A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Leona loses perfect record
GOLF:Ireland's women finished eighth in the European Championship over Austria's challenging Murhof course eighth after being beaten 3-2 by Denmark on the final day.
It was very tight all the way and Leona Maguire, the Slieve Russell teenager, lost for the first time in the week, going down by one hole to Daisy Nielsen. Leona’s twin sister Lisa and Stephanie Meadow of Royal Portrush won their matches. Sweden won the crown ahead of Spain and Germany.
The boys playing over the Prague City course were defeated 3-2 by Germany on Saturday and finished sixth. In the girls’ championship in Sardinia Ireland ended up in 14th spot after losing 3½-1½ to Austria on Saturday.
Junior boys set another relay record in Belgrade
SWIMMING: The Irish boys' relay team continued to rewrite the record books at the European Junior Championships in Belgrade yesterday, setting another Irish Junior record, this time in the 4 x 100m Medley relay. The team of Luke Campbell, Philip Duffy, Nicholas Quinn and Conor Turner impressed in the morning heats, finishing in a time of 4:01.63.
This was the third relay record of the week for the Irish team, capping a great week of swimming for Ireland. The team finished in 17th place.
Bangor swimmer Luke Campbell was also in action yesterday morning in the heats of the 50m Freestyle, finishing in a time of 24.88 seconds.
Nicholas Quinn (Castlebar SC) and Philip Duffy (St Paul’s SC) both competed in the 400m Individual Medley, with Quinn finishing in 4:45.29 and Duffy touching in 4:46.16. Neither progressed to the next stage and didn’t threaten the current Irish Junior Record of 4:33.22
Leander swimmer Sycerika McMahon did not swim yesterday, but can be pleased with her trio of medals (two gold and one silver) as she travels back with the rest of the Irish squad tonight. McMahon will have no time to rest on her laurels, as she departs for Malaysia later this week for a World Championship training camp near Kuala Lumpar.
Rheinisch close to final place
CANOEING:Eoin Rheinisch came close to a remarkable result at the slalom World Cup in Leipzig on Saturday – and he was accentuating the positives afterwards even though he feels the judges got a key decision wrong, writes Liam Gorman.
The Irishman, who was fourth at the Beijing Olympics, is recovering from a shoulder operation and is treating the World Cups primarily as stages in his recovery. But his time of 101.68 in the semi-finals was good enough to lift him into the top 10 and the World Cup final – only for him to be told he had touched two gates, incurring a four-second penalty which pushed him back into 22nd.
“I was delighted when I crossed the finish line. I thought I’d been clean – I didn’t think I had touched anything,” he said. His coach, Ettore Ivaldi appealed the finding and launched an official protest with the judges, but it was all in vain.
Ireland win Champions Challenge
HOCKEY: Ireland beat France 4-2 in the final of the Champions Challenge II and secured promotion to Champions Challenge I with a solid performance in Lille yesterday.
Ireland opened the scoring in the 17th minute when captain Ronan Gormley converted a penalty stroke. They doubled their lead in the 29th minute when Eugene Magee scored a drag flick.
France rebounded in the 34th minute for Catonnet to make it 2-1 just before half time.
Ireland took a 3-1 lead in the 49th minute following great work from Peter Caruth for Andy McConnell to put one in at the back post. France pulled one back in the 51st minute but Ireland regained their two-goal advantage with Gareth Watkins scoring from a diving deflection.
Tearful Murray earns play-off
TENNIS:An emotional Andy Murray clinched a Davis Cup promotion play-off for Britain with an impressive display in Glasgow yesterday.
Murray shed tears on the Braehead Arena court after his impressive 6-4 6-3 6-1 victory over Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller earned Britain a Group II play-off against Hungary. The Scot broke down and wiped away tears with his towel when asked what it meant to play in front of a Scottish crowd.
Disappointing finish for Ireland
GOLF: Ireland finished a disappointing eighth in the European Amateur Team Championships on Portugal's Algarve at the weekend after going down to Finland in their final match.
This reverse over the Victoria Vilamoura course followed defeats by France – who went on to win the title – and Scotland, and came at the end of a week which had started so promisingly with heroics in the strokeplay phase.
Rathmore’s Alan Dunbar, who came so close to winning the Brabazon Trophy last month, and Kevin Phelan, the West Waterford golfer who qualified for the 2010 US Open, won their matches with something to spare against Finland.
The other three matches were all lost on the home green, with Paul Dunne’s defeat at the hands of Roope Kangas being critical in the 3-2 scoreline.
France beat Switzerland to win the crown with Sweden taking the bronze medal.
