Molesey prove too strong in Galway

ROWING:A Molesey crew backboned by medallists at international level won the NUIG Head of the River in Galway on Saturday, writes Liam Gorman.

The English crew's entry included brothers Jonny and Greg Searle, who won gold at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, and Mike Blomquist, a world gold medallist from 2005. They had 22 seconds to spare over the hosts in the open eight.

Meanwhile, the board of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union met at the weekend and put in place some wide-ranging changes. They confirmed the Galwayman Mike Heskin as the new Ireland team manager and approved a new structure for the International Rowing Committee. The IRC will have 10 members, with the three officers of the union also involved as ex-officio members.

SHOW JUMPING: Irish riders dominated Saturday's international action at the Odyssey arena in Belfast, with Shane Breen landing the Lagan Holdings puissance on Lissyegan Clover Diamond, writes Margie McLoone.

Cian O'Connor (Casper) shared second place with Australia's Matt Williams (Contact) after both had retired at the wall but earlier the Meath-based rider was unbeatable in the WKD Speed Grand Prix on Fraulein Smilla 4q. The mare set a time of 45.86 in the 1.40m class, Conor Swail doing best of their rivals in 47.28 on Conduct.

Swail had won the morning's Irish Horse Board 1.55m jump-off class on Dutch Warmblood Gold Digger, while the top-score competition, also sponsored by the IHB, went to Williams and the eight-year-old Leconte 6.

TENNIS: Andy Murray has set his sights on claiming the final place in the Masters Cup after claiming the St Petersburg Open yesterday - and believes his mid-season injury problems could work to his advantage.

Murray beat Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-2, 6-3 in the final to claim a second ATP Tour title of the season following his February win in San Jose.

Murray broke into the top 10 soon after that success but he was out for over three months with a wrist injury that wrecked much of his campaign.

"I had a lot of time to rest down and I think I've only played 14 or 15 tournaments this year," said the Scot, who will be looking to claim the spot held by the German Tommy Haas at the final ranking event in Paris, starting today. "So I'm pretty well rested . . . I still have a chance of getting to Shanghai."

MOTOR SPORT:The dramatic exit of Marcus Gronholm and Sebastien Loeb from the WRC Rally Japan places a huge emphasis on the titanic battle for the drivers' championship in Rally Ireland on November 15th-18th, writes Brian Foley.

Just four points separate Gronholm and Loeb with two rounds remaining. The first leg saw Gronholm's Ford Focus RS WRC sliding into a tree. With his rival out, Loeb had to concentrate on finishing second behind Mikko Hirvonen's Ford Focus RS but a pace-notes error caused the French ace to crash his Citroen C4 on the second leg. Hirvonen won his third WRC event this year.

Meanwhile, Dubliner Michael Cullen won the Ferrari European Challenge for a second time, clinching the title at the weekend's Ferrari World Finals at the Mugello circuit in northern Italy.