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Government rejects submission
GAELIC GAMES/Player welfare grants: The Government has rejected the submission for player welfare grants recently agreed between the GAA and the Gaelic Players Association (GPA). p
O'Sullivan to rest his frontliners
RUGBY/World Cup referees: Eddie O'Sullivan is set to rest the starting XV that kicked off the 43-13 win over England in Croke Park from the forthcoming two-Test tour to World Cup group rivals Argentina when he announces the 30-man squad for that venture on Monday. And so Ireland's resources will be stretched as never before,given the head coach will also be announcing an A squad of 28 for the Churchill Cup. p
Chelsea at their ease sitting on goal lead
SOCCER/Uefa Champions League: Goals are precious
and Chelsea have the greatest horror of squandering them. With
Andriy Shevchenko an irregular contributor, it is as if there is a
limited supply that must not be used without prolonged forethought.
The victory over Liverpool in the home leg of the Champions League
semi-final was their 12th 1-0 win of the current campaign. Rafael
Benitez' side have a similar mentality but they have won by that
score on only five occasions this season. p
Soccer
Portuguese men o'war
Jose Mourinho has exchanged bitter words with his Portuguese compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo over claims that Manchester United get special treatment from referees. pKeane just looking to his own
English League Championship/Sunderland v Burnley: The Championship's biggest crowd of the season will hurry to the Stadium of Light this evening and, after witnessing what they hope will be Sunderland's seventh home win in eight matches, the wait will begin. If Roy Keane's side beat Burnley the three points will take them top, with their promotion rivals Birmingham City playing tomorrow and Derby County on Sunday. pDrogheda struggling to field a fit starting team
League of Ireland Previews: Drogheda United manager Paul Doolin will struggle to field a starting XI for tonight's game with Cork City at United Park owing to their ever-increasing list of injuries after the club said a request to have the game postponed was refused.Bremen are swept aside
Uefa Cup Semi-finals/Espanyol 3 Werder Bremen 0: Spanish side Espanyol moved a step closer to their first Uefa Cup final appearance in 19 years with a 3-0 win against Werder Bremen, who had goalkeeper Tim Wiese sent off early in the second half. pSevilla have it all to do
Osasuna 1 Sevilla 0: Osasuna dented Sevilla's hopes of making a successful defence of their Uefa Cup crown when they beat the Andalucians 1-0 at home in the first leg of an all-Spanish semi-final last night. pSoccer Shorts
Today's other stories in brief p
Dublin can go distance - Caffrey
Given their massive pool of players, that they have only one All-Ireland from the last 24 years, that they probably should have made last year's final, the annual hype, and so on, is it not time for Paul Caffrey to go all the way with Dublin? pO'Shea welcomes the pressure
All-Ireland Football Championship: If it's 16 days before the first game, over four months before the final, and a fairly quiet Thursday anyway, then it must be time for the launch of the 2007 football championship. Four managers were in Croke Park yesterday on behalf of sponsors Bank of Ireland and all four expect to be back there on September 16th to win the thing outright, no matter how hard they tried to pretend otherwise. pCody cast studded with A-list superstars
Mostly Hurling: So the promos for this year's championship are almost all in the can. The scene will soon be set for the trailers to appear on our screens. Then come late July we'll have all the entries for this year's festival on show before the main event in early September. pGaelic Games digest
Today's other stories in brief p
Ulster to rage against dying of the light
Celtic League/Ulster v Glasgow: Mathematically, the defending champions still retain an interest in the destination of the Magners Celtic League title but, practically, Ulster are aware they remain on the periphery of that contest. In Swansea tonight either the Ospreys or Leinster will take a giant stride towards claiming that crown. pLeaders unlikely to enjoy the Liberty
Celtic League/Ospreys v Leinster: This is the business end of the season and for all the complaints about them, at least Leinster, to their credit, are still in negotiations for silverware. Though there will still be a fortnight of the campaign to run, tonight's daunting assignment in front of a hostile 10,000-plus crowd may well close the deal one way or another. p
Aitmatov to end Walsh's winning novice streak
Ruby Walsh has a sensational record in the Grade One Land Rover Champion Novice Hurdle but his mount today, Glencove Marina, could end up playing second fiddle to the Noel Meade-trained Aitmatov. pMacs Joy to end season in style
Macs Joy can bring the curtain down in style on the Punchestown Festival, and the 2006-'07 jumps season in Ireland, when he bids to win back-to-back renewals of this afternoon's ACC Bank Champion Hurdle. pRefinement is king of the Castle
Punchestown Report: There are only two British-trained runners at Punchestown today and the home team will be giving thanks for that after a cross-channel clean-sweep of yesterday's three Grade One features, including an unlikely success for Refinement in the €200,000 Dunboyne Castle Champion Stayers Hurdle. p
Begay masters Madrid storm
MADRID OPEN : American Notah Begay had further proof yesterday that the people who told him the weather in Europe can be awful were not lying. p
Not a whole lot between last four sides
WOMENS HOCKEY: The group phase of the All-Ireland Club Championships last weekend proved to be an encouragingly competitive affair, with four of the 12 matches ending in draws and another six won by a single goal. All four of the semi-finalists, then, had to work hard for their places in tomorrow's line-up at Belfield, and, presumably, will have to work harder still if they are to win through to Sunday's All-Ireland final at the same venue. pEarly start does not go down well
HOCKEY/Men's and Women's All-Ireland Club semi-finals: The timing of the Glenanne match against Irish championship holders Pembroke in the All Ireland Club semi-finals on Saturday morning in UCD hasn't pleased all of those involved in the game. With two Dublin teams playing each other and therefore amounting to one of the more attractive packages of the day, it was expected the game would get one of the prime slots along with one of the women's semi-finals in the first day's play. pTour de Vendée next for Roche
CYCLING: Following this week's news that Nicolas Roche will take part in this year's Giro d'Italia, the 22-year-old has confirmed his schedule in the run-up to the three-week Italian Tour. He will do just one race between now and the May 12th start, riding the 1.1-ranked Tour de Vendée on Tuesday. pWorld Cup places at stake
ROWING/National Selection Trials: The Ireland team for the World Cup regattas will be completed this weekend after the second national selection trials, which begin today at the National Rowing Centre at Farran Wood in Cork. pStrong finish gains promotion for Irish women
TENNIS/Federation Cup: Ireland yesterday gained Federation Cup promotion when they defeated Latvia in the final match of their pool in the National Tennis Centre, Phoenix, Mauritius. pHolt collapses against Higgins
SNOOKER/World Championship: John Higgins, the 1998 world champion but with only one semi-final to show for his efforts on the circuit this season, completed a 10-4 first-round victory over Michael Holt, the margin owing less to any excellence of his own than to the world number 21's inability to deal with frustration . pUpbeat Lyons chases points
MOTOR SPORT: Richard Lyons rather optimistically says, "I believe it's not out of the question to expect a top six finish from both races" - in the final rounds of the World Cup of Motorsport at Brands Hatch on Sunday. pChinese torch route sets sparks flying in Taiwan
OLYMPICS: China unveiled the world's most politically charged flame yesterday, when it outlined the route for the Olympic torch relay and said the symbol would pass through political rivals Taiwan. pPast Commodore's Cup lessons high on Irish teams' agenda
SAILING: The reputation of the old adage "third time lucky" will be on the line in the background of a meeting of the Irish Cruiser Racing Association (ICRA) next week when the cream of Ireland's club sailors gather to consider next year's Rolex Commodore's Cup. pLazy winds of no help to Irish
DIGEST: The annual French Olympic Week at Hyeres goes into its medal race phase today with no Irish sailors in the top-10 of their respective fleets, writes David Branigan. p
