Today's other stories in brief
Duffy clinches tough victory
TENNIS: Castleknock's Christine Duffy had to pull out all the stops to get a second round place in the Hayes' Solicitors' Irish Close Championships, at Donnybrook last night.
Duffy was forced to show tremendous resilience and mental strength before coming through against Glenageary’s Kate Lloyd on a 7-5 7-6 scoreline, to set up a second round clash against the host club’s Maria Morrissey, a sister of world U-18 No 96 John, the No 4 seed.
There were no similar worries for Donnybrook’s Lisa Lawlor and Castleknock’s Vanessa Newman. Lawlor coasted to a 6-1 6-1 win over Lucy Stoneman. Newman overcame Ruth Coleman, from nearby David Lloyd-Riverview 6-3 6-0.
Crowley was taken to three sets by the resilient Kellie O’Flynn from David Lloyd-Riverview, winning 5-7 6-3 6-0.
Meanwhile, in the Wimbledon qualifying men’s singles first round, Conor Niland was beaten by Daniel Cox (Eng) 6-3 1-6 6-8.
Ireland A to face Saxons in final
RUGBY: Ireland A will face England Saxons in the final of the Churchill Cup next weekend after brushing aside the challenge of Georgia 40-5 in Denver late on Sunday night.
Ireland had ensured top spot in their pool by half-time after tries from Johne Murphy, Fergus McFadden, Felix Jones and Tony Buckley gave them a bonus point.
In stormy conditions, the second half was a largely uneventful affair after McFadden had grabbed his second try early on.
A sixth score from Chris Henry added late gloss before the match was halted a couple of minutes early because of the extreme weather. The eastern Europeans got on the board after 24 minutes when Zviad Maisuradze nipped out of the back of a powerful scrum to dive over but Ireland were already 18 points to the good at that stage.
The Saxons booked their place in next week’s final with a convincing 56-17 defeat of the United States.
Victory for West Indies in The Oval
CRICKET: West Indies beat England by five wickets in a rain-affected World Twenty20 clash.
Two showers in south London meant the West Indians faced a revised target of 80 in nine overs and they got home by five wickets with four balls to spare.
England posted 161 for six after opting to bat first with Ravi Bopara hitting a maiden 20-over international 50 and Kevin Pietersen cracking 31 from just 19 balls.
Following two stoppages for rain, however, West Indies emerged for their reduced chase at 8.25pm.
Despite breakthroughs in each of the first three overs and another brilliant stumping by wicketkeeper James Foster to dismiss dangerman Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle’s team completed their first win in five attempts against England this summer. Ramnaresh Sarwan hit the winning boundary to book a semi-final spot.
Close finish for Hurley
SAILING:After 21 days at sea, Cork's Barry Hurley and Italian sailor Luca Zuccoli crept to the Ostar finish line in Newport at dawn yesterday for the closest of finishes in a transatlantic race, writes David O'Brien.
Hurley, hugged the Rhode Island shore in light airs to clinch a class win in his 35-foot yacht Dinah. The victory is a major achievement for the single-hander.
In Denmark, dinghy sailor Matt ODowd has won a Europa Cup in spite of being disqualified in the penultimate race. He will represent Ireland at the youth world championship in one months time.
At home Dave Dwyer, who defended his IRC title in Kerry at the weekend is the latest entry in to next month’s 450-boat Volvo Dún Laoghaire regatta where he will automatically start as favourite in an impressive line up of 14 class zero boats.
Egan and McLaughlin start Irish campaign on a high
BOXING: Irish boxers Ken Egan and Willie McLaughlin chalked up a braze of comprehensive last 16 wins as Ireland got their European Union Championships campaign off to a flying start in Odense, Denmark last night, writes Bernard O'Neill.
Egan beat Romanian light heavyweight Constantin Bejenaru 18-4 in a repeat of the 2007 EU final which Egan won in Dublin.
Donegal welter McLaughlin stopped Turkish puncher Erkan Bingol in the second round.
The Beijing sliver medalist was 3-0 up at the end of the first round in Odense and had moved well into doubled digits before the end of the second frame versus Bejenaru.
According to IABA President, Dominic O’Rourke, the Dublin born southpaw produced a performances oozing with class at the Odense Sports Centre.“The Romanian was expected to cause Ken problems here tonight as he fought very well against him in the 2007 final in Dublin,” he said.
“But Kenny was on top from the start in this fight and I would say that this is the best I have seen him perform in the last few years.”
Egan will now meet either Callum Johnson of Scotland or Erik Skogland of Sweden in tonight’s quarter final, while McLaughlin faces either Maciej Sulecki of Poland or Ladislav Takecs of Slovakia in the last eight tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Tipperary heavyweight Con Sheehan has received a bye straight into the semi finals where he’ll meet England’s Danny Price on Thursday.
