Thursday morning headlines

GOLF

Padraig Harrington appears to be in good form ahead of the opening round of the 2013 Masters.

Harrington finished on 3 under par during the traditional curtain-raiser to the opening Major of the year - a par 3 tournament played at Augusta National.

Graeme McDowell finished on 1 over par while Rory McIlroy finished on plus 5.

There were also two hole-in-ones today as Ben Crenshaw aced the 115-yard 7th while Nick Watney finished-off his round by holing-out on the ninth hole.

Today McDowell tees off at ten to three, Harrington is away at five to four, Alan Dunbar starts at ten to five and McIlroy begins at twenty to seven.

GAELIC GAMES

Westmeath are set to be without four key players for Sunday's National Hurling League Division Two A Final with Laois

Niall O'Brien, Joe Clarke, Aonghus Clarke and Tommy Gallagher have been ruled out of the O'Connor Park clash which will be live on Midlands 103

A quad injury will see young forward O'Brien on the sidelines for three weeks, Aonghus Clarke has a broken hand, Joe Clarke is recovering from a knee injury while Gallagher has a broke nose

The winners of Sunday's final will be promoted to Division One B and we'll have commentary with thanks to Eugene O'Neill Castlepollard and Laois Injury Clinic

The all Midlands Leinster Post Primary Schools Junior Football B Final between Colaiste Iosagain Portarlington and Gallen Community School Ferbane takes place today.

The two schools will face each other at 4 this afternoon in O'Connor Park Tullamore.

While Cistercian Roscrea are set to play Avondale in the Senior Football D Semis at 12.30 today.

That game will take place in Graiguecullen GAA grounds.

The Cork Under-21 footballers have claimed their third consecutive Munster title. The Rebels have beaten Tipperary by 1-17 to 9 points at Semple Stadium.

Tipperary actually led their opponents by 5 points to 4 at half-time but a second-half goal from Mark Sugrue helped Cork to power their way to an 11 point victory.

That win has helped Cork to reach this month's All Ireland semi-final against Cavan, who retained their Ulster title by beating Donegal by 13 points to 1-6 in their final in Enniskillen.

The defending champions held a commanding 7 points to 2 lead at the break and they never looked like surrendering that advantage, despite a goal from Donegal's Willie Gillespie.

SOCCER

Barcelona and Bayern Munich have booked their places in semi-finals of the Champions League. Barca survived a massive scare in their quarter-final against Paris St-Germain after falling behind to the French league leaders before recovering to claim a one all draw, which was enough for them to advance on the away goals rule.

PSG knew that they had to score to have any hope of reaching the last four and, after they had dominated the opening half, Javier Pastore's well-taken goal in the 50th minute gave them a deserved lead.

The home side responded by introducing Lionel Messi off the bench and the Argentine star played a crucial role in setting-up Pedro for Barca's equaliser, which sealed a three all draw on aggregate.

Bayern's progress into the semi-finals was less dramatic after a 2-0 win over Juventus tonight saw them cruise to a 4-0 aggregate victory. Second-half goals from Mario Mandzukic and Claudio Pizarro helped the newly-crowned German champions continue their bid for a domestic and European treble this season.

The draw for the semi finals takes place tomorrow morning

There are three Premier league sides trying to reach the Europa League semi-finals today.

Chelsea are first up with a 5 o'clock kick off in Moscow against Rubin Kazan.

The Londoners have a 3-1 advantage from the first-leg.

Newcastle must overturn the same scoreline when they host Portuguese side Benfica at 5 past 8.

Tottenham are 2-2 going into the away leg against Swiss side Basel.

They'll have to win without the injured Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon and Jermain Defoe.

Kick off is at five past 8.

Combined Counties Under 19 Division leaders Tullamore Town were 3-0 winners over Clongowes Wood at Leah Victoria Park last night

That result opens up a three point gap at the top

Edenderry Town overcame Mullingar Athletic in the Youths Cup Quarter Finals at Gainstown

UEFA say they plan to investigate the remarks made by Malaga's president following Tuesday night's controversial Champions League quarter-final defeat to Borussia Dortmund. Abdullah Bin Nasser Al Thani questioned Uefa's integrity and suggested racism was a factor in his side's dramatic defeat after the Bundesliga side scored twice in injury time to complete a 3-2 win.

UEFA are proposing tougher sanctions to try and get rid of racism in football. Under new proposals, a club would be forced to partially close the area of the ground where racial abuse has come from if it's their first offence. A second offence would see a match being played behind closed doors while the governing body is also proposing that guilty players and officials be given a minimum 10 match ban.

Liverpool have signed midfielder Lucas to a new long-term contract.

The Brazilian has made over 200 appearances for the Reds.

Portsmouth is to become a supporter-controlled club after the Portsmouth Supporters Trust and the club's former owner Balram Chainrai reached an out-of-court settlement over the ownership of Fratton Park.

The agreement was struck this afternoon just before the deadline set by a High Court judge and has paved the way for the Supporters Group to take control, having already exchanged contracts with the Portsmouth administrators, BDO.

RUGBY UNION

Jamie Roberts and Dan Lydiate are reportedly set to move to French club Racing Metro when the season ends.

The Welsh international duo have already announced their intention to leave their respective clubs - but have yet to formally announce who they'll be joining. It means that they'll be linking-up with Jonathan Sexton, who is also expected to join the Paris-based club.

Harlequins have launched an investigation into how Munster fans got their hands on so many tickets for Sunday's Heineken Cup quarter-final at The Stoop.

Munster were only allocated 4 thousand tickets for the game, but Quins have admitted that it was "obvious" to them that there were far more visiting fans in the ground and have accused some Quins fans of selling their tickets.

Tommy Bowe looks set to make his first start since last December after being named in the Ulster squad for this Friday's Pro-12 clash with the Dragons.

The Ireland winger played the last 20 minutes of Saturday's Heineken Cup quarter-final defeat to Saracens after making a quicker-than-expected recovery from a knee ligament injury.

Anscombe has decided to resh Irish internationals Andrew Trimble and Paddy Jackson for this week's game, while Luke Marshall and Johann Muller are also absent after they were injured during last weekend's game at Twickenham.

BOXING

Former world champion Steve Collins has taken another step towards making his fight against Roy Jones Jnr after being granted a boxing licence for the bout.

The 48-year-old has received medical clearance from the British Board of Control and has revealed that Jones Jnr has also agreed to the fight as they look for the financial backing to finalise the deal.

RACING

The concluding Summer Twilights Race at 20 to 8 is the feature at Limerick this evening

Irish Cesarewitch winner Voleuse De Coeurs makes a seasonal reappearance in the race with Offaly jockey Pat Smullen booked for the ride.

The going is good for the seven race card which gets underway at 25 to 5

Last night there was a double for the O'Briens at Dundalk as champion jockey Joseph steered home Master Speaker and Count Of Limonade for his father Aidan

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