ireland.com - The Irish Times

Galway free to upset odds
All-Ireland SHC Final Cork v Galway Tomorrow's Guinness All-Ireland hurling final brings to its climax a championship that started slowly and is finishing in style. Last month's bristling semi-finals turned around the season that had been flat and delivered a final that virtually no one would have foreseen at any stage of the season, let alone the start. p

Azamour's class to tell despite weather fears
Irish Champion Stakes Leopardstown, 3.55pm The build-up to today's Baileys Irish Champion Stakes has had more script changes than Casablanca but despite everything Azamour still looks the one to take top billing for the second year running. p

Kidney gambles on Leamy at centre
Munster v Ospreys Musgrave Park, 6.0 It's good to have them back at loggerheads, but the pity is that last season's leading lights in the Celtic League are meeting so soon. Both are missing their Lions, and while both may improve on last week's uninspiring opening round, their best games lie ahead.On TV: Setanta Sports p

Gaelic Games

Galway look to golden great
Keith Duggan talks to Galway manager Conor Hayes ahead of Sunday's final p
Cork set to ram home their superiority
Brian Whelahan Hurling Analyst
The occasion of an All-Ireland final is as much a factor as the opposition. p
Passing on some recent traditions
The current styles of Cork and Galway were present in a final meeting 15 years ago. Seán Moran explains p
Striking out from Redemption Road
Tom Humphries talks to Cork's John Gardiner, who is on the cusp of being the nation's hurler of the year at 22 years of age p
Murphy's minors to set sliotar rolling
All-Ireland MHC Final Galway v Limerick Throw-in - 1.30pm On paper Galway have this ESB All-Ireland minor final in the bag. Granted, past margins of victory will make no difference once Dublin referee Eamon Morris throws the ball in early on Sunday afternoon. p
Dublin have it all to do against champions
Women's football All-Ireland Semi-finals Dublin swept past Tyrone in emphatic style in Croke Park in the quarter-final to set up this pivotal head-to-head against the reigning champions and their conquerors in last year's final. p

Soccer

United boss backs Rooney attitude
Alex Ferguson has launched an impassioned defence of Wayne Rooney and says he will not try to change the temperamental Manchester United forward. p
Managing controlled aggression
Daniel Taylor hears how Manchester City manager StuartPierce has impacted on the club p
Celtic pay homage to Stein
Celtic will this afternoon break with tradition, as they again honour their greatest manager. Today is the 20th anniversary of Jock Stein's death in the dugout at Cardiff's Ninian Park as he presided over Scotland in a crucial World Cup qualifier against Wales. p
Crouch's debut set to unsettle Cisse further
Peter Crouch will finally make his Premiership debut for Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur this afternoon, though his selection could further ostracise the already unsettled Djibril Cisse. p
Richardson detained in hospital
Cork City 3 Bray Wanderers 0 Cork City overwhelmed Bray Wanderers in their Premier Division encounter at Turner's Cross last night in the absence of manager Damien Richardson. p
Rovers' unbeaten run comes to an end
Shamrock Rovers 0 Shelbourne 2 Shelbourne failed to make inroads on Cork and Derry City despite outclassing Shamrock Rovers who, with their Australian-based part owner Ray Wilson in attendance, were keen to maintain a winning streak. p
Derry in dominant form
Derry City 3 Longford Town 1 Derry City received a standing ovation from 2,500 fans at the Brandywell last night following this impressive victory over fourth-placed Longford Town. And the visitors will have no complaints as the home side dominated the game to extend their unbeaten run to 19 games. p
Honours even
UCD 2 Drogheda United 2 A superb 75th-minute equaliser by striker Declan O'Brien was enough to earn Drogheda United a point at Belfield Park. p
O'Keeffe pounces
St Patrick's Athletic 0 Bohemians 1 A last-minute goal by former St Patrick's player Aiden O'Keeffe earned Bohemians victory at Richmond Park last night. O'Keeffe nicked in to score in the final minute of normal time when he raced on to a long ball, ignoring the howls for offside, and chested the ball past Barry Ryan into the empty net. p
Waterford rocked by late goal
National League Waterford 2 Finn Harps 2 There was no shortage of drama at the RSC last night as relegation contenders Waterford United and Finn Harps cancelled each other out. p

Rugby

Jones digs leavened with lively respect
Celtic League Gerry Thornley on the full-blooded rivalry between the Welsh and Irish standard-bearers p
Cheika reshuffles in wake of Ospreys defeat
Celtic League Previews Leinster v Glasgow Donnybrook (5.0) An ankle injury precludes Eric Miller's involvement but otherwise Leinster coach Michael Cheika has decided to shuffle his resources for today's Celtic League clash in the wake of the 22-20 defeat to the Ospreys in Swansea last weekend. p
Connacht need pack to perform
Edinburgh v Connacht Murrayfield, 4.0 Michael Bradley won't care one whit his Cardiff counterpart Dai Young thought the Welsh side should have won the match by 25 or 30 points last weekend. Connacht prevailed and in doing so gave themselves a perfect tonic for what promises to be a demanding season with the ultimate carrot, the possibility of a place in next season's Heineken European Cup. p
Bowe try helps Ulster end miserable away run
Celtic League ReportCardiff Blues 22 Ulster 25 Ulster opened their Celtic League campaign in impressive fashion as they ground out a rare victory on the road at the Arms Park last night. p
Leinster on song
Under-21 Interprovincials Leinster 37 Ulster 6 Leinster under-21s went some way towards making up for last week's tame loss to Connacht by routing Ulster under-21s at Donnybrook last night. p
Munster on course
Connacht 5 Munster 16 Munster remain unbeaten after a tight contest with Connacht at the Galway Sportsground yesterday. p

Golf

Wall and Olazabal hit the birdie trail
German Masters England's Anthony Wall fired a superb 62 to claim a share of the halfway lead with Jose Maria Olazabal at the Linde German Masters in Cologne yesterday. Ireland's Graeme McDowell and Damien McGrane finished on three-under-par 141 to make the cut but defending champion Padraig Harrington missed out despite a second round of 69 which left him two outside the mark which came at 142. p
European grit puts paid to local talk of a landslide
Solheim Cup If the fist-pumping on the first tee was not a big enough clue, then the Stars and Stripes face-tattoos were a blatant sign: the United States' Solheim Cup team, humiliated by their European counterparts two years ago, are determined to deliver the humiliation this time round. But as this year's tournament began at Crooked Stick yesterday morning the early signs were that they might be in for a disappointment. p
Breaking the mould to get back to the joy of the game
Macreddin Brook GC Philip Reid talks to Paul McGinley about his first - and long delayed - foray into course design in Wicklow and his determination to accent traditional values p
Ireland fail the Scots test
HOME INTERNATIONALS: Ireland gave a lack-lustre performance against Scotland on the closing day of the Home International series at Royal St George's, Sandwich, yesterday and finished with the wooden spoon. p

Racing

Young star gets vote of confidence
Irish Champion Stakes Profile of Christophe Soumillon Brian O'Connor looks at the career to date of the Belgian jockey who rides Azamour today in place of the injured Mick Kinane p

Other

Australia make hay ahead of the rain
Cricket Ashes series, fifth Test This one is going to the wire. You can sense it in the air. The bad weather that has been promised crept surreptitiously across The Oval during yesterday afternoon, the gloom and then the light rain preventing any play beyond tea-time with 37 overs lost in total. p
Pierce takes er time to achieve aim
Tennis US Open Elena Dementieva, last year's beaten finalist at the US Open, had every reason to feel highly disgruntled after her 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 defeat by France's Mary Pierce yesterday. The Russian had dominated the opening set, and was then forced to wait 12 minutes while Pierce received a double medical time-out for a thigh injury and back problems. p
Ireland fail to build on promising start
Equestrian Sport European three-day event championship Ireland's promising start in Thursday's dressage was not reflected in the placings at the close of play yesterday at Blenheim, England, when the team dropped to eighth of the 10 teams. But there was better news on the breeding front, with the top three horses in the individual standings all boasting Irish bloodlines. p
Rain puts contest in real jeopardy
Motor Sport Belgian GP World championship leader Fernando Alonso has warned the pressure on himself and title rival Kimi Raikkonen will be greater than ever this weekend if the predicted rain comes down at Spa-Francorchamps. p
Hell of a way for it all to end for Armagh
Keith Duggan Sideline Cut The footballers of Armagh owe it to themselves - and, damn it, to us - to commit to one more season. The beauty of sport is that you don't necessarily get what you deserve. When Armagh regrouped after last summer's shocking and still-vivid loss against Fermanagh, they rampaged through the league and on through Ulster, unstoppable in their desire to take care of unfinished business. But all of that counted for nothing when Peter Canavan stood with the ball in his hand and casually studied the posts through which he would deliver the score that will haunt his mid-Ulster rivals for many years to come. p

Sections

Search for

Services

Most popular stories

Property

Jobs

Motors

Dating