SPORT IN BRIEF

MOTORSPORT NEWLY-CROWNED World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea continued his utter domination of the season with a second victory of the weekend in Jerez.

The Antrim man, who wrapped up his third successive world championship at Magny-Cours last time out, claimed his 14th win of 2017 and 52nd of his career.

That takes him level with three-time world champion Troy Bayliss and just seven behind Carl Fogarty’s record of 59, while the win also sealed the manufacturers’ championship for Kawasaki.

Meanwhile, Ireland’s TDCsupported Autotest team took runner-up position, behind old rivals Northern Ireland, in the Ken Wharton Memorial International Autotest at Alcester, in Warwickshire, at the weekend.

SOCCER

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND Women’s U-19s secured their UEFA elite round spot with one game remaining after cruising to a 4-0 victory over Latvia.

Dave Connell’s side produced another impressive display to secure the points with goals from Kate Mooney, Tiegan Ruddy, Orla Casey and Lauren O’Callaghan.

SNOOKER

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN blew away Kyren Wilson 9-2 to land the English Open title in Barnsley.

O’Sullivan sealed victory thanks to breaks of 127 and 132 in the final two frames that saw him rack up his 29th ranking title.

The 41-year-old, who had a pot success rate of 98 per cent, won the last six frames to turn a 3-2 lead into a resounding victory, finishing the match with four centuries as well as breaks of 96, 87 and 77. BASKETBALL

DCU SAINTS caused the upset of the weekend when they overcame reigning Cup champions Griffith College Swords Thunder 75-70 in thrilling fashion.

Indeed, Swords, who had lost just one game so far this season, were left on the back foot from early on as Joey Boylan’s charges drove into a 42-38 point half-time lead, with men’s Super League September player of the month, Dee Proby, proving to be a massive thorn in the side of the Swords defence, top-scoring with 30 points.

RUGBY

OLD BELVEDERE continued their free-scoring form yesterday with a 57-0 bonus-point win over Blackrock at Anglesea Road. The Belvo women ran up 49 points last week against Tullamore but bettered that when clocking 57 against their south Dublin rivals.

There was little doubt about the result after the first quarter as Belvo’s smart offloading game was causing their opponents all sorts of difficulties. Alison Miller, Linda Djougang, Jenny Murphy and their team-mates were carrying the fight to ‘Rock at every opportunity and the scores racked up.

HOCKEY

SARAH TORRANS lost no time in opening her goalscoring account in international hockey as an experimental Ireland women’s team drew 1-1 in the first of their three-match series against Scotland at Stormont.

The Loreto forward marked her debut with the equaliser for the home team shortly after Catherine Watson gave the visitors an early lead. ATHLETICS

SHONA HEASLIP of An Ríocht turned in an impressive display to take victory at the Autumn Open International Cross-Country in Dublin yesterday, clocking 20:36 for the 6,000m distance to come home well clear of Scotland’s Mhairi MacLennan (20:56) and Michelle Finn (21:03).

The senior men’s race, which went one lap further to cover 7,500m, was won by Hiko Tonosa (DSD) of Ethiopia who had more in the tank for the sprint to win in 22:58 ahead of Kenya’s Gideon Kimosop (23:01).

Elsewhere, Darragh McElhinney showed he was wintering well to win the junior boys’ 6,000m in 18:48, while the junior women’s race was won by Laura Nicholson (Bandon) in 16:22. Rio Olympian Mick Clohisey finished fifth at the Great South Run over 10 miles in 49:01.

SAILING

IRISH silver medal-winning Olympian Annalise Murphy started a new phase of her career yesterday when the 45,000 nautical-mile Volvo Ocean Race got under way from Alicante.

The 27-year-old Rathfarnham sailor is racing with skipper Dee Caffari on the ‘Turn the Tide on Plastic’ entry, one of seven 65-foot yachts in the competition.

EQUESTRIAN

BERTRAM ALLEN and Richard Howley posted wins in Helsinki, Finland while Richie Moloney finished third in the $380,000 Rolex Grand Prix at Tryon in North Carolina, USA.

There were four Irish riders in action at the Finnish fixture but none qualified for the jump-off in yesterday’s World Cup qualifier.