Saturday sport: Lions secure series win despite loss, Sharlene Mawdsley wins 200m title
Kenneth Fox
Soccer
Athlone Town manager Colin Fortune says it is an 'incredible achievement' for his team to advance to the second phase of the Women's Champions League qualifiers.
American forward Madie Gibson scored twice in the Midlanders' 3-0 win against Croatia's Agram this afternoon.
Next up for Town is a trip to the Netherlands for the second-round where they will next play Iceland's Breidablik at the end of this month.
While Shelbourne have moved above Athlone at the top of the Women's National League table with a 2-0 win at Cork City.
It is 0-0 early on between Sligo Rovers and Shelbourne in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division.
Rangers conceded a late goal as their first match of the Scottish Premiership season ended in a 1-1 draw away at Motherwell.
It denies new manager Russell Martin victory in his first league game in charge.
Livingston fought from 2-nil down as their match at 10-man Kilmarnock finished 2-2.
Rugby
Andy Farrell admits there's 'frustration' around this Lions squad that they missed out on the chance to whitewash Australia.
The tourists had to settle for a 2-1 series victory following a 22-12 defeat to the Wallabies in the third Test in Sydney.
Munster's Tadgh Beirne was named the Lions Player of the Series having started all three tests. He joins a prestigious list alongside Maro Itoje, Jonathan Davies, Leigh Halfpenny and Jamie Roberts.
Ireland head coach Scott Bemand says he's 'delighted' by the composure shown by his team in their opening warm-up game ahead of the Women's World Cup.
They went 14-0 down to Scotland before running out 27-21 victors at Virgin Media Park in Cork.
Nancy McGillivray marked her debut with a try, with Maebh Deely, Sadhbh McGrath, Niamh O'Dowd and Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird also going over.
Athletics
Sharlene Mawdsley has withdrawn from the 400-metres heats after landing her first 200-metres national athletics title.
The Tipperary Olympian finished almost three seconds ahead of Sarah Lavin to claim gold at Santry this afternoon.
Marcus Lawler won the men's 200-metres while Mark English eased into tomorrow's 800-metres final.
Racing
Winning Smut has handed trainer Gordon Elliot another victory at the Galway Races in the Handicap Hurdle.
Under the ride of Jack Kennedy, he had two-and-a-quarter lengths to spare over his rivals in the Listed content.
Elliot had already won the Galway Plate and the Hurdle earlier this week.
Swimming
Mona McSharry says she feels re-energised after the World Aquatics Championships.
The Olympic bronze medallist was hampered by a stomach bug this weekend, but she's vowed to continue her international swimming career.
Sligo's McSharry had taken a five-month break following the Paris Olympics.