RUGBY UNION
The Ireland squad will train just after 10 this
morning as they gear up for Saturdays Six Nations clash with France at the
Aviva.
One player
who won't be in Maynooth is Ronan O'Gara after he was left out of Declan
Kidney's 32 man squad.
The Ireland head
coach has gone for Paddy Jackson and Ian Madigan as the back up to Jonathan
Sexton who's a major doubt for the weekend with a hamstring injury.
O'Gara is Ireland's
most capped player with 128 appearances and he's also the leading point scorer
with more than 1,000.
Blackrock College came back from 20-9 down with 10
minutes to go to defeat Cistercian College Roscrea yesterday in the Leinster
Schools Semi Finals
Sub Dane
Fitzpatrick scored a last gasp try for Rock as they dramatically won 23-20 at
Donnybrook
Longford
moved a step closer to a playoff spot in Division One B of the Leinster League
with a 37-7 win over promotion rivals Portarlington
Tullamore
ran eight tries as they demolished Newbridge ahead of receiving the 1A title on
Saturday
In 2A
Portlaoise were 55-27 winners over Mullingar, Roscrea lost to Kilkenny
Edenderry
had a 39-21 home win over Arklow in 2B
While in
Division Three the derby spoils went to Midland Warriors as they defeated West
Offaly lions 37-15, Birr were 63-3 winners over Tallaght
Buccaneers
promotion hopes suffered a setback following a 23-19 loss to Dublin Univeristy
The Trinity
students are now four points ahead of the Pirates in third
GAELIC
GAMES
Tyrone and
Kildare both made it three wins from three in Division One of the Allianz
Football League.
Tyrone beat
All Ireland champions Donegal by 1-13 to 12 points in Omagh, Kildare got the
better of Kerry by 2-8 to 12 points in Newbridge.
Ahead of
their meeting in Muillingar this weekend Laois and Westmeath both had draws in
Division Two of the Nationall Football League
Westmeath
came back from six points down at half time in Tuam to rescue a point against Galway
Midfielder
Denis Corroon scored the crucial goal in the 54th minute of the 1-10 to 0-13
draw which keeps the Lake
County top of Division
Two
Laois also
showed plenty of battling qualities on Saturday night, clawing back a five
point deficit to draw with Louth at O'Moore Park
Captain
John O'Loughlin scored 1-2 and Gary Walsh kicked six points in the 1-17 to 2-14
stalemate
WhileDerry
beat Wexford by 19 points to 10 at Wexford
Park to move up to second
place.
In Division
3, Roscommon and Wicklow drew at Dr. Hyde Park while Monaghan beat Sligo by 1-12 to 7 points in Clones.
In Division
Four Offaly suffered their second successive home defeat as Clare left
Tullamore with a 0-13 to 2-5 win
Niall
McNamee and Brian Darby scored the Faithful's goals but Mick O'Dwyer's Banner
side were able to finish strongly, kicking four of the last five points of the
game
Leitrim and
Tipperary
registered there first wins
Meanwhile Munster beat Connacht by
1-22 to 15 points to win the Interpro senior hurling final in Ennis.
There was
disappointment for St Fergal's Rathdowney in the Leinster Vocational Schools
Senior Hurling Final, they lost out to Ballyhale by 1-14 to 0-10
St Mary’s,
Edenderry’s Leinster Colleges Senior Football Final with St Pats, Navan has
been fixed for Cusack Park in Mullingar at 2pm this Saturday
LADIES
FOOTBALL
Laois
ladies footballers moved joint top of Division One of the National Football
League with a 4-9 to 2-10 win over Mayo in Stradbally
Westmeath
remain unbeaten in Division Two, they drew 1-13 to 2-10 against last year's
All-Ireland finalists Kerry at Cusack
Park
Offaly were
handed a walkover by Carlow in Division Four
Scoil
Chriost Ri, Portlaoise will face Virginia in
the All-Ireland Schools Senior C Final on Saturday week, Portlaoise were three
point winners over Connacht champions Tuam on
Saturday afternoon
CAMOGIE
In the
Leinster Under 16 C Championship Laois were 6-7 to 1-3 winners over Kildare,
Westmeath won against Carlow in the Shield
While Dublin defeated Offaly in
both the A and B championships
SOCCER
Arsenal are
in danger of missing out on a place in the Champions League for the first time
in 16 seasons after a 2-1 defeat away to Tottenham in the Premier League.
The result
leaves Arsenal seven points behind Spurs and five off fourth place Chelsea.
Tonight Manchester
City will be hoping to close the gap on
leaders Manchester United back to 12 points with a win away to Aston Villa.
Pat
Fenlon's Hibs are into the semi finals of the Scottish Cup after a 4-2 win away
to Kilmarnock.
Dundee
United beat Dundee 2-1 to book their place in
the last four.
In the
Leinster Senior League's Sunday Senior Division second from bottom Edenderry
lost 2-0 to Cherry Orchard
Tullamore Town are also second from bottom in the
Major following a 1-0 loss away to Mid Sutton Schalke
While
Portlaoise are 10 points clear in the Premier, the Laois side won 7-1 away to
Blackrock yesterday
The draw
for the Counties Cup Quarter Finals was made on The Inside Line yesterday
evening
Monksland
are set to host CK, Rosenallis play Willow
Park, Melville will be at home to the
winners of Killavilla and Longford Wanderers and its St Peters against Mullingar Athletic
Tullamore Town’s Under 19 team advanced to the
quarter finals of the LFA Under
19 Cup
following a 2-1 win over Monasterevin
In the
Senior Division there were big wins for Mullingar Athletic and Saint Paters
over Clara
Town and Gallen United respectively, and Monksland United also took
three
valuable points from their game against Arlington
with fine strikes from Cian
Duffy and
Matt Scally
In the
Billy Hyland Cup 1st round two of the more fancied sides Willow Park B and
C.K United
both fell at the first hurdle.
Willow Park lost out 2-1 in extra time to
Mullingar Town while C.K also went out
2-1 after extra time away to Birr
Town
ATHLETICS
The successful Irish team arrive back from the European
Indoors at teatime today.
It's the third time in five Championships that Ireland have won more than one
medal.
Both medal wins were in the 3000 metres - Ciarán Ó Lionaird's Saturday success
followed up by Fionnuala Britton:
GOLF
Rory McIlroy
will hold a press conference in Miami later this
week to clear up his withdrawal from the Honda Classic in Florida.
The world
number 1 walked off the course during his second round on Friday claiming he
had a toothache.
Michael
Thompson won the event in Florida
by two shots.
The
American finished up on 9 under par while Graeme McDowell was seven shots back
on 2 under which was good enough for a top 10 finish.
AMERICAN
FOOTBALL
Tullamore
Phoenix opened the new IAFL Division One season with a 6-6 draw against
Drogheda Lightening at Spollenstown yesterday
In the
other Division One match Waterford were 14-12
winners over North Kildare
Mullingar
Minotaurs have their season opener against Drogheda on April 14th while
Tullamore are away to North Kildare on April
21st
RACING
Willie Mullins has confirmed he’s set to take one of his
most powerful teams ever to next months Cheltenham Festival, and he’s keeping
his fingers crossed they all stay sound.
Mullins worked a few horses after racing at Leopardstown yesterday, and
revealed its so far so good, with only one of his intended runners now ruled
out of the trip to England.
Connections of Sizing Europe may wait until next weekend
before making a final decision as to which race he goes for at the Cheltenham
Festival.
The dual previous Cheltenham hero is in both
Queen Mother Champion Chase and Ryanair Chase.
Aidan O’Brien is set to have his first runner at the
Cheltenham Festival for more than a decade.
Shield, owned by his wife Anne Marie is set to run in the Champion Bumper, with
Champion Flat jockey, their son Joseph taking the mount.
O’Brien’s last trip to the Festival was for Istabraq’s ill fated final
appearance there in 1992.
