Rugby World Cup final on Sunday with France taking on the All Blacks – kick off is at 9am. We won’t have the same early starts next time around as the Rugby World Cup 2015 will take place in England.
The cold weather has come back – Winter coats, scarfs, gloves & hats were all required this week.
Big week in the music business as The Stone Roses announced their reunion, Robbie Williams announced his new album plans and Westlife announced they were going their separate ways.
The death of Muammar Gaddafi marks the end of over 40 years of terror for Libya.
Our MD, Emma, attended Social Media Academy’s conference in Clontarf Castle on Tuesday. Read about it here.
We were saddened by the death of Steve Jobs this week. Worldwide tributes have been pouring in for the Apple visionary who changed the world.
Congratulations to Mario Rosenstock who will officially get his Outstanding Achievement Award at tonight’s PPI Radio Awards in Kilkenny.
Rihanna was in town this week playing two gigs at the O2.
We launched Dress for Success in Dublin yesterday – you can see pics of the 50 models that took part in it’s launch in today’s Irish Daily Star, Irish Mirror, Irish Examiner and Irish Independent.
For the love of the game, another early start for us in the morning, as Ireland take on Wales in their Rugby World Cup quarter final. Brian O’Driscoll will captain the team for the 80th time. If you need the Paul O’Connell alarm to get you up in time you’ll find it here.
The X Factor live shows start tomorrow night, we cannot wait. That’s our weekend’s sorted until Christmas!
We now have our seven presidential candidates and they’ll all be on tonight’s Late Late Show along with Jedward, which should make for interesting viewing.
Early start again on Sunday as Ireland take on Italy in the Rugby World Cup. Declan Kidney has made eight changes to the team that played Russia – we’re hoping for another great result!
The X Factor competition is getting serious this weekend as they reach the ‘Judges Houses’ stage. We’re rooting for the Irish Girls, Janet and Melanie and looking forward to seeing Robbie Williams in all his glory – well one of us is anyway!
We watched Shamrock Rovers play Spurs last night in White Hart Lane – They put in a great effort with Stephen Rice getting a valuable away goal. We look forward to the return leg in Dublin.
Yesterday saw the launch of The Dublin Theatre Festival, which includes 28 shows in 25 venues across Dublin. Elevate are particularly looking forward to Juno and the Paycock at the Abbey Theatre! For more info, check out their website.
To Arthur! Great celebrations all around the country yesterday for Arthur’s Day.
The last major GAA action of the season takes place on Sunday in Croker for the Ladies Football All Ireland finals. Cavan take on Westmeath in the Minor final and Cork will take on Monaghan in the Senior.
Dublin Culture Night tonight – there’s so much to do, we don’t know where to start! Download the programme here.
Oktoberfest launched this week – it will be at George’s Dock in the IFSC until Sunday, 9th October.
Another 6am start for the rugby on Sunday morning as we take on Russia, can the boys in green emulate last weekend’s success?
Breathtaking, exhilarating, nerve-wracking? We’re not even sure those words come close to describing such a thrilling weekend of sport.
Rugby World Cup – Ireland V Australia
When we crawled out of our beds early on Saturday morning to watch Ireland take on Australia, (the current Tri-Nations champions and World Cup favourites), many of us believed a win was wishful thinking. Having lost all four warm up games and producing an under-par performance against the USA, the boys in green had the odds stacked firmly against them.
But, following a rally cry from the ever inspirational Paul O’Connell, the team produced one of the greatest Irish performances in history, defeating Australia for the first time ever in the World Cup and placing the team in a very promising position to top the group.
With another big match coming up against Russia this Sunday, is it too early to dream…..?
Here are a few pics from Volkswagen’s Rugby Breakfast in Ballsbridge Motors:
The All-Ireland Football Final – Dublin V Kerry
The dominant force in football for much of the last decade, Kerry rightly went into Sunday’s All-Ireland Football Final as favourites. A team peppered with some of the finest footballers in the country and led by the mercurial talent that is Colm ‘The Gooch’ Cooper, Kerry was going to make Dublin work hard to end the county’s 16 year Sam Maguire drought.
The game turned out to be a true classic. Both teams played their hearts out and left everything on the field. With Kerry carrying a four point lead and just eight minutes to go, it looked as though Sam would be making the journey back to The Kingdom. But, in the 64th minute, Dublin substitute Kevin McManamon rampaged through the Kerry defense to score an unbelievable goal and bring the teams to within a point of each other again. It truly was game on.
With two minutes of extra time remaining, it was all square. The phrase ‘Cometh the hour…’ is often overused in sport, but when Dublin won a free on the 45 metre line, destiny called on the ‘Iceman’ Stephen Cluxton to come and claim his place in GAA folklore. As the crowd held its breath, Cluxton expertly fired the ball between the posts to win the match and crown Dublin the 2011 All-Ireland Football Champions. What a game!
The Solheim Cup
Taking place at Killeen Castle this weekend, The Solheim Cup promises to be an incredible golfing spectacle. Europe’s finest professional woman golfers take on their US counterparts over three fantastic days of team match-play competition – let’s just hope the weather holds up. As it stands, the U.S. team leads the competition, 8-3, and has never lost The Solheim Cup on home soil. In 2009, the Americans kept their untarnished home record intact at Rich Harvest Farms with a 16 to 12 final score against the Europeans. Let’s hope Europe’s Captain, Alison Nicholas, can lead her team to victory and inspire a decade of dominance for the Europeans.
The Barclays Premier League
What an incredible weekend it was in the Barclays Premier League. As the dust settled, all eyes where once again on the early season’s dominant force – Manchester United. The team’s strange 3-1 win against Chelsea showed that even with an under-par performance there is still plenty of goals in this team. Following Manchester City’s disappointing 2-2 draw against Fulham at Craven Cottage, it’s clear that Manchester United is still the team to beat.
Poor old Arsenal, it seems things just keep going from bad to worse for The Gunners. Having been destroyed by Manchester United 8-2 at Old Trafford, it looked like the only way was up for Arsene Wenger’s team. That was until they crashed to defeat against Blackburn Rovers and conceded four shambolic goals to sit 16th in the table. Is this the end of Arsenal as we know it? Games we’re looking forward to this week include Manchester City v Everton, Manchester United v Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion v Fulham and Arsenal v Bolton
This weekend marks the 10th anniversary of 9/11. We all remember where we were when we heard the news and how we sat glued to the TV all day.
We checked out Vogue’s Fashion Night Out in Brown Thomas last night! Fashion shows, drag queens and DJ’s galore!
We read reports this week which warn us of the bad winter that’s ahead of us, hard to believe given the lovely sunshine we’ve had today.
The Rugby World Cup kicked off this morning as hosts New Zealand beat Tongo 41-10. We’re looking forward to seeing Ireland taking on the USA on Sunday morning – even if it is at such an early time!
