DIGEST: Tennis: Ireland won their fourth match of the week yesterday in their Federation Cup qualifying event in Pretoria, South Africa.
The Irish girls beat Liechtenstein 3-0, with Yvonne Doyle winning the first match 6-2 6-0 over Jeannine Niedhart. Kelly Liggan easily settled the second match 6-1 6-1 against Sabrina Bott, before Clare Curran and Elsa Ó Riain despatched their opposition 6-1 6-1.Ireland now play Algeria and, if they win, they will qualify for the Federation Cup proper later this year.
RUGBY: Munster management do not propose to make a statement until next week on Peter Clohessy's fitness for their European Cup semi-final against Castres in just over two weeks time.
The squad players will assemble on Tuesday, at which stage the fitness and availability of everyone will be assessed as many of the players will be involved in the two AIL semi-final matches in Cork and Limerick.
SNOOKER: Stephen Hendry heads for Sheffield later this month with question marks about his ability to win an eighth world title after last night's shock dismissal from the Regal Scottish Open in Aberdeen.
Hendry started against stablemate David Gray as hot favourite to reach today's semi-finals and was almost lost for words after his 5-3 defeat.
Gray notched five consecutive frames to qualify for his first ever appearance in the last four of a ranking event.
CYCLING: At the end of the second stage of the Tour of Mallorca, Northern Ireland Team rider Tommy Evans placed a fine third. Evans showed his sprinting speed in a hectic bunch finish which was disputed by 82 riders, finishing close behind Italian winner Ivan Fanelli of the Grassi-Mapei squad.
Evans' team-mates Brendan Doherty and David McCann were next best of the Irish in the race, placing 18th and 27th respectively.
McCann remains highest-placed of the Irish overall, lying in 16th place in the general classification. He is 41 seconds behind race leader Sergi Escobar of the Spanish National Team and is also second in the mountains classification.
Meanwhile Ciaran Power's Navigators pro team had further success yesterday when Kirk O'Bee won the Grand Prix Pino Cerami in Belgium. Power rode well during the race and eventually finished 25th.
SOCCER: The Irish Schools have opened the defence of their Celtic Cup title with a 3-1 win over Wales Schools at Aberdare.
The Irish struggled to find their form and fell behind to a Welsh free-kick on 19 minutes.
However, Barry McKenna brought the scores even and Kevin Walsh and Jamie Nolan both scored to give Ireland victory.
Ireland now play Northern Ireland on Friday next in Monaghan.
IRELAND: Durcan; Tyrrell, Hynes, Manley, McKenna, McCormack, Cronin, Nolan, Walsh, O Driscoll, Buckley. Subs: Gallagher for Durcan, Ferry for Walsh, Callaghan for McKenna, Murphy for O'Driscoll.
