In The Irish News - June 5 2010: Super-sub Sweeney is the Candystripes’ hero
Soccer FAI Ford Cup: Derry City 1 Bray Wanderers 1
DERRY City had Vinny Sweeney to thank for their FAI Ford Cup hopes to still be alive, when he headed home their deserved equaliser against Bray Wanderers, last night.
The striker was also over the moon that he had finally broken his duck and scored his first goal for his home-town club.
“At last I have got the monkey off my back and I’m delighted that I have scored and kept us in the cup,” he said.
“To be fair, on another night we could have won six or seven, but if you keep plugging away you normally get your rewards andIfeel this team is going onwards and upwards.
“I also feel my goal right at the death shows that we have a never-say-die attitude and always keep going right to the end.”
The visitors, with virtually their first effort at goal, had taken the lead when Shane O’Neill reacted quickly to pick-up John Mulroy’s flick, before calmly firing low into Gerard Doherty’s bottom left-hand corner.
Derry equalised on 90 minutes when Sweeney's powerfully headed home from close range, after another McClean corner caused problems in the visitors box.
Derry City: Doherty, McCallion, Scoltock, McChrystal, Cassidy; McEleney, Deery, Molloy, Mc Clean; Farren, McDaid;
Subs: Sweeney for Cassidy (55); Clarke for McDaid (72).
Goals: Sweeney (90)
Bray Wanderers: Kane, Doyle, Massey, S O’Connor, Tresson, Shields, O’Neill, Brennan, Mulroy, Vickers, Kelly.
Subs: Doyle for Kelly (79); A O’Connor for Mulroy (88).
Goals: O’Neill (20)
Referee: Neil Doyle (Dublin).
ULSTER Senior Football Championship first round Armagh v Monaghan
THERE are sub-plots galore in this meeting of fierce Ulster rivals Armagh and Monaghan. Paul Grimley, at one time a near certainty for the Armagh management post, surprisingly threw his lot in with Monaghan.
There is also McDonnell v Mone round two after Stevie and Dessie got to know each other well in last season’s turgid Qualifier, the Killeavy man being sent off.
Paddy O’Rourke makes one enforced change from the side that beat Derry in the preliminary round, with Vincie Martin replacing James Lavery, who only returned to full training on Thursday after picking up an injury in Celtic Park.
Seamus McEnaney has named Darren Hughes at full-back but it remains to be seen whether he will be the one to pick up McDonnell or, more likely, move back out to the half-back line.
The Orchard county look the more likely of the two to achieve that goal and a wee bit of magic in their forward division should sway the issue.
Verdict: Armagh
Odds: Armagh 4/5; Monaghan 11/8; Draw: 13/2
DEFENDING champion Lisa Maguire, her sister Leona and Danielle McVeigh will all miss this year’s Irish Women’s Open Strokeplay Championship that tees off this morning at Newlands because of other highly important duties to attend to.
The trio are, of course, members of the Curtis Cup team that, this weekend, makes final preparations for the showdown against the USA in Boston in two weeks’ time.
Favourite to keep the Irish title at home, after Lisa Maguire’s win at Douglas last year, is Mary Dowling from New Ross who is aiming for the Irish double after winning the Close title last month when she defeated Leona Maguire in the final at Portstewart.
Dowling will have plenty of highly-rated home opposition, apart from 34 foreign players who have entered.
International team mates Victoria Bradshaw, the Ulster champion from Bangor, Aedin Murphy (Carlow), Gillian O’Leary (Cork) and Charlene Reid (Royal Portrush) are all in the draw.
PETER Martin and Robert Giles both breezed home in the cool of the evening at the Shoerack-sponsored PGA pro-am tournament at Beaverstown yesterday with formidable four-under-par 68s to share top of the leaderboard.
Martin, from the Riverside Academy in the Belfast suburbs, was a recent winner at Dunmurry, while Greenore Club professional Giles was the winner at Beaverstown when the pro-am was last played there a few years ago.
Giles missed the chance of snatching outright victory as he droppedashot at the par four 18th.
BIRTHDAYS
Joe DeLoach (athletics) - American 200m gold medallist at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, born 1967.
Marc Rieper (soccer) - former Denmark defender who had spells with West Ham and Celtic, born 1968.
Fraser Watts (cricket) - former Scotland international, born 1979.
Junior Hoilett (soccer) - Cardiff and Canada winger, born 1990.
Emily Seebohm (swimming) - Australian double Olympic champion, born 1992.
Kieran Tierney (soccer) - Arsenal and Scotland left-back, born 1997.
ON THIS DAY
1938: Two players, Leonidas for Brazil and Ernst Wilimowski for Poland, scored four goals each in the World Cup match at Strasbourg's Stade de la Meinau. The final score was 6-5 to the South Americans.
1968: Alan Mullery became the first man to be sent off in a full international for England in a European Championship match in Florence, which Yugoslavia won 1-0.
1999: Britain's Joe Calzaghe retained his WBO super-middleweight title with a unanimous points verdict over Australia's Rick Thornberry in Cardiff.
2000: England drew the second Test with Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge and won the two-Test series 1-0 - their first home series triumph in two years.
2011: Rafael Nadal won his sixth French Open crown by beating Roger Federer 7-5 7-6 (7/3) 5-7 6-1.
2013: England won the final NatWest Series match against New Zealand at Trent Bridge by 34 runs but lost the series 2-1.
2016: Novak Djokovic beat Andy Murray in four sets to win the French Open for the first time.
2016: Mo Farah broke the 34-year-old British 3,000 metres record at the Birmingham Diamond League when he clocked seven minutes 32.62 seconds.
2017: Former Newcastle midfielder Cheick Tiote died at the age of 30, after collapsing in training with Chinese club Beijing Enterprises.
QUICK QUIZ
1. Which British boxer won super-heavyweight gold at the London 2012 Olympics?
2. Which county won the 2008 All-Ireland GAA Senior Football Championship final?
3. Who is the most capped Welsh footballer?
4. Name the only Polish footballer to have been part of a Premier League winning team.
5. Who is the only Dutchman to win the Wimbledon singles final?
6. Which Australian did Roger Federer beat to claim his first Wimbledon championship?
7. Who is Ireland's most-capped Test rugby player?
8. Which Irishman trained Vintage Crop, the first international horse to win the Melbourne Cup?
9. Which county won the 2008 All-Ireland GAA Senior Hurling Championship final?
10. Who has won more English top tier football titles - Tottenham or Huddersfield?
(See quiz answers at bottom)
ON THIS DAY IN 1999
Joe Calzaghe retains WBO super-middleweight title
Joe Calzaghe still had plenty to prove when he stepped into the ring to face little-known Australian Rick Thornberry in the fourth defence of his WBO super-middleweight title in Cardiff.
The unbeaten Calzaghe had squeezed a contentious verdict over former WBC champion Robin Reid in his previous bout in Newcastle, and was banking on a conclusive finish against his opponent.
But the curse of Calzaghe's hand injuries struck again, effectively negating his power from the third round onwards, and allowing Thornberry to survive to the final bell, where the Welshman gained an unsatisfactory verdict.
It was a tough time in Calzaghe's career, and questions would continue to be asked after another dull points win over David Starie in his subsequent bout, as he struggled to gain the plaudits his skills deserved.
Arguably they did not arrive until his stunning win over highly-fancied American Jeff Lacy in 2006 - setting Calzaghe on his way to boxing super-stardom, and ultimately retirement with his unbeaten record proudly intact.
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
755: English missionary Boniface and 53 companions were murdered in Germany by unbelievers.
1916: Lord Kitchener, British general and conqueror of the Sudan, was lost at sea when his ship HMS Hampshire struck a mine off Orkney, en route to Russia. There were no survivors.
1944: The Cafe Gondree was the first place to be liberated from the Germans on the eve of the D-Day landings when paratroopers from the 6th Brigade dropped on the town of Benouville to seize the vital canal bridge.
1963: War minister John Profumo resigned, admitting he misled the House of Commons about his relationship with Christine Keeler.
1967: The Six-Day War between Israel and Egypt began.
1968: Robert Kennedy, American senator and younger brother of the late President John F Kennedy, was shot in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles by a Jordanian Arab, Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, and died the following day.
1975: Egyptian president Sadat reopened the Suez Canal to all but Israeli shipping, after eight years of closure.
1975: In Britain's first referendum, a large majority voted to stay in the Common Market - more than 17 million voted Yes and almost 8.5 million voted No.
1989: In Poland, Solidarity defeated the Communists in the first free elections since the end of the Second World War.
QUICK QUIZ answers: 1. Anthony Joshua; 2. Tyrone, defeating Kerry by 1-15 to 0–14; 3. Chris Gunter; 4. Tomasz Kuszczak; 5. Richard Krajicek; 6. Mark Philippoussis; 7. Brian O'Driscoll; 8. Dermot Weld; 9. Kilkenny, defeating Waterford by 3-30 to 1-13; 10: Huddersfield, with three to Tottenham's two.
