Loughrea, Co Galway, at the INMO Annual Conference in Kilkenny yesterday. Inset: Health Minister Dr James Reilly delivering his address. Michael Brophy

Jimmy Tolan is stepping down as head of the VHI. Sasko Lazarov

MALIN Ydeskog and Therese Jonsson watch performance artist Dominic Lacasse perform his spectacular dance routine 'The Human Flag' at the Dundrum Town Centre shopping mall in Dublin yesterday.

FORMER Taoiseach Dr Garret FitzGerald remained gravely ill in hospital last night as good wishes continued to pour in from his political colleagues.

The limestone lands at Tully have been associated with horse breeding since 1300, when war horses were bred for the Knights of Malta.

A series of military joint task forces, involving land, air and sea services, are to be deployed to protect Queen Elizabeth II during her four-day visit later this month.

Julia Hayes, above and inset, with her husband Joe at her bar in Moneygall, Co Offaly yesterday. Fergal Shanahan

A CAR dealership has been fined €20,000 after a staff member had half his leg amputated when a car display ramp crushed his foot.

A BUILDING site foreman was yesterday cleared of breaches in health and safety legislation on a construction site where a worker lost his life.

EMBATTLED Ulster Bank booked more than €1.35bn of loan losses in the first quarter of the year, bringing the bank's tally of boom-to-bust loan losses to more than €8bn.

Smurfit Kappa chief executive Gary McGann has said that "real nervousness" remains evident within wider European economies among consumers and manufacturers, but stressed the packaging giant's broad geographical footprint continued to protect it from localised shocks.

Jimmy Tolan is just the latest in a long line of VHI chief executives from the private sector who've tried to shake up the semi-state, which suffers from an ageing customer base.

Michael Chester AT Punchestown yesterday seven new faces spotted by the judges joined the winners from Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for the final of the Arnotts Best Dressed Lady competition.

BORD Gais is charging householders in the Republic 20pc more than Northern customers because the regulator fixes the prices here.

A FORMER private pilot for Larry Goodman told an employment tribunal yesterday it wouldn't have been appropriate to continue working for the beef baron after making complaints about another pilot.

A NURSING unit was ordered to improve standards after inspectors found a resident had lost nine kilograms in weight, and another was found smoking in bed.

The DUP and Sinn Fein last night were poised for a resounding success in the Northern Ireland Assembly elections, with predictions of significant losses for the Ulster Unionist Party.

Ian Bailey: sought release of garda documents

LABOUR last night piled the pressure on union leaders to reveal if they have taken pay cuts.

Results so far (early hours of Saturday morning but should be updated regularly). A very good day for the DUP; a very bad one for the UUP and TUV. SF has done well, SDLP not so well. Alliance has done very well, including topping the poll in South Belfast. DUP/SF increasingly dominant – around twice [...]

Sentenced to 20 years for the attempted murder, in 1981, of now-DUP councillor, Sammy Brush, former Provisional IRA member Gerry McGeough has been refused temporary release on compassionate bail to attend his son’s first holy communion. That’s despite his barrister, Sean Devine’s, claim that his client “benefits from formidable references from the very highest echelons of our [...]

The AV referendum has been lost, and by a large margin. More people than expected turned out (41%) and of those 69% were against and only 31% for the change. The BBC’s political correspondent Ross Hawkins has an analysis of the two campaigns here. Essentially the Yes campaign argument is that they were defeated by [...]

Below I looked at the AV referendum. Although that was the single largest mass slaughtering by the public of a Liberal Democrat Sacred Cow, the electorate seemed determined to cause the Liberal Democrats as much electoral pain as possible. They lost seats in English local elections; were practically annihilated as the governing party in any [...]

Midnight in Kings Hall. The Belfast South and Belfast West Assembly counts have been suspended until 9am. The state of play in terms of surplus redistribution can be seen in the shots of the scoreboards. Five to one. Northern Ireland’s referendum counts are still continuing …and consequently have delayed the final announcement of the UK-wide [...]

Having been busy at work most of the day, the most I managed was being a peeping tom on Mark’s live feed on Slugger. Now, having had a couple of hours to carouse the web and check out the incoming numbers, it appears that, while lots of commentary is now available, few outlets are actually providing the [...]

Cripple Billy has a crush on the tough Slippy Helen . View Larger Image The Cripple of Inishmaan: Dark comedy.

Clockwise from above: The cortege for Kevin Rafter ahead of his funeral yesterday; Kevin Rafter; Robert Byrne ; Robert 's parents, Mary and Frank, and grandmother Bridget.

DUP leader Peter Robinson has spoken of his delight at topping the poll in East Belfast, with the prospect of a further two DUP MLAs being returned.

TUV leader Jim Allister has declined to speak on his party's candidate Walter Miller's comment that if Mr Allister failed to be elected, the party is finished.

A Guns and Roses song interruped Returning Officer Martin Fox as he started to deliver the results of the first preference count for West Tyrone.

Derry City remain second in the Airtricity League Premier Division as they hammer UCD at the Brandywell.

The biggest corporate hiring spree in five years has ended a week-long slide in the US stock market.

DUP leader Peter Robinson topped the poll in Belfast East, and has been elected on the first count in the Northern Ireland Assembly elections.

Bray Wanderers 0 St. Patrick's Athletic 1
Danny North scored for the fourth league match in succession as St. Patrick's maintained their revival with a third win on the spin.

Derry CIty 7 UCD 0
Eamon Zayed scored a hat-trick as suspension-hit Derry thumped UCD at the Brandywell to consolidate their second place in the table.

Drogheda United 0 Bohemians 1
Drogheda-born Killian Brennan scored the only goal as Bohemians got back to winning ways at Hunky Dorys Park.