Limerick Gaelic Grounds closes on sour note

SPORTS DIGEST/GAELIC GAMES: The Limerick Gaelic Grounds, which closed this week for a €12 million revamp, went out on a sour note last Sunday.

The Wolfe Tones' song Celtic Symphony, played at half-time during the Munster football championship clash between Limerick and Kerry, infuriated supporters, several of whom complained to the local newspaper.

The controversial song contains the words "Ooh, ah, up the RA".

And at Tuesday night's county board meeting, delegate Carmel Murphy said she was embarrassed at the playing of the song, and she won support from others.

The IRA, she told the packed meeting, was an illegal organisation and the playing of the Celtic Symphony sent out the wrong message.

County board chairman Donal Fitzgibbon agreed it should not have been played.

Dan Hickey, who chairs the Gaelic Grounds development committee, claimed it was all a mistake. He told the meeting that another person, not associated with the venue, had inadvertently left a copy of the tape in their public address system.

ATHLETICS: Karen Shinkins finished second in the 400 metres in the IAAF Doha Grand Prix meeting last night. It was won in 50.82 seconds by Christine Amertil of the Bahamas. Shinkins finished in 51.48 to hold off Mireille Nguimgo from Cameroon by half a second.

CYCLING: Australian Robbie McEwen won the fourth stage of the Giro d'Italia, beating Italian double stage winner Mario Cipollini in a thrilling sprint finish yesterday.

Italian Stefano Garzelli of the Mapei team retained the overall lead after the stage. He is nine seconds ahead of fellow Italian Fabrizio Guidi of the Coast team and 19 seconds ahead of Belgian Rik Verbrugghe of Lotto.

Details in SPORTS ROUND-UP

GOLF: It's youth against experience in the opening round of the Leinster Women's Championship at Co Louth this morning.

Youth in 18-year-old, leading qualifier Maria Dunne from Skerries against former international and six-time Leinster champion Mary McKenna of Donabate.

Dunne led the qualifiers home with a 36-hole total of one over par 151, one shot better than last year's runner-up Maura Morrin from the Curragh with Heather Nolan (Shannon) and Emma Dickson (Royal Co Down) next on 154.

CRICKET: The death has occurred, after a long illness, of Stan McCready, who was one of the outstanding bowlers in the country, before he went on to become a prominent and respected umpire.

Between 1957 and 1984, McCready played 385 senior matches for YMCA and took 790 wickets at an average of 16.98. He was a medium paced bowler.

He also played for South Leinster in what was then the Guinness Cup, taking 50 wickets in the course of his representative career. McCready was a member of the South Leinster team which won the cup for the first time.

He had been umpiring since his playing days ended, and stood in three international matches.