Sports digest

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

McEneaney accuses GAA chiefs of misapplying rules

GAELIC GAMES: Eamonn McEneaney has accused GAA chiefs of misapplying the rules after his Monaghan footballers were ordered to forfeit home advantage for the Allianz National Football League Division Two game with Louth on Sunday week.

Furious McEneaney has broken his silence after the GAA’s Central Appeals Committee (CAC) upheld the decision of the Association’s Central Hearings Committeee (CHC) to send Monaghan to Drogheda for the fixture with his former charges.

In the GAA’s official guide, there is no specific rule stating that a county can lose home advantage for disciplinary reasons but a Croke Park spokesman explained last night: “The CHC was perfectly entitled to hand down the sanction that it did. That’s the risk that the units run when they seek a hearing after the CHC makes a recommendation, be that a suspension or fine.

“Even though it [forfeiture of home advantage] is not referenced in rule, no figures for fines are mentioned either.

“It doesn’t work like that – it’s down to the discretion of the relevant committee.”

But that explanation is not sitting well with McEneaney, who has been studying the rulebook closely.

He said: “It’s not mentioned in the official guide, from 7.4-7.9 and the defined forms of penalty. Forfeiting home advantage is not in that. They have introduced something that has not had a precedent in the GAA for county teams.”

Railway look to inch closer to title

WOMEN'S HOCKEY: With just three games to go in the Leinster First Division, Railway Union can inch ever closer to the title if they take the points from their game against bottom-of-the-table Three Rock at Grange Road tomorrow.

UCD, two points behind, must beat Glenanne in Tallaght to keep the pressure up, while Loreto, four behind the leaders, will see their already slim hopes all but end if they don’t win at Pembroke Wanderers.

Leinster League – Division One – Tomorrow: Pembroke Wanderers v Loreto, Serpentine Avenue, 11am; Hermes v Trinity, St Andrews, 10.30am; Corinthian v Old Alexandra, Whitechurch, 1pm; Glenanne v UCD, St Mark’s, 1.40pm; Three Rock v Railway Union, Grange Road, 2.15pm.

Ardscoil Rís come from behind

SCHOOLS RUGBY: Ardscoil Rís qualified for the Munster Schools Junior Cup final when they came from behind early on to beat Rockwell College 18-10 at Dooradoyle. Rockwell's Ben Riley raced in for a try under the posts after nine minutes which Bill Johnston converted. However, a Johnston penalty near the end was their only other score.

In between Ardscoil dominated and flanker Jerry McCabe swept in for their first try after 14 minutes. Their second, after 28 minutes, was a superbly taken effort by Kelvin Brown following a break by Shane Fenton and Tom Walsh. David O’Mahony converted Brown’s try and also kicked a penalty in each half.

ARDSCOIL RÍS:L Brock; P De Brun, P McNamara, J ODonnell, L White; D OMahony, H Bourke (D Scannell, 57); P Lyons, K Bracken, T Walsh; D Ryan, K Brown; J McCabe, J Sexton (D McMahon, 57), S Fenton.

ROCKWELL COLLEGE: C O'Shaughnessy (S Lowry ht); S Quirke, L Molloy (E OSullivan 58), W Coffey, E Stone (S Murphy 48); B Johnston, B Reilly; J Tierney (C Casey 39), J Bolger (T OKeeffe 58), D ODwyer; M Flanagan (C Cashman 38), W Purcell; S OConnor, D Fehilly (I OReilly injd 27), T Anglim.

Referee: P O'Connor (MAR)

Burdis qualifies for European finals

SWIMMING: Irish swimmer Karl Burdis qualified for the European Senior Championships in Debrechen, Hungary after day two of the Irish Open Long Course Championships Olympic Trials.

The European Championships, which take place in May, will be the last qualification event for the London Olympic Games.

Portmarnock and NAC High Performance swimmer Burdis won the final of the men’s 100m backstroke in a time of 55.90 seconds. Melanie Nocher (1:01.92) won the women’s event, going under the European qualifying time for the second time this week. Nocher will be competing in her main event, the 200m backstroke today.

In the men’s 400 Individual Medley, NUIM’s Niall Wynn had a comfortable win, touching in 4:32.81, ahead of Aer Lingus’ Sean O’Brien (4:34.56). Lydia Kehoe from New Ross SC won the women’s event in 5:18.80.

The final of the women’s 50m Butterfly was very closely contested, with Waterford’s Shauna O’Brien holding off Sycerika McMahon to secure the gold medal in 28.29 seconds. McMahon claimed the silver in 28.65.

Murray and Federer through

TENNIS: World number four Andy Murray wasted six match points and overcame a knee injury to beat Tomas Berdych 6-3 7-5 in the Dubai Tennis Championships quarter-finals yesterday, while Roger Federer also made it through to the last four. Federer defeated Russia's Mikhail Youzhny 6-3 6-4. Federer had won all their 11 previous meetings and Youzhny never looked like ending his losing streak after slumping to 3-1 down in the first set.