Cycling: David O'Loughlin earned a place in the points race at next month's world track championships in Palma, Majorca, by riding solidly in the World Cup held in Manchester over the weekend.

O'Loughlin was second in his heat of the points race and then finished 12th in the finals, qualifying for the worlds.

He had already secured a place to ride the individual pursuit there and on Friday he was a good eighth in the event.

The Mayo rider was, however, disappointed not to go faster, recording four minutes 30.12 seconds and thus falling outside his national record set back in September.

Louise Moriarty beat the women's national mark for the 3,000 metre pursuit, setting a time of 3:56.194 en route to 19th place.

Three other Irish riders were also taking part in the World Cup, making it the first team entry in many years.

Ciarán Power was 16th in his heat of the scratch race, thus missing out on a place in the final.

He joined O'Loughlin, Dermot Nally and Paul Healion for the team pursuit, where the quartet placed 14th.

O'Loughlin will be the sole Irish rider travelling to the world championships at the end of March.

The other riders had the chance to build experience and Cycling Ireland will hope that this will lead on to some good results in the longer term.

Elsewhere, Martin O'Loughlin was the winner of the Lacey Cup in Tralee, beating Brian Kenneally and Seán Lacey at the end of the 42-mile event.