Sports digest

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Bangladesh get the better of Irelan

CRICKET: Ireland finished in sixth position in the Women's World Cup qualifier after they lost their final play-off game by 82 runs to Bangladesh in Dhaka on Saturday, writes Emmet Riordan.

It was their second loss of the tournament to the host nation, who move up to ninth in the ICC one-day rankings after their first game as an ODI side. Ireland move down to 10th spot.

Half-centuries from openers Suktara Rahaman and Sharmin Supta set the platform for Bangladesh to post a strong total of 210 for seven, with Jill Whelan (3-31) and Laura Cullen (3-34) the pick of the Irish attack.

Ireland suffered four run-outs in their reply, with opening bat Cecelia Joyce making 42 from 72 deliveries, while wicketkeeper Mary Waldron finished unbeaten on 25 as they were bowled out for 128 in the 46th over.

Raheny too strong for Peamount

WOMEN'S SOCCER: Two goals apiece from Irish U-19 internationals Ciara Grant and Siobhán Killeen helped Raheny United move top of the Bus Éireann National Women's League thanks to a 4-1 victory over Dublin rivals Peamount United at Morton Stadium yesterday. Sara Lawlor got Peamount's lone reply.

Cork got their first points of the campaign with an exciting 2-2 draw with Castlebar Celtic at CIT while Shamrock Rovers also got off the mark with a scoreless draw with Wexford Youths at Tallaght Stadium.

Cork’s Lynsey McKey scored the leagues quickest goal of the season with her opener against Castlebar Celtic in the first minute. Aileen Gilroy responded for Castlebar in the 23rd minute before Shauna Jackson gave the Mayo side the lead in the 31st minute. However, McKey proved to be the hero for Cork with her late equaliser in the dying moments to give Cork some reward for their long trip.

Martinez guides Telefonica to first leg win in Cape Town

SAILING:As winds screamed down from Table Mountain at speeds of up to 60 knots at times, Spain's Telefonica was the first boat to reach Cape Town on Saturday night at the conclusion of an incident-packed first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race, writes David Brannigan.

In spite of three competitors being knocked out of this stage of the nine-month long event, skipper Iker Martinez delivered an impeccable performance over the last three weeks and 6,500 miles of racing.

The coup de grace was a dive southwards last week to hitch a ride on a cold front moving across the Roaring Forties to open up further ground on the remnants of the pursuing pack who couldn’t quite get the same speed benefit.

Nevertheless, the leaders didn’t slow up, even approaching the finishing-line amidst the storm-force winds off the ‘Tavern of the Seas’.

In fact, their only serious damage of the entire leg came while docking the 70-footer before hundreds of spectators when the team RIB had to push the boat into the dock as a gusting cross-wind threatened more serious damage.

In second-place was the Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand entry skippered by Chris Nicholson.

Franck Cammas and the Groupama team are the third and final boat still at sea and racing. The French entry was up to 400 miles behind and is not expected to reach Cape Town before tomorrow morning.

Sweeney storms to success in Sligo

ATHLETICS: He had the best credential for success and big Joe Sweeney duly delivered the performance that was more than sufficient to win his second successive Inter-county cross-country championship title on a testing Sligo Racecourse circuit yesterday.

The 26-year-old Dundrum South Dublin athlete won by a margin of 46 seconds in 32.07 from Andrew Ledwith of Meath with Paul Pollock taking the bronze and Michael Mulhare of Laois winning the Under -23 title when fourth overall.

This win means that Sweeney will now lead the Irish team into the European Championships in Slovenia on Sunday week and on this form he will put up a very strong challenge for a place in the top six finishers.

The women’s title went to Sara Louise Tracey of Meath who also won the Under-23 event. Clare McCarthy was second and Aoife Culhane (who had fallen) third.

Puspure's impressive performance

ROWING:Sanita Puspure led the charge at the National Rowing Assessments in Newry, writes Liam Gorman.

Her time on the ergometer of six minutes 37.2 seconds for 2,000 metres on Saturday – less than nine seconds outside the world record – was one of a host of personal bests.

Yesterday’s time time trials on Newry Canal were the business end of this first stage of the national trials, and Puspure was again the fastest woman. But the strength of lightweight rowing was the story of the day: Mark O’Donovan was the fastest man and Siobhan McCrohan and Claire Lambe showed fine form into a biting headwind.

The rise in the standard of junior men’s rowing was evident as 65 reached the cut-off mark for yesterday’s time trial. Paul O’Donovan was the fastest – by a remarkable 28.8 seconds.

Lynch finishes sixth in Abu Dhabi

EQUESTRIAN:Denis Lynch failed to make the third round jump-off in the final leg of the Global Champions Tour in Abu Dhabi on Saturday night but finished sixth in the overall series, to claim a cheque for €33,750.

Riding Thomas Straumann’s Hanovarian gelding Lantinus, Lynch was clear in round one on Saturday but had two fences down second time out to slot into 18th place. Billy Twomey, who took 12th place in the series, also went clear in the first round but, on board Sue Davies’s mare Tinka’s Serenade, picked up four faults in the second to finish 13th. With nine faults in round one, Mark McAuley failed to advance further.

At the three-star show in Stockholm, Jessica Kurten had back-to-back wins with Tony Lundins bay mare Colina in Friday and Saturday’s two-phase classes.

Yesterday’s Grand Prix was won by Britain’s Michael Whitaker on e Irish-bred Cavalier Royale gelding Casino.

Egan and Sheehan show their mettle

BOXING:Kenneth Egan and Con Sheehan claimed light-heavyweight and super-heavyweight gold following wins in the finals of the Olympic Test Event at the ExCel in London yesterday.

But Belfast middleweight Conrad Cummings had to settle for silver after he lost his 75Kg final to Russia’s Maxim Koptyakov.

Egan was trailing 7-3 to Brazilian light-heavyweight Yamaguchi Florentino at the end of the first but surged 17-14 ahead by the end of the second en route to a 22-20 win.

The win was Egan’s third in four days in London.

Sheehan, meanwhile, claimed an impressive 16-4 victory over Evgenios Lazaridis of Greece to finished on top of the 91Kg+ podium. The victories ensured that Ireland will be taking home two gold, one bronze and two silver medals from the dress rehearsal for boxing at the 2012 Olympic Games.