Sports Digest: Cameron Hanley got off to a winning start at the German fixture in Donaueschingen yesterday, scoring in the feature small tour jump-off class, writes Grania Willis.
The Mayo rider was one of 12 through against the clock, and his time of 31.41 seconds with SIEC Royal Star put him out in front of Germany's Carsten-Otto Nagel by 0.3 of a second for the win.
Jessica Hanley just missed the cut for the timed round with a first-round four faults on Galopin du Biolay for 14th place.
Over at the European Championships in Italy, Ireland are in eighth place but, more importantly, just 17.3 points off an Olympic qualifying slot going into today's cross country.
Austin O'Connor is best placed of the Irish trio in 26th after scoring a mark of 49 penalties with Hobby du Mee, while Louise Lyons scored a personal best with Watership Down to share 41st place. Sally Corscadden is on 54.8.
The three-person team has no discard score, but the combined marks leave Ireland on 159.6 penalties, 17.3 adrift of fourth-placed Belgium, currently holding one of the Olympic places behind the French, who also need to book their ticket for Hong Kong.
Germany's Bettina Hoy is leading the individual standings to keep the Germans ahead in the teams by just over 13 marks from the British.
CYCLING: Andreas Klier (T-Mobile) beat breakaway companions Tom Stamsnijder (Gerolsteiner) and Jérémy Roy (Française des Jeux) to win yesterday's 13th stage of the Vuelta a España in Torre Pacheco, writes Shane Stokes.
Irish rider Philip Deignan finished in the large chasing bunch which came in four minutes and three seconds behind the winner. The Ag2r Prévoyance pro placed 58th and moves up three places in the general classification to 65th.
Deignan remains 44:51 behind the overall leader Denis Menchov (Rabobank) heading into today's lumpy, 207km stage from Puerto Lumbreras to Villacarrillo (Parque Natural Sierra de Cazorla).
SAILING: Eamon Conneely's Patches begins the final two races of the Breitling MedCup today in third place overall for the series and this regatta following yesterday's high-scoring Coastal Race off Hyeres.
The Galway yacht placed fourth at the scoring-gate and worked up to third place within one mile of the finish when the wind died. Eventually, skipper Ian Walker was able to cross the line in fifth place.
Overall, the series continues to be dominated by triple America's Cup winner Russell Coutts on Artemis, the clear favourite for overall victory in this regatta and the series overall after this afternoon's final race.
Light to moderate winds are forecast and Patches must protect its lead against the King of Spain's Bribon in fourth place, and also not finish worse than 12th in both races to avoid Peter de Ridder's Mean Machine beating them for their goal of a podium result for the series.
UEFA U-17 FOOTBALL: The Republic of Ireland fought back from an early blow to record a vital 3-1 victory over Ukraine in their opening Uefa Under-17 Championships qualifier at Terryland Park, Galway, last night.
Late goals by Everton's Karl Sheppard and Blackburn's Gavin Gunning ensured Sean McCaffrey's side go top of their group ahead of tomorrow's meeting with Denmark in Athlone.
Ukraine took the lead against the run of play in the 29th minute after Conor Clifford's back pass put Mark Connolly under pressure.
Connolly could only clear as far as Stanyslav Prychnenko and he slipped the ball through for Yegor Kartvshov to skip inside and slot past Ger Hanley.
Ireland equalised just five minutes later when Sunderland's Conor Hourihane smashed home from the left after latching onto a loose ball following a free-kick by Richie Towell.
Substitute Karl Sheppard was only on the pitch three minutes when he put Ireland ahead in the 72nd minute after running onto a Hourihane pass.
The Irish victory was secured three minutes later when Gavin Gunning rose to head home from a left-wing free.
