GAA: CLARE booked their place in the Munster U21 hurling final after a stunning second-half performance against Waterford in last night’s
semi-final clash.
At the forefront of Clare’s performance was the unerring accuracy from long-range of wing-half forwards Bobby Duggan and Ian Galvin. Duggan tallied 13 points, seven coming from the dead ball, and Galvin also registered six points from play.
Waterford started the stronger, and with 20 minutes on the clock the Deise led 0-9 to 0-5. Clare moved up a gear to leave it 0-11 in 0-10 in Waterford’s favour at the interval, and the Banner county dominated the second half.
A clever finish by Patrick Curran in the 43rd minute put Waterford back in front 1-14 to 0-16, but the irrepressible Galvin responded immediately with yet another point. The Clare defence held out to prevent a late Waterford goal from a close-range free, and matters ended 0-23 to 1-15.
SOCCER: JOE Gormley scored with his first touch in his return to Solitude with Peterborough United in last night’s friendly match against Cliftonville.
It was the Reds’ first game after a 10-week break and they were outclassed by Dave Roberton’s men, who led 2-0 at the interval and added another four after the break to leave it 6-0 at the final whistle.
Gormley showed his renowned poacher’s instinct to score with his first meaningful action in the 49th minute, and received a standing ovation from the Cliftonville faithful when he was substituted again in injury-time.
ATHLETICS: KARA Goucher has claimed more witnesses have come forward since the Panorama documentary which made doping allegations against Mo Farah’s coach Alberto Salazar.
Goucher, coached by Salazar from 2005-2013 while she was an athlete with the Nike Oregon Project, claimed in the BBC documentary that Salazar gave her thyroid medication after the birth of her son to speed up her weight loss.
The two-time US Olympian also claimed that she saw the coach instructing Galen Rupp on how to get special dispensation to use an intravenous drip before a race.
After Salazar and Rupp both denied her allegations, Goucher responded with a statement on Wednesday in which she claims 17 other witness have come forward since the Panorama broadcast.
CRICKET: ENGLAND will make a late call on Moeen Ali’s fitness for the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, but captain Alastair Cook expects the all-rounder to be ready.
Moeen played a key role in the series opening success at Cardiff, hitting a brisk 77 in the first innings and picking up five wickets in the match.
But he felt some soreness in his side after the four-day win, raising concerns over a possible relapse of the injury that sidelined him earlier this year.
England handed Moeen a reduced training schedule yesterday, but Cook played down the issue after the Worcestershire man took a more active role in the eve-of-match net session.
“He felt his side a tiny bit after the last game and, with his previous history, the medical team were wrapping him in cotton wool,” he said yesterday.
“We’ll make a final call tomorrow but it was more precautionary yesterday.
“I don’t think it’s the same injury. It’s like always when you’ve got two games back to back, you’re a little bit careful with training. But unless he gets a reaction overnight I expect him to be in our side.”
Should Moeen (below) get the green light to play at the home of cricket England are almost certain to go in unchanged, with back-up spinner Adil Rashid and spare seamer Steven Finn again sitting out.
Meanwhile, Norman Vanua inspired Papua New Guinea to a thrilling two-wicket win over Ireland in World Twenty20 qualifying.
The bowler hit an unbeaten 28 off 10 balls, including three sixes in the penultimate over, to close the gap on Ireland at the top of Group A.
Ireland lost their 100 per cent record but remain leaders, however they are just a point ahead of second-placed Papua New Guinea following the defeat at Stormont yesterday.
William Porterfield’s unbeaten 57 was their only meaningful score as Ireland managed 123 for nine before being chased down with seven balls left.
Vanua’s knock swung the game for Papua New Guinea after they had fallen to 93 for eight and needed 30 runs from 18 balls.
Only Gary Wilson (10) and Alex Cusack (13no) reached double figures after Porterfield as the rest of Ireland’s battling attack struggled.
Kevin O’Brien continued his good form, claiming two for 11 after taking three for eight in Monday’s win over Nepal, while John Mooney also took two wickets.
But they failed to stop Vanua at the death after Assad Vala as Papua New Guinea reached 124 for eight with seven balls remaining.
