Ireland under-21s hold Australia

HOCKEY: Ireland made a remarkably encouraging start to the 16-nation Junior World Cup by drawing 1-1 with the holders, Australia, in Hobart, Tasmania, yesterday. If an equally good performance - or better - can be achieved against England in their second Pool A match today, the Irish under-21s would be in the running for a prestigious placing overall.

"It was a game in which we richly deserved our point," said Irish manager Steven Hiles, "and given our second-half performance, we could feel aggrieved that we didn't get more."

Ireland made a nervous start and it took a good recovery tackle by John Hobbs to prevent the home side from taking an early lead but the Australians went ahead in the 14th minute through Nathan Eglinton following a short corner.

Ireland responded well, notably through John Jermyn in midfield, and it took a spectacular save by the Australian goalkeeper to deny Michael Harte an equaliser.

Subsequently, it was fine goalkeeping by Mark Ruddle that kept Ireland in contention as he brought off three saves in quick succession before the interval.

Dominating the second half, Ireland were rewarded after 11 minutes when Alan Giles made a run from inside his own half. He was taken down inside the 25 by a defender, who was sin-binned, and from the penalty corner David Hobbs swept the ball high into the net.

As Ireland grew in confidence and held possession, the Australians became frustrated and had another player yellow-carded, leaving them down to nine men for five minutes. The Irish side could not make a further breakthrough, however, and in the end thwarted counter attacks from Lachlan Vivien-Taylor (48 senior Australian caps) and Craig Victory (40 caps) while a last-minute short-corner shot was parried vitally by Neil Slane, who had taken over from Ruddle in a planned substitution at half-time.

Ireland coach George Blackwood was delighted with the result but was quick to point out that with England defeating Chile 5-2, today's match (9.30 am Irish time) remained critical

IRELAND (v Australia): M Ruddle; K Burns, D Eakins (capt), A Giles, M Harte, D Hobbs, J Hobbs, J Jermyn, A Kershaw, P McConnell, P Smith. Subs: N Slane, I Allen, S Irvine.

CYCLING: Mark Scanlon, 1998 junior champion, yesterday performed below his pre-race expectations on the opening day of the 2001 championships in Lisbon , placing 23rd in the men's under-23 time-trial, writes Shane Stokes.

The Sligo man failed to settle into a good rhythm on what is seen as the toughest course in years, losing time to the front runners from the early stages of the 33.7-kilometre test.

While eventual winner Danny Pate of the USA powered around the two hilly laps at an average speed of over 43 kilometres per hour, Scanlon slipped back and eventually finished three minutes and three seconds off gold.

Second place went to Sebastian Lang of Germany, with South African rider James Perry third. Scanlon's Ireland Grant-Thornton team-mate Denis Lynch also found the course too tough and finished back in 41st position, almost five minutes off the pace.

Scanlon tackles his speciality, the road race, on Friday. He will take some consolation from the fact that days prior to his junior world title win in 1998, he finished 22nd in the time-trial.

Ireland's junior quintet of Tim Cassidy and Philip Deignan line out in the 19.2 kilometre junior TT today.