Previous Day
Carney wings to a new level
RUGBY/Ireland squad selections: As expected, Eddie
O'Sullivan yesterday dug deeper into Ireland's playing resources
than at any time in the country's rugby history when announcing the
30-man squad for the two-Test tour to Argentina and the 28-man
Irish A squad for the Churchill Cup. p
Hopes to salvage grants scheme
GAELIC GAMES: The GPA are awaiting confirmation of a date to meet the GAA this week in an attempt to salvage the grants scheme they hoped would be introduced for intercounty players this year. p
Chelsea exposed without Carvalho
SOCCER/Uefa Champions League/Liverpool (0) v Chelsea (1): Chelsea are discovering what it is to live on the brink, with Andriy Shevchenko ruled out of tonight's Champions League semi-final with a groin injury. In each of Jose Mourinho's seasons in charge they have had Premiership titles to protect them from hurt of defeat elsewhere. It looks as if that safety device is gone in this campaign and nothing will protect them from the hurt of failure at Liverpool this evening. p
Soccer
Cool Benitez hops the ball in Mourinho's direction
The mind games grow ever more embittered. The perceived success or failure of Liverpool's season may hinge on this evening's Champions League semi-final at Anfield but Rafael Benitez suggested last night it was actually Jose Mourinho who is showing the strain as a campaign spent chasing honours on four fronts threatens to unravel around him. pDrogheda making all the right noises
On Soccer: The winner of last night's Setanta Cup semi-final carried with it the additional prize of home advantage in Saturday week's cup final, but they will hardly regard that as a decisive factor after watching their opponents, Drogheda United, win the competition's other semi-final away from home last week. pBruce hoping to learn from past mistakes on return to Premiership
English Premiership: The prospect of facing Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal next season might have been uppermost in the minds of Birmingham's fans yesterday but Steve Bruce was inclined to look backwards rather than forwards. pOwen back but to no avail
Reading 1 Newcastle Utd 0: Michael Owen's long-awaited return provided a chink of light at the end of Newcastle's gloomy season - but he still could not prevent a 12th away defeat in the Premiership. pKeane hopes to lure top players
English Championship: Confident, assertive but without a trace of cockiness, Roy Keane rarely speaks without certainty. So it was yesterday that, 24 hours after Sunderland's promotion to the Premiership, the Irishman said: "We're not going up there with the mind-set that finishing fourth-bottom would be a good season. I hear that from many managers but, let me tell you, you won't be hearing it from me, far from it." No one argued. pDevine intervention works in Linfield's favour as O'Kane strikes
Setanta Cup Semi-final/Linfield 1 Cork City 0: The organisers might well breathe a sigh of relief that the competition's cross Border nature will be reflected in the line-up for this year's final, but Cork City's players must wonder this morning how they failed to capitalise on the strength of their second-half performance at Windsor Park to earn a repeat of last year's decider and a third crack in under 18 months at beating Drogheda United in a cup final. pSoccer Shorts
Today's other stories in brief p
Top brass and grass roots alike mourn Murphy
Hundreds of mourners queued outside a tiny chapel at St Finbarr's hospital in Cork last night to pay their respects at the removal of former GAA president Con Murphy who died on Sunday after a short illness. pKennelly hoping for a quick recovery
News from the Sydney Swans camp yesterday played down the seriousness of the dislocated knee Tadhg Kennelly sustained playing in the AFL over the weekend. pAll Laois eyes are on the ball
"It's for the history books, really. Too much was made of it from your own comrades in the press. They hyped it up completely. Then comments by people who weren't even there saw it spiral out of control." p
Home town decisions adding to frustrations
On Rugby: Michael Cheika and David Knox in particular, and Leinster generally, would need to be careful not to become known as the biggest whingers of the Magners Celtic League, which in turn might become self-fulfilling prophecies and would undermine the fine work they've done as coaches with the province. pDistinguished player, coach and columnist
Death of Jimmy Davidson: Jimmy Davidson, the former Ulster and Ireland player and coach, has died aged 64. He passed away peacefully on Saturday after a long battle with illness. He was often described as a coach ahead of his time, and having been lost prematurely to coaching, albeit to establish himself as an acerbic and opinionated analyst on BBC Northern Ireland and columnist, now he has been lost to life far too early as well. pConnacht to host Springboks
In what is quite a coup for the province, Connacht will play South Africa at the Sportsground on Tuesday, August 21st as part of the Springboks' World Cup preparations, writes Gerry Thornley . p
US Ranger to take chance
Guineas News: Connections of US Ranger are confident they have made a sensible decision in supplementing the well-backed colt for the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday. p
Ready to take the step up
In Focus Ireland's Tour hopefuls: Philip Reid and John O'Sullivan get the views of four Irish golfers who believe they have the game to succeed in the higher ranks pPlay well and let the results take care of themselves
Women's European Tour Diary: Martina Gillen gets ready for her debut on the European Tour in Tenerife this week pThe Short Game
Women's draw made The draw for the 2007 Suzuki All-Ireland Women's Senior Cup was held in Milltown GC last week. In a new departure, this year's championship sees the five district winners plus the three best losers (on handicap) contest four All-Ireland quarter-final ties at Milltown in September. Previously, only two district winners played a quarter-final match with the other three winners receiving byes into the semi-finals. pVerplank breezes in with Lord Nelson's help
US TOUR : Scott Verplank won the Byron Nelson championship with, he says, an assist from above. pHarrington's welcome return
European Tour news: Padraig Harrington returns to competitive action this week when he tees up in the Wachovia Championship at Quail Hollow Country Club, Charlotte, North Carolina, to hone his game - he obviously wouldn't object to winning this week - ahead of the season's self styled "fifth major," the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass next week. pBalancing progress with practicality
Caddie's Role: With the recent bout of spring weather it is hard not to contemplate just what is happening with the world's climate. I played on my home links course last week, wearing shorts and a T-shirt and a liberal coating of sun-block. Last time I played in spring I seem to remember wearing my thermal underwear and a woolly hat. I also found myself in some thick rough on numerous occasions normally associated with summer conditions. Equally, some of the lies I got around the greens were bare enough to cause my knees to collapse under the strain of a delicate chip where the slightest contact with the ground before the ball would be disastrous. pA Round and About
David Gillick's view of all things golf p
Hendry's title wait goes on
SNOOKER/World Championship: Stephen Hendry's 13-6 world championship defeat by Allister Carter here in Sheffield means the seven-times champion will go for more than 27 months without winning a title of any kind. pIreland's new bowler
CRICKET: The Irish Cricket Union have completed the signing of South African fast bowler Mornantau (Nantie) Hayward. pCragg breaks record
ATHLETICS: Alistair Cragg has smashed Mark Carroll's Irish 10,000-metres record at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational in Stanford University, California. p
