Antrim boss Mickey Culbert issued an apology to all Saffron fans who made the trip to Dundalk yesterday as a belowpar second half showing from his side saw Louth coast their way into the Tommy Murphy Cup final on a scoreline of Louth 0-22 to Antrim 0-8.

Just three points separated the sides at half-time but 11 unanswered scores from the Wee County saw them run out very comfortable winners.

The sides were tied at 0-3 apiece early on before Louth hit four scores in as many minutes through Judge, Ray Finnegan, Brian White and John O'Brien to stamp their authority on the game.

Antrim refused to lie down, however, and when Niall Enright fired over in first-half stoppage time they trailed by just 0-9 to 06. It was point for point in the opening few minutes after the restart but when Kelly fired over to leave it 0-11 to 0-8 on 43 minutes that would be as good as it got for Antrim as Louth strolled to victory.

Eamonn McEneaney's men went on to hit 11 unanswered scores with substitutes Darren Clarke, David Reid and Hugh McGinn all pointing with their first touches.

Speaking after the final whistle, Culbert said: "I apologise to all the Antrim supporters for our second half performance. We had some halfdecent individual displays but as a team we folded in the second half."

MONTY HAPPY TO PAY PRICE FOR PUTTER

Colin Montgomerie gave himself an outside chance of victory in the KLM Open yesterday . . . and then went off to negotiate a price for his new putter.

Montgomerie switched back to a standard length putter after struggling with a belly putter in the opening two rounds, and carded a third-round 67 for a "ve-under total of 208 at Kennemer GC.

"I bought it from the shop this morning, although I haven't actually paid for it yet, " Montgomerie confessed after a round of seven birdies and three bogeys.

"It said 179 euro on the ticket. I'll see if I can get a discount but if not I'll be happy to pay full price!"

Four shots behind pacesetters Peter Lawrie and Soren Kjeldsen when he "nished, Montgomerie added: "I'll probably be "ve behind at the end of the day but if I really putt well tomorrow I will have a chance. If I can get four under after six holes or so that would be ideal.

There are a few players up there trying to win their "rst tournament and hopefully I can put some pressure on them.

MANSELL'S MASTERS CHANCES IN A SPIN

Nigel Mansell's chances of maintaining his perfect Grand Prix Masters record suffered a massive setback during qualifying at Silverstone yesterday.

The 1992 world champion will line up 13th for today's race for ex-Formula One drivers after spinning out of contention.

Mansell has won both Masters races so far from pole but faces a daunting task on a track where he triumphed three times during his grand prix career.

Germany's Christian Danner took pole with a time of one minute 36.916 seconds, over 16secs slower than the polewinning time set by Renault's Fernando Alonso at the British Grand Prix last June.

Danner will be joined on the front row by Sweden's Stefan Johansson with Britain's Derek Warwick posting the third quickest time. Mansell had been stuck in the garage for the first 30 minutes of the 45-minute session with a gearbox and radiator problem on his 650bhp car. But after finally getting onto the track he looked set for a competitive time until he was suddenly sent into a spin at Club corner. Mansell, 53 last Tuesday, was powerless as he lost control of the rear of the car as it hit water leaking from his own radiator.

SORDO CLOSES GAP ON LOEB IN GERMANY

World champion Sebastien Loeb saw his lead cut on the second morning of Rally Germany.

Loeb, a four-time winner here, began the day 42.7 seconds clear of Citroen team-mate Dani Sordo, but after the "rst two stages in Rier the gap had been cut to 27.4 seconds.

Sordo was just under a second away from claiming stage nine, which was won by Jan Kopecky in his Skoda with Loeb third, but Sordo then took stage 10 by 6.8 seconds from Loeb.

The Citroen works cars were the class of the "eld and their nearest challenger, Toni Gardemeister, was two minutes 18 seconds behind the leader in his privateer Citroen.

Marcus Gronholm, who trails Loeb by 29 points in the championship, was fourth, two minutes 38 seconds back.

Manfred Stohl was in "fth in his OMV Peugeot, Mikko Hirvonen's Ford sixth, Red Bull Skoda's Andreas Aigner seventh and Stephane Sarrazin rounded out the pointspaying positions for Subaru.

VARNDELL AND TIGERS BOOK QUARTERS SPOT

England reject Tom Varndell got the new rugby season under way by blasting Leicester into the quarter-finals of the Middlesex Sevens yesterday.

The wing was axed from Andy Robinson's 40-man elite squad this month despite starting both summer Tests against Australia.

Although Varndell's blistering pace saw him finish as the Premiership's leading try-scorer last season, doubts about the other parts of his game saw him demoted to the senior academy.

But the 20-year-old launched his comeback at Twickenham with a pair of tries in the 34-15 win over Saracens before squeezing into the corner for a third in the 31-0 thrashing of Worces ter.

KIRKLAND SURPRISED BY ENGLAND CALL UP

Chris Kirkland has admitted his England call-up for next week's friendly against Greece has come as a total shock.

Although he is currently only on loan from Liverpool, Kirkland has become the "rst Wigan player ever to be selected for national service after new coach Steve McClaren named him alongside Paul Robinson and Ben Foster in his goalkeeping trio. The 25-year-old knows he needs to impress Latics boss Paul Jewell over the next six months if he is to earn the permanent contract he is hoping for at the JJB Stadium.

However, even if a place on the bench against the European champions is the best he can manage at Old Trafford next week, Kirkland has certainly started life with Wigan in the best manner possible. "I didn't realise I was the "rst ever in club history to get a full call-up, " he admitted. "That is an unbelievable honour. To be honest, the thought I might get a call never really crossed my mind. It has taken me by surprise a little.

"I have just been focusing on staying "t and on doing my best in pre-season training here at Wigan."