Sports digest

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Stynes undergoes more surgery to remove tumours

JIM STYNES has had further surgery to remove tumours from his brain as his brave battle against aggressive cancer continues.

The Dublin native, who is revered in Melbourne after becoming one of AFL’s premier ruckmen when he made the journey Down Under, was operated on at The Alfred Hospital in the Victorian capital this week after further tumours were found in his brain.

The operation on the Melbourne Demons president was reported to be successful as two tumours were removed but he still faces lengthy rehabilitation.

Stynes, who continues to work with his charity Reach, revealed he was fighting cancer in 2009 after a lump was found on his back and has had a number of operations to remove tumours since. In April surgeons removed five tumours from around his brain.

He has undergone a combination of alternative and conventional cancer therapy, such as surgery, radiotherapy and drug treatment, to fight the disease.

Joyce signs up with Istanbul side

BOXING:David Oliver Joyce, the current European Union champion, has joined Istanbul to become the sixth Irish High Performance boxer to sign up for the World Series of Boxing (WSB), reports Bernard O'Neill.

The St Michael’s, Athy, lightweight flew out to Turkey yesterday and should start for his new side against bottom-of-the-table Moscow next Friday.

Joyce becomes the second St Michael’s boxer to sign with the WSB as his first cousin John Joe Joyce has penned a contract with Ken Egan’s Miami Gallos side.

Istanbul are lying in third spot in the European group, eight points behind John Joe Nevin’s Paris United side at the half-way point of the 12-match season.

Joyce, who has claimed 16 Irish titles from underage level up to senior, will return home for next month’s Irish Senior Championships.

Munster enjoy huge scoring spree

RUGBY:Munster turned in a try fest as they swept to a massive 64-9 victory over Esher in their British and Irish Cup at Dooradoyle last night.

Munster had the game won before most of the spectators arrived after the kick-off was brought forward by 15 minutes because of frost and they turned over 43-9 in front at the interval.

In that time they scored six tries courtesy of Danny Barnes, Ivan Dineen, Stephen Archer, Tommy O’Donnell, Dave Kilcoyne and Seán Scanlon.

The scoring spree continued after the break with Simon Zebo, Troy Smith and Conor Murray getting the touchdowns to a most one sided affair. Outhalf Declan Cusack finished with 17 points.

SCORERS – Munster: D Barnes, I Dineen, S Archer, T O’Donnell, D Kilcoyne, S Scanlon, S Zebo, T Smith, C Murray try each; D Cusack pen, 7 cons; JJ Hanrahan con. Esher: R Kirby 3 pens.

Bowtell exits at quarter-final stage

TENNIS: Amy Bowtell's tremendous run in the ITF Women's Circuit event in Wrexham came to an end at the quarter-final stage yesterday.

After four victories, including two in the qualifying round, the 17-year-old from Greystones came up short on a 1-6 1-6 scoreline against number three seed, Britain’s Anna Fitzpatrick.

The Irish teenager rarely performed to the level she hit in her shock second round win over number five seed Isabel Rapisarda-Calvo on Thursday.

From an early stage, Bowtell was struggling on her serve, and she never put sufficient pressure on the Sheffield native’s serve to conjure up a break point of her own.

Meanwhile, Dubliner Colin O’Brien failed to progress past the second round in the ITF Men’s Futures event in Sheffield, bowing out on a 7-5 4-6 2-6 scoreline against Manchester teenager Liam Broady.

Lee lines up shot at Scot McEwan

BOXING: Unbeaten Scottish middleweight Craig McEwan has been named as Andy Lee's opponent for the March 12th bout originally due to be filled by John Duddy, reports Bernard O'Neill.

Both men will clash on the undercard to the Sergio Martinez/Serhiy Dzinziruk fight at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut.

California-based McEwan has won 19 from 19 (10 KOs) going into clash.

Dundalk forwards show sharp edge

GAELIC GAMES: Deadly corner forward duo Conall McKeever and Ciarán Byrne inspired Dundalk Colleges to a hard fought 1-8 to 0-7 Leinster Colleges SF A Championship win over Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar, in Darver yesterday.

McKeever scored the game’s only goal in the 17th minute to give his side a 1-3 to 0-5 half-time lead.

Coláiste Mhuire drew level with a point from Seán Daly, but failed to score in the last 20 minutes as Dundalk took control to seal a quarter-final slot. .

DUNDALK COLLEGES: D Breen; R Williams, D Smyth, K Lenihan; S Thornton, D McMahon, S McAuley; Patrick Reilly, J Stewart; G Traynor, A Sharkey (0-1, free), K Hearty; C McKeever (1-2), C Ryan (0-1), C Byrne (0-4). Subs: S Thornton for K Hearty (44 mins).

COLÁISTE MHUIRE: K Maguire; C McKinley, D McDermott, C Carty; W McGrath, A Clarke, E Siode; D McNicholas (0-3, all frees), T Doyle; D Whelan (0-1), D Lynch, N O’Brien; S Daly, D Higgins (0-1), S Daly (0-2, one free). Subs: M Browne for C Carty (21 mins), K Daly for K Smullen (half-time), A Duignan for D McDermott (55 mins), S Dempsey for D Higgins (58 mins).

Referee: Donal Smyth (Meath).

Malaysian opening for McCann

CYCLING: Ireland's David McCann gets his 2011 season underway tomorrow when he begins stage one of the Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia. McCann is leading the Giant Kenda team in the event and is hoping for a best-ever finish in the race, writes Shane Stokes.

Now 37 years of age, McCann will aim to avoid losing any time on the eight flattish stages and then strike hard when the race hits the mountains. The two crucial stages are Wednesday’s race to the summit finish of Cameron Highlands and Thursday’s ferociously steep finale at Genting Highlands.

Martyn Irvine had a mixed performance on yesterday’s opening day of the third round of cycling’s track World Cup in Beijing, netting fifth in his heat for the Omnium and sixth in the flying lap. But placing 16th in the elimination race and 21st in the points event dropped him back down the standings.