Sport and music look set to dominate the agenda this weekend as the stalwarts of Ireland’s Rugby World Cup campaign return to domestic action and the stars of world music descend on Belfast.
A 45,000 plus crowd is expected to descend on the Aviva Stadium in Dublin tonight as Leinster face Munster in the RaboDirect PRO12 rugby league.
Gordon D’Arcy, Cian Healy, Jamie Heaslip, Shane Jennings and Sean O’Brien are set to make their seasonal debuts for Leinster in the fixture after recovering from their efforts in New Zealand.
They will be greeted by a host of familiar faces with World Cup colleagues such as Keith Earls, Paul O’Connell, Ronan O’Gara and Conor Murray lining out for Munster in the 8pm kick-off.
Sunday sees the MTV European Music Awards take place at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast.
Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Bruno Mars, Snow Patrol and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are among the acts coming to town for the event, which the Belfast City Council expects to generate some €11 million for the local economy.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers will make a stop off in Dublin tonight prior to heading up the M1. They play at the O2 arena tonight with doors opening at 6.30pm.
Elsewhere, the Wexford Opera Festival comes to a close tomorrow night.
Met Éireann has forecast a largely dry and bright weather for most of the country with inhabitants of western counties expected to take the brunt of the weekend’s rainfall later today. Daytime temperatures are likely to reach 11 degrees tomorrow and 14 degrees on Sunday.
The dry weather will make for good news for racing fans with fixtures scheduled at Dundalk tonight and Cork and Leopardstown on Sunday.
Thousands of Airtricity League fans are expected at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday for the Ford Senior Challenge Cup Final between Shelbourne and Sligo. The game kicks off at 3.30pm.
