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THE Clare District Soccer League will mark its 50th anniversary next year by holding an end of season awards night.

Honours for the best player, best team and manager of the season could be up for grabs at the event, which was announced yesterday by CDSL secretary Oliver Fitzpatrick. The announcement coincides with a call by Shannon Olympic football club for an end of season awards ceremony.

In a motion submitted to last night’s league AGM, the Premier league side stated, “at the end of each season the League holds a social event to celebrate the season just past and present awards for outstanding achievement of various forms such as; player of the year for each league, manager of the year for each league, team of the year, top scorers in each league etc”

Depending on the success of next year’s awards, Fitzpatrick explained, the ceremony might become an annual event.

The announcement forms part of Fitzpatrick’s end of year report, which also outlines the league’s priorities for next season. This includes the further development of the County Grounds in Doora.

Fitzpatrick explains, “As mentioned at previous meetings we have planning permission for lights at the County Grounds and its one of my priorities for next season to ensure that we press ahead with this project”.

The report continues, “However we will need to get a loan for this project and as most people are aware its harder and harder these days to get money off the banks so the League cannot afford any drop in our income for the next few years or we will not be able to complete this work or any other further development work at our County Grounds.

“Our aim is to have our grounds up to League of Ireland standard in the future but this will require continuous investment to complete”.

Fitzpatrick also highlighted Clare’s success in reaching the semi-final of the Inter League Youths Cup for the first time since 1971.

The report states, “A management team of Mike Moloney, Gary Seery and Eoin McNulty were put in place at the start of the season and they set about putting together our best squad of players for many years. In the semi-final we were drawn away to Kilkenny and despite a great comeback from being 2 goals down to level the match we lost out on a 3-2 score line. On behalf of the League again I thank the players and management for their efforts throughout the season”.

Fitzpatrick also paid tribute to league officials including outgoing Chairman Paul Tuohy, coaches, FAI development officer Denis Hynes and all clubs who contributed to the success of the recent FAI festival of football.

Kilmurry Ibrickane 0-13 – Doonbeg 1-8 at Cooraclare

IT could be a dress rehearsal for a county final later in the year, but that doesn’t mean this was more shadow boxing and sparring than the real thing. Only the league final and something that will be forgotten about once the chase for Jack Daly resumes, but the cash prize of € 2500 from The Clare Champion sponsors and old rivalry also ensured this was going to be as full-blooded as any championship game. So it was that Kilmurry Ibrickane and Doonbeg tore into each other with the same intent they showed in the last two county semi-finals here in Cooraclare as Kilmurry’s classy forwards and much better combination play edged them home to a twopoint win and their third Cusack Cup success. It went to the wire like those two previous championship jousts, but it could have been different, very different because such was Kilmurry Ibrickane’s superiority at times that they looked a class apart, with only Doonbeg’s earthy qualities of never giving up on a cause keeping them competitive to the last. They looked like being swamped on a number of occasions – in the first half when Kilmurry moved three points clear when the two best forwards on view, Noel Downes and Mark McCarthy scored three points between them in six-minute burst from the 20th minute to put their side 0-5 to 0-2 clear; at the start of the second when another three-point burst had three points between the sides again. It was the first real daylight between the sides after they had shared four points in the first 15 minutes – Ian McInerney and Enda Coughlan frees sandwiching a Shane Ryan point from play and a David Tubridy free in that time. Doonbeg should have had a goal though when after nine minutes Shane Killeen was clean through on goal only for a brilliant lunging block from John Willie Sexton to deny him a certain goal. A Doonbeg goal did come in the 27th minute and it gave them an early lifeline such was the growing menace of a Kilmurry team as the interval approached. Colm Dillon pilfered the ball in the right corner on the dressing room side of the field, fed Shane Ryan whose shot for a point from 30 yards was brilliantly flicked to the net by David Tubridy.

The sides were level and remained so at the break after a flurry of four scores in the last three minutes of the half – Ian McInerney launched two exocets from placed balls over the bar, while Colm Dillon from distance from play and Enda Doyle’s fisted effort had the sides deadlocked at 1-4 to 0-7.

Ultimately it was Kilmurry’s greater combination play that told, something that allied to their fast start to the second half with points from a Enda Coughlan free and efforts from play by Niall Hickey and Mark McCarthy moved them 0-10 to 1-4 clear inside eight minutes.

Doonbeg did hit back with a Shane Ryan point and a David Tubridy free by the 41st minute but the chasm between the sides was really shown up when three more unanswered points via Ian McInerney (2) and Noel Downes put four between them for the first time.

That crucial Downes score came with four minutes remaining, giving Kilmurry the cushion to withstand the inevitable Doonbeg onslaught near the end that yielded two David Tubridy points to bring it back to two points.

The Magpies couldn’t get any closer – they didn’t really deserve to be either, such was Kilmurry’s superiority over the hour.

They’re the classiest team of this generation, probably any Clare football generation, something they proved in winning seventh major title in Clare over the past four seasons.

They’re the best and the benchmark for everyone else.

Kilmurry Ibrickane
Peter O’Dwyer Jnr (7), JohnWillie Sexton (7), Darren Hickey (7) Martin McMahon (8), Shane Hickey (7), EvanTalty (7),Thomas Lernihan (7), Seamus Murrihy (8), Peter O’Dwyer (7), Mark McCarthy (8) (0-2), Enda Coughlan (8) (0-2f), Ian McInerney (7) (0-5, 3f, one 45), Noel Downes (8) (0-3), Michael Hogan (7), Niall Hickey (7) (0-1).

Subs
Paul O’Connor (7) for Lernihan [Half-Time], Stephen Moloney (6) for Hogan [48 Mins], Johnnie Daly (6) for Niall Hickey [60 Mins].

Doonbeg
Nigel Dillon (7), Joe Blake (7), Padraig Gallagher (7) Conor Whelan (7), Brian Dillon (7), Paraic Aherne (7), RichieVaughan (7), ColmDillon (7) (0-1), Enda Doyle (7) (0-1), Shane Killeen (6), Shane Ryan (7) (0-2), EamonTubridy (6), Paul Dillon (6), Kevin Nugent (7), DavidTubridy (7) (1-4, 4f).

Subs
Frank O’Dea (6) for Killeen [21 Mins], Conor Downes (6) for Paul Dillon [47 Mins], Shane O’Brien (6) for EamonTubridy [51 Mins].

Referee
Michael Rock (Ennistymon)

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

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 GO in search of their fourth successive final appearance but won’t be even thinking of facing Cork ahead of what promises to be arguably their toughest start to the championship since manager John Minogue, Cyril Lyons and Alan Dunne took over in 2008. Limerick, backed by a senior attacking unit of Declan Hannon, Graeme Mulcahy and Kevin Downes, will travel to Ennis without fear, having beaten the home side twice in the National League meetings this year. Clare will also be mindful of last year’s championship opener when having to dig very deep in order to see off their near neighbours in The Gaelic Grounds and manager John Minogue is wary of Limerick’s prowess ahead of the knock-out tie.

“I think going by reports, Limerick are stronger this year. They had four or five of their senior team playing in an All-Ireland quarter-final at the weekend and have talented players such as [Kevin] Downes, Declan [Hannon] and [Graeme] Mulcahy and there is also a lot of goodwill for Limerick hurling at the moment.

“Limerick hurling is on the up and they are buzzing this year but we have to go out and play them. We have an advantage in that we are playing in Cusack Park, even though they have been quite successful in Ennis this year until the intermediates beat them in the final.”

One major disadvantage for Clare is that they will have to play without the services of arguably their most influential player, Darach Honan whom Minogue feels might not play any part in the Under 21 campaign, regardless of how far the county manage to advance.

“Darach [Honan] won’t be featuring as he has a long term injury. I suppose it’s an injury that he should have looked after earlier in the year and it looks as if his hurling season is over for club and county, for most of this year anyway. Other than that there is just a couple of niggling injuries but we should have a full squad to pick from aside from Darach.”

The loss of Honan have been offset somewhat by the fact that many of this Clare team have invaluable championship winning experience behind them in the last few years between the recent provisional success of the intermediates, back-to-back Munster crowns for the minors and of course those memorable 2009 Munster and All-Ireland Under 21 titles. Whether that knowhow will benefit Clare in a tight game will only be known on Tuesday night.

“You hope that it would but I would think that our team is physically not as strong as other years. If you take 2008, 2009 and 2010, guys were probably further up to the age. A lot of the guys on this year’s team will be around again next year. OK Honan and a few others will be overage but a lot of them are in the 19 or 20 age bracket and guys like Patrick O’Connor, Conor McGrath, Shane Golden and these lads are all underage next year. So I think the age profile and the physical profile of our players would not be as strong as it was in the previous two or three years.

So bearing in mind that the Under 21 championship has no second chances or backdoor system, what can prove the difference for the home side this evening?

“You would be hoping that there would be a good turnout of Clare supporters on the night. Certainly there was good support there the night of the Munster Intermediate final, it was a good result and I think it has maybe brought a bit of interest back with the hurling public. With also the fact that the minors are Munster cham- pions after an excellent performance in Cork, I think those wins have put a bit of buzz back into supporters, the weather is picking up as well so hopefully we get a good Clare support out because definitely Limerick will be travelling in numbers.”

Having a 16th man on the ter- race could well be a key ingredient in what promises to be a riproaring Munster derby.

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.

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.