Swimming
Darragh McDonald (gold) and Bethany Firth (silver) were Ireland's first medal winners on the opening day of competition at the Paralympic Swimming World Championships in Montreal, Canada. Ireland's youngest team member Firth claimed silver in the women's 200m freestyle S14 event. The county Down girl entered the final as the second fastest qualifier in a time of 2:13.78, a personal best for the 17-year-old. She then bettered that time, taking another two seconds off to finish in 2:11.91 and claim silver, just behind Great Britain's Jessica Jane Applegate, who set a new world record in the event of 2:09.88 The Seaforde swimmer is back in action today in the 100m backstroke, an event in which she won gold at the Paralympic Games in London. Wexford's McDonald (above) blasted the field in the 400m freestyle S6 final with a comprehensive win, almost 20 seconds ahead of second place Nelson Crispin (Colombia). The Paralympic champion and new World champion led from the 100m mark and clocked a time of 5:19.23 to take gold, with Crispin finishing in 5:38.10.
Soccer
Shamrock Rovers defeated Sligo Rovers 3-2 at Tallaght Stadium to set up a repeat of last season's EA Sports Cup final. Sligo captain Gavin Peers returned to centre-back, while Aaron Greene started instead of Lee Lynch, who dropped to the bench despite a positive performance in the 2-0 win against Bray Wanderers last Saturday. Former Manchester United trialist Kieran Djilali gave the visitors the lead with just 35 seconds on the clock after sloppy defending from Powell, but goals from Karl Sheppard and Gary McCabe gave the Hoops the lead at half-time. McCabe was on the scoresheet again 25 minutes after the restart when a deflected freekick landed at his feet and he curled in a lovely shot and despite Anthony Elding setting up a dramatic finale with a neat header eight minutes from time, the Hoops progressed to the final against Drogheda United on September 21.