ireland.com - The Irish Times

Mickelson keeps it together
GOLF: Given what had gone before, yesterday at the TPC at Sawgrass was, as your granny would say, "a pet day". p

Shapeless Leinster fail to answer call to Arms
Cardiff 27 Leinster 11: Hopes that Leinster could reverse the relatively sluggish form of the past month or two scarcely lasted until kick-off, and certainly not for much longer. Granted a glimpse of the Magners Celtic League title, and in the knowledge a bonus-point win would take them over the finish line, they hardly raised a gallop. p

It's champagne or real pain
SOCCER/Battle for survival: Five players relive their battles on the final-day for Premiership survival p

Soccer

A hard reign gonna fall for Pearce?
English FA Premiership: Though Manchester City need to invest in top players, many fans wonder if Stuart Pearce is the man to do the buying. Daniel Taylor reports p
Things too tight at bottom for collusion
English FA Premiership: In a season when lawyers as well as footballers have threatened to influence the Premiership's relegation battle, it is perhaps inevitable that fresh talk of conspiracy should loom over the concluding day of the season. p
Lowry hoping to get a rub of the green
When Steve Staunton announced at the press conference, when he was unveiled as the new manager of the Republic of Ireland, that a key part of his strategy for the job involved the unearthing of a new generation of foreign-born players willing and able to declare for Ireland, there was some scepticism regarding the continuing existence of such an untapped reservoir of talent. p
St Patrick's caught napping late on
League of Ireland/UCD 2 St Patrick's Athletic 2: They may still be league leaders this morning but two goals conceded late on last night against a UCD side who have now gone eight games without defeat underlined the extent to which St Patrick's Athletic have lost the momentum built up over the opening weeks of this new league season. p
All too easy for Bohemians
Bohemians 5 Longford Town 0: Initially it was difficult to decipher whether Bohemians' early work was cautious but measured or lacking structure. But by the time Glen Crowe opened his hat-trick account on 22 minutes it was clear the home side were playing with real purpose. p
Waterford move off bottom
Waterford Utd 1 Galway 0: Waterford United moved off the bottom of the table and climbed two places over Longford Town and their opponents of last night, Galway United, as a result of this vital win at the RSC. p
Drogheda will be ready for early Linfield pressure
Setanta Cup Final/Linfield v Drogheda United: Having last week dismissed his side's critics from south of the Border as "hallions" (go on, see how good your dictionary is), Linfield manager David Jeffrey was back in more respectful mood these past few days as he contemplated this afternoon's clash with Drogheda United in the Setanta Sports Cup final. p
Sanchez leaves IFA managerless
Soccer Digest: With a deal of distress on both sides, Lawrie Sanchez and the Irish Football Association parted company yesterday afternoon, leaving Sanchez as Fulham's new full-time appointment and Northern Ireland top of their Euro 2008 qualifying group but without a manager, reports Michael Walker . p

Gaelic Games

Good when good, brutal when Down
Ulster SFC/Down v Cavan: Tom Humphries meets former red and black star Ross Carr, now leading a side whose fortunes are more often in the red than the black p
Cavan v Down preview
Cavan v Down: You know what they say about being nice to the right people on the way up - sooner or later you're going to meet them coming down. p
Waiting game no longer Longford's way
Leinster SFC First round/Longford v Westmeath: Keith Duggan looks at how Longford have rediscovered self-belief under former Westmeath manager Luke Dempsey p
Longford v Westmeath preview
With his now trademark powers of recovery, Dessie Dolan has been passed fit to start for Westmeath, despite spending the last three weeks with a shoulder injury that reduced his training. His presence could prove the difference between winning and losing. p
Low profile in the Big Apple
Connacht SFC First Round/New York v Sligo: Gavin Cummiskey on the difficulties facing the New York footballers p
Weekend previews
A look at this weekend's other big games p
Bradley fails with appeal
Derry's Ulster SFC hopes have suffered a major blow with the news star forward Paddy Bradley's appeal to the Ulster Council against his three-month suspension has failed. p

Rugby

Munster look to the future
Munster v Glasgow: This time last year Munster were a week away from fulfilling their Heineken European Cup destiny in Cardiff; tonight the giddy build-up to their European coronation is replaced by a palpable sense of regret when, by their ridiculously high standards, Munster bring a disappointing season to a conclusion against in-form Glasgow Warriors at Musgrave Park (5.30pm). p
Connacht keep on trying to the end
Llanelli Scarlets 19 Connacht 10: It was never likely Connacht's away form would improve at Stradey Park, but at least they went down fighting against the Heineken European Cup semi-finalists. p
Ulster remain far from convincing
Ulster 16 Edinburgh 10: A win for Ulster sealed fifth place in the Magners Celtic League and a second-seed ranking for the Heineken European Cup next season but this was far from the convincing performance coach Mark McCall would have wanted to finish a disappointing season that had promised so much. p
Jennings still has some final loose ends to tidy up
English Premiership Final, Leicester v Gloucester: As Leicester chase the second leg of a treble against Gloucester today, Robert Kitson meets their departing Irish flanker, who has made a huge impact p
Underage teams keep managers
The Irish Rugby Football Union have announced the management teams for the Ireland under-20 team and under-18 club international side. p

Golf

Harrington pays for playing mind games
The Players : Sometimes you've got to trust your gut. For the second day running, Padraig Harrington finished with a missed short putt to leave a sour taste. p
A round of two halves as squalls sweep in
Irish Amateur Open Championship : In a previous incarnation the nines at the Royal Dublin Golf Club posed diametrically different demands, the front played downwind for the most part, while the return journey guaranteed a buffeting from the elements with little respite. p
Old-style Westwood moves into contention
Golf Digest : Lee Westwood pardoned a previously condemned putter to storm into contention for his first European Tour title in almost four years. p

Racing

Macarthur to step up
Aidan O'Brien has already made hay in many of the classic trials so far this season but Macarthur can make the biggest impression of all in what is arguably the most important Derby trial of all at Leopardstown tomorrow. p
Finsceal tackles next leg of unique triple
Finsceal Beo will join an elite club if she can add tomorrow's French 1,000 Guineas to her Newmarket triumph just six days ago, and victory at Longchamp will also set her up for a stab at history. p
Admiral cut for Derby
Admiralofthefleet landed odds of 7 to 2 in the Dee Stakes for Aidan O'Brien and Mick Kinane at Chester yesterday. p

Other

Indifference to Cragg's time a sign of the times
ATHLETICS : There is no formal start to the track-and-field season. It can come quietly knocking or break the door down, a bit like Alistair Cragg did when setting an Irish 10,000-metre record in California two weeks ago. This was an entirely unexpected run and so passed most people by. p
Fear of breaking the cycle of trust
CYCLING/Giro d'Italia: Paddy Agnew on the circumstances surrounding Ivan Basso's role in the doping investigation 'Operacion Puerto' p
Alonso makes intentions clear as circus comes to home track
Motor Sport/Spanish Grand Prix: Fernando Alonso embraced the challenge of his home grand prix weekend in champion style yesterday by setting the fastest time in the first free practice session for tomorrow's first European round of the title chase at the Circuit de Catalunya. p
Hamilton makes big impression
Motor Sport/Spanish Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton has listened to plenty of praise for his down-home modesty and level-headedness despite a start to his rookie season in formula one that, with 22 drivers championship points from three races, borders on brilliance. p
Taylor in last-four challenge
BOXING: Irish middleweight Darren Sutherland will have to be content with a bronze medal from the Chemistry Cup senior Multi Nations in Germany after he bowed out at the semi-final stage yesterday. p
Ireland go up a level
TENNIS: Ireland won their third match in Pool A of the Europe/African Zone III Davis Cup series yesterday at the Smash Club in Cairo, writes Johnny Watterson . p
Irish success in Linz
EQUESTRIAN: Ireland have made their first break into the 2007 Nations Cup winners' enclosure, scoring at the Austrian fixture in Linz yesterday, but there was no joy in Denmark, where the Irish team failed to make the cut for the second round in Copenhagen, despite Captain Shane Carey winning both the pre-Nations Cup speed classes, writes Grania Willis . p
All-Ireland glory grand delusion for most
Sideline Cut: As the drum rolls in honour of the beginning of another football championship, so all managers must clear their throats and solemnly declare that the All-Ireland is about winning. p

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