ireland.com - The Irish Times

Dublin move into third gear
GAELIC GAMES: So the floor is cleared and it's time for the big dance to begin. The last of this year's provincial finals played itself out at Croke Park yesterday afternoon, and when the music stopped Dublin were still holding their Leinster football title. p

Surprise packages Derry next up for Laois
GAELIC GAMES: Defeated Leinster finalists Laois have been drawn to play championship surprise packages Derry in the All-Ireland football third round qualifier draw. The Ulster side added Mayo to their list of scalps on Saturday, they already beat Armagh in round one. p

Tiger peers talk of early ostracism
GOLF: The extraordinary story of Tiger Woods, a black American who became the most dominant player in a sport known as a bastion of social conservatism, became even more extraordinary yesterday when it emerged the world's number one golfer developed his skills as a teenager against a backdrop of harassment, some of it racially motivated, at his first club in southern California. p

Gaelic Games

Fired-up Dublin get closer to their goal
Dublin 3-14 Laois 1-14: Dublin were, judging by some of the players' unsavoury crowing, happy to clock up provincial title number 47 yesterday but it's a long time since that was the measure of a good season for the county. p
Whelan points way for improving Dubs
Leinster SFC Final: Another big day for this Dublin team. And, it must be noted, they are improving. Physically, they are ahead of everyone, including the All-Ireland champions. p
Caffrey delivers controlled performance
We have a little game in the press box where we spread bet on how long Paul "Pillar" Caffrey's post-match press conference will last. All the smart money always clusters around the 90-second mark. Shows what we know! Yesterday in the wake of a happy three-in-a-row Pillar forgot himself entirely and yakked on for three minutes and 51 seconds. p
Minors provide solace for Laois
Leinster MFC Final/Laois 3-8 Carlow 1-12: Carlow may yet have a say in the All-Ireland minor football championship. Utterly outplayed in what seemed destined to be a cruel second visit to Croke Park, they worked hard to recover from a nine-point interval deficit to enter injury-time needing a goal to claim their first Leinster title. Alas, it never came as Laois pulled 14 players behind the ball as they resisted Carlow's last brave assault. p
Gilligan and Clare lack edge
Clare 2-14 Laois 1-11: Clare completed their championship qualifiers with a less than impressive win over a gritty Laois at Portlaoise on Saturday. p
Cavanagh needed to quell the revolution
Ulster SFC Final /Tyrone 1-15 Monaghan 1-13: Romantic tales of upheaval arrive like meteorites in the football championship. One hits and that's it for decades. Yet how close this came to being the second one within a week. The mighty beware - this could still be meteorite season. p
Harte glad of win but looking at road ahead
Such was the composure of Mickey Harte, in the aftermath of Tyrone's latest Ulster football triumph, he happily delivered his typically insightful analysis just as Brian Dooher was delivering his winning acceptance speech. Perhaps it was something of a giveaway, that Harte has his eyes on a bigger prize. p
Depleted Louth lifted by show of character
All-Ireland SFC Qualifier Round Two/Louth 1-16 Kildare 1-10: Louth came to Newbridge minus seven of their championship panel and eked out an even more convincing win than their victory over Limerick last week. p
Tipperary summer suddenly looks fine
All-Ireland SHC Qualifiers Round Three/Tipperary 2-16 Cork 1-18: Tipperary hurling needed this. When the consequences of defeat are this heavy it comes down to enthusiasm for the fight. Cork must now rediscover primary form to deal with the Munster champions, Waterford, in the All-Ireland quarter-finals. Tipp's reward for this fine display is Wexford next weekend, probably in Croke Park. It will be their seventh championship game in as many weeks but they ain't complaining. p
Donegal put season back on track
Donegal 1-13 Westmeath 1-8: Two mantras dominated the chat in the Donegal dressingroom at Cusack Park, Mullingar, after this second-round qualifier on Saturday evening: "Recovery" and "Back on track." p
So easy for Offaly
Offaly 2-25 Dublin 2-13: With both Offaly and Dublin having lost to Cork and Tipperary in the earlier qualifying rounds of the senior hurling championship, avoiding the wooden spoon was the only incentive when they clashed in the third round at O'Connor Park on Saturday. p
Resurgent Derry impress again
Derry 2-13 Mayo 1-6: John O'Mahony might have suspected he was going to have to overhaul his Mayo side if they are to ever set foot in the promised land and on Saturday night at Celtic Park he had those suspicions confirmed. p
Galway slow to start, quick to finish
Galway 2-31 Antrim 1-9: Galway manager Ger Loughnane wants his side's All-Ireland clash with champions Kilkenny to be played at Croke Park next Sunday and says to play it elsewhere would be "outrageous". p
Appeal likely as disputed point makes the difference
Ulster MFC Final/Tyrone 0-10 Derry 1-6: Derry are to lodge an appeal over a controversial point that ostensibly denied their minor team a draw in the Ulster Championship final at Clones. p
Meath make up for shortcomings of recent past
Meath 0-11 Fermanagh 0-9: While Meath advanced to the last 12 of the All-Ireland football championship for the first time since 2002, the Páirc Tailteann tussle marked the end of the road for Fermanagh manager Charlie Mulgrew as he stepped down after four years in the position. p

Soccer

Ballack no longer big gun for Mourinho
Jose Mourinho has followed up public confirmation that his rift with the Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is repaired by suggesting that one of the club's most eye-catching signings, Michael Ballack, will no longer be considered "untouchable" when the season begins next month. p
Glynn's strike rescues Galway
Sligo Rovers 1 Galway United 1: Derek Glynn gave Galway United something to cheer about with a deserved late strike in this lacklustre Premier Division game at The Showgrounds on Saturday night. Glynn's 85th-minute equaliser came after an Alan Murphy piledriver was blocked as Galway bombarded the home goal. p
St Patrick's keep up pressure at the top
St Patrick's Athletic 4 Longford Town 2: Having scored in his first competitive start for the hosts and done enough to suggest he has the ability to make a real impact at Richmond Park, Michael Keane mentioned after this win it was the family nature of St Patrick's Athletic that had played a key part in persuading him his future lay in Inchicore. p
Rovers aiming to close the gap
Shamrock Rovers v UCD: Shamrock Rovers will look to close the gap on the league's top two this evening when they take on UCD at Tolka Park where they will be hoping to improve on the scoreless draw achieved at Belfield on the first weekend of the season. p
Cork pay price for not keeping possession
Hammarby (Sweden) 1 Cork City 0: Cork City manager Damien Richardson insisted a lack of composure in possession contributed to his side's exit from the Intertoto Cup at the second-round stage on Saturday. He was deeply frustrated at the 2-1 aggregate defeat by the Swedish side as he believed this second leg defeat had been avoidable. p
Socceroos begin to look out of place in Asian Cup
Letter From Australia: The general feeling among Australia soccer fans before this month's Asian Cup was that the Socceroos, as Australia's national team is unfortunately known, would win or go close to winning. Either way, the tournament would prove a useful tool in building towards the 2010 World Cup. p
Soccer Shorts
Today's other stories in brief p

Racing

Fallon sidelined after Paris incident
The Oaks-winning Ballydoyle team face an anxious wait to find out when their number one jockey, Kieren Fallon, can return to action after the incident at Longchamp on Saturday evening that resulted in his absence from the Curragh yesterday. p
Peeping Fawn shows her class
Curragh Report: Peeping Fawn took revenge on her Epsom conqueror Light Shift in some style in yesterday's Darley Irish Oaks at the Curragh and she did so despite circumstances appearing to conspire against her beforehand. p

Rugby

Late All Blacks surge sets up Australian finale
New Zealand 33 South Africa 6: New Zealand scored 21 points in the final 11 minutes to beat a dogged South Africa side 33-6 in the Tri-Nations on Saturday. p

Golf

Havret in vintage mood
It did not look a fair fight - world number three against world number 320. But it was the rank outsider Gregory Havret who pulled off a remarkable play-off victory over the US star Phil Mickelson in the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond yesterday. p
Harrington gets lift-off in the end
The whirr of the rotors betrayed its approach before the helicopter became visible on the Wicklow skyline. The din was deafening as it came to rest in a field adjoining The European Club. At that moment the intended passenger, Padraig Harrington, was in the throes of a duel with the Headfort professional Brendan McGovern. p
Byrd's late charge is rewarded
USPGA TOUR : Jonathan Byrd, who has missed eight cuts and whose best finish was tied ninth at the AT&T Classic, came from behind to win the John Deere Classic at the Deere Run, Silvis, Illinois, yesterday. p
'Jungle boy' peerless in Open country
Locker Room: A few years ago a nice man with an American accent (okay, a nice American man) called me and asked how I would feel about writing a big piece on Bobby Locke. Because the man worked for an American magazine I said, why, sure, I'd love to. He said, that's great, I think he's a real interesting story, don't you? I said, he sure is. p

Other

Rasmussen makes move
CYCLING/Tour de France: It is nine years since a pure grimpeur led the Tour de France and yesterday the stick-thin Dane Michael Rasmussen made a classic long-range mountain man's move through the Alps to succeed the last pure climber to wear the yellow jersey, the Italian Marco Pantani - although given the Pirate's disgrace and untimely demise it is not certain if that is an honour or not. p
Belfast next up as Duddy puts stop to Furlan's bid
BOXING: Having delivered the win he promised in his first professional fight in Ireland, John Duddy hopes to go closer to home next and fill the King's Hall in Belfast on September 1st, one week after super-bantamweight Bernard Dunne defends his European title for the third time at the Point. p
Botha back to provide the drive
CRICKET/Quadrangular Series Quadrangular Tournament: Ireland beat Scotland by 23 runs at Stormont yesterday to finish second overall in the Quadrangular Series. p
Whistlin' Dixie finishes in style
SAILING/Dun Laoghaire Regatta: The Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta ended yesterday in light but sailable airs that brought Ted Keelan's Whistlin' Dixie a sixth consecutive win in Class Three. His class numbered 38 boats, the second largest of the 522-strong fleet next to the Laser SB3 sportsboats, and the Royal St George Yacht Club sailor also picked up the ECHO trophy for his class. p
Jahrling on the defensive as Irish fail to find success
ROWING/World Cup Regatta: "There's no point going around with our heads down. There's nobody hung yet," quipped Seán Casey of the Ireland heavyweight four. This World Cup had not yielded a single Irish placing in an A final - the four finished 10th overall - but the big Kerryman, like most of the other athletes, had switched focus to the World Championships in Munich next month, where the lion's share of Olympic qualification places will be nailed down. p
Jimmy's ears pop as Brush ploughs through The Fields
TV View: We were listening to Alastair Campbell last week complaining about the impact 24-hour rolling news has had on the media, in an interview to promote his diary with the 24-hour rolling news channel Sky News, who showed rolling snatches of the promotional interview for most of the next 24 hours. p
Hession sets Irish record in 200 metres
ATHLETICS : Paul Hession continued his great sprinting form this summer when he smashed the Irish 200 metres record at the British Grand Prix meeting in Sheffield yesterday, writes Ian O'Riordan. p

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