A round-up of today's other stories in brief
McNulty back in title race
MOTOR SPORT: Kevin Barrett maintained his Irish Tarmac Championship (ITC) lead after last weekend’s Donegal International Rally, but victory for Tim McNulty has thrown his bid for a maiden ITC title back on track.
After missing round two and retiring from round three of Ireland’s most prestigious rally series, McNulty was left languishing in fourth position in the Championship standings. However, victory in Donegal has propelled him into second position in the series tables, just two points behind leader Barrett.
Navigated by Paul Kiely, McNulty dominated much of the rally. He briefly lost the lead to Alastair Fisher and Rory Kennedy after stage three, but regained the advantage on the following test. Renowned for having copious amounts of bad luck, McNulty stayed on the right side of luck on this occasion, as he powered his Subaru Impreza WRC to an emphatic maiden Donegal victory.
South Africa name six new caps in preliminary squad
RUGBY: South Africa named six uncapped players in a 49-man preliminary squad yesterday for their World Cup title defence in September and October. The Springboks included untried Bulls props Dean Greyling and Werner Kruger, Lions outhalf Elton Jantjies, Cheetahs loose forward Ashley Johnson and prop Coenie Oosthuizen, and Stormers number eight Duane Vermeulen. The team will be led by 2007 captain John Smit.
SOUTH AFRICA ( preliminary squad) W Alberts (Sharks), G Aplon (Stormers), B Basson (Bulls), A Bekker (Stormers), B Botha (Bulls), BJ Botha (Ulster), H Brussouw (Cheetahs), S Burger (Stormers), J de Jongh (Stormers), J de Villiers (Stormers), B du Plessis (Sharks), J du Plessis (Sharks), F du Preez (Bulls), J Fourie (Stormers), D Greyling (Bulls), B Habana (Stormers), A Hargreaves (Sharks), F Hougaard (Bulls), A Jacobs (Sharks), B James (Lions), E Jantjies (Lions), E Januarie (Stormers), A Johnson (Cheetahs), R Kankowski (Sharks), Z Kirchner (Bulls), W Kruger (Bulls), P Lambie (Sharks), F Louw (Stormers), V Matfield (Bulls), T Mtawarira (Sharks), J Muller (Ulster), Li Mvovo (Sharks), O Ndungane (Sharks), W Olivier (Bulls), C Oosthuizen (Cheetahs), R Pienaar (Ulster), JP Pietersen (Sharks), C Ralepelle (Bulls), D Rossouw (Bulls), J Smit (Sharks), J Smith (Cheetahs), P Spies (Bulls), G Steenkamp (Bulls), D Stegmann (Bulls), F Steyn (Racing Metro), M Steyn (Bulls), A Strauss (Cheetahs), F van der Merwe (Bulls), D Vermeulen (Stormers).
Fitzgerald hits out at Fennelly
GAELIC GAMES: Laois hurler Tommy Fitzgerald has launched a fierce broadside at under-fire team manager Brendan Fennelly following last Saturday’s disastrous 34-point hammering at the hands of Cork.
Fitzgerald, who quit the county panel last March, was disappointed by Fennelly’s comments on The Sunday Game, when the Kilkenny native blamed players who refused to make themselves available.
Fitzgerald insists he would have stayed involved under a different manager.
Fitzgerald, who attended the match in Portlaoise, said: “I was left pulling my hair out. There are a few lads on that panel at the moment and you wouldn’t get more committed but they’re completely disillusioned. I would have stayed on and been confident of getting my place back if the set-up was half decent or even half as good as last year. I would have stayed, no question there, and if you had Niall Rigney or anyone else there I wouldn’t have walked away.”
Paul Darbyshire passes away
RUGBY: Paul Darbyshire, the head of fitness and conditioning for Munster, passed away in his sleep peacefully yesterday morning. Diagnosed last September with motor neurone disease, Darbyshire, 41, fought an inspiring battle against the illness before finally succumbing to it. News of his death was revealed to Munster players and management yesterday as they assembled for stage two of the Munster Rugby fundraising cycle.
Ireland power to win over China
HOCKEY: Four first-half goals powered Ireland to just their second ever win over China in the UCD Four Nations Cup at Belfield last night in front of a packed house.
Paul Revington had made a full 16 changes to the side who won the Celtic Cup on Sunday, notably bringing in Ian Sloan.
And they showed real hunger in the first half to race four clear. John Jermyn grabbed his 58th international strike with a ripping drag-flick to start the rush in the 18th minute.
Phelie Maguire added the second soon, a goal crafted from Bruce McCandless’ superb control before squaring finding Timmy Cockram. The Lisnagarvey man squared for Maguire to slide in.
Next, Mikey Watt shot a flashy reverse for 3-0 and Cockram was left with a simple task for the fourth after Chris Cargo dummied Yongbo Yin to leave an open goal.
