Newcastle's ill discipline proved their undoing and, with David Wilson in the sin bin, Rikki Flutey took advantage to touch down and restore Irish's lead.

Mark Mayerho"er scrambled over late on but Matt Burke missed the extras and another Irish penalty sealed the win.

LANDIS IS FORMALLY CHARGED FOR DOPING Floyd Landis has been formally charged by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) with using performanceenhancing drugs during this year's Tour de France.

The USADA will now initiate disciplinary procedures against the 30-year-old American, who tested positive for excessive levels of testosterone in a sample he returned following his victory in the 17th stage through the Alps.

A recommendation from the agency's review board says there is sufficient evidence of a doping violation.

Landis, who went on to win the tour but now faces being stripped of his title and banned from the sport for two years, continues to protest his innocence and his lawyer, Howard Jacobs, insists his client will appeal against the charge.

ALL IRELAND CAMOGIE TITLE FOR WESTMEATH Westmeath claimed their "rst ever All Ireland camogie title yesterday when they won the Maire Ni Chinneide Cup with a 3-5 to 1-4 defeat of Monaghan in the inaugural championship for weaker counties.

The winners' star player was Mary Henry who scored a brace of goals, one in each half.

A third goal one minute from time from Elaine Finn secured a "rst ever All-Ireland title for Westmeath, despite the best efforts of Monaghan's Marie Grennan.

ROSSI CONFIDENT OF CATCHING HAYDEN Valentino Rossi is confident he can further close the gap on MotoGP points leader Nicky Hayden in today's race at Motegi.

The Camel Yamaha rider starts the Japanese round from the front row of the grid after setting the second fastest time in qualifying behind the Ducati Marlboro machine of fellow Italian Loris Capirossi. Another Italian, Marco Melandri, completes the front row "I am very happy to be on the front row again for the fourth race in a row, " said Rossi. "My (Yamaha) M1 has worked well from the start here so we've been able to work on the setting with various different things and then mix everything together to find the very best race set-up."

Rossi trails current championship leader Nicky Hayden by 21 points, with Motegi the first of the three remaining races in the series. American Hayden will start from the third row of the grid.

CREWE HAVE A CHANCE TO KILL GIANTS League One side Crewe have been rewarded for beating Wigan last week with a home tie against Manchester United in the third round of the Carling Cup.

Martin O'Neill will return to Leicester for the "rst time after the Irishman's current club, Aston Villa, were handed a midlands derby at the Walkers Stadium. Managerless West Brom will welcome Arsenal to The Hawthorns having overcome Cheltenham last week.

All-Premiership ties include Newcastle against Portsmouth, Liverpool versus Reading and Blackburn against Chelsea.

Tottenham face MK Dons while Chester"eld host West Ham. Ties will be played the week commencing October 23.

VAUGHAN BACKS ENGLISH SELECTION Michael Vaughan is confident England have picked the right squad to defend the Ashes despite fitness concerns about a number of key players such as Andrew Flintoff and Ashley Giles.

"The squad is right in my opinion, " said Vaughan who will miss the re-match Down Under because he is still recuperating from knee surgery on his knee.

"There weren't really any tough decisions and the selectors would not have taken any risks on fitness. Australia will be at home, so they have a little bit of a head start, but I don't think any of our players will be fazed by that."

CURLEY SEALS CLEAN SWEEP IN PHOENIX PARK A record 3,400 runners, joggers and walkers braved the rain to take part in the adidas Dublin Half-Marathon in the Phoenix Park yesterday.

Tullamore woman Pauline Curley secured her second clean sweep of the adidas race series, taking the women's title in a time of 77:50, 60 seconds off her 2005 winning time.

The men's race went to Latvian Sandis Bralitas, a member of West Waterford running club, in a time of 68:46. "I'm delighted to have won the three races again for the second year, " said Curley.