ireland.com - The Irish Times

Gillick unleashes pent-up talent
ATHLETICS: These are strange and wonderful days for Irish athletics. David Gillick retains his European Indoor 400-metre title in sensational style, goes on a roaring lap of honour as if it's the greatest moment of his life, and then announces it's just a small bonus and he can't wait to get back training. p

Tipperary weather storm
GAELIC GAMES: On an afternoon when the weather didn't have quite the impact feared on the second round of Allianz National Hurling League fixtures, just two Division One fixtures went by the board and in the matches that were played, All-Ireland champions and National League holders Kilkenny went down to their first competitive defeat since the 2005 All-Ireland semi-final. p

Ferguson plays down Larsson's departure
SOCCER: Alex Ferguson is convinced the imminent departure of Henrik Larsson will not have a negative effect on Manchester United's trophy quest. Larsson's 10-week stint will come to an end next Saturday when United meet Middlesbrough for a place in the FA Cup semi-finals. p

Rugby

Boss likely to miss Scotland clash
Ulster scrumhalf Isaac Boss lasted 18 minutes at Stradey Park on Saturday and is considered a serious doubt to take his place on the bench for Ireland's Six Nations clash with Scotland in Murrayfield. p
Ulster's hopes hit after flat display
Llanelli Scarlets 17 Ulster 11: Ulster produced a horror show for coach Mark McCall in this Magners Celtic League tie at Stradey Park on Saturday. p
UL Bohemians win feisty affair
All-Ireland League Round-Up Division One: UL Bohemians confirmed their status as genuine AIB All-Ireland Championship title contenders with a 15-6 victory over Shannon as both clubs bade farewell to Thomond Park, closing due to redevelopment, with a typically feisty Limerick affair on Saturday. p
Planet Rugby
Today's other stories in brief p

Soccer

Jose goes for the jugular again
Portsmouth 0 Chelsea 2: Chelsea's refusal to relinquish their Premiership crown promises to take the title race into May but Manchester United's quest for a ninth championship in 14 years is in danger of being overshadowed by the feud developing between Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho. p
United land big blow
Liverpool 0 Manchester Utd 1: When the country starts to run short of conversation it may have to think of something other than the contest for the Premiership. After this stoppage-time victory who can talk of the exacting fixture list ahead of Manchester United? If they are yet to go to Chelsea, Chelsea themselves must visit Arsenal. The sole advantage worth discussing is United's lead. p
Tense Bolton look to have shot their bolt
Bolton 1 Blackburn 2: Bolton's prospects of playing Champions League football next season faded into the realms of fantasy yesterday. With matches at Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea still to play, Sam Allardyce's team were well aware they could not afford to slip up at home to local rivals. Unfortunately they played with a sense of anxiety that suggested they could not cope with that knowledge. p
Mixed signals from Arsenal
Arsenal 2 Reading 1: Arsenal's victory over Reading, straightforward if slightly laboured, sent out mixed signals. In the long term it further strengthened the likelihood of Arsene Wenger's team staying in the top four to retain at least a toehold in next season's Champions League but, in terms of Wednesday's return game against PSV Eindhoven and their chances of reaching this season's quarter-finals, the evidence was less conclusive. p
West Ham lose plot late on
West Ham Utd 3 Tottenham 4: If this proves to have been the last rites for West Ham in the Premiership, then never can they have been read so thrillingly. A breathless contest careered to the cruellest of finales, the tap-in which secured Tottenham's unlikely victory surely slicing the home side too far adrift from safety. Alan Curbishley admitted afterwards that he is not "immune" from the sack. His team's season is disintegrating. p
Feckless West Ham spiralling downward
On The Premiership: The University of Georgia has published a report suggesting the attitude of youngsters is shaped by the buildings surrounding them at school. This is reassuring, if only because it proves American academics are just as adept as their European counterparts at blowing vast research budgets on determining the bleedin' obvious. p
Sunderland in carnival mood
West Brom 1 Sunderland 2: Roy Keane might have been the catalyst for Sunderland's revival but the Trinidad and Tobago flag draped across the visiting end here hinted at another increasingly significant influence. Having led the Caribbean islands to their first World Cup finals last summer, Dwight Yorke and Stern John are promising to bring much more than a carnival atmosphere to the Stadium of Light over the coming months. p
O'Sheazinho has Alex doing The Birdie Song shuffle
TV View: D'you know, it's getting to the stage where we can't turn on our telly on a Saturday any more without seeing Irish sporting history being made, to the point where we're almost getting blasé about the whole thing. And no, we're not talking about John O'Sheazinho's goal at Anfield, rather David Gillick's gold medal-winning run in Birmingham at the European Indoor Championships. p

Gaelic Games

Queen's anniversary celebrated in style
Sigerson Cup Final/QUB 0-14 UUJ 0-14: The Sigerson Cup decider at The Dub, Belfast, on Saturday was a thriller to cap the Queen's University 75th anniversary celebrations as the Malone students clinched victory over local rivals UUJ. p
Bergin plays captain's role
Colleges Hurling Leinster Senior championship semi-final/Kilkenny 0-16 Good Counsel 0-10: Champions Kilkenny CBS booked their place in the Leinster Colleges senior hurling A final with a six-point win over Good Counsel on Saturday. p
Ryan goal proves decisive
Leinster Under-21 FC Quarter-finals/Offaly 1-8 Longford 0-6: In a game of mixed quality played under difficult conditions in Tullamore yesterday, Offaly advanced to the semi-final of the Leinster under-21 championship by deservedly beating Longford. p
Kerry pushed all the way
Women's Football: Kerry placed one foot firmly in the quarter-finals of the Suzuki Women's Football National League by maintaining their 100 per cent record in Division One A but they were pushed all the way by Tyrone in Banagher yesterday. p
Meath remain on track
Meath 3-13 Kildare 1-15: Meath remain on course for a first Leinster under-21 football title since 2001 as they followed up their recent victory over Dublin with a hard-earned but deserved win over Kildare at Páirc Tailteann yesterday. p
Galway have that extra bite
National Hurling League Division One B/Galway 0-17 Limerick 1-9: As he stood in the dank changing rooms underneath the Mackey Stand yesterday evening, Ger Loughnane was already enthusing about hosting Tipperary in Salthill in some three weeks' time. p
Glennon makes hay early
Westmeath 5-17 Kilkenny 0-2: David Glennon helped himself to 1-8 before being withdrawn early as Westmeath eased into the next round of the Leinster under-21 football championship at St John's Park yesterday. p
Offaly build on first-half display
Offaly 4-18 Down 1-11: An excellent first-half display when playing against the strong wind helped Offaly to a comfortable 16-point victory over Down in the National Hurling League Division One A at St Brendan's Park, Birr, yesterday. p
Kilkenny get more food for thought
Tipperary 3-13 Kilkenny 1-13: In the aftermath Brian Cody shrugged off the end of Kilkenny's long unbeaten run as if it were nothing. "It's competitions you win, not records," he said, and he was right of course, but being the competitive beast he is, the Kilkenny manager will have seen enough yesterday to make him wonder a little about the competitions ahead. p
Determined Wicklow too hot for Laois
Division Two Round-up: Wicklow sprung a major upset by defeating fancied Laois 2-12 to 1-12 at Arklow yesterday. p
Wexford win adds to Clare's hurling woes
Division One A/Wexford 1-12 Clare 1-10: Wexford got off the mark in Cusack Park, Ennis, yesterday, recording their first win in Division One A of the National Hurling League in what was a poor game overall. p

Golf

Haig takes advantage of final chance
European Tour news: England's Oliver Wilson was left to rue missed chances as South African Anton Haig edged a thrilling three-way play-off to win the Johnnie Walker Classic at the Blue Canyon Country Club in Phuket yesterday. p
Weekley lets victory slip
USPGA TOUR: American Boo Weekley birdied the 17th but bogeyed the last to end up in a four-way play-off in the Honda Classic at Palm Beach Gardens yesterday. p

Racing

Curragh spin on cards for Brave Inca
The Champion Hurdler Brave Inca looks like visiting the Curragh in order to finalise his Cheltenham preparations and it also looks increasingly likely that Ruby Walsh will be the jockey entrusted with the big-race ride on him next week. p

Other

A-list celebrity back with a bang
ATHLETICS/European Indoor Championships, David Gillick interview: What a race! What a finish! And to think he could be playing midfield for Dublin. What a loss that would have been! Even if he never wins another major title it is now certain Ireland has produced a new athletics star in the person of David Gillick. p
Hession helps to set high standard
ATHLETICS: It must be another sign of the rising standards among Irish athletes that even when making finals, and running well, they're still coming down hard on themselves. Paul Hession made history in Birmingham this weekend as the first Irish athlete to make a 60-metre final - lowering the national record to 6.61 seconds in the process - yet even when finishing seventh he saw much room for improvement. p
Glenanne dig deep to seal final place
HOCKEY: Dublin's Glenanne will meet Ulster's Annadale in the final of the Irish Senior Cup on April 1st. The Dublin side travelled to Farmer's Cross, where hosts Cork Harlequins had hoped to continue on the same path that saw them win the trophy last year for the first time. p
Pembroke pounce late
HOCKEY: Only Muckross, with 15 victories in the competition, have won more ESB Irish Senior Cups than Pembroke Wanderers, but you have to go all the way back to 1975 for Pembroke's last success, the 12th in their history. The team they beat that day? Pegasus. The team they'll play in this year's final? Pegasus. p
Jahrling running out of time
ROWING: Ireland coach Harald Jahrling saw his second national time trial of the season at Inniscarra cut short because of the elements yesterday, losing another vital chance to try out combinations in big boats. p
Tralee Tigers stay on course for play-offs
BASKETBALL : The Tralee Tigers maintained their course to the play-offs and the southern conference title when they recovered from Friday's defeat in the Kerry derby, losing 90-88 to St Paul's, to record a 83-76 victory over Neptune yesterday, writes Gavin Cummiskey. p
Shooting stars: blink and they're gone
Locker Room: Who's next? The best part (other than the groupies, obviously) of having a job which provides a pulpit for prognostication and prediction about pro sports is the business of guessing who is next. Who's the next prodigy? Who's the next big thing? p

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