CAMOGIE: Joanne Ryan, who scored 1-4, was the toast of Tipperary after their 2-5 to 0-4 victory over Limerick in their opening League Division One game in The Ragg yesterday.
A goal from Jill Horan six minutes before the break gave the Premier County a 1-1 to 0-3 half-time lead.
For long periods of the second half the sides battled against the wind and cold, but Limerick could not find their shooting range and were dependent on Eileen O'Brien, their only scorer on the day, with three of her points coming from frees.
Meanwhile, National League champions Cork had an easy outing in Kinvara when they defeated Galway 3-9 to 0-7. A goal from Sheila Burns midway through the first half and a second just before the break from Ciara Healy gave Cork a 2-3 to 0-6 interval lead.
The second half belonged to Cork with some fine points from Jenny O'Leary and Briege Corkery, while Galway's solitary point came from Caroline Kelly.
In Division Two, Armagh beat Tipperary by 3-5 to 1-3, thanks to a hat-trick of goals from Donna McCusker, and Cork defeated Galway's Division Two side 2-11 to 0-7, also in Kinvara.
WOMEN'S FOOTBALL: Following their surprising National Football League win over Dublin last weekend, Tyrone proved it was no flash in the pan when they defeated Waterford by 1-14 to 2-7 at Fontenoy. Tyrone led at half-time by 1-7 to 1-4 and they survived a strong Waterford revival after the break.
Waterford manager Michael Ryan now faces the task of taking points from Dublin or Meath if his team are to make the play-off stages of the league.
TENNIS: Lleyton Hewitt trampled on an exhausted Juan Carlos Ferrero to capture the World Indoor tournament in Rotterdam with a 6-7, 7-5, 6-4 victory yesterday.
The win earned the Australian sixth seed an early birthday present of €161,800, as he turns 23 tomorrow, and a double celebration with his Belgian fiancee, Kim Clijsters, who had triumphed at the Antwerp Diamond Games against Silvia Farina Elia of Italy just 40 minutes earlier.
By lifting his 21st singles title, Hewitt also booked his passage back into the world's top 10 when the new ATP rankings are released today.
Ferrero started strongly to take the first set, but after Hewitt took a tense second set to level the match, the Australian kept hunting for an opening to finish the contest in the third set and found it in the 10th game.
Ferrero finally bowed out after two hours and 39 minutes, handing Hewitt the trophy with a backhand error.
ATHLETICS: Russia's Svetlana Feofanova reclaimed her indoor pole vault world record yesterday, clearing 4.85 metres at the Athens 2004 IAAF permit meeting.
Feofanova made the jump at the first attempt to eclipse the mark set one week ago by her compatriot Yelena Isinbayeva, who was also taking part in Athens.
Isinbayeva finished second with a jump of 4.50 metres, with Iceland's Edda Elisdottir third after clearing the same height.
