Today's other stories in brief
Boland cruises around the lakes of Killarney
MOTOR SPORT:Boland powered his Subaru WRC to an early lead over the first two stages on Saturday, but the treacherous conditions encountered on the Beara Peninsula led to the retirement of fellow Subaru drivers Tim McNulty and Kevin Lynch.
Multi-Northern Ireland champion Lynch crashed on the Tim Healy Pass stage, where McNulty took the lead which he held from SS3 to SS6, until the big Meathman crashed out on the Cods Head stage.
Before then the first four, McNulty, Boland, Gareth MacHale in a Ford Focus WRC and local man Donie O'Sullivan had been covered by just four seconds.
With just five stages to run, the gap between Boland and the flying MacHale was just three seconds. Then there was drama on SS13, Caragh Lake, when MacHale crashed out of the rally.
Meanwhile, Adam Carroll was third in the A1 GP sprint race at Brands Hatch, but ruined his chances in the feature race when he collided with the India car of Narain Karthikeyan.
The damage to the AI Team Ireland car and the time lost in the pits dropped Carroll out of the running to finish a lowly 13th as Karthikeyan went on to score his second A1 GP victory. Switzerland won the championship on 168 points. Ireland, on 94 points, finished sixth.
Walsh hits the 1,000 mark
RACING:Ruby Walsh rode his 1,000th winner as the Dessie Hughes-trained Rare Article grabbed a last-gasp success at Sligo.
Fresh from securing the Irish National Hunt jockeys' championship, Walsh produced an excellent ride to reach the landmark aboard the 11 to 8 favourite.
Walsh said: "When I started riding I never thought I would achieve 1,000 winners. It is a great milestone in my career."
Nadal makes it four-in-a-row
TENNIS:Rafael Nadal held off a stirring fightback from David Ferrer to beat his fellow Spaniard 6-1 4-6 6-1 yesterday to become the first man to win four consecutive Barcelona Open titles.
The top seed romped through the first set, but Ferrer hit back superbly and Nadal had to dig deep to clinch his 25th career title, making it back-to-back tournament wins after his triumph in the Monte Carlo Masters.
"The first set I played very well, almost perfect, but he was very strong in the second set and I am just very happy to have won here again," Nadal said.
"When I did make mistakes, in the second set, David was unstoppable, but I kept very focused throughout and I am very happy to be the first man to win four years in a row."
Niland bridges gap in Bournemouth
TENNIS:Conor Niland bridged a 14-month gap by capturing the ITF Futures title in Bournemouth, England, on Saturday, defeating France's Pierre Metenier 7-5 6-0.
The Limerick native, whose last tournament title success was in Croatia in March 2007, trailed 3-5 in the opening set, but he then reeled off the next nine games on the trot to end a run of three final runners-up spots since his Balkan victory.
"He put me under a lot of pressure in the first eight games, but I got well on top once I changed my tactics by starting to play more aggressively," said Niland, who flew out of London yesterday to play two Challenger tournaments in the US.
Niland had taken a two-week break after helping Ireland to the shock Davis Cup victory over Morocco at Fitzwilliam.
ITF MEN'S FUTURES (in Kos, Greece) Qualifying first round: T Farron-Mahon (Ire) bt AF Georgoudas (Ger) 6-3 6-4. Second round: Farron-Mahon bt (4) W Livingstone (US) 6-4 6-1.
O'Sullivan stays on target
SNOOKER:Ronnie O'Sullivan stamped his authority on the opening two sessions of the World Championship final with Ali Carter despite not being at his vintage best. The Rocket won six of first the eight frames against Carter in the best-of-35 showdown at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre, and then shared the four frames of the first half of the evening to lead 8-4.
A nervous looking Carter will regret failing to make the most of the unexpected opportunities that came his way against O'Sullivan, who is bidding for a third world crown.
O'Sullivan, already assured of regaining the world number one slot for next season, was 1 to 8 to triumph while Carter was a 5 to 1 shot to lift snooker's most coveted prize for the first time since turning professional 12 years ago.
If he triumphed after losing his previous eight meetings with former practice partner O'Sullivan, it would represent the biggest upset since 150 to 1 outsider Joe Johnson overcame Steve Davis in 1986.
NUIG overcome Limerick problems
ROWING:NUIG won the men's senior eights at a problem-plagued Limerick Regatta in O'Brien's Bridge on Saturday.
The event ran very late, with a poorly-laid course cutting easily, and a gusting wind not helping.
"It wasn't one of our better days," said regatta secretary Pat Fitzgerald. He took on board criticisms made by those taking part.
"If I was one of the participants I would have been disappointed as well."
The St Michael's/Shannon composite eight could only manage third behind NUIG and Shandon in the senior eight, but St Michael's/ Shannon took the senior coxed four crown, ahead of NUIG and Tribesmen.
Liam Molloy of NUIG kept his good season going with a win in the senior single scull.
