THE staging of the Sigerson Cup semi-final this weekend in Tralee, Armagh’s McKenna Cup match with Antrim due to be played this Sunday has been postponed.
The game has been rescheduled for the Athelic Grounds Armagh on Sunday March 22 with the winners due to meet Fermanagh or Monaghan in the semi-final.
Armagh have six players in the all-Ulster Sigerson semifinal between Queen’s and UUJ with Diarmuid Marsden, Barry John O’Hagan, Enda McNultly, and Justin McNulty (Queens) facing John and Tony McEntee, who play for UUJ.
Meanwhile, three senior students from St Patrick’s, Armagh have been honoured with selection as Bank of Ireland Ulster Colleges Allstars 1998.
They are Patrick McKeever, Declan McAuley, William McSorley who all played for the Armagh County Minor team in 1997.
Armagh gaels also feature this week in the Arthurs Cup final where St Joseph’s, Crossmaglen face Holy Trinity, Cookstown, the first ever final appearance in the competition for both sides.
Crossmaglen select from four clubs in their area with Mullaghbawn supplying six players and the local club five.
Many former pupils played for Armagh with no less than eleven being on the Rangers side which won last year’s All Ireland club title.
ooooooOOOOOoooooo
THE good news and bad news continued yesterday for fiery Belfast light flyweight James Rooney – but this time in reverse.
The Star club’s 19-year-old Irish champion lost out to World ranked No 2 Daniel Petrov 13-1 in the quarter-finals of the European qualifying tournament in Halle, Germany.
Rooney’s last hope of reaching the Euro event lay in his name being drawn out of the Halle hat for a box-off for the last light fly spot in Minsk in May.
With only three 48kgs boxers weighing in for the Ukraine qualifier last October, one extra name was needed from Halle – and fortune favoured Rooney.
He was first name out followed by his box-off opponent from Estonia.
The light flyweight duo will battle it out tonight for the Belarus Euro berth.
“We are not taking one blind bit of notice about the score, it was never 13-1,” said Irish coach Anto Donnelly (Dealgan) last night.
“The main thing now is not to analyse the score but to focus on beating the Estonian and getting through to Europe.”
ooooooOOOOOoooooo
SOUTH Belfast club Bredagh may be able to stay at their Ravenhill Road site after all, according to Stephen McBride, a councillor for the area.
The Down club were given six months notice at the end of last year to vacate the premises by their landlord, the Poor Sisters of Nazareth, who intend building a nursing home on the 8q acre site.
However the religious order’s planning application was yesterday deferred for two weeks by the Belfast City Council’s planning committee. Alliance Councillor Stephen McBride said the planning committee may visit the site for themselves in the near future.
“The site should be big enough to accomodate both parties involved and I am hopeful that some arrangement can be reached,” he said. “There is a fair amount of support for that view on the planning committee, and after we have learned a little bit more about it and talked to the planners during the next two weeks, we may then visit the site for ourselves.”
Bredagh have spent an estimated £150,000 on developing the ground and dressing rooms area
ooooooOOOOOoooooo
FERMANAGH manager Pat King has named his side for Sunday’s Dr McKenna Cup game against Monaghan at Clones.
Brookeboro’s John Hanna returns to the panel after being sidelined with a serious knee injury. He will start on the bench but could figure in the game.
Fermanagh: C McAdam, P McGuiness, S Breen, P Courtney, R Curran, B King, T Callaghan, P Brewster (cpt), M Greene, D McNulty, C Curran, S Maguire, Raymond Gallagher, Rory Gallagher, M Gallagher.
Subs: Ronan Gallagher, D Teague, R McEnhill, D Campbell, D McGrath, S Quinn, N Rooney, J Hanna, M Lilly
ooooooOOOOOoooooo
JORDANSTOWN men should be pleased with their first match performance in this year’s Intervaristy basketball competition.
Their 73 to 21 point trouncing of Coleraine in the opening match clearly sends out the first signs of their quest for total dominance in this competition. Coleraine struggled through the first half only managing six points to UUJ’s 43.
Defensively UUC simply had no answer to the Polymen, and impressive personal performances from UUJ’s Ciaran Stevenson 14, Trevor Smullen 12, and Terraine Sears 11 helped seal victory which was never in any doubt.
The Queen’s men had to fight a lot harder for a victory in their first match which they secured by a seven point margin over St Patrick’s Maynooth in a 62 to 55 point struggle.
Committed and spirited performances from Maynooth’s John O’Byrne 14, and James Mooney 15 kept the pressure firmly on Queen’s who had to rely heavily on Simon McDade 12
ooooooOOOOOoooooo
ULSTER senior heavyweight king Mark O’Hare headlines tonight’s Tyrone “super show” in the Glenavon Hotel in Cookstown.
The Ballymurphy powerhouse will recommence a cut-short battle with recent adversary, hard-hitting Trevor Black from Dungannon.
It will be O’Hare’s first foray into the ring since his Ulster Hall success in December.
With a place already reserved in the provincial side heading out to compete in the King’s Cup in Bangkok in a fortnight’s time O’Hare is using the Black clash as “a warm up, a good stiff test to keep me on my toes.”
“It is just what I needed before I head off to Thailand later this month,” said the Holy Trinity champion.
“I don’t want any slip ups so close to the Bangkok trip but I feel I need the fight to really knock off the rust.”
