Sports Digest

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

Taylor leads women's team

BOXING: World number one Katie Taylor will lead the Irish women’s team into a the meeting with the Netherlands at the National Stadium on Friday.

It will be the first full women’s international in Ireland at the home of Irish boxing .

Lynne McEnery, Ceire Smith, Sinead Kavanagh, Sarah Close, Michelle Lynch, Michaela Walsh and Deirdre Duffy will also line up for Ireland, who meet the Dutch again in Cavan on Sunday night.

MacRory win for St Michael's

GAELIC GAMES: St Michael’s Enniskillen won the MacRory Cup yesterday when they came from four points down to beat St Patrick’s, Maghera 0-9 to 1-4 at the Morgan Athletic Grounds in Armagh.

The Derry side were boosted by a well-taken Gerard Bradley goal in the 14th minute and the same player also notched two points as they turned around 1-3 to 0-2 in front, half-back Niall Beggan with one of the Enniskillen scores.

St Michael’s had the wind at their backs in the second half and points from Eddie Courtney, Liam Martin and Tommy McCaffery reduced the deficit to the minimum.

In the 46th minute they were dealt a blow when Martin was sent off for a second yellow card, but that only served to rally them, with Courtney knocking over three frees in a row to put them in front.

Stephen O’Hara managed to reduced the deficit to one point but Courtney’s sixth free of the afternoon ensured the victory.

Ireland make short work of Uganda to qualify for Twenty20 play-offs

Cricket: Ireland hammered Uganda by 82 runs to make it five wins in a row and qualify for the play-offs at the World Twenty20 qualifier in Dubai yesterday, writes Emmet Riordan.

Surprisingly put in to bat after losing the toss, Ireland skipper William Porterfield took full advantage, top-scoring with 53 off 43 balls and sharing in a 78-run opening stand with Paul Stirling (41 off 23).

Gary Wilson kept up his great form with a run-a-ball 30, while Kevin O’Brien cleared the ropes twice and was unbeaten on 39 off 20 deliveries in a total of 179 for five, their best so far in the tournament .

Trent Johnston took a wicket in each of his first two overs, while O’Brien took two in seven deliveries to reduce the African side to 34 for four in the seventh over. They looked like surviving their 20 overs, though, until George Dockrell took two wickets in the final over to finish with figures of three for 26 as Uganda were bowled out for 97.

With Namibia beating Oman yesterday to continue their unbeaten run in the tournament, Ireland will be looking to Italy to do them a favour in the final group games today against the African side.

Phil Simmons’s side wrap things up against Oman in Abu Dhabi, with the coach already planning towards the tougher play-off route to earning a spot in September’s finals in Sri Lanka. If Namibia win today, his side will go through in second place and likely face Canada on Thursday in their first play-off game.

Simmons has called up Clontarf batsman Andrew Poynter as a replacement for all-rounder John Mooney, who was ruled out of the tournament after tearing a hamstring, while the coach is hopeful Alex Cusack’s groin strain will have eased sufficiently for him to play a part in the knock-out stages.

UCD take Trinity to school as they dominate Colours

ROWING: The rise of UCD, the national champions in both men’s and women’s eights, continues. Four very different contests in Colours rowing were laid out before the hollering fans and the early-morning strollers in Dublin’s city centre yesterday, but at the end UCD had collared all but one, writes Liam Gorman.

The exception came in the best race of the day, the women’s novice eights. Trinity showed spirit and poise as they rowed past the long-time leaders as the crews passed under the last two bridges of the eight, the James Joyce and Watling Street bridges. UCD, but they lost by just over a length. Rowing at number three in the UCD novice boat was Aoibhinn Kenny, daughter of Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

The men’s novice race could not have been more different. UCD shot off from under O’Connell Bridge at such a pace the race was over by the first marker, the Ha’penny Bridge, where the big eight led by over a length.

UCD’s powerful senior eight might have been expected to produce similar fireworks in the main event, the Gannon Cup but they trailed all the way to the fourth bridge, Winetavern Street bridge, when the favourites made the decisive push. The win gave Dave Neale his fifth consecutive Gannon Cup win.