Sports Digest

A roundup of today's other sports news in brief

Carlow’s Dempsey still irate over free 

GAELIC GAMES: Carlow manager Luke Dempsey has slammed referee Joe Curley for his decision not to award his team a late, close-range free which could have tied the tie in Tuesday’s Cadbury’s Leinster under-21 semi-final against Dublin.

Man of the match Brendan Murphy was penalised by Curley some 25 metres from goal after brilliantly fetching a long-range delivery sent in by Darragh Foley.

With home supporters at Dr Cullen Park screaming for a free in as Murphy found himself surrounded by Dublin defenders and unable to release the ball, Meath whistler Curley instead blew for a free out.

“It’s as blatant a free as I’ve ever witnessed and there was no justification for giving a free out. Once he didn’t give the free in immediately, he then took the easy option,” said Dempsey.

TENNIS: Former champion Novak Djokovic tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP tournament, upset 7-5 6-3 by Croat Ivan Ljubicic in the fourth round. Holder Rafa Nadal of Spain and fourth-seeded Andy Murray both advanced, but second seed Djokovic was eliminated in a match lasting one hour and 44 minutes. Nadal overcame towering American John Isner 7-5 3-6 6-3 and Murray advanced after Spaniard Nicolas Almagro retired injured when trailing 6-2 1-0.

Irish duo reach semi-finals

TENNIS: Ireland’s John Morrissey and Sam Barry yesterday both clinched boys’ doubles semi-final places in the ITF under-18 Grade One event in Kuching, Malaysia.

Morrissey and Australia’s Ben Wagland, the number three seeds, had to battle hard in the last eight before disposing of Uzbekistan’s Jakhongir Jalalov and Russia’s Alexander Rumyantsev on a 7-6 (7/5) 7-5 margin.

And Barry and New Zealand’s Ben McLachlan, the number four seeds, experienced an even more severe test, having to come from a set down against Russia’s Tiomur Neymatov and Uzbekistan’s Sergey Shipilov before clinching a last four place on a 5-7 7-5 10-6 (champions’ tie-break) scoreline.

Morrissey and Wagland now take on unseeded American duo Mitchell Krueger and Dane Webb who yesterday shocked the top seeds.

And Barry and McLachlan face an other unseeded pairing, Sweden’s Kalle Averfalk and Germany’s Patrick Elias.

Ireland face tough task to get among the medals

GOLF: Ireland face a tough task at Sotogrande in Spain to get among the medals in the prestigious European Nations Championship following a second successive mediocre day.

They slipped to 12th spot and are 29 strokes adrift of leaders and defending champions England.

It was another case of missed opportunities as strokes were continually frittered away around the greens although Rathmore’s Alan Dunbar carded a creditable 71 and for the second day in a row Portstewart’s Paul Cutler returned 73.

Their problem was that the third card did not provide them with a boost, Dara Lernihan from Castle handing in a 76. This means that the Irish are 19 strokes outside the medal positions having yesterday posted a three-card total of 220 to add to the 222 of Wednesday for a 36-hole total of 422.

While not completely out of the hunt they will have to produce something special over the next two days to get back into contention.

England are in a strong position to win again while Wales are joint fifth and world champions Scotland in a poor 14th position.

EUROPEAN NATIONSCHAMPIONSHIP (36-hole totals): 417 – England; 426 – Germany; 427 – Denmark; 433 – Austria; 435 – Wales and France; 438 – Finland and Italy; 439 – Switzerland; 440 – Spain 442 – Holland; 446 – Ireland (71 A Dunbar,73 P Cutler, 76 D Lernihan. Non-counting (78 P Murray); 447 – Belgium; 450 – Scotland.

Mallett makes four changes

RUGBY:Italy Coach Nick Mallett has made four changes to his side ahead of Saturday's match against Wales .

Lock Carlo Del Fava and flanker Paul Derbyshire will both play subject to passing fitness tests after impressing in the second half in Paris last week. Marco Bortolami and Josh Sole are on standby to step in if they do not make it.

Wing Kaine Robertson and scrumhalf Pablo Canavosio, who scored a try after replacing Tito Tebaldi last weekend, have also been brought into the XV.

ITALY (v Wales):L McLean (Benetton Treviso); K Robertson (Viadana), A Masi (Racing-Metro), G Garcia (Benetton Treviso), Mirco Bergamasco (Stade Francais); C Gower (Bayonne), P Canavosio (Viadana); S Perugini (Bayonne), L Ghiraldini (Benetton Treviso, captain), M Castrogiovanni (Leicester), C A Del Fava (Viadana) or M Bortolami (Gloucester), Quintin Geldenhuys (Viadana), P Derbyshire (Petrarca Padova) or J Sole (Viadana), Mauro Bergamasco (Stade Francais), A Zanni (Benetton Treviso). Replacements: F Ongaro, M Aguero, M Bortolami or V Bernabo , J Sole or M Vosawai, T Tebaldi, R Bocchino , G Canale.

Backing for Hearn’s snooker plans

SNOOKER:World champion John Higgins and world number two Stephen Maguire have given their full backing to Barry Hearn's plans to expand the snooker season.

Hearn, the new chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, will reveal his manifesto at the end of the month but has already promised a vastly increased workload.

The sports promoter branded some players as “lazy” and doubted whether his proposals would be universally popular, but he will have little trouble seeing them accepted if the two Scots are representative of the wider circuit.

Higgins (34) said: “It would be fantastic to be worked harder, because we’ve only had about six or seven tournaments this year, which is not nearly enough.

“He is thinking about over 20 snooker events next year, which would be great. From a marketing point of view, Barry Hearn is a great man to have on board.”