A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Galbraith vows to come back strong
GOLF:Irish teenager John-Ross Galbraith has vowed to come back stronger next year after being edged out of the British Boys' Amateur Championship in a dramatic quarter-final at Burnham and Berrow on the Somerset coast on Saturday.
The 17-year-old Ulster Boys champion and Irish international from Whitehead battled bravely before going down on the fifth extra hole to Lincolnshire’s Patrick Kelly.
Galbraith is not 18 until next year so will be eligible next time around and was determined that he would be at Coxmoor in Nottingham next August.
“I can take many positives out of the week here in Burnham and will be back next year with more confidence,”said the Ulsterman.
Kelly went on to reach the final but fell in the final, going down at the 37th hole to Harrison Greenberry from Exeter.
Irish boats miss out in Weymouth
SAILING:With one year to go before the London 2012 Olympics, organisers at the sailing venue in Weymouth and Portland completed their full test regatta at the weekend with single team representatives invited from each nation, mirroring the actual Games format.
Ireland’s two leading contenders in the medal-hunt fared well but narrowly missed podium places in Saturday’s final.
Peter O’Leary and David Burrows in the Star keelboat had been in the silver position going into the final but were disappointed to end fourth overall when Brazillian master Robert Scheidt took gold.
In the Laser Radial, Marit Boumeester from the Netherlands had already won gold before going into the medal race while a fourth place in the final for Ireland’s Annalise Murphy left her sixth overall for the ten race series.
As a result of their fourth place last week, O’Leary and Burrows now join Murphy in the top tier of Irish Sports Council funding.
Clontarf takeTwenty20 honours
CRICKET: An unbeaten fourth-wicket stand of 96 between Ireland international Andrew Poynter and Adrian D'Arcy helped Clontarf claim a seven-wicket victory over Leinster in the final of the NEARfm Twenty20 Cup in Balrothery yesterday, writes Emmet Riordan.
Leinster had earlier made 154 for nine from their 20 overs, with Zac Curtis and Joe Carroll both making 36, while Ropu Islam and Rod Hokin took two wickets each.
A rain shower meant ’Tarf were left to make 143 in 18 overs, but their strong batting line-up came through for the second time on the day, having earlier made 164 for seven in a 58-run semi-final win over Pembroke. Leinster had proved too strong for Railway Union, winning by 49 runs in the other semi.
Andrew Poynter paced his innings to perfection to finish unbeaten on 50, while Adrian D’Arcy made 40 not out as Clontarf got home with 14 balls to spare.
An Post team claim French title as McNally triumphs
CYCLING:The An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly team picked up another important victory yesterday when Mark McNally held on to win the overall classification in the 2.2-ranked Mi Aout en Bretagne in France, writes Shane Stokes.
The Liverpool rider scooped the yellow jersey on Saturday’s penultimate stage, finishing sixth in a nine-man break to overcome a 23-second overnight deficit to Sjoerd Kouwenhoven. He finished the day level on time to Stian Remme, but was ahead on stage placings.
McNally and the team then successful defending the jersey yesterday and controlling things in the face of many attacks. He was sixth to the line and with Remme back in 15th, he sealed his win.
In London, Mark Cavendish won the London Surrey Cycle Classic, which served as the official Olympic test event.
Sam Bennett (An Post) and David McCann (Ireland) finished 42 seconds back and were best of the Irish riders in 27th and 30th.
Stoner wins Czech Grand Prix
MOTOGP: Australian Casey Stoner won the Czech motorcycling Grand Prix yesterday, extending his lead in the MotoGP championship following his win at the US Grand Prix last month.
Italian Andrea Dovizioso came in second and his compatriot Marco Simoncelli finished third, his first podium finish in MotoGP, completing a clean sweep for Honda. It was Stoners sixth triumph in this season’s 11 races so far. Stoner leads the championship with 218 points, 32 ahead of Lorenzo. Stoner said he was not too happy with the setup of his bike and was somewhat worried going into the race.
Spaniard Dani Pedrosa crashed on a right curve early on, a blow to his chances of challenging in this year’s championship.
Ponting and Clarke shine for Australia
CRICKET:Australia produced another clinically efficient performance to beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the second one-day international in Hambantota and take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series yesterday.
Sri Lanka won the toss for the second time but were restricted to 208 for nine from 49.3 overs after electing to bat first on an easy paced pitch.
Former captain Ricky Ponting with 90 not out off 104 balls, including a six and eight fours, then shared an unbroken partnership of 107 from 112 balls with his successor Michael Clarke (58 not out) to see Australia home with 11.4 overs to spare.
Clarke, playing his 200th one-day international, hit two sixes and four boundaries from 67 deliveries. Ponting put on 94 with Shane Watson (43) for the second wicket after Brad Haddin had gone cheaply.
