ireland.com - The Irish Times

Epic draws best from gladiators
GAELIC GAMES: Top of a blank page and Cork and Waterford were level. Half-time and nothing separated them. This dream of a game expired and when the bottom line was filled in they were still tied. We walked out into the evening sunlight thanking the blue skies for days like this and the possibilities of a replay which offers so many fresh narratives. p

Dublin avoid old rivals after drawing Derry
GAELIC GAMES: Leinster champions Dublin will play Derry, the surprise packages of this season's qualifiers, in the All-Ireland quarter-final at Croke Park on Saturday, August 11th. The winners progress to the semi-final against the winners of Kerry and Monaghan, who meet the following day, also in Croke Park. p

Keane enters the race to sign O'Donovan
SOCCER: Not a man commonly associated with swift about-turns, Roy Keane staged what was a welcome one from Roy O'Donovan's perspective yesterday when he revealed he was bidding to sign the under-21 international from Cork City. p

Gaelic Games

Waterford fully deserving of a second chance
As a hurling person I've seen many great games but the last 15 minutes in Croke Park yesterday surpasses anything I've seen in my life. And I felt it was the right result. p
Limerick back in limelight
Limerick 1-23 Clare 1-16: The lost boys of Limerick hurling are coming back into the sun. Six long years have passed since they have made any kind of impression in Croke Park and there were several summers in between when Limerick was declared the sick man of Europe. p
'They want to win something this year'
Richie Bennis leaned against a wall, his face reddened and offering a grandfatherly smile as he explained his movements in Croke Park. Forced to leave the sideline to his selector and nephew Gary Kirby while he served a suspension, the Limerick manager made an unexpected appearance behind his substitutes in the second half. p
Embattled Kilkenny find resources in the finish
Kilkenny 3-22 Galway 1-18: When the hubbub had died Ger Loughnane turned toward the team bus, where the Galway players sat stone-faced. There was a wintry feel around Croke Park on Saturday evening, suiting Galway's departure into those long weeks of reflection. p
Spirited Monaghan rise to the challenge
All-Ireland SFC Qualifiers Round Three/Monaghan 2-12 Donegal 1-7: Monaghan manager Seamus McEnaney heaped praise on his team after their convincing victory over Donegal in Omagh on Saturday earned them an appearance in the All-Ireland quarter-finals. After their disappointing defeat, Donegal manager Brian McIver stepped down after two seasons in charge. p
Fitzhenry delivers punishing strike
All-Ireland SHC Quarter-final/Wexford 3-10 Tipperary 1-14: Say what you like but Wexford are two games away from a first All-Ireland title in 11 years. That's the reality this morning but their next opponents present the biggest psychological hurdle they have ever encountered. p
Derry maintain their impressive revival
Derry 1-18 Laois 2-11: It's five weeks since Derry tamely exited the Ulster championship with a performance that looked certain to cost Paddy Crozier his post as Derry manager. p
Cork back in frame for title
All-Ireland MHC/Cork 2-19 Galway 0-8: Beaten Munster finalists Cork triumphed by 17 points to set up an All-Ireland semi-final clash with Dublin in a fortnight's time in Croke Park yesterday. Cork, with three games under their belts, were far too good for last year's beaten finalists Galway who were in their first competitive outing of the season. p
Kilkenny not tested
Kilkenny 2-31 Antrim 0-6: Kilkenny can expect an infinite step up in class when they lock horns with All-Ireland champions Tipperary in next Sunday's minor semi-final. p
Wonderful contest leaves us breathless for action replay
Cork 3-16 Waterford 3-16: Ah! A game which pushed up the heart rate and nourished the soul. A contest of epochal significance and racy controversy. A proving ground, a battle, a war. Best of all, just the first instalment of this All-Ireland quarter-final contest. p
Late free leaves a mixed flavour
Gavin Cummiskey gets reactions to a game that had everything p
Gaelic Games Round-up
Today's other stories in brief p

Soccer

Wenger plays down Dein meeting
Arsene Wenger has played down a weekend meeting with former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein yesterday. p
Tevez saga edges towards a resolution
The Carlos Tevez saga will edge closer to a conclusion today with the Premier League's chairman, Dave Richards, apparently having indicated a softer line from his organisation. p
Beckenbauer backs England
Fifa member Franz Beckenbauer believes the 2018 World Cup should be held in Europe and that England is the best candidate to host the finals. Beckenbauer, a member of Fifa's executive committee, which decides the World Cup hosts, said the quality of England's league and stadia made the country the favourites. p
Impressive Rogers keeps Derry at bay
League of Ireland Premier Division/Derry City 0 Galway Utd 0: Derry City may have showed signs of tiredness following their European travels but it was Galway United goalkeeper Gary Rogers who kept the home side at bay at the Brandywell last night. p
Soccer Shorts
Today's other stories in brief p

Golf

Romero bounces back
Argentina's Andres Romero rounded off a heady seven days by claiming his maiden European Tour title at the Players Championship on Sunday. p
Fitzgerald uses free time well
The sand dunes of Lahinch are a far cry from the madding crowd of Croke Park. Yesterday, though, Davy Fitzgerald - a two-time All-Ireland winner with Clare and a three-time hurling All Star - demonstrated he had lost none of the passion that made him one of hurling's greatest goalkeepers. Transferring his skills to golf he negotiated a route into the third round of the South of Ireland amateur championship. p
Watson survives last-hole drama to claim third title
BRITISH SENIOR OPEN : American Tom Watson won his third Senior Open Championship title with a one-shot victory at Muirfield GC - but he almost threw it away at the 72nd hole yesterday. p

Racing

Bluebyyou looks the value
Galway Festival Preview: Irish racing's richest week kicks off this evening with betting figures and attendance levels expected to breach landmark figures in the seven days ahead and a hot big-race favourite in Essex that bookmakers and punters can go to war over in classic Galway fashion. p
Fallon has Paris date to relish after Dylan's rout
Kieren Fallon may have to wait until October's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in Paris before getting back on board Dylan Thomas but judged by the Aidan O'Brien-trained colt's rout of his King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes opposition on Saturday it will be a date to look forward to. p

Other

McGettigan sets Irish record in Belgium
ATHLETICS: A record-breaking summer for Irish athletics continued at the weekend when Róisín McGettigan improved her national 3,000-metre steeplechase mark by four seconds at the Heusden Grand Prix meeting in Belgium on Saturday night. p
Beleaguered peloton puts on show for Paris
CYCLING: It is among the most stirring sights in sport, and all the scandals of the past week could not change that, at least. As the 141 survivors of the Tour de France's original field of 189 rode down the Rue de Rivoli for the first time yesterday, the eight remaining riders of the Discovery Channel team, with the yellow jersey in their midst, swung into line astern and cut a diagonal at speed across the cobbles of the Place de la Concorde. For those watching from lampposts, railings and balconies, it was poetry in motion. No one could wish to put an end to such a spectacle. p
Le Tour grips a nation Down Under
Letter From Australia: It's been an enormous week for news in sport Down Under. Early in the week, Australian Football League club Carlton, which is based in Melbourne, sacked its coach, Denis Pagan, who had coached the Blues and their nearby rival North Melbourne for a combined tally of 16 years. p
Irish riders land treble
EQUESTRIAN: Ireland's show jumpers were in cracking form over the weekend, with Jessica Kurten, Marie Burke and Shane Breen all finding their way into the winner's enclosure. p
England to batten down the hatches
CRICKET: With two days still to play, and the weather set fair, England will have to bat their breathable, fast-wicking, durable, polypropylene almond rocks off to save the second Test. Asked to score 284 even to make India bat again, they were given 16 overs in the evening sunlight on a pitch that throughout the day had played slower and with less obvious spite than in their first innings but which was already showing signs of uneven bounce. p
Eurosport trawl shows Tour chemistry is nothing new
TV View: No wonder the French have a reputation for arrogance. If we lived in a country as beautiful as La Belle, we'd be arrogant too. As the Tour de France field left the mountains during the week and started their descent toward Paris yesterday, they whirred through landscapes almost heartbreakingly gorgeous. p
Padraig offers antidote for sporting ills
Locker Room: I've often thought of imposing some sort of toll charge or tax on people who poke me in the chest and tell me my lowly vocation is less a job than a prolonged holiday, an enviable existence of assisted living and fabulous expense accounts. p
Murphy completes Dingle Bay swim
DIGEST: King of the Channel record holder Kevin Murphy has become the first person to successfully complete a solo swim across the 15-mile stretch of Dingle Bay. The Londoner completed the challenge in seven hours 46 minutes. p

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