Irish Sporting Eye

Ireland’s Dan Martin has won a thrilling stage 6 of the Tour de France after a gruelling 181km ride. It was Martin’s second stage win in the tour after also wining a stage in 2013. The 31 year-old was rewarded for his courageous approach and he made his move on the last climb of the Mur de Bretagne. "I felt really good yesterday and that was a really good sign for today. I felt comfortable," he said. "It's great to get a win after so many second places since the last one.” "I was afraid of the crosswinds and maybe it was adrenaline but the legs were there and it all worked out. There were a lot of contenders in that group so I was glad to hang on." There was a slight split in the peloton behind, with Mitchelton-Scott's Adam Yates part of a group that picked up a couple of seconds on the main pack, which contained Team Sky's Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas, Movistar's Nairo Quintana and Mikel Landa, and BMC's Richie Porte. But the...

On the day that the media got their first opportunity to catch up with new Head Coach Andy Friend, at the Balina Rugby clubs summer camp, Connacht Ruby announced the signing of Australian back-row Colby Fainga’a from the Melbourne Rebels. Fainga’a 27, has spent the last eight years playing Super Rugby, for both the Brumbies and the Rebels. He has worked with Andy Friend previously, during Friend’s time as Head Coach of the Brumbies in 2010.  In his first season with the Rebels Fainga’a was awarded the highest honour in the club when he was named the Players’ Player of the year.  This achievement was followed by his appointment as co-captain of the Melbourne Rising side in 2015. The versatile back row has gone on to make 100 Super Rugby appearances, the latest coming in the Rebels clash with the Reds last weekend. Fainga’a has also played at international level, captaining the Australian Under 20 side in 2011, making 7 appearances that season. Connacht Head Coach Andy...

By Gerard Mulreaney ( @gerardmulreaney )  The Munster Reds headed to Pembroke Cricket Club at the weekend, to the inaugural Haley Energy T20 Festival of Cricket, as the only team not to win a game in the competition.  Having lost heavily to the Leinster Lightning in their opening game of the season, the Reds lost a close game to the North West Warriors, before losing to the Northern Knights by 39 runs.  On Friday the Reds faced the Warriors and after they set them a target of 162, 19 year-old Stephen Doheny steeped up with a career best effort of 64 off 43 balls. He was ably assisted by Robert Forrest who scored 36, as Munster ran out winners by 6 wickets. It was the teams first ever victory at the highest level in Ireland, with the Reds having only been formed in 2017. Unsurprisingly, after the euphoria of the win the day previously, they followed that up with a defeat to the Knights on Saturday. However, with the Lightning having been crowned champ...

It was confirmed today that Irish-qualified out-half Billy Burns will leave English Premiership side Gloucester and join Ulster Rugby on a two-year contract, after he was released from the final year of his deal with Gloucester. Burns is a product of the Gloucester Rugby Academy and made his Gloucester debut as a 17-year-old in an LV= Cup fixture at London Irish in 2012, before making his Aviva Premiership bow against Worcester Warriors in 2014. The 24-year-old has made over 100 senior appearances for the Cherry and Whites, with his 100th appearance coming in the European Rugby Challenge Cup Final against the Cardiff Blues in May. He played 29 times last season, including 24 starts. Billy was extremely thankful to his former Club for allowing him the opportunity to move to Ulster. He said, “This is a great opportunity for me to take the next step in my career and I’m very grateful to Gloucester for supporting me in this decision. The Ulster squad is brimming with establi...

What a weekend for Irish Athletics in Gyor! The team return home today from Hungary after a successful time at the U-18 European Championships, claiming 3 Golds and a Silver.  The star of the show was undoubtedly Sarah Healy, as she claimed Gold in both the 1500m and the 3000m. In doing so, the 17 year-old set Championship records in both events to cement her place as the best young middle-distance runner in Europe.  She decimated the field in the 3000m final on Friday before lining up in the 1500m final on Sunday. She  led the field at the bell before storming clear in the final 300m to win in style.  Also winning a Gold medal was Rhasidat Adeleke, in the 200m. She blitzed the bend and gave her rivals a clean pair of heels as she won Gold in a time of 23.52, which was a personal best, no better place to do that than here.  Adeleke said, “I just can’t believe it, it’s just so surreal. I just tried my best to keep my form, because I know when I’m under pr...

© ICC Business Corporation FZ LLC 2018 Clare Shillington recently announced that she would retire from cricket at the end of the ICC World T20 in the West Indies, should Ireland get there, and she’s saying her goodbye in style this week in the Netherlands. Following yesterday’s Player of the match performance, when she scored 38 runs en route to a victory over Thailand, Shillington again performed exceptionally well with the bat scoring 47 off 39 balls as Ireland beat Scotland by 9 wickets. Scotland, who had a comfortable victory over Uganda yesterday, were expected to make it a tough test for this Irish team. However, Ireland’s bowlers Isobel Joyce and Lisa O’Reilly were in fine form from the off, restricting the Scots to only 26 runs after just 8 overs.  18 year-old Sarah Bryce was the only positive for the Scots, posting a career best T20 score of 49 off 55 balls, as they could only manage 98/2 for their 20 overs. Ireland, for who 17 year-old Gaby Lewis gained her 50th c...

Paul Dunne, who finished down in 40th place in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, had what he called a frustrating week despite the overwhelming support he and all the Irish players got this week in Ballyliffin.  Following rounds of 73, 72, 72 and 71 Dunne said the inconsistency in finding fairways didn’t help his cause this week. Dunne said, “I just couldn’t get it in the fairway enough to have consistent chances to attack flags. I got it under par early, had a few chances to get a bit more under, didn't take them, get a couple of bad breaks and all of a sudden you're back to square one. The overall feeling would be slight frustration for the week. I felt like I played better than 50th place or whatever level par is. Just one of those things. I couldn't get anything going for the week.” The Irish Open is well renowned for huge crowds attending the event and Dunne couldn’t praise them enough. He said, “I can't remember the last time I had a thousand people watching me ...

© ICC Business Corporation FZ LLC 2018 Ireland kicked off their World T20 qualifying campaign with a 7-wicket victory over Thailand in Utrecht. Ireland elected to Bowl first, and that decision was justified with the very first ball when Nattakan Chantam fell to the bowling of Isobel Joyce to her sister Cecelia.  Thailand were restricted to just 92 runs in their innings with only Nattaya Boochatham showing any resistance, as she made 41 off 50 balls, including 6 fours. 18 year-old Lucy O’Reilly took 3 wickets while Isobel Joyce took 2 wickets for the loss of only 12 runs. In reply, Ireland only needed just over 16 overs to claim victory. Clare Shillington top scored with a superb 38, while captain Laura Delany and Isobel Joyce partnered up for 29 to guide the Irish home. Sornnarin Tippoch was the best of the Thai bowlers as she took 3 wickets, that of Shillington, Cecelia Joyce and Gaby Lewis.  Player of the game Clare Shillington said afterwards, “Obviously we’re ...