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Olympic Cycling: Nicholas Roche 28th In Time Trial

Team Ireland cyclist Nicholas Roche finished 28th in the Olympic Time Trial on Wednesday morning at the Fuji International Speedway.

Roche was amongst the early starters tasked with laying down a marker for the field of 35 riders to measure themselves against.

He completed the tough and gruelling 44.2-kilometre men’s Olympic Time Trial in a time of 1:01:23.

Roche had played a key role in supporting Dan Martin in the 234-kilometre Road Race on Saturday, in which Martin finished in 16th position.

Eddie Dunbar was also part of Team Ireland’s Men’s Olympic Road Race team.

A quick recovery was required as the Time Trial course featured a total elevation gain of 846 meters in hot and humid conditions.

“That was one tough day,” Roche said at the finish line.

“Definitely left it all on the road but obviously against a lot of the top of the world specialists I’m a lot slower than most of them, but I gave it 100%.

“I thank the staff and Cycling Ireland and the Olympic team for their commitment behind me for these Games, and I hope I gave everything I could. It’s been an amazing experience to get my fourth Games, I’m extremely proud.”

Roche previously competed at the 2008 Games in Beijing, the 2012 Games in London and the 2016 Games in Rio.

However, this was the 37-year-old’s first appearance at an Olympic time trial.

This Olympics instalment of the gruelling race against the clock was won by Primož Roglič of Slovenia in a blistering time of 55:04:19, with Roglič averaging 48.3kph.

Roglič did much of the damage on the final lap extending his advantage as the terrain took its toll on the heavier riders.

Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands returned from a brief hiatus from bike racing to claim the silver medal in a time of 56:05.58.

Australia’s Rohan Dennis finished in 56:08.09 to win bronze less than half a second ahead of Stefan Kueng.

Galway Star Joe Canning Announces Retirement

Galway hurler Joe Canning announced his retirement from inter-county hurling on Wednesday morning.

The 32-year-old retires as the All-Ireland Championship’s top scorer after breaking Henry Shefflin’s record in the loss against Waterford at the weekend.

Canning broke the record of 27-484 (565) and sits on 27-485 (566) as he steps away from Galway GAA following a 0-9 performance.

The Portumna man helped Galway to three Leinster Championships throughout his career, as well as one All-Ireland title in 2017.

The inter-county veteran also leaves the top level having garnered five All-Stars over the course of his thirteen-year career with his county.

Injuries have hampered the forward in recent years and, after three surgeries in five years, Canning feels he can no longer go on for Galway.

The Galway star told media of his decision to retire this morning at a Bord Gais Energy media event.

“It’s injuries and stuff like that,” Canning said at the event.

“I had a couple of fairly serious ones over the year and even this year alone I tore a hamstring after the Waterford league game and didn’t realise I had it for a few weeks.

“Just a little nick, I’d a partial tear in my thumb as well. My finger, my heel, yeah there are four or five injuries alone this year, niggly ones, so yeah it wasn’t getting any easier for me.

“I just feel the time is right. I don’t want to stay around too long either.

“I think that is a bad way as well, just being there for the sake of it.

“As I said to the lads after the game, Saturday wasn’t the day I was planning to tell them.

“That’s just it, life moves on.”

“I thought it [retirement] might be later on in the year,” he said.

“You were kind of hoping in August time, August 22, All-Ireland that’s your kind of dream isn’t it, but that’s life. As I said, life moves on, that’s just the way it is.

“I am content with it. It wasn’t a thing just because we lost, that’s it. As I said to the boys I wanted to say it then because we will never be in that group again.”

The Portumna star departs the stage as one of the best-ever players to play the game and will be remembered on the level of the likes of Henry Shefflin.

Olympic Badminton: Nguyen narrowly beaten in final set

Team Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen took to the courts to face world number ten, Chinese Taipei’s Tzu-Wei Wang at the Musashino Forest Plaza

In Nguyen’s last match he beat Sri Lanka’s Niluka Karunaratne to straight sets but todays opponent would be much harder.

At 10:40, Ireland’s big badminton match started. Wang’s quality was noticeable with each swing, proving he is a major candidate for a medal at the Games.

Nguyen did not just come to match to take part and made the Chinese Taipei man earn every score.

The first set started with Nguyen getting a few scores intermittently in between Wang’s great plays. Many scores came after long, fast rallies.

The Irishman made a late flurry but it wasn’t enough to beat Wang’s great attack and net play. The first set ended 21-12 to Wang.

The 21-year-old from Dublin started the stronger in the second set, gaining a 10-4 lead. Wang’s energy dipped leading to unforced errors.

He did fight back to narrow the gap with the Irish player until they were together at 15. The two continued to trade rallies and scores until Nguyen pulled off some brilliant plays to win the set 21-18.

The final set would decide everything. Wang’s confidence had been shaken by the last set and the world number ten came out stronger.

Nguyen needed to keep the scores close as his opponent started to tire and the scores were level at four apiece.

The Irish player rightly been compared to a cat as he jumped across the court. He enjoyed his game, smiling even when he lost a score.

Wang upped his game after the halfway mark, scoring some hard smashes to gain a four point lead on Nguyen.

With a lead of 15-12, Wang sustained a slight neck injury but decided to continue. After his check-up, he found new life and pulled further away.

It just wasn’t to be for Nguyen as Wang won the third set 21-12, winning the game. With only one person qualifying from each group, sadly this is the end of Ireland’s journey in badminton in Tokyo.

Nhat Nguyen was Ireland’s sole representative for badminton in the Olympics, ranked at 54th in the world.

There is most definitely a bright future for him in the sport and he will be looking to improve on this again in Paris in three years time

 

Football – Dublin v Kildare – Starting News, Live Scores, Betting; TV Coverage

Leinster Senior Football Championship Final – Dublin v Kildare – Croke Park – 4. 00 pm – RTE

Dublin will go head to head with Kildare at Croke Park in Dublin this coming Sunday at 4.00 pm in the Leinster Senior Football Championship Final live on RTÉ.

The Dubs are coming into this match on a streak of 10 consecutive Leinster title wins starting all the way back in 2011, defeating Wexford by a mere goal.

Since then they have dispatched many of their Leinster counterparts sparingly, Meath (5 times), Laois (1 time), Westmeath (2 times), Wexford (1 time), and Kildare (1 time).

In those ten finals since 2011, Dublin has averaged a winning margin of 23 points, with their largest being a 30 point victory in last years route against Meath.

Outscoring their opponents by 109 in Leinster finals in the past decade with a scoreline of 20-166 (226) to 4-105 (117)

Almost unbeatable in Leinster, any fixture involving Dublin is a foregone conclusion on who the victor will be,

This year, however, Dessie Farrell’s side are playing unusually below the Dublin standard. Winning their Allianz League (shared with Kerry).

Looking tame in the quarter-final victory over Wexford, only winning by 0-08 points and looking shaky against Meath in the semi-final winning by 6 points.

It has been the closest year in over a decade where Dublin look somewhat beatable in the provincials.

We have seen this before however when the Dubs don’t perform on any given day, they still find a way to get over the line, that is why they are the greatest footballing side to ever grace the pitch and by some margin.

Kildare are a team on the rise, the appointment of Jack O’Connor was a massive coup for the Lilywhites, having an outstanding career with Kerry, O’Connor gives them a much-needed respect factor,

Only suffering one defeat to a vibrant Clare side during their league campaign, they gained promotion to Division 1 along with Mayo.

Although in their quarter-final and semi-final outings, they got over the line in tough games.

Beating Offaly by 5 points before overcoming a young Westmeath side by 2 points.

They have not reached an All-Ireland Final since 2017, losing to the Dubs 2-23 to 1-17.

If they do defeat the Dubs this weekend, it will be their first Leinster title since 2000, where they took Dublin to a replay, winning by 3 points.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Many of Dublin’s influential players have left the panel this season, Cian O’Sullivan, Eric Lowndes, Paul Mannion, Paddy Andrews and possibly Stephen Cluxton, which has led to a mass exodus of their panel.

The Lilywhites will be without three of their most experienced players through injury.

Midfielder Paul Cribbin will be out for the foreseeable season with two fractured bones in his leg after a fall against Meath in the league.

Fellow midfielder Kevin Feely and defender Eoin Doyle were both forced off during their win against Westmeath in the Leinster semi-final.

Conclusion

As much as I would love Kildare to do the unthinkable and dethrone the Dubs, it won’t happen.

Now, saying that, if Dublin plays as they have been since their league campaign, Kildare could open them up and cause an upset.

Being without three of the key players will not do Kildare any favours, but if they are fit enough to play, their chances of lifting their first Leinster title since 2000 will look increasingly likely.

Come Sunday evening, I believe Dublin will have too much firepower and experience to capture their 11th consecutive Leinster title.

Prediction: Dublin by 8  points

Starting Teams – TBC 

Dublin

 

Kildare

Image

 

Betting

Dublin: 1/20

Kildare: 10/1

Draw: 25/1

Olympic Boxing: Walker with monumental win, O’Rourke defeated

Team Ireland had two boxers competing at Tokyo 2020 this morning in the Kokugikan Arena hoping to improve on the Irish results so far

Men’s Featherweight (52-57kg) – Round of 16

Kurt Walker (Ireland) v Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov (Uzbekistan) 

Walker has shown himself to be in with shout of a medal at this years Games with some brilliant fights in the last few days.

The Lisburn resident beat Spain’s Jose Quiles Brotons in the first round of the featherweight boxing.

Early this morning he faced off against Uzbekistani fighter Mirzakhalilov who was given a bye to reach this stage. His opponent is the reigning world champion and was top seeded entering the competition.

In the first round, the 26-year-old Irish boxer went in hard and won over four of the five judges. He continued the strong form into the second round with three of the judges scoring higher again.

The Irishman pulled off some great dodges along with his strong right arm to show his real quality, lasting through a cut above his eye.

Walker eased off the pedal in the final round as he tired, Uzbekistan’s boxer fought back, knowing he’d need a really big few minutes to win a place in the quarter finals.

Ireland’s Walker held out, winning only one vote from the judges but this was enough to take the tie on a score of 4-1.

He will now face America’s Duke Ragan in the quarter finals knowing a win would earn him at least a bronze medal.

That fight will take place on Sunday, 1st August at 03:30.

Women’s Middleweight (69-75kg) – Round of 16

Aoife O’Rourke (Ireland) v Qian Li (China)

O’Rourke came into this bout looking for Ireland’s first female boxing victory at Tokyo 2020, she needed to defeat China’s boxer first.

Li seemed confident in the first round, rarely keeping her hands up and skipping around the ring. The Chinese woman took the first round, splitting the judges 3-2.

The Roscommon boxer improved her battling in the second round, forcing Li to hold O’Rourke for much of the round. This was still not enough as she lost the judges voting again.

O’Rourke would need a powerful display in the final round to manage a victory and she showed it for three straight minutes. She dominated each second with Li looking battered and tired.

Li ended winning the bout on unanimous decision and will go to the quarter final.

O’Rourke can keep her head held high as the 24-year-old winning the final round and will look towards Paris in three years for another chance.

Olympic Judo: Heartbreak for Fletcher against Austria

Ireland’s Megan Fletcher tasted defeat at her first Olympic Games early this morning, narrowly losing out to Austria

Judo is a combat sport between two opponents, originated in Japan and the word literally means ‘the gentle way’.

The objective of judo is to throw or take down an opponent to the ground or subdue them with a pinning hold, or force them to submit with a joint lock or a choke.

Irish Judoka Megan Fletcher was beaten late in the first elimination round in the women’s – 70kg this morning. This was a rematch from the bronze medal at the World Championships six weeks ago as she faced Austria’s Michaela Polleres.

Fletcher displayed impressive skill and determination against Austria’s Michaela Polleres, but lost by Waza-Ari (the second highest score in Judo) in the final three seconds.

Both Judokas picked up Shido penalties in the opening 46 seconds of the match, with Fletcher picking up a second towards the three-and-a-half-minute mark.

As pressure was mounting, Fletcher closed the space and Polleres preformed a Ushiro-gosh, a waza technique that consists of grasping the opponent in a bear hug, lifting them, and throwing them down on the tatami, to result in a 1s1 – 0s2 win for the Austrian.

“It was always going to be a really hard contest,” said Fletcher afterwards.

“For our entire careers, we have been having head-to-head fights. You have to be in the best position that you can, someone has to win, and someone has to lose. It wasn’t meant to be today.”

“I have had a great career. I am very proud of myself. It is great for our family to have two Olympians. It was really hard watching Ben in Rio when I didn’t make it myself. I am very proud of him and will cheer him on when he competes next,” added Fletcher.

Ireland’s last judo fighter will take to the mat tomorrow as Benjamin Fletcher, Megan’s brother, will take on Uzbekistan’s Mukhammadkarim Khurramov in the Round of 32 elimination match.

 

Olympic Rowing: Roundup of Ireland’s action

Ireland had five teams competing in the rowing this morning with the women’s four winning bronze and the lightweight men’s breaking records

Men’s Double Sculls Final B – Ronan Byrne, Philip Doyle

In Ireland’s earliest race of the day, Byrne and Doyle faced off against Russia, New Zealand, Romania, Germany and Lithuania in the B Final.

There were no medals up for grabs, instead they were competing for 7th to 12th place at this years Olympics.

This was a very intense race with the top four within three seconds with each other. Team Ireland finished in fourth ahead of Germany and Lithuania.

Russia came first in the race, followed by New Zealand and Romania. Byrne and Doyle completed the two kilometre race in 6:16.89, getting their best time of Tokyo 2020.

This has been a mixed Olympics for the pair, needing the repechage to reach the semi-finals but they should be happy to finish top ten at the competition.

 

Women’s Four Final A – Aifric Keogh, Eimear Lambe, Fiona Murtagh, Emily Hegarty

The women’s four team have brought home Ireland’s first medal of Tokyo 2020 by finishing an impressive third in this morning’s final. They finished the race in a time of 6:20.46, a full second ahead of fourth place.

Australia came first, breaking the Olympic record and the Netherlands taking the silver medal.

They beat out teams like Great Britain, China and Poland to win the medals. To read more about this monumental race, read the below article.

https://3.249.64.60/other_sports/olympic-games/olympic-rowing-team-ireland-womens-fours-win-bronze-tokyo-2020/

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls semi-final – Paul O’Donovan, Fintan McCarthy

O’Donovan and McCarthy again showed their class dominating their field and now breaking the world record.

The record was previously held by South Africa but the Irish pair beat it by three one-hundredths of a second in a time of 6:05.33.

Italy and Belgium finished the two kilometres in second and third, they will proceed to the A final. Ukraine, Spain and India will go into the B final.

Ireland will continue into the final as favourites for gold tonight. They will also face off against the Czech Republic, Germany and Uruguay in the big race.

Tune into RTE 2 at 01:50 to see Ireland try bring home another medal.

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls semi-final – Aoife Casey, Margaret Cremen

The women’s double team has finished in fifth place and will go into the B final very early tomorrow morning.

Casey and Cremen lost out to world-class Great Britain, France and Netherlands teams. Instead, Ireland, Switzerland and Belarus will go into the B final to fight for seventh place at the Olympics.

The Irish pair finished their race in 6:49.24, narrowly behind the Swiss. They will be one of the favourites now going into B final.

They will also compete against Canada, hosts Japan and Russia tonight at 01:00.

 

Women’s Pair semi-final – Aileen Crowley, Monika Dukarska

The Irish pair finished came home in fifth place in the semi-final and will contest the B final later tonight. The finished the two kilometres in 7:06.07.

Greece, Great Britain and Canada completed the race first and will be in the women’s pair final. Australia missed out by four tenths of a second, they will join Ireland and Denamark in the B final.

That race will take place at 00:40 and will be shown on RTE 2 and RTE Player.

Olympics Schedule Thursday July 29th – Irish Athletes Timetable

Here is the schedule for all Irish athletes competing in the Olympics on Thursday, July 29th.

All times are changed to Irish Standard Time.

Rowing (00:30-03:50)

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls Final  Fintan McCarthy, Paul O’Donovan

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls Final B – Aoife Casey, Margaret Cremen

Semi-Final – Santia Puspure

Hockey (01:30-05:15)

Women’s Pool A, Ireland vs India

Sailing (04:00-10:00)

Laser Radial Women – Annalise Murphy

Badminton (09:00-12:00)

Men’s Singles Round of 16 – Nhat Nguyen

Artistic Gymnastics (11:50-14:05)

Women’s All-Around Final – Meg Ryan

Golf (23:30-08:00)

Men’s Individual Stroke Play Round 2 – Shane Lowry, Rory McIlroy

To see a list of all qualified Irish athletes going to the Olympics, click here.

For in-depth profiles of each Irish athlete at the Olympics, click here.

Ireland Impress But Fail To Beat Germany in 3rd Olympic Game

The Ireland Women’s hockey team were beaten 4-2 by Germany in Pool A on Thursday morning at Oi Stadium.

The result leaves Ireland with two more chances to ensure a spot in the top four of the pool and subsequent progression to the tournament’s quarter-finals.

The side produced an impressive display against the Rio 2016 Bronze medalists but Germany were clinical in attack.

Sean Dancer’s Ireland was at a disadvantage from the beginning after Lisa Altenburg put the Germans in the lead.

The 31-year-old latched on to a smart lob pass and opened up a goalscoring chance for herself with a smart run.

That particular lob through to the right-wing was a common feature of Germany’s game plan throughout the match.

Sean Dancer’s women did not have a response for the Germans in the first quarter and finished the 15 minutes looking a level below their unbeaten opposition.

Ireland upped the ante in the second quarter and began to bring the game to the 2004 Olympic Champions.

A second penalty corner for the side almost birthed an equaliser with Hannah Matthews’ touch causing panic among the Germans.

However, it was the Germans who got the second goal of the game after a cross from Kira Horn found Cécile Pieper who scored with a lovely flick.

Chloe Watkins moved into a pocket of space which almost led to a first goal for the girls in green but the chance flattered to deceive.

Ireland goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran was great against the Germans and pulled off some strong saves throughout the match.

However, the German’s added a third via a penalty stroke when they had a woman advantage – Anna O’Flanagan received a 10-minute yellow moments before.

Altenburg made no mistake from the spot and put her side into a commanding lead.

Ireland fought their way back into the game, opening their scoring account for the game two minutes after Altenburg’s second.

Elena Tice saw her strike find the bottom corner of the German goal with Ireland third penalty corner.

The fourth quarter started as the third ended with Ireland visibly confident and pushing for a second goal to bring the tie back within reach.

Sarah Hawkshaw and Zara Malseed caused the German defence problems, with the latter forcing a penalty corner.

The side’s fourth penalty corner ended with a fifth being given and Hannah McLoughlin scored her first goal for Ireland with a lovely shot that went beyond German keeper Julia Sonntag.

Controversy marred the final minutes of the game with two questionable video-call referee decisions going in favour of the Olympic mainstays.

Franzisca Hauke put the tie beyond Ireland’s reach when she scored Germany’s fourth goal of the game, even though replays appeared to show Ayeisha McFerran was obstructed in the build-up.

Zara Malseed had put the ball in the German net to get what would have been her side’s third but the video-call referee deemed it to be back-stick and disallowed it.

Germany has advanced to the quarter-finals with their win against Ireland.

The Irish comeback was not to be but the two goals against the Germans could prove important if progression came down to goal difference.

Ireland faces India next on Friday, July 30th at 3:45 am, with a win guaranteeing the side a quarter-final spot.

Olympic Rowing: Team Ireland Women’s Fours Win Bronze

The Team Ireland Women’s Fours rowing team won bronze in the early hours of Thursday morning after a stunning performance at the Sea Forest Waterway.

Aifric Keogh, Eimear Lambe, Fiona Murtagh and Emily Hegarty are the women behind Ireland’s first medal at Tokyo 2020.

Their win doubles the number of Irish women that have won Olympic medals for the team – the number is now at 8.

They join swimmer Michelle Smith, track star Sonia O’Sullivan, boxer Katie Taylor and sailor Annalise Murphy on the list.

Australia won the gold medal in an Olympic best time of 6.15.37 with the Netherlands second in 6.15.46.

Ireland finished five seconds off the pair of them in third with a time of 6.20.46 ahead of Britain by a single second (6.21.52).

Britain had been in third place throughout the race and at one point looked to be cruising to a medal finish.

Ireland was as low as fifth-place in the race at the halfway stage after a poor start saw them fall away from the pacesetters.

However, Ireland fought hard and got themselves up to fourth for the second time in the race by the 1500m mark.

The women ate at the time gap that the Team GB rowers had on them in third and overtook them heading into the final 200m.

The four rowers held on to their podium spot until they crossed the finish line to win a medal for Team Ireland.

This performance comes less than six months after the crew was formed.

The unlikely medal win serves as a promising precedent for what’s to come for Ireland in rowing at the Olympics, with Sanita Puspure and Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy tipped to do well in their respective events.

O’Donovan is already a medal winner for the nation in his event after winning silver in the Men’s Lightweight Double Sculls with his brother, Gary.

The Irish Women’s Four crew have potentially opened the floodgates for a successful Olympics for Irish rowing.

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