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CLARE referee Padraig Sutton will be the man in charge when a tournament involving some of the biggest teams in world football kicks off in Dublin at the weekend.

The Ennis man will referee a game between an Airtricity league XI and Manchester City in the Dublin Super Cup on Saturday.

The two-day tournament, which also involves Inter Milan and Glasgow Celtic, takes place at the Aviva Stadium.

For Sutton the glamour friendly represents a welcome break from the hectic schedule of league games.

Sutton, who started refereeing 13 years ago, has been afforded the opportunity to officiate the game due to a break in the Airtricity league season.

He said, “Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. Its (the league season) fairly full tilt at the moment. It’s a friendly, a good day out for the family. So yeah, hopefully it goes well”.

It won’t be the first time Sutton has rubbed shoulders with some of the star names in European football.

Last August, he was selected in a group of four Irish referees eligible to take part in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League and Europa League games.

In September, Sutton served as fourth official as one of the match officials for the Champions League meeting between Romanian side CFR Cluj and Swiss outfit FC Basel. Two years ago, the Limerick based Guard was among the match officials for the Europa League meeting be- tween Tottenham Hotspur and Turkish club Famagusta.

An experienced league of Ireland referee, Sutton has also officiated at underage Irish international games.

His involvement in the Dublin Super Cup strengthens the connections between Clare and the high profile pre-season tournament.

Along with sports media firm, Endemol Sports, Ennis man Damien O’Brien is one of the principal organizers of the event through his company Iconic.

Five years ago O’Brien, a former Turnpike Rovers player whose father used to manage Lifford, devised the format for Football Icon – a reality TV show that offers young footballers the chance to earn a professional contract with some of Europe’s biggest clubs.

LAST THURSDAY night saw the finals night of the ITRA Tag Rugby season is Ennis RFC.

Division 2 kicked off with fifth place Munstergroup and sixth place DBOCS taking to the pitch. What ensued was a closely matched game however DBOCS just clinched the game by 18 points to Munstergroup’s 15, giving DBOCS the Bowl Trophy later that night.

TTM Tryers, who finished the league in third place took on fourth place Ennis Randomers. Both teams had found their form in recent weeks and again it was another fiercely contested match. In the last minutes TTM managed to stretch their lead to two points meaning the Randomers had to secure a female try to take the game. Unfortunately the Randomers couldn’t deliver and TTM took the game winning the Plate Trophy.

On Wing With Prayer topped the Division 2 league and faced second place the Shades in the play-off for the Cup. There was nothing between the two teams throughout the game and after the final whistle, the teams were all square on 8 points apiece. After a short break, the game went to five minutes play of Golden Try. On Wing With Prayer didn’t need much time and got the first try winning the game and the Cup with a final score of 9 points to The Shades 8.

Division 1 saw fifth place MurtysMen taking on sixth place The Try Hards. MurtysMen started the game with a five point deficit due to the tardiness of one player, however they played some excellent rugby and never looked like they would lose to the Try Hards, The game finished with MurtysMen taking the Bowl by 15 points to The Try Hards 12.

In the play-off for the Division 1 Plate, third placed Scrum N Coke took on Lucas’ Legends. The game was evenly matched up to the last four minutes when Lucas’ Legends got both a female try worth three points and a male try extending their lead beyond the reach of Scrum N Coke. The game finished with Lucas’ Legends winning 10 points to Scrum N Coke’s 5.

The headliner game of the night saw Division 1 winners Tag Her & Try Her looking to secure the Cup, taking on their long term rivals and current Champions, Deep Heat. The reigning champions showed their class throughout the game and despite the first half being closely matched, Deep Heat ran away with the game in the second half. Deep Heat won the game 13 points to 7 and were crowned champions for the third time in a row.

The season concluded with the presentation in Ennis RFC, followed by a barbecue in Lucas’ Bar. Despite the conclusion of the league, there is more tag rugby to be played with the various beach festivals taking place over the next month.

In particular, there is a large representation from Ennis expected at the Kilkee festival on August 20. Full details are available on www.tagrugby.ie

A WAR of words over the chaos that threatened club championship fixtures over the next month broke out at last Thursday’s county board meeting convened specially to try to deal with what full-time secretary Pat Fitzgerald a “doomsday” situation.

The robust exchanges were between Doonbeg delegate Michael Neenan and county board chairman Michael O’Neill as they clashed over the Masters Fixtures Plan and its failure to make any provision for club championship games to take place in July

“The night we ratified this Masters Fitxtures plan, I suggested that night that when the county teams would be out of the championships, we would play a round of the championship,” said Neenan in leading his charge against the county board.

“You Mr Chairman ruled it out that week. You ruled it out quite strongly from the top table. You said the Masters Fitxtures plan was there and that it wouldn’t be changed. What has changed since?

“Who called this meeting? Did any delegate ring you up to call this meeting? Was it managers from county teams that called it? Was it you from the top table who called the meeting?,” added Mr Neenan.

“I called the meeting as chairman of the Clare County Board,” responded O’Neill, while board secretary Pat Fitzgerald said “there was no point calling you all in when Doomsday is here. It’s now”.

However, Neenan then resumed his stinging criticism of the fixtures blueprint. “There is a Master Fitxtures Plan here Mr Chairman and you shot me down quite strongly when I suggested when all teams would be out of Munster and Qualifiers that we would come back and look at it,” he said.

“We are looking at something blind here tonight. We could have played games that would have helped out managers going forward, if we had played our club championships over the past three weeks.

“I am looking at three weekends in July when games could have been played. How come you couldn’t see this happening. You left three weekends in July when nothing happened.

“You called us in here a big late. You are right on top of the semi-finals of the minor and intermediate now. There were three weekends when we could have been playing hurling and football championship. I pointed that out to you quite clearly,” he said.

“Things happen,” responded the board chairman. “We are where we are. We are in two All-Ireland semifinals and one Munster semi-final.

“I’m not God, I’m only chairman of the Clare County Board. I can’t pre-empt what’s going to happen,” O’Neill added.

CLARE All-Ireland winner Jim McInerney used the platform of last Thursday’s special county board meeting to lower his blade into the workings of the Central Council.

In a hard-hitting statement, McInerney, a Munster and All-Ireland winner with Clare in 1995 and who led Tulla to their historic county championship success in 2007, lambasted the Central Council for the way its management of inter-county fixtures is impacting on the club scene.

“I think it’s a scandal as Munster champions we don’t know when we’re playing our All-Ireland semifinal,” said McInerney in reference to the fact that Clare won the Munster final on July 10, but had to wait until two weeks later to know when they would be playing their All-Ireland semi-final.

“It’s not good enough. It is typical of Central Council and how they’re running their show and what they’re doing to club hurling and football. I think as a county we should go national on this. We should highlight this.

“We are Munster minor champions and we should be the curtainraiser to Tipperary who are Munster senior champions. We should be the curtainraiser to Tipp, irrespective of who we are playing. It would solve a lot of problems,” McInerney added.

It was only decided after last Monday All-Ireland quarter-finals – Kilkenny v Waterford and Galway v Antrim respectively that Clare would be in All-Ireland semi-final action on Sunday, August 7.

The decision was annoucned by Central Council after a meeting of the CCCC on Monday morning.

THE county intermediate hurling side that made history two weeks ago when bringing a first ever provincial title to the county in the grade used the special meeting of the Clare County Board to issue their call for a seven-day run in free from club championship duties ahead of the All-Ireland semi-final against Galway.

“We need to get a week to prepare for the All-Ireland semi-final from the 6th to the 13th,” selector Niall Romer told last Thursday’s meeting – directing his appeal to both clubs and the top table for this leeway to be given to the intermediates before their semi-final against Galway on August 13 that will now take place in Cusack Park.

“We have no problem with club hurling. When club hurling is going well, county hurling is going well, but our players just want a fair crack of the whip before the All-Ireland semi-final.

“A week is all we’re asking for. A week from the 6th to the 13th. Before we played Cork in the Munster semifinal we had one player who played championship two nights before, but we said nothing about it. Now all we are asking for is that you give us a bit of a break. We’re fighting our own corner here and all we want is that week,” added Romer.

The move by the intermediate management comes after their preparations for the Munster final against Limerick were hampered by club and county board insistence that club games go ahead during the week leading up to the fixture that took place on Wednesday July 13.

“We’re the whipping boys of the Clare set-up. We were given no chance,” said Romer ahead of the Munster final.

“If we got a little bit more support from certain people it would mean so much to us. We’re fighting against people in our own county. In racing language it should only be a seven furlong race, but it feels like it’s a Grand National. There are hurdles every step of the way.

“It’s very frustrating, but it’s driving us on. We’re working away on our own. All we were asking that we’d have no matches from Wednesday to Wednesday so that we wouldn’t run the risk of having any more injuries,” he added.

Before the Munster final club games were played up until the Saturday beforehand, much to the chagrin of the management.

The situation was magnified when key player Niall Gilligan injured his hamstring when lining out for Sixmilebridge, but he still took his place on the Clare team four days later that brought a first ever title in the grade to the county.

CLARE’S history making minor team should be given a two-week lead in to prepare for key championship games so as to maximise the potential the team has to bring further honours to the county.

That was the message delivered to last Thursday’s Clare County Board meeting that was specially convened to try and bring some resolution to the fixtures crisis that the county now finds itself in due to an overlap and clash of club and inter-county championship matches.

County minor team Joint-manager, Donal Moloney, told delegates that a two-week preparation period was vital to the teams’ chances,

“If we are out on the 14th, “ said Moloney, “it will be a case that 16 of the first 20 would be playing the week before. The majority of our players will be playing senior the week before, because they are very important to their clubs.

“If you go back to last year’s AllIreland semi-final against Dublin, we nearly got caught, because we couldn’t get the preparation right. If you look at it all our best performances over the past three years have come when we have had a two week lead in.

“If we are out on the 14 and the senior championship is on on the 6/7 of August, we won’t have our players for that week. We would not be able to plan properly because the week leading up to the match is essentially a rest week.

“It’s a major drawback to us getting to an All-Ireland final. Players are very ambitious and we are requesting that they get a fair crack of the whip,” added Moloney.

However, PJ Fitzpatrick, who preceded Donal Moloney and Gerry O’Connor in the minor management hotseat rejected the notion of a twoweek run-in, telling delegates that it wasn’t realistic.

“To have these kinds of problems are great problems to have,” said Fitzpatrick. “We are always crying out when we don’t have inter-county success and it absolutely fantastic that the county minors did so well and are going so well.

“I congratulate them whole-heartedly and I congratulate the intermediates. Having said all that we are all sharing the same bed and club hurling has to survive and club football has to survive.

“If it means, when you know what’s coming down the line after Tuesday, having to play some matches the over the weekend of the 7th of August that aren’t affected by the minor – if they’re to be played Monday or Tuesday night, play them.

“There can be no such thing as a team getting a clear run of a fortnight up to a match. That’s not reality. If all the matches were put back it’s going to mean in September that you’d have young lads playing minor for the clubs and Friday and senior on Saturday and schools starting in September. Putting off all matches doesn’t sort things either.

“We will have to play our club matches. That’s my view as a hurling person. We cannot neglect the bedrock of it which is the clubs. It’s not going to be an ideal world for anyone and the pie has to be shared,” he added.