A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Merrion chase another upset

CRICKET:North County go into today's LHW Leinster Senior Cup final at Malahide today (11.0) as favourites, something opponents Merrion have enjoyed making a mockery of in recent years, writes Emmet Riordan.

Last year’s Irish Senior Cup decider was a case in point as they beat Railway Union by 36 runs, although their history in the 60-over Leinster competition has seen them win just two of the 15 finals they have played in, with their last victory coming in 1960.

County’s only win came against Clontarf in 2003 and they also have a poor record in the decider in losing the other four finals they have competed in.

John Mooney returns from international duty, while Jonathan Andrews comes in for Richie Lawrence from the side that beat Rush by a massive 183 runs in the semi-final. Merrion make one change from their 125-run win over Clontarf, with Jeff Short taking over from Anish Raghavan.

Dolan and Lambe in repechage win

ROWING:Ireland's women led the way in their repechages on the third day of the World Under-23 Rowing Championships in Amsterdam yesterday, writes Liam Gorman. The lightweight double scull of Sarah Dolan and Claire Lambe had a stirring victory, passing three crews in the second half of the race, and Lisa Dilleen was second to local favourite Nicole Beukers, who sprinted past her at the finish. Both crews will race in A/B semi-finals today.

For the men’s lightweight quadruple, the boat which took silver last year, it was a very different story. An uncompetitive fifth place in their repechage sent them to today’s B Final – for places 13 to 15. Ireland performance director Martin McElroy said: “You would have to say that from our perspective it was an underperformance.” Jonathan Mitchell, the debutant lightweight single sculler, will contest a C Final (places 13-18) today.

McGee digs deep against Mecir to claim final berth

TENNIS: James McGee courageously saved five match points yesterday as he pulled off a sensational win in the semi-finals of the Green Property Irish Men's Open at the Fitzwilliam Club.

The 24-year-old Dubliner was on the brink of defeat when he found himself 15-40 and 5-6 down on his own serve in the third set against number two seed, Slovakia’s Miloslav Mecir.

Number seven seed McGee had already stormed back from 0-3 in the final set to level at 3-3 all.

In the 12th game of the decider, McGee rallied back to deuce, but Mecir held advantage three times before the Davis Cup ace eventually levelled at 6-6.

And there was no stopping the Castleknock man in the tie-break, as Mecir quickly found himself 1-6 adrift.

Commendably, the visiting player saved two match points, but McGee made no mistake on his third match to clinch a 6-2 6-3 7-6 (7/3) victory after two hours and 35 minutes on court.

”It’s a great scalp for me, beating a player of Mecir’s calibre,” said McGee of a player ranked over 200 places above him.

“But despite Mecir’s ranking, I was reasonably confident going into the match, as I’ve beaten a good few top 300 players.”

Any hopes of an all-Irish decider were ended in just an hour after Barry King, the unseeded Davis Cup hero, lost to French top seed Charles-Antoine Brezac on a 6-0 6-4 scoreline.

Mills takes fourth place in Estonia

ATHLETICS: Joanna Mills finished a fine fourth place in the 400 metres at the European Junior Championships in Estonia yesterday, running 54.35 seconds, having run a lifetime best of 53.89 to make the final.

Thomas Barr was also in record breaking form as he won his heat of the 400 metres hurdles in 51.29 seconds to set a new Irish junior record and progress to the semi-final.

Mark English also ran with confidence and poise in his heat of the 800 metres, comfortably qualifying for the semi-finals with a third place finish in 1.51.15.

Sarries look at South African venues

RUGBY: Saracens have confirmed they are in negotiations to host next year's Heineken Cup match with Biarritz in South Africa.

The reigning English Premiership champions have taken innovative steps to enhance the club’s brand in the past, playing several matches at Wembley.

Saracens, who signed South Africa captain John Smit earlier this month, are now looking to play January’s match with Top 14 club Biarritz in Cape Town, either at Newlands Stadium or the Cape Town Stadium.

“Following media speculation this morning, Saracens confirm it has applied to ERC (European Rugby Cup), the RFU (English Rugby Football Union) and SA Rugby (South African Rugby Football Union) for permission to play the Heineken Cup Round 5 match against Biarritz in Cape Town,” a club statement read.

Doherty back in ranking semi-final after five years

SNOOKER:Ken Doherty made it to the last four of a ranking event for the first time in five years at the Australian Goldfields Open in Bendigo yesterday before revealing just how close he has come to quitting the sport.

The Dubliner beat Mark Selby 5-3 to set up a meeting with Mark Williams, who won his all-Welsh quarter-final against Dominic Dale 5-4.

The last time Doherty has been this far in a ranking event was at the 2006 Malta Cup, where he went on to beat John Higgins 9-8.

Doherty won three frames in succession to go 4-1 ahead before Selby pulled two frames back. But a break of 59 in the eighth saw him settle matters.

Currently ranked 28th in the world, Doherty revealed he had considered retiring when his ranking dropped to 55th and he failed to qualify for the World Championships in 2009.

“I was in qualifying tournaments and only won one match all season and I thought it was the end of the road,” Doherty said.

“Now I have a bit more self confidence and I know I can compete okay but I’m not as consistent as I was.”

Williams fought back three times before beating Dale with a 142 break in their quarter-final, his fourth century of an entertaining match.

“I went 2-0 down and hadn’t done too much wrong then I made two centuries to get it to 2-2,” said Williams.

“I made a nice break in the last and I needed it as if I had missed on 60 with the way he was playing he would’ve cleared up.

“I’m just excited to be in the semi-finals. I haven’t played out here for 20 years and it’s been excellent to be back, hopefully I can go all the way.”

Doherty and Williams are second up today after the first semi-final between Shaun Murphy and Stuart Bingham.