IRELAND left Wales’ Triple Crown dreams in tatters as they made it seven matches and 14 years unbeaten at Cardiff Arms Park on a Wales 25 Ireland 26 scoreline.
Despite conceding one of the earliest ever Test match tries, Ireland’s raw forward power and newly-discovered discipline under coach Brian Ashton proved an irresistible combination.
Wales were sucked into a set-piece game, Irish backrow trio David Corkery, Eric Miller and Denis McBride fanatically swept up loose possession, then fly-half Eric Elwood tactically tormented Jonathan Humphreys’ team.
The reward is a Dublin showdown with England on Saturday week pitting Ashton against his Bath predecessor Jack Rowell in an intriguing battle of wits.
And the victors will be just one win from the Triple Crown which Wales so desperately coveted.
Such a scenario seemed so unlikely when Wales stormed 7-0 ahead after just 34 seconds.
Ireland took their chances through simple, effective approach work. Nothing flash, nothing risky, but enough to effectively put the contest out of reach.
Wales rallied manfully through second-half scores for Evans and Quinnell, the latter coming three minutes from time and ensuring a fraught finale as Ireland protected their undefeated Cardiff record stretching back to 1983.
But anything other than an Irish victory would have been a monumental miscarriage of justice.
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CELTIC’S title hopes are in danger of suffering a death of a thousands cuts – with a potentially lethal number of them inflicted by Dundee United at Tannadice on Saturday.
The Parkhead men, whenever they’ve looked down and out, have succeeded in doing enough to remain on the periphery where a realistic championship challenge is concerned.
However, whenever there’s been a call to take the extra step, as in the three Old Firm games and are occasions such as Saturday on Tayside, they’ve been unable to respond positively.
Since the early weeks of January Tommy Burns’ men began to regroup and string together a winning run, their trip to Tannadice loomed large as the ultimate test of their title credentials.
United are unquestionably the only genuine quality side out with the Old Firm and went into Saturday’s confrontation having recorded seven straight victories – a sequence matched by Celtic.
If that suggests the combatants at Tannadice at the weekend were evenly matched then nothing that Celtic and United served up in 90 tension filled minutes did anything to suggest the contrary.
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GAA Director General Liam Mulvihill and association President Jack Boothman have paid tribute to former GAA Director General Sean O Siochain, who died yesterday.
Mr Mulvihill said that Sean O Siochain was an inspirational figure, an icon of the GAA who was universally revered.
He added that Sean gave his whole life to the association and that he made a huge and unquantifiable contribution to its development.
Mr Boothman said that Sean O Siochain would be forever remembered as one of the great Irishmen of this century.
The GAA President stated that few had contributed as much to the association and that it was sad Sean had passed away so soon after Micheal O Hehir, another man synonymous with the GAA.
Born in Cill na Martra near Macroom in Co Cork, Sean O Siochain was 82 years old when he died.
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STAR Boxing Club officials Micky Corr and James Blakely weren’t too happy with the weekend draw for the Smithwick’s Ulster Senior Light Flyweight Division.
Why, they insisted, was their promising prospect 18-year-old Jim Rooney not given the number one seed after his recent title success at the National Intermediate Championships in Dublin?
Surely Ulster officials should have seeded him above the two other light flyweight entries at the Dockworkers Club weigh-in, Liam Cunningham (Saints) and Gerard McManus (Immaculata) the Star members reasoned. But to no avail.
The council decision stood and on Wednesday night Rooney, who sees next season’s Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur as the first step on his road to the Sydney 2000 Olympics, will tackle former UK youth champion, Liam Cunningham.
A place in the Ulster Hall showpiece finals on February 13 against The Body Snatcher McManus, a double All-Ireland title winner, awaits the victor.
The Holy Trinity Club couldn’t believe their bad luck when the light middleweight draw pitted their two top men, Eddie Fisher and Francis Webb against each other in the preliminary round tomorrow night.
Even after Ledley Hall’s Jamie Kirkbridge, a big hitting 26 year old Londoner, pulled out of the light middleweight division, preferring to face Brian Magee (Holy Trinity) in a straight middleweight final, council officials were adamant that no redraw was necessary.
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COLERAINE’S long tenure at the top of the table came to an end on Saturday.
The Bannsiders, who drew 1-1 at Glenavon, have been overtaken on goal difference by Crusaders, the Seaview club picking up three points courtesy of a 2-0 win away to Cliftonville.
Glenavon are third, four points adrift of the leading pair, and Lurgan Blues boss Nigel Best feels his team are very much in contention.
“We are still in the hunt for the title. We are not even three quarters of the way through the league programme and we are still in a position to contest the championship,” said Best, adding that losing top slot in the table could affect Coleraine psychologically.
He continued: “After an awful start in the league, we have basically come from the bottom of the table and we are pleased with what we have achieved. I think the title race will go to the last three or four matches.”
Reflecting on Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Mourneview Park, Best commented: “We were disappointed in that we played quite well for most of the match, were the better team, and deserved to win. Unfortunately we conceded a goal minutes before half time.”
