JOE Swail secured a famous Nations Cup victory for minnows Northern Ireland over England yesterday – despite a painfully bruised little toe.
Swail, who had “a couple of drinks too many” over the weekend and injured himself walking into a wall, beat John Parrott in the deciding frame at Newcastle’s Telewest Arena.
“I was under so much pressure I didn’t even think about it,” said Swail.
“I was really up for that last frame and despite being nervous it was the best I’d felt all day. To get the win that beats England is an unforgettable experience.”
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ANTRIM’S new hurling manager Seamus Elliott last night asked the clubs to give him their full backing in his attempt to rebuild the county’s hurling fortunes.
The Dunloy man, who was appointed on Sunday night, issued his appeal for unity ahead of a first scheduled meeting with the players on Thursday.
''This is not my county team, it belongs to the clubs,” he said.
“Unless the clubs are behind me this will not work. I have got the full backing of the county board which means a lot and now I need the same from the clubs.”
Elliott was interviewed by the Antrim appointments committee on Sunday along with one other applicant, John Crossey, and was informed via telephone that evening of his success. He last night named Sean Flynn of St Gall’s as his selector.
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STEPHEN King and Mattie Kerrigan are now set to go head-to-head in a race for the Cavan senior football manager’s job after both were confirmed as nominees at last night’s county board meeting.
The surprise inclusion among the seven nominations, however, is that of former Meath ‘hard man’ Colm Coyle.
A five-man committee to appoint a successor to Liam Austin was set up last night and it is understood a name will be brought before the county board within 7-10 days.
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FERMANAGH senior footballers defeated Queen’s University by 2-17 to 0-11 in a challenge match at the Dub on Sunday.
Raymond Gallagher, returned recently from several months in America, was in fine form scoring 1-6.
Stephen Maguire grabbed four points and Shane King scored 1-2.
Fermanagh scorers: R Gallagher 1-6, S King 1-2, S Maguire 0-4, R Johnston 0-2, S Quinn 0-1, D McNulty 0-1,
K McManus 0-1
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THE Irish boxing selectors meeting in Dublin at the weekend have agreed to send a seven-man Irish senior side to the Norway Box Cup which begins in Oslo on January 27.
There are no Ulster boxers on the team with the Ulster Senior Championships – due to begin in early February – a possible explanation for their absence.
The team is: feather: B Dunne (CIE); light: E McEneaney (Dealgan), light welter: Neil Gough (St Paul’s), light welter: M Wickham (St Pat’s); light middle: F O’Brien (Ballyduff), light heavy: S Collier (Wexford); heavy: J Kiely (Corpus Christi, Limerick).
Irish Coaches: D Flynn (Limerick); B Dunne (St Patrick’s)
Team manager: M Fitzgerald.
