30 sport Thursday, January 7, 2010 D Chip off the old Rock: Dean handed chance Gilroy rings changes for OByrne Cup Dean Rock will finally get the chance to prove he is a chip off the old block during Dublins oByrne cup campaign. Former Dublin Under-21 and junior star Rock, son of county legend Barney, has been named by boss Pat Gilroy on a 24-man panel for Sundays first-round clash with Wexford at Parnell Park. Freezing weather may yet see that game, and the majority of the other pre-season tournament ties scheduled for this weekend, postponed but the message from Gilroy remains clear: he is looking for new talent. along with Rock there are seven other newcomers on the panel, while many more like eoghan oGara, eamon Fennell, Tiernan Diamond, Blaine kelly and Brendan McManamon were fringe players at best in the past. There is some experience in the panel in the shape of Stephen cluxton, Bernard Brogan, Paul casey and Tomas Quinn. But for the most part it is a new-look squad reflecting Gilroys vow to shake things up after back-to-back all-Ireland quarter- final hammerings. Ballybodens Michael Macauley is included and after starring in the Dublin SFc will hope to nail down the midfield vacancy left by ciaran Whelan. Jason Sherlock may also have played his last game after being told he must prove his form at club level. Mark Davoren, who tore his cruciate knee ligament against Meath last summer after starring at full-forward in kilmacud crokes all- Ireland club success, is back running at training and targeting a spring return to action. u The freezing conditions claimed their first major Gaa casualty yesterday as the entire connacht FBD League fixture list for this weekend was wiped out. Big guns Galway and Mayo were due to play along with six other teams but the games have been put back a week. a decision will be taken about Leinsters oByrne cup games inside 24 hours, according to an official, a situation replicated in Ulster and Munster where the Mckenna and McGrath cups are due to start. GAA Royals Reilly hit by fresh spell out Injury-plagued Meath defender Kevin reilly looks set for another lengthy spell out of football due to a long term back injury. The navan OMahonys man played International rules football for Ireland in 2008 but his 2009 season was ruined by injury and he has now been tipped to miss the entire national League. That would leave him playing catch-up for the championship which begins with a Leinster opener against Offaly on May 23. He wont be back doing anything until the end of january and we will have to assess him them, said boss Eamonn OBrien. GOLF: Darren Clarke is keen to put a disappointing 12 months behind him when he tees off at this weeks Africa Open in East London today. The Irishman is among a handful of high- profile players assembled in the South Africa for the 1million competitions first appearance on the European Tour. Other big-name players in the field include Englands Nick Dougherty and home favourites James Kingston and Richard Sterne. But there will be plenty of focus on Clarke, who was narrowly edged out by Retief Goosen last year. Obviously, Goosens not here but he played great last year and I had to finish second, he said. Hopefully this year I can go one better. I had a pretty poor year [last year] so I want to come back to winning again and go from there. u CRICKET: England opener Alastair Cook has called on his team to recapture the fighting spirit from Cardiff to save the third Test against South Africa today. Three late wickets on day four ensured England face an uphill battle to avoid defeat at Newlands after the Proteas set the tourists what would be a world-record target of 466. The tourists stumbled to 132 for three by the close. Cook said: The scraps continue. We have to fight like we have done in previous games and try and get a draw. u RACING: Saturdays card at Punchestown has been cancelled due to the heavy covering of snow. Course officials had been monitoring the situation all week but made an early decision due to worsening weather forecasts. Sundays Leopardstown meeting is still in the balance with the course still unraceable at present. Irish Turf Club press officer Cliff Noone said of Leopardstown: They are still unfit for racing with a covering of snow. We will have an update [on Thursday]. u sportdigest Poor 2009: Clarke Clarke aiming to begin year with African win FLAVIO Briatore could take legal action against nelson Piquet Snr and jnr following his court triumph in Paris. The French high court ordered the lifetime ban imposed on the former renault team principal by the FIA to be overturned earlier this week. Motorsports world governing body is currently looking into its options and considering whether to launch an appeal, a course of action Briatore has advised it against pursuing. I wouldnt do it after such a verdict, said the Italian. Briatore (pictured), however, may now go gunning for the Piquets as it was they who blew the whistle on the crashgate scandal. Piquet jnr deliberately crashed at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix in order to help team- mate Fernando Alonso take the win. Briatore, along with former renault director of engineering Pat Symonds, were then implicated in the conspiracy by the driver and his father, a three-time F1 champion. The 59-year-old Briatore did initially threaten legal action once the story emerged. That was soon forgotten after he vacated his position at renault, who had opted not to contest the allegation made against them that they fixed the result in Singapore. But asked if he would now take action against the Piquets, Briatore replied: Thats very likely. The bad that has been done to me wont be forgotten in one day. Briatore may sue Piquets after court win FORMULA ONE RUGBY MAGNERS LEAGUE Gibbes so eager for Glasgow go-ahead Comeback trail: Munsters Jerry Flannery trains yesterday as he continues his recovery from an Achilles injury. The hooker has not been included in the squad for Sundays game against Scarlets, but is expected to play some part in the provinces upcoming Heineken Cup fixtures. Picture: Sportsfile LeInSTeR forwards coach Jon- no Gibbes remains hopeful that the provinces Magners League clash with Glasgow Warriors at the RDS will go ahead as planned tomorrow despite the freezing conditions across the capital. The reigning european champi- ons have not played since their 15-3 win over Ulster on St Stephens Day after last Satur- days visit to connacht was post- poned and Gibbes voiced his con- cerns that the lack of match practice will disrupt the squads preparations for their crucial heineken cup clash with Brive next Saturday. To be fair our training facilities here are really good and the field we use hasnt frozen so disrup- tion has been minimal. The play- ers trained really well and every- ones got their fingers crossed that the RDS ground-staff are able to work a miracle and the weather co-operates to enable this game to go ahead, said the new Zealander. Its pretty important that the match goes ahead (in the context of last weekends postponement), but also because were back in the RDS and we get to face the top of the table team. It would be less than ideal to go into those [heineken cup] games without two weekends of rugby, but these are the cards youre dealt and it wouldnt be the worst thing either because the few players who had bumps and bruises might benefit from the break. Gibbes also reserved praise for Shaun Bernes efforts after the australian deputised for Jonathan Sexton, who has recovered from two broken fingers to return to the squad. The direction that Shaunie [Berne] gave us in Jonathan Sex- tons absence was fantastic and Im sure that Jono can settle into the driving seat, just as Shaunie did, if selected. From a forwards point of view, as long as they play it in front of us, well be happy. 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