A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Alexandra College claim another title
SCHOOLS HOCKEY: Alexandra College completed a memorable month for the school’s senior team in Ballyclare yesterday, adding the Kate Russell All-Ireland Schools’ title to the Leinster Senior Cup and Premier League they had already won. Four wins out of four in the tournament – against Ballyclare High (Ulster), Coláiste Iognáid (Connacht), Kilkenny College (South East) and Bandon Grammar School (Munster) – made them only the third Leinster side since 2000 to take the title, emulating the achievements of Loreto Bray (2000) and St Andrew’s (2010).
Alexandra followed up Thursday’s 3-0 and 2-0 wins over the hosts and Kilkenny, respectively, with 4-0 and 4-3 victories over Bandon and Coláiste Iognáid yesterday.
All-Ireland Schools finals (at Ballyclare): Kilkenny College 3 Bandon 1; Alexandra College 4 Colaiste Iognaid 3; Ballyclare High 2 Colaiste Iognaid 0; Alexandra College 4 Bandon Grammar 0.
Ireland lead heading into final round of Nations Cup
GOLF: Ireland lead the European Nations Cup by the slenderest of margins with one round left to play at Sotogrande in Spain.
A superb 66 by Robin Kind yesterday saw the Dutch team close the gap on the Irish quartet to just a single shot with the host nation one stroke further back in third.
Mourne’s Reeve Whitson carded a third-round 72 to remain out in front in the individual competition, but he now shares the lead with Spain’s Jon Rahm Rodriguez.
Ballymena’s Dermot McElroy is fifth following a round of 74 with Muskerry’s Niall Gorey tied for 29th after a disappointing 78 on day three. Alan Dunbar’s 80 was the score dropped from the Irish total of 658.
SHOOTING: Kazakhstan’s shooting team demanded an apology after a spoof national anthem from the comedy film Borat was played instead of the real one at a medal ceremony in Kuwait, the BBC reported yesterday.
The team’s coach told Kazakh media the organisers of the Kuwait tournament had downloaded the parody from the internet by mistake and had also got the Serbian national anthem wrong.
Footage of Thursday’s original ceremony shows gold medallist Maria Dmitrienko listening solemnly to the anthem before smiling.
Afridi attacks fan at Karachi airport
CRICKET: Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi attacked and slapped a fan at Karachi airport after he returned home from Dhaka where Pakistan won the Asia Cup final against Bangaldesh on Thursday.
Pakistan television channels showed Afridi, wearing a pink T-shirt, first push a youth to the ground and then slap him before his brother intervened and pulled him away from a melee last night.
The footage showed Afridi heading for a waiting car when he turned around and attacked the youth.
Ireland Under-17s out to shock hosts
SOCCER: Goalkeeper Eric Grimes believes the Republic of Ireland under-17s can shock hosts Holland today to take their European Championship qualification destiny into the final group game. A 1-0 defeat to Serbia in Thursday’s Uefa elite stage opener leaves John Morling’s side with no margin of error in their remaining two games. Leeds United reserve team stopper Grimes still reckons his side can cause an upset in Eindhoven (5pm) when they meet a Dutch side who beat Albania 4-0 on Thursday. The Cork native said: “Had we scored the late penalty against Serbia, we would have a point now but we’re confident of winning today against Holland and then Albania in our last game on Tuesday. That would put us back in the hunt to qualify.”
There were no injuries reported following yesterday’s squad training session but manager Morling will likely elect for some changes to freshen his side up in their second game over three days.
REP OF IRELAND U-17 (probable): E Grimes (Leeds United); S Long (Cherry Orchard), K McFadden (Norwich City, capt), R O’Reilly (Stoke City), B Lewis (Aston Villa); D McGlade (Middlesbrough), J Leddy (Ipswich Town), T Mulroney (Crumlin United); S Byrne (Manchester United), C Wilkinson (Millwall), J Grealish (Aston Villa).
