ireland.com - The Irish Times

Mauresmo bereft of firepower
TENNIS Wimbledon Championships: Too often frustration and grievance are the emotions that accompany Amelie Mauresmo back to the locker-room after a Grand Slam defeat. p

Alinghi victorious by one second
SAILING 32nd America's Cup: Alinghi won the 32nd America's Cup yesterday, beating Team New Zealand by one second in a thrilling seventh race to take the series 5-2. p

Benitez stakes his reputation on Torres
SOCCER Transfer news: Fernando Torres is used to the weight of expectation on his shoulders. He joined Atletico Madrid, his boyhood team, at 11, rejected an offer from Real Madrid at 12, had a €3 million buy-out clause at 15, made his debut at 17, captained the club at 19 and won his first cap before he was 20. p

Cracking the Cody code is the way forward
Jack O'Connor's Column Kilkenny's system of internal struggle looks like the template for other elite counties p
Passionate supporters an extra man for Limerick
Munster SHC Final Limerick v Waterford: Gavin Cummiskey finds hurler of the month Ollie Moran fully focused on the final showdown with Waterford p
MacCarthy Cup is screaming for a rejig
Seán Moran On Gaelic Games I'm not saying I get swamped by public response to this column, but it's possible to get a good idea of what topics are exercising people by monitoring the inbox. A good few years ago, probably during the consultation and debate that preceded the introduction of the qualifiers, when the structure of competitions was topical, the response to any such columns was surprising. p
McGuire insists his team's title credentials are genuine
Connacht SFC Final Sligo v Galway The Sligo captain tells Ian O'Riordan next Sunday's game is far from a foregone conclusion p
Reale expected tostart for Limerick
Team News Limerick captain Damien Reale is set to start in Sunday's Munster hurling final against Waterford at Semple Stadium. The hugely influential defender sustained mild concussion early in the semi-final against Tipperary - which Limerick won at the third attempt - but is now on course to resume duties at right corner back. p

Byrne provides a bit extra
National League Cup Quarter-finals: Bohemians 3 Cork City 2 (AET - 2-2 after normal time) Bohemians booked their place in the semi-finals of the FAI Eircom League Cup when a dramatic extra-time header by defender Dessie Byrne earned them victory over Cork City in an enthralling quarter-final at Dalymount Park. p
Soccer Digest
Sheffield lose Sheffield United have lost their legal battle against relegation from the Premier League, even though an arbitration panel said West Ham should have been docked points over the Carlos Tevez affair. p

Tournament is left running for covers
At times, it was like counting in a squadron of Lancaster bombers as they roared back over the horizon from all directions. Crikey, I think the old man has bought one! Thank goodness, Rusty has made it! Fancy that, JC, the old blighter, who'd have ever thought? p
Sustaining form is key to success
Johnny Watterson On Tennis On Monday in Dublin, Ireland's Davis Cup player Louk Sorensen knocked Frenchman Nicolas Tourte out of the Irish Open in Fitzwilliam. Tourte is 223rd in the world rankings, so he represented a significant scalp for Sorensen, ranked 336th. p
Wimbledon Diary
Men's final extra costly Equality now exists at Wimbledon - up to a point. While the winners of the men's and women's singles finals each earn £700,000 for their two weeks' work, which brings Wimbledon into line with the other three Grand Slam events in New York, Melbourne and Paris, London still believes the men's final is worth more to tennis fans. p
Niland rallies to progress
News It proved to be a memorable day for the home support at the Shelbourne Irish Open at Fitzwilliam yesterday with Conor Niland and Peter Clarke progressing, against the odds, to the second round. Following Louk Sorensen's first-round success on Monday Ireland now have three representatives in the last 16 of the event. p

O'Sullivan steps up World Cup preparations
Rugby News round-up Coach Eddie O'Sullivan will confirm a 30-man World Cup squad on Sunday, August 12th, 24 hours after Ireland play Scotland at Murrayfield in their penultimate warm-up fixture. p
Tuqiri gets two-match suspension and fine
Australia winger Lote Tuqiri will not play again before the World Cup after being hit with a two-match suspension and a Aus$20,000 fine for another breach of team discipline. p

Murphy bemoans lack of big names
European Open The rank-and-file players on tour aren't happy. The sponsors aren't happy. The problem? No matter how much dough is piled onto the cart to be wheeled away on a Sunday evening, the tournaments in prime slots on the PGA European Tour are still not getting the fields they deserve. p
McGrane's graph climbing steadily
Last Sunday, in Paris, Damien McGrane did what no one else could manage on the tough Le Golf National course. He shot a final round of 65. It wasn't sufficient to propel him to victory in the French Open, but the Meathman went darn close. p
Golf Digest
McIlroy leads from the front: A joint best-of-the-day 67 from Rory McIlroy kept Ireland in contention after the first round of the European Amateur Team championships at Western Gailes in Scotland yesterday. p

Bolger filly has chance to enhance reputation
Racing News Allicansayis Wow, prominent in some lists for next year's 1,000 Guineas, will bid to make it two wins from as many starts in the seven-furlong Golden Fleece Stakes at Leopardstown this evening. p

Sports Digest
Twelve athletes on new scheme named Twelve of Ireland's most promising athletes will benefit from an ESB-sponsorship support scheme, details of which were announced by Athletics Ireland yesterday, writes Ian O'Riordan . p

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