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Limerick embrace the romance
GAELIC GAMES: The greatest game in the world. In Croke Park yesterday, when the hurling was done and the whistle was blown, we came back to the real world only slowly. And reluctantly. Our legs were weak, our hands still trembled and our minds were drained. For a minute or two we could only shake our heads and utter oaths larded with wonder. p

Horgan begins race against time
RUGBY/World Cup Squad: Candlelit vigils will, hopefully, not be necessary for Shane Horgan in his latest race against time to return from injury. But a grade-two ligament tear, with a projected four-week recovery, is a prognosis he would have accepted on Saturday night. p

Little to bother Woods on procession to title
GOLF: On the 18th green at Southern Hills yesterday, not long after Tiger Woods had teed off in the final round of the 89th US PGA championship in what was expected to be a red-carpet coronation to his 13th major championship title, a greenkeeper produced a cameo performance that elicited one of the loudest roars of the day. Having used a hose to drench the thirsty greens, he then turned the spray on the gallery to cool them down. p

Gaelic Games

Limerick shoot out lights
All-Ireland SHC Semi-final/Limerick 5-11 Waterford 2-15: What doesn't kill you makes you stronger and any sort of a victory in yesterday's Guinness All-Ireland hurling semi-final would have positioned Waterford quite nicely for this year's All-Ireland. Instead it killed them. p
Waterford fall to a superior force
This group of Waterford hurlers' best chance of an All-Ireland appears to be gone. After losing four previous semi-finals all the evidence pointed towards 2007 finally being the breakthrough year. They came up short again. p
Colourful Bennis is fast reaching his goals
If ever one of theses fly-on-the-wall documentary makers gains access to the Limerick hurling camp, they would surely focus primarily on Richie Bennis. The award for the most colourful GAA character of 2007 is already a done deal and lord knows how much entertainment could be gained from a microphone on his lapel during a game. p
Dublin shaken but not stirred
All-Ireland SFC Quarter-final/Dublin 0-18 Derry 0-15: With 10 minutes to go in Saturday's Bank of Ireland All-Ireland football quarter-final at Croke Park the doubters might have been wavering a little. After an at times alarming contest with Derry, one of the form teams of the qualifier series, Dublin had come good at the right time and led by six points. p
Caffrey did not forget the shovels
Dublin and Derry haven't the most fabled of relationships but they each have played a key part in the other's stories. If Dublin go on to win this year's All-Ireland title they will reflect on Saturday as a day when they learned a few key lessons about themselves. p
Derry's late comeback earns semi-final place
All-Ireland MFC Quarter-final/Derry 1-8 Cork 1-7: A spirited fightback by Derry's minor footballers provided their supporters with something to celebrate at Croke Park. p
Kingdom escape to victory
Kerry 1-12 Monaghan 1-11: Afterwards, Monaghan men fell to the ground as though their world had just stopped and Kerry men had the grace to look almost embarrassed by the cruelty of their victory. This was not a good football match, but it was an extraordinary one. p
Kerry need to improve for classic clash
From a Kerry point of view yesterday's victory was far too close for comfort. They'll be very relieved to have come through, but what a lesson for them as well - knowing full well now they'll need to improve considerably if they are to beat Dublin in a fortnight's time. Monaghan, naturally, will be devastated. What an opportunity lost. The only consolation for them is that results like this can be a great character builder, and I've no doubt they'll come back an even stronger team next year. p
Roscommon celebrate
Nicky Rackard Cup/Roscommon 1-12 Armagh 0-13: Substitute Gary Fallon scored the goal which turned this Nicky Rackard Cup final in Roscommon's favour at Croke Park on Saturday. p
Tipperary on course for back-to-back titles
All-Ireland MHC Semi-final/Tipperary 1-19 Kilkenny 2-12: History will be made at Croke Park on September 2nd when Cork and Tipperary meet in the first all-Munster All-Ireland minor hurling final. Tipperary set up a repeat of the teams' Munster final clash with a four-point victory over beaten Leinster finalists Kilkenny at Croke Park yesterday. p
Tyrone into last four
Women's Football: A hat-trick of goals from full forward Gemma Begley ensured Tyrone qualified for their first ever TG4 All-Ireland SFC semi-final on Saturday thanks to a 4-7 to 0-10 win over Armagh at Cusack Park, Mullingar. p
Wexford to tackle Cork in senior decider
Camogie Championship round-up: Wexford will meet Cork in the Gala All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship Final on September 9th after two stirring semi-finals before a crowd in excess of 2,000 at Nowlan Park, Kilkenny, on Saturday. p
Ugly off-the-ball scenes from All Stars, but Popey is God
TV View: We were talking the other day about the late Jack Lynch, trying to remember exactly how many All-Ireland medals the former Taoiseach had won. p
Hurling structures crying out for reform
Locker Room: Strange summer. Most of it spent in GAA grounds feeling more shivery and sodden than a streaker at a winter league match in Ballinascreen (where lyrically Anthony Rainbow of Suncroft had once to be treated for exposure during a game between Derry and Kildare). It hasn't been a great football championship and the hurling has perked us up considerably without taking away all our worries. p

Soccer

Chelsea take risks and their chances
Chelsea 3 Birmingham City 2: It was a little harder than expected to tell the Blues from the Blues. Inside the last 10 minutes Tal Ben Haim was hoofing the ball over his own crossbar to avert a Birmingham City equaliser and such harum-scarum moments did not go down well with every Stamford Bridge regular. The television producers were soon cutting to the pensive countenance of the owner Roman Abramovich, who had his hands pressed to his face. p
Hleb snatches dramatic late winner for Arsenal
Arsenal 2 Fulham 1: Alexander Hleb snatched a dramatic late winner as Arsenal came from behind to beat Fulham at the Emirates Stadium yesterday. p
Rooney injury a painful opening
Manchester Utd 0 Reading 0: The first match of a new season is usually a time for heady anticipation but at Old Trafford it brought only anti-climax and, in the case of Wayne Rooney, a grim sense of foreboding. Rooney has a long and unhappy relationship with metatarsal injury and the England striker is reeling from the news that he has broken a foot for the third time in as many years. p
Chopra repays Keane's faith
Sunderland 1 Tottenham 0: Last month Roy Keane told Sunderland fans to be "chilled out and relaxed" when addressing their perceived lack of summer signings. He then wheeled in Michael Chopra, a £5 million buy more likely to prompt cardiac arrest than calm. p
Gerrard still the Liverpool kingpin
Aston Villa 1 Liverpool 2: Rafael Benitez talked afterwards about Liverpool needing "to do everything almost perfect" to have a chance of winning the title. It was an assessment that implies there is little margin for error this season, something that also appeared uppermost in Steven Gerrard's mind as he lined up a late free-kick here. p
Scottish League
Falkirk 1 Celtic 4: Champions Celtic surged back from a goal down to win 4-1 at Falkirk and secure their first league win of the season on Saturday. p
League of Ireland
Sligo Rovers 3 Bray Wanderers 0: "The odds were stacked against them but my players didn't roll over," said Bray manager Eddie Gormley after his side slumped to a 3-0 defeat at the Showgrounds on Saturday night. p
Top flight ditches in sea of moral fudge
On The Premier League: Richard Scudamore looked genuinely affronted when it was suggested this month that the Premier League is tarnished beyond repair. p
Planet Football
Today's other stories in brief p

Golf

Harrington simply runs out of steam
Succinct. "I ran out of steam," said The British Open champion, with no apology. Padraig Harrington, his sky-blue shirt having turned to navy with the sweat stitching it to his skin, finished the 89th US PGA Championship here yesterday with a 74 for 288, eight over. p
Southern Hills Diary
Today's other stories in brief p
Higgins leaps up Challenge rankings
CHALLENGE TOUR: A stunning final round of seven-under-par 65 that included a hole in one helped Waterville's David Higgins to a share of third place at the Scottish Challenge. p

Rugby

O'Sullivan plays his favourite numbers
World Cup squad announcement: The forwards/backs split is debatable but the coach is sticking to his guns, writes Gerry Thornley p
Pen pics
Player-by-player guide p
Murphy soars above welter of mediocrity
Scotland 31 Ireland 21: Opting to dig deep into the reserves for the third game running, Ireland duly went down to a third successive loss and first against the Scots in eight meetings. So much for the new-found strength in depth. p
Pelous, Chabal punish limited English
England 15 France 21: Ireland's World Cup pool opponents France scored a try in each half - through Fabien Pelous and Sebastien Chabal - to post a morale-boosting 21-15 win over a powerful but limited England in their World Cup warm-up at Twickenham on Saturday. p

Racing

Saoirse Abu revels in soft conditions
Aidan O'Brien described the going at the Curragh yesterday as "point-to-point ground" and it certainly proved too much for the 1 to 2 favourite Henrythenavigator who lost his unbeaten record to the complete outsider Saoirse Abu in the Group One feature. p
O'Brien's star fillies may clash
Aidan O'Brien's star filly of 2007, Peeping Fawn, could end up clashing with her 2006 double-classic winning stable companion, Alexandrova, in a potentially fascinating Yorkshire Oaks later this month. p

Other

Suspected cheats should be fair game
Letter From Australia: The memory of Michelle Smith has been evoked in Australia this past week. The issue that has drawn out her name is drugs, to which Smith is forever linked. The sport at issue is Australian football, to which Smith would have no previous link at all. p
Dravid's men to take place in history
CRICKET: Sixty years on from independence, this should be India's day of triumph, the one on which Rahul Dravid's men can take their place alongside those of Ajit Wadekar in 1971 and Kapil Dev in 1986 as the only teams from that country to come to England and win a Test series. Whether it is by a single match, thanks to that won at Trent Bridge, or by the two-match margin that was managed by Kapil's tourists, will depend on how well India's bowlers perform today and how much resilience the England batting can summon. p
Rain fails to dampen Phoenix thrills
MOTOR SPORT: The torrential downpours and mud that spoiled so many events this summer failed to damped the spirits of the large crowds who enjoyed two days of absolutely great motor racing this weekend at Phoenix Park - arguably the best in the Park for many years, reports Brian Foley. p

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