Sports Digest:Belfast Star continued to turn around what initially looked set to be a poor domestic basketball campaign with their second consecutive victory over UCC Demons at the University of Ulster, Jordanstown, on Saturday night, writes Gavin Cummiskey.
Star only took the lead with 20 seconds remaining after a great steal and lay-up by Stephen Dawson. They were subsequently awarded four free throws, of which they converted two, for a three-point win at the buzzer.
Ballina's first game at their new venue in Letterkenny IT ended in disappointment when Neptune recorded a surprise 86-75 win.
The foundations for victory came towards the end of the second quarter when the Cork club went on a 16-1 run, inspired by three three-pointers from Richard Joyce, to lead 43-36 at half-time.
Ballina regained the lead going into the fourth quarter thanks to a Robert Taylor basket, but another big three from Joyce sparked a scoring spree for an 11-point winning margin.
The Tralee Tigers, minus the instrumental Dave Fanning, suffered their first home defeat of the season mainly due to the inspirational form of Killester's Isaac Westbrooks.
In the other Kerry versus Dublin affair, St Paul's proved too strong for UCD Marian, outscoring the college team 21-8 in the last five minutes.
A feature of this game was the high number of three-pointers - 24 in total - with Marian's point guard Tony Mitchell shooting an impressive nine. Mitchell was in superb form all night, hitting a game-high of 40 points.
St Paul's entered this match without point guard Eoin O'Brien, who defected to the Spanish third division during the week, but the Killarney club welcomed back Ger Noonan after a five-week lay-off through injury.
In the women's Superleague, Killester immediately felt the loss of Sue Altman to the German league as they were convincing beaten by Meteors, 61-45, while the Waterford Wildcats accounted for Tolka Rovers 75-59.
Devaney earns Irish first point
Dublin driver Michael Devaney finally put Ireland on the scoreboard at the World Cup of Motorsport in yesterday's rain-shortened A1 Grand Prix feature race at Sepang in Malaysia, writes Brian Foley.
The conditions were so bad, rising German star Nico Hulkenberg (19) spun on the flooded straight on the installation lap. Hulkenberg recovered and took the lead from sprint race winner Neel Jarni (Switzerland) on the opening lap to race on to a 42.849-seconds win over Britain's Robbie Kerr.
Devaney won his dice with Christian Murchison (Singapore) to finish 10th and last of the points scorers. A single point may not sound much, but it's a confidence boost the A1 Team Ireland so desperately need going forward.
Ireland and Scots share spoils
A younger Irish hockey team drew 0-0 in the last of their three-match series at Shaw's Bridge, Belfast, yesterday. The series ended 1-1.
Ireland goalkeeper Gareth Lennox excelled when put under early pressure. The Irish went on the offensive after the interval but despite producing plenty of flair, they were unable to get the ball past Scotland goalkeeper McGregor.
"This game served its purpose in allowing a group of non-squad members a good opportunity to impress," said coach Dave Passmore. "We struggled with the tempo of the game at first but played some reasonable hockey in the second half. Overall, the series has proved its worth but we are still a good way off where we were last year in China, which is to be expected. We will now narrow our player base and focus on preparation for Europe," he continued.
The squad will travel to South Africa early next year for an 11-day training camp.
The Irish women drew 1-1 with the Scots in the third game of their series of uncapped matches in Edinburgh over the weekend. The Scots scored first, on nine minutes, from their first penalty corner of the game.
The visitors were unlucky not to go two up eight minutes into the second half when they hit the post from play. After good efforts from Alex Speers and Lisa Jacob produced good saves from the Scotland goalkeeper, Suzanne Beaney of Pegasus finally made the breakthrough for Ireland. She capitalised from a breakdown in a Scottish attacking penalty corner ,with Nikki Keegan skinning two defenders and laying the ball up for Beaney who netted with a sweep from the penalty spot.
Kelly stopped in third round
Damaen Kelly's boxing career may be over following his crushing, third-round stoppage defeat by European bantamweight champion Simone Maludrottu in Sardinia on Saturday night. Ulsterman Kelly (33), had been seeking revenge for the highly controversial verdict in Maludrottu's favour in Belfast in April, but the champion may now have punched him into retirement.
Despite an encouraging opening, Kelly allowed himself to be dragged into a toe-to-toe battle and came off second best with his cornerman throwing in the towel as he took heavy punishment in the third.
Kelly's manager, Tommy Gilmour, certainly feels that the former European flyweight champion must now seriously consider whether he fights on.
"It's a big blow for Damaen, a very disappointing result on the back of what happened in Belfast when he should have the decision," said Gilmour. "I would think now is the time for Damaen to sit down with his family and seriously think about where he goes from here and look at all his options. He's 33 now and he's had a very good career - he's achieved an awful lot in the sport including a European flyweight title and two IBO world titles. He still has the talent but he doesn't have anything more to prove but obviously the decision is up to him."
David retains squash title
Malaysia's Nicol David retained her World Open squash title yesterday, beating Australian Natalie Grinham in a thrilling 96-minute final. David, who last year in Hong Kong became the first Asian woman to win the title, is only the fourth woman to defend it.
The 23-year-old top seed, who triumphed 1-9 9-7 3-9 9-5 9-2 at the event in Belfast, was unable to pursue a policy of early attack and aggressive volleying because Grinham pressed hard and low with flowing, often well-masked drives. After losing the first game, David had to recover from a deficit of 5-7 in the second and play out many rallies of 60 and 70 shots before getting on top in the decider.
