St Andrew's defeat Wesley to clinch All-Ireland honours
SPORTS DIGEST: HockeySt Andrew’s claimed their third All-Ireland Schoolboys championship with a 3-1 win as their experience proved too much for a young Wesley side in the final in Lisnagarvey yesterday.
Final quarter goals from David Nolan and Lee Cole proved decisive after Wesley’s Ian Stewart had cancelled out Jordan Larmour’s opening goal with 20 minutes remaining.
St Andrew’s were deserving winners, holding sway for much of the tie with Cole central to matters while skipper Mark Loughrey was imperious at the back before his departure due to injury.
Earlier in the day, St Andrew’s ended Banbridge Academy’s two-year reign as champions as four first-half goals helped them to a 5-3 overall win. Wesley beat Cork’s Ashton, coming from two goals down at half-time to win 4-2.
ST ANDREW’S: J Carr, M Loughrey, B Campbell, G Brown , J Henry, A Service, E Foy, L Cole, C Hynes, J Larmour, D Nolan Subs: R Hohn, W King, E Buttanshaw, A Bailey, R Couse.
WESLEY: L Micklem, N Pelow, D Winn, J Dayrmple, K Eickstedt, K Shimmins, I Stewart, D Williams J Roberts, D Walsh Subs: A Oglesby, J O’Donovan, D Shirley, S Ronan, S Dagg.
Brady remains on course to meet rival Moreno
HandballWorld handball champion Paul Brady is still on course for a final rematch with American Luis Moreno who he beat in the recent World Championship final after both men advanced to the US Open semi-finals in Los Angeles yesterday.
Cavan’s Brady started slowly in his quarter-final against former American No 1 Emmet Peixoto but, having been 9-8 down, he reeled off 13 successive points to win game one 21-9. He powered through the second game to win on a 21-8 scoreline to seal his last four place.
Moreno defeated Minnesota’s Andy Net comfortably.
Meanwhile, Armagh’s Charly Shanks was due to serve off late last night against Pittsburgh left-hander David Fink in his quarter-final.
PAUL FITZPATRICK
San Franciso Giants take control in the World Series
BaseballThe San Francisco Giants took a 2-0 lead in the World Series thanks to a 2-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers at ATT Park in game two of the best-of-seven series.
Having posted an 8-3 win in Wednesday night’s opener, Pablo Sandoval becoming only the fourth player to hit three home runs in a World Series game, the Giants took another significant step towards a second title in three years with another impressive home win.
The two starting pitchers - San Franciscos Madison Bumgarner and Detroits Doug Fister - matched each other blow for blow in the early part of game two to ensure it was 0-0 through six innings.
Brandon Crawford drove in the go-ahead run with a double-play grounder with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, though, and Hunter Pence added an insurance run for San Francisco with a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
