Sports Digest

A round-up of other sports news in brief...

Proper potential on show in Tullamore finals

ATHLETICS: Kelly Proper may have missed out on qualification for next week's World Athletics championships in Berlin, but she underlined her exciting potential by equalling her Irish outdoor long jump record at the AAI National Track and Field League finals in Tullamore on Saturday, writes Ian O'Riordan.

The 21-year-old was only 10cm shy of the qualifying mark for Berlin, but continues to dominate the domestic event.

After gaining maximum points for her club, Ferrybank AC, Proper went straight into the 4x400 metre relay to help Ferrybank into second place. Despite a sprint double from Niamh Whelan, the Waterford club just missed out on the overall title, which went to Tír Chonaill from Donegal. In the men’s division Clonliffe Harriers had a surprisingly easy victory of 123 to 102 over second-placed Crusaders.

Mark Kenneally gave the Dublin club victory in the 5,000m, while Aidan Bailey took second in the 1,500m.Beijing Paralympic double winner Jason Smyth gave two fine sprint performances with times of 10.50 for the 100m and 21.40 for the 200m.

Kilkenny CH won the women’s Division One title while City of Derry took the men’s trophy.

AAI National League Finals

Teams – Premier Section – Men: Clonliffe 123, Crusaders 102, Raheny 99. Women: Tir Chonaill 114, Ferrybank 113, Ballymena and Antrim 90. Division One – Men: City of Derry 122, Athletics Kerry 113.5, Limerick County 104. Women: Kilkenny CH 119, Athletics Kerry 118, Clonliffe 96.

Howe set to miss Berlin

ATHLETICS: Italian long jumper Andrew Howe will miss this month’s world athletics championships in Berlin after failing to recover from an Achilles injury.

“Today I was working harder on not thinking about the pain than on the jump itself,” said Howe, silver medallist at the 2007 championships in Osaka.

Howe jumped a modest 7.83m on Saturday. “I’m not going to Berlin. My season ends here. All I can do is have surgery.”

Sri Lanka take the series 3-2

CRICKET: Pakistan clinched a second consolation victory in the fifth and final one-day international against Sri Lanka in Colombo, yesterday but the hosts still won the series 3-2.

Pakistan, who lost the first three games of the series in Dambulla, won by 132 runs after scoring an impressive 279 for eight, skipper Younus Khan leading from the front with 76 and Misbah-ul-Haq supporting with an undefeated 73.

New ball bowlers Naved-ul- Hasan and Mohammad Aamer then claimed four wickets each as Sri Lanka collapsed in front of a disappointed full house and were bowled out for 147 in 34.2 overs.

Aamer, 17, considered Pakistan’s find of the year, took four for 28 while Naved-ul-Hasan claimed four for 44.

Jermyn brings home EuroHockey highlight

MENS HOCKEY: John Jermyn’s brace completed an outstanding summer schedule for Ireland as they beat Russia 2-1 on Saturday to win the EuroHockey Nation’s Trophy.

It adds a third title to Paul Revington’s CV in just eight months since taking over as head coach but this will rank as his biggest achievement to date as his side bounced back from an early setback.

Russian captain Alexandre Plantonov had driven his side into an eighth-minute lead with a flashing reverse-stick shot. But Ireland produced their best performance of what has been a patchy European campaign to fight their way back in contention.

Mitch Darling and Alan Sothern both went close while the side earned earned four uncompleted penalty corners before Jermyn stepped up the mark to tie the game up at 1-1. That goal moved him clear to second place in the list of all-time Irish goalscorers. Tying the game two minutes before the break galvanised Ireland and they produced a well-judged performance to snatch the lead.

With space opening up due to Alexander Cherenekov’s sin-binning, Eugene Magee set the flying Ronan Gormley free down the right-wing and his cross found Jermyn in plenty of room.

He still had plenty to do but got the ball out of his feet in an instant and cracked home from the top of the circle. Moments later, he almost reached his half-century with a stinging reverse which rattled the post before getting sin-binned himself with six minutes remaining.

It set up a tense final period but David Harte saved one effort and Magee charged down an Alexey Sergeev drag-flick to ensure the title was Ireland’s.

IRELAND: D Harte, R Gormley (capt), J Jackson, S Butler, J Brennan, J Jermyn, E Magee, G Shaw, T Cockram, A Sothern, T Lewis. Subs: A Giles, D Hobbs, M Darling, G McCabe, C Harte. RUSSIA: R Rogov, E Mokrousov, A Sergeev, A Korolev, A Cherenkov, A Zhirkov, D Volkov, S Kostarev, T Nikolaev, Y Loginov, A Platonov. Subs: I Larikova, A Likov, A Mamoskhin, A Godenkov, N Yankun.

Camier gets closer to title

MOTOR SPORT: Leon Camier tightened his grip on the MCE Insurance British Superbike crown with a winning triple at Brands Hatch.

The Airwaves Yamaha rider, who has dominated the season so far, headed off the challenges of Kawasaki World Superbike rider Broc Parkes in each of the three races.

That put Camier 113.5 points clear of his nearest rival, team-mate James Ellison, and earns him a place in the record books.

He has now gone one better than the 13 race wins in a season set by former champion Niall Mackenzie back in 1997. Mackenzie was a three-time champion.

“To beat that record is just amazing, a great feeling, a dream come true,” Camier said.

“I’m absolutely made up. It has been tough out there physically and mentally in this heat.

“It was hard to maintain the momentum and the rhythm but this has been a brilliant time for me and the team, all credit to them.”