Sports Digest

A round-up of other sports news in brief

Gillespie dominant as St Pat's cruise

GAELIC GAMES: St Pat’s, Navan 5-16 Naas CBS 2-3 – A three-goal blitz by full forward Shane Gillespie was the feature of a commanding performance by St Pat’s of Navan, who cruised to the second round of the Leinster colleges SFC A championship in Naas.

Gillespie, who also slotted four points from play, struck in the 17th minute and though Conor Ferguson hit back for Naas CBS, the Meath side led at the interval by 2-8 to 1-1, Paddy Fox also finding the net.

Gillespie completed his hat-trick prior to his late substitution and by that stage, the impressive Fiachra McEntee had also goaled.

Nevin advances in Azerbaijan

AMATEUR BOXING: Irish bantamweight John Joe Nevin advanced to the semi-finals of the President’s Cup in Azerbaijan yesterday following a 10-7 decision over Luke Boyd of Australia.

Nevin, on an 11-man Europe (2) team, was 6-2 up in the second round of yesterday’s 54kg encounter in Baku. However, Boyd, representing Oceania, pulled back to 6-4 before the Irish senior champion, a bronze medal winner at the 2009 World Senior Championships, dominated the final round.

Two teams from the Americas, Asia and Europe and one team apiece from Africa and Oceania are battling it out at the continental deciders.

Haye taunts Vitali Klitschko

BOXING: David Haye is eager to take on Vitali Klitschko before age catches up with the WBC heavyweight champion, claiming his rival has yet to establish any sort of lasting legacy.

While Haye won a portion of the world title with a victory against Russian giant Nikolai Valuev last month, Ukrainian veteran Klitschko defends his belt against American Kevin Johnson in Berne, Switzerland on Saturday.

Londoner Haye has long craved a showdown with Klitschko or his brother Wladimir – the IBF and WBO champion. He said: “Vitali is nearly 40 years of age now and the clock is ticking if he wants to form any sort of legacy. There are probably one million dudes in America called Kevin Johnson, and beating one of them doesn’t make you an all-time great heavyweight.”

St Kieran's take second chance

GAELIC GAMES: St Kieran’s College 2-10 Kilkenny CBS 2-8 – St Kieran’s College made full use of their second chance, beating Kilkenny CBS after a replay to lift the Leinster Colleges senior hurling A league title yesterday.

Kieran’s took an early lead, John Power’s shot finding the top right corner of the net, but the CBS hit back within seconds through Peter Vickery . Netminder Eddie Burke then drilled a 25-metre free to the back of the Kieran’s net after eight minutes (2-2 to 1-1). But CBS added just two more points to their first-half total.

As for Kieran’s, Power netted a free to level the game midway through the half. He added two points before the break, adding to scores from Michael Brennan, Nicky Creane and Aidan Dowd as Kieran’s took control (2-7 to 2-4).

Jones's medals reallocated

ATHLETICS: Marion Jones’s 200m gold medal and long jump bronze from the 2000 Sydney Olympics were reallocated by the IOC yesterday. The IOC refused to give Jones’s 100m gold medal to silver medallist Katerina Thanou due to the Greek’s involvement in doping.

Jones was stripped in 2007 of her 100m, 200m and 4x400m golds and her long jump and 4x100 bronzes after admitting using banned drugs.

Thanou is joined as a silver medallist by Jamaican Tanya Lawrence. Merlene Ottey, who competed for Jamaica, is lifted to bronze. Pauline Davis-Thompson of the Bahamas, who won the 200m silver medal is upgraded to gold and Susanthika Jayasinghe from Sri Lanka moves to silver with Jamaica’s Beverly McDonald getting the bronze. Russian Tatyana Kotova has been given the long jump bronze.