Griffin dons yellow jersey

PAUL GRIFFIN (Earl of Desmond) will don the race leader’s yellow jersey with a miniscule time advantage of .18 of a second over fellow Kerry cyclist Eugene Moriarty (Cycleways.com) when Killorglin Credit Union Rás Mumhan enters the final day that will decide the overall title over three laps of the 15-mile Beaufort circuit followed by four laps of the 13-mile Donal McKenna Circuit.

David McCann, guesting for the Earl of Desmond team, sprinted into Caherciveen, the town where he actually took control of last year's FBD Insurance RAS before going on to win the title, to win yesterday afternoon's 60m Skellig Ring Stage to complete a double.

McCann had an expected emphatic victory in the early morning 10km time trial from Beaufort to Killorglin. And with his own chance of overall victory having evaporated on the first day, he set out yesterday to defend the slender lead which team-mate Paul Griffin had snatched from former winner Eugene Moriarty that morning when he finished third in the time trial 42 seconds behind McCann, with Moriarty less than two-tenths of a second back in fourth place.