Monday morning sports headlines

GAELIC GAMES

Offaly have secured promotion to Division Three of the National Football League

A brace of goals from captain Niall McNamee helped the Faithful defeat Tipperary yesterday by 2-10 to 1-8, a victory that sets up a Division Four Final with Limerick

James Kielt converted penalties in either half as Derry defeated an under strength Westmeath team by 2-17 to 1-5 yesterday

The win sees Derry join Westmeath in the Division Two Final at the end of the month

Laois condemned Wexford to a place in Division Three next term, Justin McNulty's side were 0-14 to 1-8 winners at Wexford Park

Laois had led by 0-11 to 0-2 at half time

Donegal boss Jim McGuinness says being relegated to Division Two will make no difference to them in the long term.

The All Ireland champions went down following a draw at home to Dublin yesterday in Ballybofey, 1-10 to 13 points the final score.

The Dubs will meet Mayo while Tyrone will face Kildare in the league semi finals on April 14th while the Division Two final will see Derry meet Westmeath on April 28th.

The Division Three and Four finals between Meath and Monaghan and Limerick and Offally take place on April 27th, all four of those teams have already guaranteed promotion.

Donegal and Down have been relegated from Division one, Wexford and Longford drop from Division Two while Antrim and Wicklow have gone down to Division Four.

St Fergal's Rathdowney have won the final ever All-Ireland Vocational Schools Hurling title

The Laois school came from 9 points down to win by 2-10 to 0-13 against Naomh Bhrid Loughrea at Semple Stadium

Gallen Community School secured the All-Ireland Vocational Schools Junior Football Title with a 3-11 to 2-4 win over Warrenpoint at Cusack Park

LADIES FOOTBALL

Cork and Laois will meet in the semi finals of Division One of the National Ladies Football League

Cork bounced back from their recent loss to Laois by registering a 40 point victory over Donegal, Laois lost their final group game by 3-16 to 2-13 against Meath

Westmeath face Galway in the Division Two Semi Finals, the Lake County suffered a seven goal loss to Clare yesterday

Offaly lost their final game of the campaign against Limerick on Saturday but had already secured a Division Four Semi against Antrim  

CAMOGIE

Laois will play the winners of the playoff between Roscommon and Armagh in the semi finals of Division Three of the National Camogie League

The O'Moores lost out to group winners Dublin by 0-14 to 0-7 at Rathdowney yesterday 

Westmeath finished bottom following a 3-5 to 2-7 defeat to Armagh, Denise McGrath and Laura Thompson scored the Westmeath goals

Offaly ended up second from bottom in Group One of Division One

Elaine Dermody scored nine points in the Faithful's total in their 2-13 to 0-10 loss to Kilkenny

HANDBALL

Laois' Niamh Dunne is the All-Ireland Under 17 handball champion

The Cullohill player overcame Limerick's Niamh Foyle in Saturday's Final at the O'Loughlin's Club in Kilkenny

GOLF

Offaly's Shane Lowry finished 15th at the Texas Open last night

The Clara man shot a final round 70 to move to four under par

Scotland's Martin Laird shot a course record final round 63 to win the event, he claimed a cheque for over 1 million dollars and booked his place at the Masters

Rory McIlroy was second with Padraig Harrington in a tie for 10^th

RUGBY UNION

Munster advanced to a record equalling 10th Heineken Cup semi-final with an 18-12 win over Harlequins at the Twickenham Stoop.

Quins led by 9 points to 6 at half time but Munster dominated the second half to seal a place in the last four against Clermont Auvergne.

Ronan O'Gara kicked six penalties for the two time winners with four of them coming in the second half.

Toulon beat Leicester 21-15 to set up a last four meeting with Saracens, Ulster lost 27-16 to Premiership leaders Saracens on Saturday night

Leinster will welcome Biarritz to the RDS in the semi finals of the Challenge Cup

The Blues won 48-28 away to Wasps on Friday night

Mullingar’s Mark Flanagan played for Leinster A in the second row as they beat Bristol 30-26 in the quarter finals of the British and Irish Cup

Tullamore are within touching distance of All-Ireland League rugby following Saturday's bonus point 33-22 win over Richmond at Spollenstown

Tullamore travel to Monivea on Saturday knowing a victory will secure All-Ireland rugby for next season

Birr are set to play in Division Two B of the Leinster League next season, they beat Swords 31-19 in yesterday's playoff

The Midland Warriors and Portlaoise both advanced in the 2nds Plate

Alex Hayman scored a brace of tries and Kolo Kirpati, Martin Staunton, James Tormey, Luke Satchwell also went over the whitewash in Buccaneers 39-22 win against Belfast Harlequins at Dubarry Park

Buccs remain fourth in the table but are now eight points behind UCD and Trinity

SOCCER

Manchester United can move a gigantic step closer to regaining the Premier League title tonight.

A win at home to second-placed Manchester City would leave them 18 points clear of their neighbours with 7 games remaining.

Kick off is 8pm

Chelsea are back up to third place in the Premier League thanks to a 2-1 win over Sunderland at Stamford Bridge.

Paolo Di Canio's side went in 1-0 up at half time courtesy of a Cesar Azpilicueta own goal.

Matt Kilgallon scored an own goal after the break while Branislav Ivanovic put Chelsea ahead.

It finished 2-2 between Tottenham and Everton at White Hart Lane.

Emmanuel Adebayor gave Spurs the lead in the first minute but Phil Jagielka equalised for Everton after 15 minutes.

Kevin Mirallas put Everton ahead but Gylfi Sigurdsson levelled it for Spurs late on.

Newcastle moved away from the relegation zone with a 1-0 win at home to Fulham - Papiss Cisse scored a late winner.

Liverpool and West Ham finished scoreless at Anfield

Wigan remain in the relegation zone but only on goal difference after a 1-1 draw with QPR at Loftus Road.

Loic Remy gave 10 man QPR the lead five minutes from time but Shaun Maloney equalised for Wigan in injury time.

Bobby Zamora was sent off in the first half.

Athlone Town have lost their first league game of the season

Former Town player David Breen scored the winner as Waterford got a 1-0 result at the RSC on Friday

The draw was made for the Counties Cup Semi Finals on the Inside Line yesterday evening

Premier Division side CK await the winners of the quarter final between Willow Park and Rosenallis while the other last four tie is an all Senior Division affair between Killavilla and Mullingar Athletic

Willow Park are also into the Cotter Cup Semis following a 7-1 win over Stradbally

Boro Celtic were crowned Division One Saturday champions, Mullingar Athletic won the Women's Cup Final 1-0 against Killeigh while Melville and Portlaoise are set to meet in the Counties Shield Final

Tullamore Town moved out of the bottom two in the Leinster Senior League's Sunday Major with a 5-1 win over Parkvale

Portlaoise's 2-1 win away to Alpine Express moved them 20 points clear at the top of the Sunday Premier Division

GREYHOUNDS

There was a dead heat in a thrilling final of the GAIN Feeds Cesarewitch at Mullingar Greyhound Stadium last night

Ringtown Snowy and Gizmo Classic were declared joint winners of the big race

ATHLETICS

Former Olympian Pauline Curley won the women's race at the Athlone IT 5k yesterday

The Tullamore Harriers athlete was first home in 17 minutes 58 seconds

AIT scholarship recepient Vincent Connelly from Mullingar Harriers took the men's race while Athlone Tri Club member Brian Fogarty was second

Offaly Sports Partnership Co-Ordinator Eamon Sweeney won the Masters category and was third overall

BADMINTON

Wexford defeated Westmeath 4-3 in the Leinster Grade 5 Badminton Final yesterday

Earlier Westmeath lost out to Wicklow in the Grade 4 Semi Finals

RACING

Grand National-winning jockey Ryan Mania hopes to leave hospital later after a precautionary MRI scan after falling from his horse at Hexham yesterday.

He was taken by air ambulance to hospital in Newcastle with neck and back injuries.

He's tweeted to say despite what's happened he's feeling "grand".

Gowran Park will play host to the first of two days racing on Monday afternoon with a seven-race Flat card beginning at 2pm. 

Dermot Weld and Rhode’s Pat Smullen team up with likely favourite Stuccodor in the €10,000 Bennetsbridge Rated Race at five to four as the four-year-old chases a hat-trick.

He faces four opponents including the the Kevin Prendergast-trained Qasser who also won last time. 

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