A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Martin finishes fourth overall in Beijing
CYCLING:Dan Martin completed a superb Tour of Beijing by fortifying his lead in the King of the Mountains competition and winning that prize outright.
The Garmin Sharp rider won the first two primes of the day on Saturday, cresting the climbs at Hei Shan Zhai and Tuo Ling Tunnel in first position, and ended up with 39 points in that competition. Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil DCM) finished 13 points further back in second.
Martin also finished a fine fourth overall in the race. He finished the last stage in the first group of chasers, 17 seconds behind Stephen Cummings but bonus seconds picked up by Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) moved the Norwegian above Martin in the overall standings.
Eakin hat-trick aids Cork Harlequins
MEN'S HOCKEY:Holders Cork Harlequins had a comfortable enough passage in to the second round of the Irish Senior Cup on Saturday, a Dave Eakins hat-trick helping them to a 4-1 win away to Antrim.
Church of Ireland, though, exited the competition at the first hurdle, losing by the same scoreline to Kilkeel, but overall it wasn’t a successful day for Ulster sides, with Belfast Harlequins, Annadale and Mossley, as well as Antrim, all going out on the day.
A Shane O Donoghue double sent UCD on their way to an impressive 4-1 defeat of Belfast Harlequins at Deramore, Pembroke beating Annadale 4-2 and Fingal easing past Mossley with a 6-1 win.
In the all-Leinster affairs, Three Rock came from a goal down to beat Glenanne, Mitch Darling twice getting on the scoresheet for the Rathfarnham side, while Corinthian managed to get the better of YMCA on penalty strokes after a tense 3-3 draw.
– MARY HANNIGAN
Resilient Djokovic has his final revenge on Murray
TENNIS:Novak Djokovic exacted revenge on Andy Murray for his US Open final defeat by saving five match points to outlast the Briton 5-7 7-6 6-3 to win the Shanghai Masters title yesterday.
The resilient Serbian fought back from the brink of defeat, trailing by a set and 5-3 before staving four match points in the tiebreak to force a tense decider.
The world number two then broke Murray, winner in Shanghai for the last two years, in the seventh game and again at 5-3, prevailing on his third match point.
“It was a thrilling match . . . very long – 3 1/2 hrs for best of three is quite long. But I have got used to it, Djokovic said.
Whenever I play Andy I know its going to be a gruelling fight, a lot of long rallies. It could have gone either way.”
Heather Watson became the first Briton to win a WTA singles title in 24 years after she fought back from match point down to beat Taiwan's Chang Kai-chen 7-5 5-7 7-6 in the final of the Japan Open.
Murray strikes late as Raheny snatch cup in last minute
WOMEN'S HOCKEY:NOELLE MURRAY scored for the second FAI Women's Cup final in a row at Dalymount Park yesterday to secure a late 2-1 win for Raheny United.
After steering St Catherine’s to the trophy last term, Murray popped up in the final minute to hand Raheny their first-ever national title.
Sara Lawlor gave Peamount the lead on seven minutes when she connected first-time with Julie-Ann Russell’s left-wing cross to stroke the ball into the bottom right corner of the net.
Linda Meehan kept Peamount ahead by turning Mary Waldron 36th minute drive around the post but the goalkeeper couldn’t prevent Waldron equalising in the final minute of the half when she swept home following a goalmouth scramble.
Russell was guilty of squandering a glorious chance to regain Peamount’s lead 10 minutes into the second half with a close-range header which flew over the crossbar. Murray then pounced from six yards late on.
Loreto took full advantage of their double-header over the weekend to move top of the Leinster first division, a 3-0 win over Corinthian on Saturday followed by a 9-0 drubbing of Trinity yesterday putting them three points clear of Railway Union and Old Alexandra, with an extra game played.
Like the leaders, Railway and Alexandra maintained their winning start to the campaign, goals from Cecelia Joyce, Jean McDonnell, Kate Dillon and Kate McKenna giving Railway a 4-0 victory over Trinity and a double from Erika Hinkson helping Alexandra to a 3-1 win over Pembroke Wanderers.
Defending champions UCD had their first victory of the campaign, Nikki Evans scoring twice in their 4-0 win at Glenanne.
Division one newcomers North Kildare, meanwhile, made Hermes work hard for their points at Booterstown, Michelle Spillane pulling a goal back after Catriona McGilp and Fiona Braddish had given the home side a 2-0 lead.
– MARY HANNIGAN
