Two wins out of two against Wales in Cardiff over the weekend gave the Irish team the start they wanted in their build-up to August's European Championships in Cologne. Arlene Thompson gave Ireland the lead in Saturday's game, with Jenny Burke securing a 2-1 win with a score in the final period. Thompson scored again in yesterday's match with Caitriona Carey completing a 2-0 win with her first senior goal for Ireland.
Practice Matches (at Cardiff) - Saturday: Wales 1 (J Low), Ireland 2 (A Thompson, J Burke). Yesterday: Wales 0, Ireland 2 (A Thompson, C Carey).
Irish Squad (for next weekend's four nations' tournament): J Stewart (Ards), L McVicker (Ballymoney), K Humphreys (Bonagrass Grove), R Kohler, K O'Brien (all Harlequins), T Browne, S Hilliard, D Sixsmith, M Logue (capt), C Carey, J Burke (all Hermes), C O'Kelly (Loreto), A Thompson, C McMahon, P Magill (all Pegasus), J Orbinson (Portadown), S Kelleher (Slough), L Caulfield (Trinity).
Athletics: Peter Coughlan of Dublin opened his summer track season with a second placed finish and a new personal best (13.82 secs) over the 110m hurdles at the Georgia Invitaional Track meeting in Athens, just outside Atlanta, on Saturday. Elaine Fitzgerald had an impressive win over 800m in two minutes, 9.93 seconds. Susan Smith, participating with her Atlanta sprint training group, led off the winning four by 100m relay.
Rallying: Ian Greer and Dean Beckett won the weekend's international rally of the lakes run out of Killarney in glorious conditions that brought out record crowds to the classic stages in the south west.
1, I Greer/D Beckett (Toyota) 2h.12m.07s; 2 E Boland /D Morrissey (Ford) 2.12.48; 3 A McHale /B Murphy (Toyota) 2.12.57; 4 A Nesbitt/J O'Brien (Suburu) 2.13.00; 5 B Fisher /R KEnnedy (Suburu) 2.13.18; 6 D McGarrity/V Carruthers (Subura) 2.14.17.
Squash: The Irish men's team ended the European championships in Austria with a win on countback over Denmark and a final ranking of 13th.
Ireland 2 Denmark 2 (D Ryan bt K Bodenhoff 3/0, P Foster lost to M Hansen 2/3, C Collins bt Mikkel Korsbjerg 3/0, P Freyne lost to Mads Korsbjerg 0/3).
