New York fired home a goal and two points in the dying moments of last night's inaugural match against the Defence Forces in Gaelic Park, New York, leaving them within touching distance for tomorrow's game, upon which the series, run on aggregate score, will hinge. With Jim Gavin electric in open play and surefooted in his free-kicking duties Defence Forces led by 1-6 to 0-3 at the break.
Dermot Earley and Mark O'Sullivan dominated down the middle on the restart and the lead stretched to 1-11 to New York's five points with five minutes remaining. New York, however, recovered admirably with Kevin Lilly blasting a goal past Noel Finn, and Enda Henry clipping two late points.
Army: N Finn; E McGuane, N Campbell, N Twomey; A Rainbow (0-1), M O'Connor, F Costello (0-1); D Earley (0-1), T Ryan; J Gavin (0-5, three frees), B Walsh (0-3, all frees), E McDonagh; P Brennan (1-1), M Smith, K Carey.
New York: E Houghian; K Hennessy, S Teague, B Duffy; D Breslin, R Purcell, N Dunne (0-1); W O'Donnell, G Dowd (0-1); K Keaveney (0-1, free), E Henry (0-2), D Leavey; K Lilly (1-2, two frees), S Cassidy, E Murphy.
Referee: S Prior (Leitrim).
Athletics: The 12th edition of the Belgrade marathon is scheduled to go ahead today despite the NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia. In a statement yesterday the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) said about 100,000 runners were expected to take part in a five-kilometre fun run at the start of the race. Sixty runners are expected to complete the marathon.
Athletics: The course record of 22 minutes 48 seconds will be on the minds of the leading runners in the Dublin Five-Mile Classic road race tomorrow afternoon. With entries from almost all the top distance runners in the country, the £1,000 cash bonus for breaking the 11 year-old record may be claimed from a number of contenders.
Race promoter Mick Dowling has avoided the foreign entries of previous years in an effort to create a domestic battle.
Motor Sport: Finland's Mika Salo is on standby to replace injured Brazilian Ricardo Zonta in the British American Racing team at next month's San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.
Zonta is recovering from leg injuries sustained in a high-speed crash during practice for last weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix.
