Friday morning headlines

GOLF

Clara's Shane Lowry has played himself into contention at the BMW Masters in China

The Portugal Masters champion shot a stunning second round of 64 this morning to move to 8 under par

Peter Hanson leads at 13 under with defending champion Rory McIlroy currently second at 11 under

“It was great,” said Lowry, who was 48th in the 78-man field after an opening 72. “A bogey free 64 is always nice and it to do it in a big tourament like this. I felt like I needed to shoot a good score, at least five under, to be somewhere up there going into the weekend.

“I was three under and cruising after nine and then made four on the spin [from the 13th] on the back nine, which was nice and I missed a couple of opportunities on the way in at 17 and 18.”

On the PGA Tour, Robert Garrigus has a two shot lead after day 2 of the CIMB Classic in Malaysia.

The American finished up on 14 under par while Tiger Woods is back on 9 under.

GAELIC GAMES

It's take two for Garrycastle and Mullingar Shamrocks at Cusack Park this Sunday afternoon 

Lorcan Smyth inspired Shamrocks came back from 9 points down to earn a draw last Sunday and manager Ray Smyth wants them to finish the job this weekend

Leinster Club footballer of the year Dessie Dolan remains a doubt for Garrycastle, the former All-Star forward has been nursing a hamstring strain and suffered a dead leg in last Sunday's Final

Garrycastle boss Paul Clancy says they need to manage his injury carefully

Sunday's replay throws in at 2.30 and we'll have commentary on the Inside Line with thanks to Ganlys 

Offaly football champions Rhode welcome St Pats of Louth to O'Connor Park in the opening round of the Leinster Championship this Sunday

The village have a full panel to pick from and manager Gerry Hickey says he was a great group of players going into the Leinster campaign

Sunday's game throws in at 2.30 and we'll have commentary on the Inside Line with thanks to Ryan's Pharamacy Rhode and Aut Even Hospital Kilkenny

Mountrath Community School defeated Naas C.B.S by 5-11 to 6-6 in the Leinster Post Primary Schools Senior B Schools hurling yesterday afternoon

Mercy Kilbeggan drew with Scoil Mhuire Clane after extra time in the North Leinster C Hurling Final

CAMOGIE

Shinrone aim to become the first Offaly club to win the Leinster Club Intermediate Camogie championship this Saturday afternoon

The south Offaly club won their first county title in four years a fortnight ago and defeated Wexford's Buffers Alley in the Leinster Semi Finals last weekend

Shinrone travel to face the Rower Instioge of Kilkenny at 2.30 tomorrow and we’ll have updates here on Midlands 103 with thanks to Scally's Centra Shinrone

SOCCER

The Airtricity League Premier Division season comes to a close tonight.

Champions Sligo Rovers will lift the trophy after their game with Shamrock Rovers at the Showgrounds.

Drogheda know a win away to Bohemians will secure second place but St. Pat's can still finish runners up if they win at home to Cork City and Drogheda slip up at Dalymount Park.

Elsewhere UCD host Shelbourne while Bray Wanderers are away to Dundalk.

Meanwhile Waterford United have a 2-0 lead over Longford Town going into the second leg of the First Division promotion playoff.

All those games kick off at 7.45.

Athlone Town's Val Feeney and Daniel Molloy will represent Leinster's Under 17s against Munster at Ferrycarrig Park at 7 O'Clock this evening

Leinster will play Connacht at 1.30 in Bunclody tomorrow and finish up against Ulster at Kilmuckridge at 11.30 on Sunday

Liverpool and Newcastle are both on course to advance to the group stages of the Europa League.

Stewart Downing scored the only goal at Anfield as Liverpool beat Anzhi of Russia 1-0 to move top of Group A.

Newcastle are top of Group D after a 1-0 win at home to Club Bruge - Gabriel Obertan scored early in the second-half.

Tottenham drew 1-1 in Slovenia with NK Maribor to make it three draws from three in Group J.

Gylfi Sigurdsson equalised for Spurs in the second half.

Celtic midfielder Victor Wanyama is on collision course with the club over a new contract.

The Kenyan has turned down an extension to his current deal which runs till 2015.

His agent is quoted as saying the 21-year old is happy in his job, but feels like he lost out on a big wage improvement in the summer when the SPL champions reportedly turned down a Premier League club.

Motherwell face Hibernian tonight in the SPL, with a win for the home side taking them third in the table.

If the visitors pick up a victory, they'll move second.

The last time this fixture was played on a Friday night back in December last year, it was abandoned at half time due to a power failure.

RUGBY

Munster and Ulster are both in Rabo Direct Pro12 action tonight.

Table toppers Ulster are away to the Dragons at 5 past 7 while Munster host Zebre at 7.45

Tommy Bowe starts at 15 for Ulster with a view to playing at full back for Ireland in the Autumn Internationals

Felix Jones has a chance to impress at 15 for Munster while Peter O'Mahony will be tried out at openside flanker

Bottom of the league Sale travel to Worcester in the English Premiership this evening, with just one point to their name.

The Sharks are still looking for their first top-flight win of the season, after losing all six league games, and they remain eight points adrift at the bottom of the table.

Meanwhile, the Warriors are ninth on eleven points.

On Saturday evening Tullamore rugby club begin their defence of the All-Ireland Junior Cup title with a home tie against Ballymoney

Tullamore go into the game in fine form ahead of the game with the Antrim side having won their first 5 games in Division One A of the Leinster League to establish a six point lead

Kick off at Spollenstown is 5.30pm

It's also a Saturday night light's game at Dubarry Park as Buccaneers host Dungannon in Division One B of the All-Ireland League

The Tyrone men, who narrowly missed out on promotion last year, did the double over Buccs last season

The Pirates have one win and one defeat so far this season while Dungannon are searching for their first win

Kick off at Dubarry Park is 7pm

We'll have updates from both games on In Play here on Midlands 103

BOXING

The world of boxing has being paying tribute to legendary trainer, Emanuel Steward who sadly passed away at the age of 68.

Steward trained a record total of 43 world champions including Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, Thomas Hearns and Wladimir Klitschko.

He also trained Irish middleweight Andy Lee throughout his professional career.

CYCLING

Ireland's top cyclist, Nicolas Roche believes that UCI President Pat McQuaid shouldn't be the only person to blame for the sport's failure to uncover the culture of doping that existed during the Lance Armstrong era.

Three time Tour de France winner Greg Le Mond is the latest former rider looking for McQuaid to step down after the US Anti-Doping Agency revealed that Armstrong had been at the centre of the biggest doping conspiracy in the history of sport.

Roche admits that McQuaid has questions to answer, but he's not sure that he's the only one

Team Sky's race coach Bobby Julich has quit the British-based team after he admitted to having taken a banned substance during his time as a professional rider in the late 90's. The American finished third overall in the 1998 Tour de France and also won a silver medal in the 2004 Olympics after Tyler Hamilton's disqualification.

In the wake of the US Postal scandal, Sky have introduced a zero-tolerance approach for all its employees.

TENNIS

Rafa Nadal's return to tennis has been postponed once again after the Spaniard withdrew from the ATP World Tour Finals in London because of his long-standing knee injury.

The 11-time Grand Slam champion hasn't played since his surprise second round defeat to Lukas Rosol at Wimbledon but is now expected to return to action at the end of December ahead of next year's Australian Open.

BASEBALL

Pablo Sandoval became just the fourth player to hit three home runs in a World Series game as he helped the San Francisco Giants to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-3 to win game one of this year's World Series.

RACING

There’s a Friday night treat for racing fans at Dundalk as Ireland’s only all-weather track plays host to an eight-race card, featuring the €40,000 Listed Mercury Stakes which is an absolute cracker. The action gets going at 6.00pm and the going is standard.

Rhode jockey Pat Smullen will try to close the 7 win gap on Joseph O’Brien as the flat jockey’s championship race enters its final straight

 There are plenty of household names in the aforementioned Mercury Stakes, which is due off at 8.00pm, and none more so than former Aussie sprinter Starspangledbanner, who is already a Group 1 winner for Aidan O’Brien.

There is a strong British challenge among the 14 runners as Kingsgate Native, Borderlescott and Liber all make the journey across the water.

 Eddie Lynam has a superb record at Dundalk and the Dunshaughlin trainer is doubly-represented in the €20,000 Foley's Antiques Naas Handicap (7.00pm) with Duff and Muck N’Brass.

The opening Irish Stallion Farms European Breeders Fund Fillies Race (6.00pm) is an interesting affair but it’s hard to get away from top-weight Colour Of Love who relishes the all-weather surface and arrives in top form.

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