Sports digest

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

McIlory topped the lot in June

GOLF: Rory McIlroy is the European Tour's Golfer of the Month for June – not surprisingly after his eight-shot US Open victory.

The 22-year-old became the youngest winner of the title since Bobby Jones in 1923 and did it with a championship record 16-under-par total.

“I hope this will not be the last Golfer of the Month award I receive after winning a major championship,” he said.

Irish women up against it in Austria

GOLF: Ireland cannot afford any slip-ups today if they are to progress to the quarter-finals of the European Women's Team Championship over Austria's Murhof course.

They posted a first qualifying day total of 372 – 12 over par – and lie in 12th spot. While they are 27 strokes behind leaders Denmark they are only five outside the top eight, so have every chance of qualifying for the top flight.

Leona Maguire, recent runaway winner of the Irish open strokeplay championship, led the way with a solid 72 comprising halves of 38 and 34.Lisa Maguire had a triple bogey seven on the third in her 77 and Stephanie Meadow took eight on the 15th but still managed a 75. Charlene Reid returned a 74, while Danielle McVeigh took 75 and Karen Delaney 76. Meanwhile, Ireland are in 15th position after day one of the girls’ championship in Sardinia and appear to have little hope of making the top flight.

Cutler's 66 puts Ireland in strong position in Portugal

GOLF: Paul Cutler yesterday fired Ireland into a strong position to clinch a last-eight spot in the European Amateur Team Championship on Portugal's Algarve. The 22-year-old Walker Cup hopeful from Portstewart shot a six-under-par 66 over the Oceanica course. The 2010 Lytham Trophy winner carded five birdies in six holes from the third and did not record a six during his round.

West Waterford’s Kevin Phelan was Ireland’s next best, taking 68 – he posted four successive birdies from the 12th. Alan Dunbar and Pat Murray both returned 71s, one shot better than Paul Dunne, while Eoin Arthur returned a non-counting 73.

With five of the six cards counting, Ireland, seeking their third title in five years, totalled 348, or 12 under par, to lie in fifth place. Spain lead the way ahead of France and Germany, while defending champions England are in seventh.

The Irish boys’ team ended the first day of their championship in Prague in 14th will have their work cut out to reach the quarter-finals.

Niland moves up in world rankings

TENNIS: Conor Niland has secured his highest place in the singles world rankings in almost two months as a result of his feat of winning three matches in Wimbledon qualifying.

As well as a cheque for just short of €13,000, Niland picked up 35 world ranking points for his performances at the All-England event, and moves up from 181 to 171.

The Limerick native, who spearheads Ireland’s challenge in this weekend’s Davis Cup relegation play-off showdown against Tunisia, at Dublin’s David Lloyd Riverview, peaked at 129 on December 6th last after coming up trumps in the ATP Challenger Tour event in Salzburg, Austria.

Tramore 16-year-old Sinéad Lohan surged up 136 places in the Under-18 girls’ singles rankings, from 463 to 327, as a result of last week’s win in the ITF Grade 4 event in Riga, Latvia. Unseeded Lohan put four seeded opponents to the sword in the outdoor clay court tournament.

Rout of Russia sees Ireland top group

MEN'S HOCKEY:Ireland cruised to a 4-0 victory over Russia, netting twice in each half, to top Group B in the FIH Champions Challenge II in Lille, France, and a quarter-final date with the USA.

A high, aggressive press has given Ireland plenty of joy thus far and it yielded the first goal yesterday. Central to this has been David Ames and he once again stole it and played in Mikey Watt to hand Ireland a seventh-minute lead.

The second goal came after Ronan Gormley’s disguised pass found Peter Caruth alone on the right wing and he laid on a perfectly weighted diagonal pass for Chris Cargo to tip in at the back post.

Eugene Magee’s cracking 44th-minute effort also owed a lot to Ames’ top-class play, while Peter Blakeney completed the rout on 63 minutes after the game’s first penalty corner.

IRELAND: D Harte, J Jackson, G McCabe, R Gormley, M Watt, J Brennan, E Magee, P Caruth, G Watkins, D Ames, P Gleghorne Subs: C Cargo, A Giles, A McConnell, P Blakeney, S Loughrey.

Murphy moves up in Greenwich Park

EQUESTRIAN: Ireland's Joseph Murphy has moved up to 18th in the leaderboard on the Greenwich Park Eventing Invitational following a clear within the time on yesterday's cross-country phase with Chuckelberry, reports Margie McLoone.

Co Down-based Murphy and James Acheson’s 12-year-old gelding remained on their overnight dressage score of 58.60 penalties, while Armagh’s Jane Doherty, riding Team Rutledge Recruitment Training’s Duca di Busted gelding The Only One, picked up 10 time penalties, dropping six places to 24th (65.50).

Britain’s Piggy French continues to lead the Olympic test event going clear on DHI Topper and heads into today’s final show jumping phase on a penalty score of 34.70.

India sack coach over drug positives

ATHLETICS: The Indian sports ministry has sacked Ukrainian relay coach Yuri Ogorodonik and ordered an investigation after eight athletes tested positive for anabolic steroids. Sports Minister Ajay Maken said he asked the head of the ministry's Sports Authority of India (SAI) to submit a report within three days, explaining how the banned substances reached a training camp in the northern city of Patiala, where most of the athletes were based.

The ministry acted after eight athletes failed drugs tests within the space of a week, three of them from India’s 2010 Commonwealth and Asian Games gold medal-winning women’s 4x400m relay team, coached by Ogorodonik.

“Some of the athletes are illiterate and semi-literate but without coming to their defence, we have to ensure that the guilty coaches and officials are not spared,” Maken said.