ireland.com - The Irish Times

Mourinho dogged by more squabbles
Soccer/ News : They are putting the finishing touches to new, beautiful, bronze headquarters at Chelsea's training ground but yesterday Jose Mourinho conducted his press relations inside a much older building a hundred yards away. p

Irish hopes take a pounding
European Under-19 Championship Elite qualifying phase/ Republic of Ireland 0 Germany 1 : Ireland's hopes of earning a place at this summer's European Youth Championships were severely dented at Dalymount Park, where, despite dominating their second qualifying game of the week, they lost to a deeply controversial first-half penalty. p

Phillips keeps Albion focused on goal
English Championship Play-off semi-final/ West Brom 1 Wolves 0 : West Bromwich Albion's intoxicating yet often self-defeating brand of football paid off handsomely last night as they booked their place in the Championship play-off final. p

Spot-on Sevilla enjoy second helping
Uefa Cup Final/ Espanyol 2 Sevilla 2: Sevilla, having crushed Middlesbrough a year ago, raised the Uefa Cup once more in Glasgow following a dramatic 3-1 penalty shoot-out win over 10-man Espanyol at Hampden Park. p
Rude stand-off over Gullit
In a season which has seen Jose Mourinho lock horns with his reclusive Russian boss, fall out with his £30-million striker and make outlandish criticism of his opponents, it seemed the only thing missing was a shaggy-dog farce. p
Mathews devastated
Soccer Digest : Longford Town manager Alan Mathews is devastated but not entirely surprised by the news his club have been docked six points for failing to provide the financial information required of them by the FAI's Licensing Committee, writes Emmet Malone . p

Meath opt to leave Geraghty in reserve
Championship 2007 : Graham Geraghty, the 1999 All-Ireland-winning captain and Fine Gael candidate for next week's general election, has been named among the replacements for Meath's opening Leinster football championship match against Kildare in Croke Park this Sunday. p
Planning to put one over on the neighbours - for a change
Gavin Cummiskey hears from Galway's Micheál Meehan about his team's recent hot streak and weekend prospects. p
Laois on course for underage double
Leinster MFC First-round replay/ Laois 2-12 Dublin 1-3: This Leinster minor football championship replay ended in disappointment for Dublin as they were overwhelmed by Laois at O'Moore Park, Portlaoise, last night. p
Down, Dublin teams to compete in Rackard
News: The GAA confirmed yesterday that second teams from Down and Dublin would compete in the Nicky Rackard Cup in 2008. p

Tigers don't frighten this Wasp
Interview with Eoin Reddan: Johnny Watterson talks to a man likely to be a key figure not only for Wasps next Sunday but also for Ireland in the next few months. p

Hero at home with the pressure
Irish Open: So, this is what it is like to be a wanted man, to be Europe's top golfer. Kerching! Bank of Ireland come in as your latest blue-chip sponsor (prominently placed over the heart, please note); every child and mammy outside the ropes wants a photograph, or two; and grown men - pretending it's for the grandchild - queue up to get your signature. No pressure, really. p
Nothing will faze Bjorn
Thomas Bjorn is accustomed to adversity on the golf course, a well-chronicled catalogue of misfortune enough to break the resolve of lesser men. p
Keen student just getting into swing of things
John O'Sullivan watched a rugby legend, Paul O'Connell, tackling the might of Adare Manor in yesterday's Pro-Am. p
Blame it on McGinley
Irish Open Diary: Down by the new tee box on the eighth, there is a lovely stone plaque - "McGinley's Tee," it says - recognising that it was the idea of Europe's Ryder Cup star Paul McGinley to move the tee back to make it a hole capable of putting the fear of god into the most hardened of tour professionals. p

Impressive Four Sins may be kept closer to home
Report from Naas : Four Sins put herself into the Oaks picture with an impressive Group Three-winning display at Naas last night but whether that Oaks will be at Epsom is not certain. p

Roche hopes take tumble
Cycling/ Giro d'Italia stage four: Nicolas Roche was one of several riders who crashed on yesterday's fourth stage of the Tour of Italy, and ended up losing time as a result. p
Desafio notch up first win
Sailing/ America's Cup: The Spanish contenders Desafio Espanol notched up their first win over Emirates Team New Zealand to close the gap to 2-1 in their Louis Vuitton Cup semi-final at Valencia yesterday. In the second best-of-nine semi, the Italian syndicate Luna Rossa held off BMW Oracle to move 2-1 up. p
Rash of sobriety is all about liability
America at Large : In an episode recounted in Christopher Lehmann-Haupt's book Me and DiMaggio , a group of us were clustered about the locker of the Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Kent Tekulve after a 1979 World Series game when our mutual friend, the late Jack McLain, leaned back against an adjacent locker and accidentally toppled an open can of beer off a shelf, writes George Kimball . p
Cup tickets on stream
Sports Digest/ RUGBY : The organising committee of Rugby World Cup 2007 in France has released over 100,000 additional tickets for general sale to the public, reports Johnny Watterson . p

Sections