Morris retains Irish senior snooker title

Sports Digest/SNOOKER: Kilkenny's David Morris recorded a comprehensive 8-2 victory over Nenagh's Brendan O'Donoghue to retain his Irish senior title in the Ivy Rooms Snooker Club in Carlow yesterday.

Morris, who had produced some excellent snooker all the way to the final - including six century breaks - roared into a 6-0 lead with the help of breaks of 96 and 117 in an awesome display of snooker in the first session.

O'Donoghue, champion in 2003, staged a minor comeback winning the next two frames. but the 16-year-old Morris stepped up another gear compiling a superb 134 in the next frame and won the next comfortably to win his second title and finish number one for the season.

Morris must now travel to Poland along with O'Donoghue, Martin McCrudden and Robert Murphy for the European Championships which start tomorrow morning and with a main tour place on offer the stakes have never been so high.

CRICKET: Preparations for the Ashes will be high on the agenda at England's selection meeting tonight - particularly whether two lefties are right for the job.

Concern will no doubt be expressed as to left-arm spinner Ashley Giles' long-term fitness after he was ruled out of the equation for the second Test against Bangladesh which begins on Friday while Surrey southpaw Graham Thorpe's place will also come under scrutiny after he revealed his intentions for next winter.

It was widely anticipated that Thorpe (35) will retire from international cricket at the end of the series with Australia but the England hierarchy will have to satisfy themselves he remains intensely focused on the present after the announcement that he has been engaged by New South Wales from January 2006.

Coming as it did on the eve of England's emphatic victory at Lord's, it appears to have caused a stir among the selectors, who announce the party for Chester-le-Street tomorrow morning.

If Thorpe's name is among them, as consistency of selection suggests it should be, he will win his 100th Test cap, becoming only the eighth Englishman to do so, and retain the inside line for a return to Lord's for the Ashes opener in two months, by which time it is hoped Giles' troublesome hip injury will have eased considerably.

HURLING: Antrim suffered the worst possible experience on the eve of the Ulster Final when they were hammered 5-37 to four points by Kilkenny in a senior hurling challenge at Castlecomer yesterday.

KILKENNY: J McGarry; J Tyrrell, N Hickey, J Ryall; R Mullally, B Hogan, JJ Delaney; D Lyng (0-1), B Barry (0-2); J Coogan (0-7), J Hoyne (2-3), E Brennan (0-4); E McCormack (1-5), C Phelan (2-6), H Shefflin (0-2). Subs: S Dowling (0-1) for Lyng, M Phelan for Tyrrell, J Maher (0-5) for Shefflin, K Coogan for Delaney, M Kavanagh (0-1) for Mullally, PJ Ryan for McGarry.

ANTRIM: Damien Quinn; A O'Caibre, M McCambridge, G Cunningham; C Hamill, J Campbell, C Herron; J Connolly, C McGuckian; B McFall (0-2), M Herron, B Quinn; S McFadden, J McIntosh (0-2), Darren Quinn. Subs: C Cunning for McGuckian, M Hamilton for Hamill, C Kelly for Brendan Quinn, P Cunningham for Damien Quinn, J Scullion for J Connolly, M Kettle for A O'Caibre.

Referee: D O'Sullivan (Kilkenny).

WOMEN'S FOOTBALL: Leinster were crowned Inter-provincial champions yesterday with a narrow win over Munster in the final at Mullingar, 1-11 to 2-6.

Dublin's Mary Nevin was the match winner for Leinster with two late points pushing them ahead to seal victory in the final five minutes.

In the Inter-provincial shield final, Ulster pulled off a surprise by beating Connacht, also in Mullingar, 1-13 to 2-7.

RUGBY: The final two places in the Heineken Cup 2005/06 tournament have been claimed by Clermont Auvergne and Cardiff Blues.

Clermont Auvergne clinched the seventh French place when they triumphed 31-8 with a try bonus in their head-to-head with Agen at Stade Marcel-Michelin in the Top 16 on Saturday.

And the 24th and final place will be filled by Cardiff Blues after they won yesterday's play-off match in Brescia 38-9.