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

Good weekend for Irish crews

ROWING:Irish crews had good results at the Metropolitan Regatta at Dorney Lake in England – the venue for next year's Olympic Games. On Saturday, the UCD elite eight and the Gráinne Mhaol elite four both finished third in their races, writes Liam Gorman

Yesterday, UCD’s elite four finished second to Molesey/Oxford Brookes in the elite fours, while Gráinne Mhaol/NUIG finished fourth in the elite eights.

Carlow and Presentation College won the senior and intermediate one pairs respectively on Saturday. The Presentation crew of Kevin Neville and John Griffin is a young one – they won the junior 18 pairs title at the Irish National Championships last year.

Even younger again is 17-year-old Paul O’Donovan of Skibbereen, who was entered for Dorney Lake but opted to compete at the refixed Dublin Metropolitan Regatta in Blessington, and duly won the Division One single sculls. Windy conditions and delays due to timing problems troubled the event.

Scotland lift cup after beating Ireland

HOCKEY:A goal 10 minutes from time, from their only penalty corner of the game, was enough to give Scotland a 1-0 win over Ireland yesterday, securing the hosts the Celtic Cup, writes Mary Hannigan.

After both sides had beaten Wales – goals from Michelle Harvey (two), Cliodhna Sargeant, Alex Speers and Aine Connery giving Ireland a 5-0 victory on Saturday – yesterday’s game was the tournament decider.

Ireland had the better of the chances, Lisa Jacob coming closest when she hit the woodwork midway through the second half, earning six penalty corners through the game, but Nicky Kidd’s low drag flick sealed the points for Scotland.

The teams, who both take part in the Champions Challenge in Dublin later this month, meet again today at Largs in a friendly international.

Stoner gets third win of the season in Spain

MOTOR SPORT: Australia's Casey Stoner pulled away from championship leader Jorge Lorenzo to win the Catalunya Grand Prix yesterday, notching up his third win of the season.

The Honda rider hit the front at the end of the first lap and steadily extended his lead, the only apparent threat to his position coming from the gathering rain clouds which came close to forcing the riders to change to their wet-weather bikes.

Spaniard Lorenzo came in second ahead of Yamaha team-mate Ben Spies of the United States. Italian Marco Simoncelli, who had started on pole, was sixth behind compatriots Andrea Dovizioso (fourth) and Valentino Rossi (fifth). World champion Lorenzo tops the riders’ standings with 98 points from five races, seven ahead of Stoner who also won in Qatar and France.

It made it difficult when it started to rain. On the last curve it was getting a bit slippery but we managed to bring it home. It’s an important victory,” Stoner said.

Taylor takes gold again

BOXING: Katie Taylor won her fourth European Union lightweight title on the trot in Katowice, Poland, on Saturday following a 25-9 verdict over Poland's Karolina Graczyk. The Bray woman also scooped the boxer of the tournament award in Poland, while her Irish team-mates Lauragh O'Neill and Laoise Traynor both won bronze.

Taylor’s next step will be the European Championships in Rotterdam – where she’ll be aiming for an unprecedented five-in-a-row – next October. The focus will then begin to switch to the big one – the 2012 AIBA World Championships and only Olympic qualifier for female boxers in China, next April.

“The European Championships is definitely the big one for me this year. The Europeans have been my target all along for this year and hopefully I will do well in Rotterdam,” she said. “The focus will then switch toward the World Championships and Olympic qualifiers next year. Qualifying for the Olympics is my ultimate goal and the next World Championships will be the biggest tournament of my life. I won gold at the World Championships in China a few years ago and the judging was very fair at that tournament and I’m confident that the judging will be the same for the next World Championships and Olympic qualifiers there.”

Meanwhile, Cavan lightweight Andy Murray lost his tilt for the vacant European title and suffered the first defeat of his pro career in 25 outings to Wales’ Gavin Rees in Cardiff on Saturday night. Rees, a former World champion, dominated the first six rounds, but struggled in the latter frames when Murray dispensed with his one shot tactics and began to throw combinations.

However, the ex-Irish Elite champion couldn’t claw back the points deficit and a rattled looking Rees survived the late onslaught to claim a unanimous points win (115-112, 115-112,116-112).

Meanwhile, Carl Frampton retained his Celtic super-bantamweight bantamweight title when beating Robbie Turley of Wales on Saturday’s undercard.

Impressive start for Boom

CYCLING: Dutchman Lars Boom won the prologue of the Criterium du Dauphine, a 5.4-km time trial yesterday. Rabobank rider Boom clocked six minutes 18 seconds to beat Kazakh Alexandre Vinokourov of the Astana team by two seconds.

Briton Bradley Wiggins, who suffered a mechanical problem, came home third, five seconds off the pace for Team Sky. It was an impressive performance by Boom on a tricky route with a 900-metre climb from the start.