Bertie Fisher and Rory Kennedy yesterday won the AA Circuit of Ireland for the third time. But it was a real heartbreak for the Armagh/Cork duo of Andrew Nesbitt and James O'Brien, also driving a Subaru Impreza. They led the event for almost three days, but a puncture on the first stage yesterday cost them dearly.
As a result, with Nesbitt trailing Fisher by 41 seconds, he never recovered and had to settle for second as Fisher pulled out a lead of one minute 13 seconds at the finish in Bangor. Ian Greer was a steady third in a Toyota Celica GT4 ahead of Wexford's Eamonn Boland in a Ford Escort WRC and Derek McGarrity in an Impreza.
Cycling: Stephen O'Sullivan of Bray, riding with the Leinster team, was declared the overall winner of the Ras Mumhan yesterday. The final stage from Mitchelstown to Thurles resulted in another win for Brian Kenneally, but he lost out as he was over two minutes down on the first day. O'Sullivan was 11 seconds ahead of Ciaran Power overall.
Aidan Duff, who had led since the opening stage on Friday, came in 33 seconds behind O'Sullivan yesterday and had to settle for third place with Philip Cassidy another 10 seconds behind in fourth. Duff got a puncture soon after the start and had a hard chase for 13 miles before regaining contact with his main rivals.
Kenneally came in 14 seconds ahead of Paul Helion with Eugene Moriarty third. Then Power led in a group at 1:22 with Brian Quinn fifth and O'Sullivan next.
Rugby: The 22-man Irish squad assembled in Greystones yesterday prior to a closed session in Dr Hickey Park in the afternoon, at which all bar Dion O'Cuinneagain took part. However, Irish manager Donal Lenihan remained relatively upbeat about the Sale flanker's shoulder injury clearing up in time for next Saturday's test against Italy.
"He's not training today but the injury is not as bad as was originally thought," said Lenihan. "At this stage he's not in serious doubt and although a final decision won't be made until Wednesday, we'd be fairly confident at this stage that he'll be fit to play. Everybody else is fine."
The squad will have fitness testing in Santry today and tomorrow will conduct their one and only `open' session of the week at Dr Hickey Park, beginning at 10.15.
Cricket: An unbroken third wicket partnership of 133 between Justin Langer and Mark Waugh put Australia in a strong position in Antigua yesterday, the third day of the fourth and final Test against the West Indies, giving them a great chance of squaring the series and retaining the Frank Worrell Trophy.
Australia, who trail the West Indies 2-1, were 209 for 2 at stumps with Langer 84 not out and Waugh undefeated on 60.
The tourists lead is 290 and they will look to quickly add to that score today to give themselves the runs and the time to bowl out the West Indies again.
