A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Chelsea monitor Nasri situation
SOCCER:Chelsea are monitoring Samir Nasri's situation at Arsenal and could challenge Manchester United for the France international's signature should their pursuit of alternative targets, principally Tottenham's Luka Modric, be frustrated.
United are expected to make a formal offer for the 24-year-old, but Chelsea are also actively considering stepping up their own interest. Nasri is not yet considered a front-line target by Chelsea’s new manager, Andre Villas-Boas, with the club having targeted Modric as their preferred creative midfield recruit.
An opening bid of about €24m has been rejected by Spurs. Should that pursuit continue to be blocked, Chelsea will switch their attentions towards Nasri.
Irish trio have to settle for bronze
BOXING:Ireland's John Nevin, Luke Thomas and Martin Conroy had to settle for bronze medals after losing their semi-final at the European Junior Championships in Keszthely, Hungary, yesterday.
Nevin, who boxes out of the Cavan BC, lost 7-4 to England’s Pat McCormack in the 50Kg class.
Cork light-welter Thomas, of the Watergrasshill BC on Leeside, also lost out to an English opponent, with Sunderland’s Isaac McLeod claiming an 11-5 decision.
Mayo middleweight Conroy, who boxes out of the Ballyhaunis BC, was the last Irish boxer in action yesterday and lost out 8-5 to Vasily Tsitilashvili of Georgia.
The Irish squad are due to arrive home from Hungary at Dublin Airport at 8.20pm tomorrow.
Maguire scores on 100th cap
HOCKEY:Phelie Maguire celebrated his 100th cap with the goal of the game as Ireland claimed a free and easy 6-3 win over Egypt at Belfield last night, claiming a three game series 2-1.
His was Ireland’s fourth as Timmy Cockram and Richard Sykes both polished off penalty corners before Jonny Bruton pounced on a loose ball for 3-0 in the 27th minute.
Ahmed Abdel Hakim got one back before the break but two goals in the 40th minute put the result beyond doubt. Maguire picked out the top corner from the edge of the shooting circle and Jason Lynch swept in from the right side of the scoring zone after Bruce McCandless’ surging run had clipped the inside of the post.
Ahmed Ezz and Timmy Cockram exchanged corner goals to make it 6-2 before Abdel Hakim closed out the scoring with six minutes to go.
Tipperary look to steady ship
CAMOGIE:In Saturday's fourth round of the All-Ireland senior camogie championship, Tipperary will host Kilkenny in a must-win encounter for both sides (The Ragg, 1pm). Tipperary suffered a surprise defeat to Clare last time out and manager John Lillis will be relying on Jill Horan and Clare Grogan to steady the ship.
Buoyed by last weekend’s win, Clare will relish the visit of All-Ireland champions Wexford to Cusack Park (1.30pm). Substitute Nora Murphy made an instant impact and will be looking for a place in the starting line-up.
Dublin are still looking for the first win of the campaign and wont find it easy in Cork (Glanmire, 2.30pm). The Munster side, with Jennifer OLeary, Sile Burns and Gemma OConnor all in excellent form, should prove too strong for Dublin. Offaly defeated Dublin last weekend, and hope to continue that form against Galway (Pearse Stadium, 5pm).
Sri Lanka level series with Jayawardene's 144
CRICKET: Mahela Jayawardene's career-best 144 proved too much for England as Sri Lanka levelled the NatWest Series with ease at Headingley yesterday.
The tourists made it 1-1 with three to play thanks largely to a third-wicket stand of 159 between Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara (69) in a total of 309 for five. England therefore needed to stage their highest successful one-day international run chase, but instead fell to a tame 69-run defeat.
The match appeared to hinge on Eoin Morgan (52) and Ian Bell’s ability to get England close enough for the tailend finishers to help complete a tough task.
Morgan’s 37-ball 50 contained just three fours as well as two slog-swept sixes. He had not done anywhere near enough, though, when he advanced and missed a Randiv off-break to be stumped.
NUIG/Grainne Mhaol in control
ROWING: The battle of Ireland's current "big two" went decisively to NUIG/Grainne Mhaol yesterday, writes Liam Gorman. The men from the west, who are experts at ramping up pressure on their opponents with fast, precision finishes, fixed the big UCD crew in their sights yesterday and delivered a devastating blow before the massed crowds at Henley Royal Regatta. UCD got off to a better start in this quarter-final of the Visitors' Cup for coxless fours and moved into a lead of one length. They had improved on this by the three-quarter mile mark, but coming up to the mile NUIG/Grainne Mhaol made a move and ate into the lead.
Steering became a difficulty for the UCD boat and as the crews passed the enclosures NUIG/Grainne Mhaol, stroked by James Wall, upped their rate to a remarkable 40 strokes a minute. The result sets up the clash of these two clubs in the eights and fours at the National Championships in two weeks’ time.
