Hession appears to be peaking at precisely the right time following his excellent third-place finish at the Super Grand Prix meeting at Crystal Palace, London yesterday when he clocked 20.40 seconds, his fastest time of the season.

Despite running in lane eight, he chased down Americans Tyson Gay, the world champion, and Wally Spearmon. It was only in the last 30m that Spearmon caught and passed the Galwayman, who was fastest out of the blocks.

Waterford's Kelly Proper was well below her best when she finished ninth and last in the long jump with 6.27m, well short of her 6.51 national mark.

Meanwhile David Gillick was outside his best when he finished second in 45.48 at the 400m in Barcelona last night. Gillick recently set an Irish record with 44.77..

Rowers claim C final victory

ROWING: The Irish lightweight men's double scull had some small measure of satisfaction at the U-23 world rowing championships in the Czech Republic, where they won the C final to place 13th overall in the competition.

At the halfway point Mark O'Donovan and Niall Kenny were third behind Australia and Poland but a massive push from the Irish saw them cross the line one second clear of Poland with Australia third.

Lightweight single sculler Michael Maher looked set for a similar performance after winning the morning's CD semi-final.

Bree gets to grips with suit

SWIMMING: Andrew Bree will start his campaign at the World Championships in Rome today, hoping he gets the feel of his new suit in the 100m breaststroke.

Bree's main event, the 200m breaststroke, doesn't take place until Thursday but he knows the shorter distance will give him a feel for the new suit.

"Everyone seems to be talking about the suits over here. I've got mine because you need it if you're going to compete and already I can see the difference," said Bree.

Timetable in For The Record

Maguires help salvage pride

GOLF: Skipper Mary McKenna's Great Britain & Ireland team finished with their tails up by winning the final singles session 5-3 but Europe retained the Vagliano Trophy women's biennial amateur international trophy by a 13-11 margin at Hamburger Golf Club, Falkenstein in Germany.

The Continentals started the second and last day with a 7 1/2-4 1/2 advantage from winning the first day foursomes 2 1/2-1 1/2 and opening singles 5-3.

Yesterday they repeated that 2 1/2-1 1/2 foursomes victory to start the final eight singles with a 10-5 advantage.

Great Britain & Ireland's winners in the singles were Scots Sally Watson (Elie & Earlsferry) and Pamela Pretswell (Bothwell Castle), England's Rachel Jennings, and one of the 14-year-old Irish twins, Lisa Maguire.

Fraser leads Malmo field

Australian Marcus Fraser moved into a one-stroke lead with a third-round 70 at the SAS Masters in Malmo.

Fraser lies on eight-under, one in front of England's Lee Slattery, Swede Martin Erlandsson and Dane Jeppe Huldahl, winner of last month's Wales Open.

Alonso takes Hungary pole

MOTORSPORT: Renault's Fernando Alonso seized pole yesterday after a Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying session overshadowed by Ferrari's Felipe Massa suffering a heavy crash.

The session was suspended when Brazilian Massa was hit on the helmet by debris and ploughed into the tyre wall.

The Brazilian had emergency surgery last night and has been ruled out of today's race. Massa was in intensive care last night, but a statement from Ferrari said the surgery went well and that he was in a stable condition.

Aussies suffer more bad form

CRICKET: Australia's struggles continued on day two at Northampton as their hosts hit back with ball and then bat.

Only Stuart Clark and Shane Watson could take tea with any satisfaction at a reputation enhanced, after Alex Wakely (62) and Riki Wessels (50) helped Northamptonshire race to 175 for five from only 38 overs in reply to 308 for eight declared.

Mitchell Johnson endured more misery in a spell of seven wicketless overs for 42 -- harsh figures for Australia's would-be pace spearhead, trying to rebuild his confidence in time for next week's third Ashes Test.

Norman turns back clock

GOLD: Golf Greg Norman delved into his memory bank and out popped a 64 as he took over the lead yesterday in the Senior British Open.

Norman finished one clear of Fred Funk, who slipped to a 72 for a share of second place with former champion Loren Roberts, who fired a 67.

Tom Watson could not produce the sort of round his rivals were recording, a level-par 70 leaving him down in a 14th-place tie and seemingly with no chance of improving today on his runner-up finish in last Sunday's Open Championship.

Des Smyth hit his second successive 74 which knocked him down to joint 57th after he had been near the lead with his first-round 66. "Rubbish is the overriding scenario. I played hopeless," he said. The only bright spot was the 14th, where he had an eagle three. "I hit two good shots, a drive and a two-iron to about 15 feet and holed it. That was the only decent thing."

Death of

Fr McNamara

GAELIC GAMES: Former Clare hurling manager Fr Michael McNamara passed away yesterday in the Galway clinic.

The Kilmaley native was educated at the famed school of hurling, St Flannan's College in Ennis.

He was ordained in the late 1960s and returned to St Flannan's to serve as a member of staff. He then transferred to Saint Patrick's Comprehensive in Shannon where he took up a teaching position. He was appointed Parish Priest of Doora, Barefield, where he remained until his death.

Fr MacNamara managed the Clare senior hurling team in 1983 and 1984 along with Eamon Cregan as coach. He was chairman of the Clare County Board for five years.

He also managed the successful Clare junior camogie team to two All-Ireland crowns.