SNOOKER: Brendan O’Donoghue from the New Institute in Nenagh toppled home favourite Joe Delaney to win snooker’s fifth senior ranking tournament hosted by Celbridge Snooker Club.
O’Donoghue had a smooth passage to the final, beating Keith Sheldrick in the quarter-finals and Mark Tuite in the semi-finals. Vincent Muldoon of Maynooth, going for his third consecutive victory, had been knocked out in the last 32 by Joe Corrigan, who went out in the next round to Ryan Cronin.
In the other side of the draw, Delaney narrowly beat top seed Rodney Goggins 4-3. The final was more clear cut with O’Donoghue leading 3-1 at the break and going on to nail victory at 4-2, with a break of 70. A few days earlier, ex-pro Muldoon had made a maximum 147 maximum break in Celbridge’s ‘Player of the Year’ event. He then went out of the competition when he lost to former Irish women’s champion Cathy Dunne in a classic black ball cliffhanger.
* Taking place in the Ivy Rooms Carlow this weekend is the EBOS European Billiards Open.
PARALYMPICS: Catherine Walsh and Francine Meehan, who had won the 3km tandem pursuit earlier in the week, finished third in the women’s match sprint at the Paracycling Track World Championships Los Angeles, USA.
Colin Lynch won the C2 3km pursuit, while James Brown and Damien Shaw were second in the 4km tandem pursuit. That means the Irish came home with four medals – two golds, a silver and a bronze and a best ever world ranking of 7th from 31 countries.
Ireland’s ranking points total for the London 2012 Paralympic Games will be known next week. This will decide the number of paracyclists that can be selected for the team.
Three table tennis places and four equestrian spots have already been nailed down for the Paralympic Games in London.
TRIATHLON: Triathlete Gavin Noble made a positive start to the new season when he finished fifth in the Bridgetown ITU Sprint Triathlon Pan American Cup in Barbados. On the 750m swim, 20km cycle, 5km run, jst 20 seconds separated Noble from the winner Daniel Unger of Germany who is the current world champion. Locally Paul Carroll and Helen White were the winners of the Sportsman Duathlon in Co Louth.
CANOEING: Slalom canoeist Eoin Rheinisch continued his build-up for London 2012 when he finished 18th Overall at the Australian Open. That followed a fifth place in New Zealand where the Dublin paddlers had been training. “I’m pretty satisfied with the result for this point in the year. I lost a lot of time in the last section of the course so I still have plenty of training to do. Thankfully there is still plenty of time for that.”
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| Eoin Rheinisch |
Rheinisch, who finished fourth at the Beijing Olympics, is aiming to qualify for London 2012 at the European Championships in Augsburg, Germany next May.
* Image copywrite Rob Love, Salmon Leap Canoe Club.
BADMINTON: After a winter of competition involving 406 teams from 72 clubs, Mount Pleasant won both the Division 1 mixed and men’s doubles at the Dublin and District League finals in Terenure Badminton Centre. In the women’s Division 1 doubles, Pembroke beat Mount Pleasant for the title.
New clubs taking titles were PBAI, Crannagh and Carlow LTC. Closest results came in the lower divisions, with Beag’s Beo only beating Roundwood for the divison 9 women’s double s by 10 points on countback, while Epworth Mens beat Beag’s Beo in men’s division 9 by 12 12 points.
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