Leinster title is timely boost for Coffey

Golf: Irish Close champion Alison Coffey added the Leinster Ladies Championship crown to her list of honours when she beat Maura…

Golf: Irish Close champion Alison Coffey added the Leinster Ladies Championship crown to her list of honours when she beat Maura Morrin (Naas) 2 and 1 in yesterday's final at Powerscourt.

It was the ideal boost for the Warrenpoint international whose next assignment is with the Britain and Ireland team for the Weetabix Trophy in two weeks.

And again it was her golf over the last nine holes that saw her through to her second Leinster title in four years.

Coffey went one up on the 14th and went two up on the par three 16th holing from eight feet for a birdie two. The end came at the par five 17th when Morrin conceded after finding a bunker with her third shot.

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In the morning semi-finals Coffey beat last year's finalist Jenny Gannon (Co Louth) on the 18th while Morrin beat Sinead Keane (Curragh) 3 and 2.

Boys' hockey: Wesley College, in all four Leinster schoolboys cup finals this week, won the senior and minor trophies at Whitechurch Park yesterday, beating St Andrew's and King's Hospital 4-2 and 1-0, respectively.

Phelie Maguire, Andrew Walker, David Cinnamond and David Roche swept Wesley into a 4-0 lead in the senior match before Colin Black and Ian Horsfield replied at a late stage. Jeff Sargeant scored the winner in the junior game to make it five trophies-in-a-row for his school at this level while the seniors went on to complete a cup and league double, too.

Before both matches, a minute's silence was observed as a mark of respect to Tim Gregg, the Dundalk GS coach and a former Irish Schools international who played for Ashton GS, Raphoe and Newry, who was killed in a road accident on Monday.

Senior Final

Wesley: R Hanna; A Macken (capt); C Sargeant, N Correll, R Pearson; C Wilson, A Walker, J McConnell; R Roche, P Maguire, D Cinnamond. Subs: P Margetson, A Blennerhassett.

ST ANDREW'S: D Hannon; S Prentice, P Scollard, C Black (capt), S Allen; I Horsfield, A Kenny, A McFarlane; P Balbirnie, G Watkins (player of the match), R French. Subs: D Fox, E Burdett, S Donohue.

Umpires: D MacNally, P Rainey.

Minor Final WESLEY: I Walker; R Osman, J Martin, S Roche, D Good; M Darling, D Walker, C Pelow; J Sargeant, S Walker (capt), A Xavier. Subs: E McMillan, S Cinnamond, S Evans.

KING'S HOSPITAL: W Langford; J Bryan (capt); J Mills, A Larragy, G Telford; E Keegan (player of the match), P Donovan, L Davis, C Sale; C Aylmer, H Butler. Subs: D Treacy, L Feighery, A Dormer.

Girls' Hockey: St Andrew's won their first ever Leinster Schools Junior Cup at Grange Road yesterday, beating Loreto Abbey Dalkey 3-0 on penalty strokes (1-1 after extra-time) - the second year running that the unfortunate Dalkey have lost the Junior final in a shoot-out.

Suzie Murray gave St Andrew's the lead on five minutes when she was first to the rebound after Dalkey goalkeeper Barbara Wood had cleared a free-hit, but Kate Dillon levelled in the 18th minute, sweeping home Fiona Healy's through ball.

In an entertaining game, there was little to choose between two talented teams, but St Andrew's prevailed on strokes, with Heather Irvine, Rebecca Coll and Katie Horner converting their efforts.

ST ANDREWS: B Luke, K Horner, K O'Grady, K Neligan, N Doyle, F Flinn, R Coll, R Griffith, H Irvine, R Flinn, S Murray. Subs: K Hughes, R McGahern, C Moriarty, A Black, C Meyaard.

LORETO DALKEY: B Wood, S Ryan, R A Kilty, K Morrissey, M Spillane, E Smyth, K Dillon, C O'Brien, B Maguire, F Healy, M Kernan. Subs: S Cunningham, C Lambert, K O'Donohoe, A Lim, S O'Connor.

Golf: Dane Thomas Bjorn has been named the European Tour's Asprey and Garrard golfer of the month for March - for his victory over Tiger Woods.

Bjorn, who wins a £1,000 charity donation for the Golf Foundation, played all four rounds with the world number one in the Dubai Desert Classic and beat him by two shots.

It was also decided to make a special award to Ireland's Des Smyth, whose victory in the Madeira Island Open at 48 years and 34 days old made him the oldest winner in tour history.

Boxing: The Minister for Sport Dr James McDaid, in a tribute to the late Maxie McCullough who died yesterday, said that he was an almost legendary figure in the Irish boxing world.

He represented Ireland in international competition on 39 occasions and won the European bantamweight Championship in Oslo in 1949.

He was an active and prominent member of the Corinthians Boxing Club and was always keen to encourage young boxers to develop their skills.