Demons honoured

Sports Digest: Not surprisingly, the UCC Demons dominated the Superleague basketball monthly awards for January with Pat Price picking up the coaching prize and Colin O'Reilly named the leading player in the Southern Conference, reports Gavin Cummiskey.

Price has coached the Cork club for six seasons with the 81-79 victory over the Limerick Lions on January 29th being his third National Cup title in four years. O'Reilly is one of the key players in the Demons rotation policy and it was his 17-point contribution in the final that sees off Shane Coughlan.

Ballina's American Patrick Pope won the Northern Conference award. He is top of the Superleague charts for steals and second in the assist rankings.

Francique for Belfast

The world 400 metres indoor champion Alleyne Francique from Grenada will put his reputation on the line when he competes at the Irish athletics Championships at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast this weekend.

The 29-year-old will line up against David McCarthy, Paul Brizzel and Tomas Coman, as the host nation's top stars fight to gain selection for next month's World Indoor Championships.

Brizzel, better known as a short sprinter, will be making his first serious attempt over 400 metres. There will be disappointment the European indoor champion David Gillick is giving the race a miss.

Gillick is stepping down to 60 metres where he will face Brizzell, Jer O'Donoghue and Ryan Moseley.

Niland in top form

Tennis Ireland's competitive potential has received a boost ahead of this year's Davis Cup series on the US Inter-Collegiate circuit, reports Pat Roche. The occasion was the crunch match between the University of California, Berkeley and UCLA.

Conor Niland, Ireland's top ranked player, defeated his number one counterpart for UCLA, Benjamin Kohlloessel, 6-2, 6-3. The German player is the third highest ranked on the US collegiate circuit.

Niland will lead Ireland's challenge in the Davis Cup against Finland.

Meanwhile, Tennis Ireland have announced the Danone spring championships will take place at Westwood, Clontarf, from February 16th to 19th.

Blarney cancelled

Blarney Castle horse trials, which were due to make a return to the international calendar at the end of July, have been cancelled for the 2006 season, reports Grania Willis.

The three-day event was last run in 2001, but there had been plans to reintroduce it to the calendar as a two-star CIC this summer.

Development plans for the Blarney estate have meant that work on the cross-country course has been delayed and, at a meeting between Eventing Ireland and Blarney Castle estate owner, Charles Colthurst, it was agreed to cancel the 2006 fixture.