
Neil Whitworth leads the way as Lisburn survive CIYMS scare to net Challenge Cup Quarter-Final place
Jack Beattie top-scored with 43 and Carson McCullough made 32 as the Belmont side posted 183 for nine – three wickets apiece for Josh Manley and Ross Adair.
The chase started poorly for the hosts as they slumped to 54 for four, but Whitworth's unbeaten 54 guided them home in the penultimate over, sharing a vital stand of 52 in 46 balls with Nigel Jones (22).
Meanwhile, in the Gallagher Women's Challenge Cup, Jemma Gillan scored a century to help her CSNI side to an emphatic 179-run win over Instonians.
The Stormont side piled on 262 for six with Gillan hitting 14 boundaries in her 80-ball innings, sharing a record third wicket partnership of 167 in 19 overs with Rachael Thomas (35). Anna Ellerby with three wickets was the pick of the Shaws Bridge side.
Instonians in reply were bowled out for just 83 – four wickets for Emily Carville.
Holders Waringstown were also convincing winners at North Down. The Comber side were bowled out for 111, with skipper Amy Boyd top-scoring with 20.
The Waringstown bowling unit stuck to their task well, with two wickets apiece for Naomi Matthews, Cara Murray, Rachel Harrison and Penny Speer.
Amy Caulfield (22) got the chase off to a fast start, and a second wicket partnership of 70 between Player of the Match Sophie Hinds and Charlotte Lyons (23) took them to the brink of victory.
Hinds hit eight boundaries in a quickfire unbeaten 52 from just 38 balls to secure an eight-wicket win.
In-form Holywood were also in top form as they brushed aside Muckamore to win by nine wickets.
Alex Atkinson claimed three wickets for just two runs to collect the Player of the Match award as the Moylena side could only muster 83. There were two wickets apiece also for Tasmin Hope and Madison Landsman.
South African Landsman – who has also represented the Netherlands – then clubbed eight fours and a maximum in a 27-ball undefeated 51, adding 68 for the second wicket with Eva Cupitt (11 not out).
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Scottish Sun
an hour ago
- Scottish Sun
Cole Palmer admits Champions League winners' medal means nothing to him and he ‘doesn't feel like he won it'
COLE PALMER is already a Champions League winner. But to the ambitious young star, the medal he picked up as a non-playing substitute in Manchester City's 2023 triumph over Inter Milan doesn't mean a lot. 8 Cole Palmer won the Champions League win Man City in 2023 Credit: Alamy During what turned out to be his final season at City, he made his only start in the competition in a dead rubber group game against Sevilla. For the rest of the campaign, including the final in Istanbul, he sat on the bench as a no doubt frustrated observer. Palmer, now 23, said: 'I always say, I don't feel like a Champions League winner, if I'm being honest. 'It doesn't really mean anything to me. READ MORE IN FOOTBALL DRUG BUST Ex-Arsenal starlet jailed over plot to smuggle £600k of cannabis into UK 'People say it, but I weren't involved. 'Obviously I played in the group stage and stuff like that, but it's not the same, is it? 'I've not threw the medal away! I've still got it, but it's not like I feel like I've won it.' Palmer thoroughly earned the winner's medal he received for Chelsea's Conference League triumph last month. 8 Palmer helped Chelsea win the Conference League this season Credit: Getty 8 The midfielder's second-half masterclass earned him the Player of the Match award Credit: Getty CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS He gave a second-half masterclass as the Blues came from a goal down to beat Real Betis 4-1 and become the first club to complete a full set of Uefa trophies. But it's a competition that Palmer and Chelsea hope to have left behind for good. 'To do what-' - Cole Palmer left confused as he's asked to name his Premier League Mount Rushmore For the club's status and bank balance, the victory over Nottingham Forest that guaranteed a return to the Champions League after a two-year absence, was far more important. Palmer said: 'Everyone at Chelsea wanted to be in the Champions League. 'No disrespect to the Conference League or whatever, but Champions League is the biggest competition. 'We finished well. We had some tough games 'We had that little spell in the season where we weren't too great. "Everyone was saying they're not gonna get Champions League and that. 'So to get it was good. Getting that at Forest was a relief' 8 Chelsea celebrated a return to the Champions League after a win over Nottingham Forest on the final day of the Premier League season Credit: Alamy But Palmer's display against Betis will have been something of a relief to him, even if he would not put in quite those terms. It was a timely return of the Cole Palmer who had made himself into one of the world's biggest young stars Because after picking up where he had left off in his stunning debut season for the Blues, scoring and creating goals for fun, the second half of the 2024/5 campaign was a tough one. As the run of games without a goal or even an assist grew longer and longer, it looked like Palmer was feeling the pressure. His spectacular transformation from City youth player to Chelsea' main man created expectation, and he was not living up to it. Even the famously cool young man was just a little concerned. Palmer said: "I know myself players will go through it. I'm not stupid. 'But then you go into Chelsea and you do that from a jump, and then you go into a dip, you just think, 'What's going on?'. 'I don't mind. Obviously I did mind, but I didn't think it was the end of the world. 'I just think it was one of them things when things weren't happening for me. 'I went on a bit longer than I thought it would go on. But I spoke to people about it and they explained it was going to happen. 'But they said that when I get out of it, I'll be an even better player than what I was before I went in it.' 8 Which would be great news for Chelsea and for England. Although Palmer is very much the Blues' key man, at international level he has a fight on his hands to be the creative hub of the team. Which feels even stranger because he is one of only four England players to have scored a goal in a major final. For most of Euro 2024, Three Lions fans were crying out for Palmer to be given more of a chance to inject some life into Gareth Southgate's struggling team. And when he was brought on in the final against Spain, he grabbed a brilliant equaliser. Palmer recalled: 'An occasion like that if you think about it, it might get the better of you. So I just try not to. 'I was just getting ready to come on like all the other games I came on, try and make an impact. 'I thought, 'It's the final, the last game, we're losing, I've got nothing to lose'. Well, we did, the biggest game of our career, but you know what I mean. 'So yeah, that's what I was trying to do. 'At the time, I didn't really realise how big that goal was. It was only when the tournament finished and I went home and looked back.' But it's about looking forward now, for Palmer, Chelsea and England. Real Madrid star and Champions League winner Jude Bellingham is the man in possession of the No 10 role for England. If both he and Palmer start Saturday's World Cup qualifier against Andorra, the Chelsea man could find himself out wide. But at least next season, he will be playing in the same European competition as Bellingham and the biggest stars of the game. And trying to earn a medal for real. 8 Palmer scored England's only goal in the Euro 2024 final Credit: AFP DELAP BREAKOUT COLE Palmer is delighted that former Manchester City team-mate Liam Delap has opted to join the Blues. The pair, who grew up together in the City Academy, will be reunited at Stamford Bridge after the Blues confirmed they had completed a £30m deal with Ipswich for centre forward Delap. Palmer said: 'I'm excited to play with him. I was messaging him asking If he was coming and that. 'I played with him at Under 18s, 21s. We went to the first team together. 'He's a great striker, one of the best in the Premier League. You can see from last season. 'So I think he'll help us a lot and hopefully score lots of goals.' 8 Chelsea have confirmed the £30m signing of Liam Delap from Ipswich Town Credit: Getty

Rhyl Journal
2 days ago
- Rhyl Journal
Prague pencilled in for Criterion comeback
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Scotsman
2 days ago
- Scotsman
Inside Henco Venter's Glasgow Warriors exit and a special Scotstoun moment
Cult hero is swapping Scotland for France with a heavy heart Sign up to our Rugby Union newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... It's hard to think of an overseas player who has become so popular so quickly in Scotland as Henco Venter. Glasgow Warriors supporters have taken the South African forward to their hearts and serenaded him on Friday night in what turned out to be his Scotstoun swan-song. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It was a moving experience for Venter as he came off in the 72nd minute of the victory over the Stormers which kept his team's bid to win the United Rugby Championship for the second year in a row very much alive. Departing Glasgow Warriors forward Henco Venter is a hugely popular figure with the club's supporters. | SNS Group No club has done that before but Glasgow are now through to the semi-finals, thanks in no small measure to another outstanding performance from their No 8 and cult hero, who scored a try in the 36-18 victory. Alas, a parting of the ways is imminent. Venter is off to France next season to play in the second-tier ProD2. It was announced in March that he would be joining Brive and the news of his departure was a source of regret for Franco Smith as well as the club's fans. The Glasgow Warriors coach wanted him to stay and while he acknowledged that the player had received a very good offer from Brive, 'other factors came into play'. The chief one being 'a movement in the direction of having less foreigners' in Scottish rugby. Venter, who arrived in Glasgow from the Sharks in summer 2023 and has played 35 times for the club, hopes he has two more games left. The Warriors travel to Dublin to take on Leinster in the URC semis on Saturday and the final is scheduled for the following weekend. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad He wanted to remain at Glasgow but accepts there is a desire within Murrayfield to try to bring through more homegrown talent. Venter will be joined out the exit door by compatriot JP du Preez and Argentinian winger Sebastian Cancelliere. The appointment by Scottish Rugby last August of performance director David Nucifora was designed 'to provide a roadmap for its next decade of player development'. Being South African and 33, Venter isn't perhaps a poster boy for Nucifora's brave new world - but his contribution to Glasgow's success shouldn't be underestimated. He played a big part in last season's stunning URC triumph and has also been credited by Smith with an important role in helping bring through young Warriors players like Jack Mann and Euan Ferrie. He has also been a vital team cog during international windows when Glasgow have been without their large Scotland contingent. For Venter, it will be tough to leave. Henco Venter poses with the URC trophy after Glasgow's win over the Bulls in the final at Loftus Versfeld. | SNS Group 'With Scotland taking the route, as you all know, of less foreign players I wanted to stay but they all made their rules to make Scotland directly better - I respect it,' he said. 'It's one of those things, it's rugby. You just go to the next thing, stuff happens and you just keep going forward and make yourself better.' No-one could blame Venter for looking elsewhere when no offer of a new Glasgow contract was forthcoming but circumstances seemed to have worked against the player. The focus was on negotiating new deals for the club's frontline Scotland players such as Sione Tuipulotu, George Horne, Zander and Matt Fagerson, Kyle Steyn and Stafford McDowall, whose value had increased on the back of their URC success. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Approaching the final months of his contract, Venter would have been understandably concerned about his future and the offer from Brive was undeniably attractive. Nevertheless, he will leave Glasgow with a heavy heart. The reception he received from the home support on Friday had a profound effect on him, all the more so because so many of his family and friends were either at Scotstoun or watching back home in South Africa. 'You'd never think that would happen,' Venter said of the ovation he received as the supporters sang his name. 'I actually didn't know what to do. It was special, very special. I appreciate it a lot. I didn't expect it and to receive something like that is one of the highlights of my career. Henco Venter, with ball, scores Glasgow Warriors' third try during the URC quarter-final win over the Stormers at Scotstoun as Kyle Steyn celebrates. | SNS Group 'My [immediate] family was here [at Scotstoun] and it was televised in South Africa so my whole family saw it. All the people living on our street were also here, all our neighbours.' Venter's imminent departure also means he is splitting again from Smith, his coach and long-time mentor. The pair had success together in South Africa before lifting silverware with Glasgow Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'It's the second time that we've parted ways and it's not easier than the first time,' said Venter. 'Luckily we're not done. There's another game to go and then if we're successful, there's another one.' The game against the Stormers was Venter's first since returning from a six-game suspension for making contact with the eye of England prop Dan Cole during the win over Leicester in the Champions Cup in early April. It means he missed both of Glasgow's recent defeats by Leinster, the 52-0 hammering in Europe and the narrow 13-5 loss in the URC. If they are to prolong their season beyond this weekend they are going to have to find a way to win in Dublin. It's not been a happy place for Glasgow but Venter feels the Warriors are rediscovering their form and if they can match their hosts' formidable physicality they can progress to the final once again. 'Teams go through a bit of a dip here and there but I think after the weekend everyone's dialled in and everyone's ready to go again,' he said. 'We are prepared to sacrifice everything to win. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad