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Kilmurry Ibrickane 1-9 – St Joseph’s Miltown 0-6 at St Michael ’s Park, Kilmihil

IT didn’t take long for the men of Miltown to realise that their grip on the Cusack Cup was gone – 12 minutes in fact, because in that time Kilmurry Ibrickane flexed their football muscles and when playing into the gale stormed into a 1-2 to no score lead.

Game over really, because from there Miltown were playing a game of catch-up they never looked like winning against a Kilmurry team, shorn of many regulars but still utterly dominant in nearly everything they did.

No Shane Hickey, no Declan Callinan, no Paul O’Connor, but still with plenty of reserve talent to sweep away the Miltown challenge with the minimum of fuss for this double scores win.

They never really looked back when early points from play by Niall Hickey and Michael Hogan gave them a foothold, while two scores from placed balls by the 12th minute had them on the high road.

Ian McInerney, who hit four points over the hour, floated over a free in the tenth before Enda Coughlan drilled a penalty to the net two minutes later – the kick came after a sweeping Kilmurry move was only ended when Michael Hogan was upended eight yards from goal.

Miltown were on the ropes and though they rallied thanks to a couple of Dessie Molohan frees by the 17th minute, they still trailed by 1-5 to 0-4 at the interval after Kilmurry points from Michael Hogan and Ian McInerney were responded to by points from Micheal Malone and Dessie Molohan before the break. With the wind Kilmurry were never in danger – while playing within themselves their four-point lead was still intact by the 50th minute after points by Peter O’Dwyer and Ian McInerney cancelled out two Eoin Curtin frees to leave matters resting at 1-7 to 0-6. The closing ten minutes were a procession as Kilmurry unloaded their bench long before the finish and further points by Peter O’Dwyer who dominated the midfield exchanges throughout and Ian McInerney eased them into a first final since 2009 when they were shocked by Cooraclare in the final.

Doonbeg 0-13 – St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield 1-05 at St Michael ’s Park, Kilmihil

ST JOSEPH’S Doora-Barefield made a fight of it in the second half, but it was always nothing more than a scrap to make it look more respectable as Doonbeg easily franked their favourites tag to reach a first Cusack Cup decider in three years and their 17th in all.

And, their work was as good as done in the first half, just like it was when they sides met in the round robin stages. That day it was goals that eased them to success – this time their flurry of 13 points over the hour did the business.

They led by 0-6 to no score at half-time as St Joseph’s were pinned back when playing against the wind. Shane Killeen, making a rare start this season, got them going with a point inside the third minutes while Eamon Tubridy and Kileen again had them three points clear by the tenth minute.

It wasn’t quite one-way traffic in terms of possession over the course of the half hour, but certainly was when it came to converting scoring chances. St Joseph’s couldn’t breach Nigel Dillon’s goal, while further points from David Tubridy, Colm Dillon and Paul Dillon rounded off the Magpies’ half dozen by the break.

When Paul Dillon and David Tubridy added points early in the second half to stretch their lead to eight, St Joseph’s must have feared the ignominy of a whitewash but at least the mustered a fight back in the closing 20 minutes that left only five points in it at the end.

Cathal O’Sullivan got them going with a point, while Mark Rafferty (3) and a Johnny O’Brien free earned them some respectability, but the Magpies were still never ruffled as two David Tubridy frees, two from play by Paul Dillon and Eamon Tubridy’s second of the hour meant that a late goal from Damian Kennedy was nothing more than a consolation strike.

Éire Óg 1-7 – O’Curry’s 0-3 at Páirc Naomh Mhuire, Quilty

ÉIRE ÓG bounced back to the top tier at the first attempt after eventually shaking off the challenge of intermediate side O’Curry’s on Sunday. Far from the comprehensive display that the final scoreline suggests, it was only in the final few minutes that the Ennis side finally pulled clear when outscoring their opponents by 0-4 to 0-1.

Much like the other semi-final 24 hours earlier, the blustery conditions totally dictated play but it was in the opening half that the Townies essentially sowed the seeds of victory when soaking up the pressure and scoring the decisive score just before the break. Both sides would only score twice in that first period but with the swirling breeze favouring O’Curry’s, they frustratingly kicked eight wides and only converted two placed balls through Derek Troy and Ger Quinlan while Éire Óg would add to Shane Daniels ninth minute point with a late goal that would ultimately alter the narrative of the game.

O’Curry’s had limited Éire Óg to only a handful of attacks for the previous 28 minutes but when an O’Curry’s attack broke down, their opponents were handed the opportunity to counter-attack and open up the O’Curry’s defence for the first time.

Captain Stephen Hickey began the move when attracting the fullback line before offloading to Brian McMahon who in turn put in David Monaghan to place a low shot under the body of goalkeeper PJ Green.

While it was a hammer blow to O’Curry’s chances, they held the Townies scoreless for the first 12 minutes of the restart led by the tireless Ollie Quinlan but crucially failed to make any meaningful inroads on the Éíre Óg rearguard themselves.

Eventually after four successive wides, Éire Óg found their range with Shane Daniels setting up Sean O’Meara for the opening score of the second half while O’Meara returned the favour when earning a free for Daniels to convert from 45 metres two minutes later.

Instead of kicking on from there however, that four point gap remained until the 56th minute when Daniels (2) , Monaghan and effective substitute Darren O’Neill put the finishing touches to the victory while only seeing a Damien Carmody point in return for O’Curry’s, their first point in almost 40 minutes and first from play in the entire game which tells its own tale.

The result guarantees Cusack Cup football for the Ennis side in 2012 but they will now want to finish the job this weekend in order to build up confidence ahead of the recommencement of the championship in less than five weeks time.

Meelick 2-12 – Cooraclare 1-06 at Gurteen

MEELICK’S rise through the ranks continued on Saturday evening when securing their second successive promotion at the expense of Cooraclare.

A goal either side of half-time swung the tie in the south east Clare side’s favour, having trailed by six points approaching the break.

And they never looked back from that, finishing the game in emphatic fashion by kicking ten unanswered points to confirm their place in the decider.

That freeflowing style was in total contrast to a 20 minute period midway through the opening half when allowing Cooraclare to hit them for 1-5 without reply. Meelick started the brighter though, with county senior Kevin Harnett and Brian O’Neill pushing them two clear by the fifth minute.

However, through the accuracy of Declan Keane, Cooraclare’s second string finally settled and their confidence was greatly aided by Don Garry’s 17th minute goal when finding himself unmarked after a poor Meelick free kick that was arrowed directly to Garry by wing-back Kevin Clohessy.

Further points from Colin Kelly, Kieran Tubridy and Keane had Cooraclare cruising as the interval approached but they were to be suckerpunched against the run of play when in injury-time, a fortunate rebound fell to Brian O’Neill who offloaded for Patrick Finucane to finish to the net and cut the deficit to just three.

Worse luck was to follow for Cooraclare when after only two minutes of the restart, Brian O’Neill flicked a Jamie O’Sullivan mishit free to the net and gain parity.

Cooraclare did reply immediately through Keane but those goals had given Meelick the boost they craved and once again Meelick equalised through a Harnett free before substitute Gary Moloney handed them the lead in the 40th minute.

The turning point of the game arguably came in the 41st minute when Keane played in Anthony Lillis only to see his sidefooted effort excellently kept out by goalkeeper Shane Daly.

Cooraclare alarmingly fell away after that however while Meelick only grew in confidence as the half progressed when pulling away from their opponents in the final quarter.

Impressive attacking pair Finucane and Brian O’Neill grabbed a brace of points each, Jamie O’Sullivan kicked three points (two from placed balls) while Stephen Hayes completed the rout in the 61st minute with a free to give Meelick the double scores victory.

Promotion guaranteed, next up is an intriguing clash against fellow Junior A championship favourites Coolmeen in a fortnight’s time as last year’s Division 5 champions hope to add another title to their growing roll of honour.

Meelick
Shane Daly, Peter Reidy, Mickey Kelly, Gary Kennedy, Brian Barrett, Niall Mullen,Willie O’Shaughnessy, Stephen Hayes (0-1f), Kevin Harnett (0-2 1f), Gary Callinan, Brian O’Neill (1-3), AndyWhyte, Darragh Quinn, Patrick Finucane (12), Jamie O’Sullivan (0-3 1f, 1’45)

Subs
Damien Moloney for Kennedy (27 mins), Gary Moloney (0-1) for Callinan (HT)

Cooraclare
Joe Killeen, Michael Chambers, Sean Garry, Michael Horan, Robert Ryan, Gearoid Looney, Kevin Clohessy, Michael Considine, KieranTubridy (0-1), James Burke, Colin Kelly (0-1),Thomas O’Connor, Anthony Lillis, Declan Keane (0-4 2f), Don Garry (1-0)

Subs
John Francis Killeen for Ryan (44 mins), Darragh O’Dea for Lillis (53 mins), David O’Looney for Burke (58 mins)

Man of the Match
Patrick Finucane (Meelick) Referee Damien Fox (WolfeTones)

THEY came from near and far. Dubai and Dublin to the east, Cavan to the north, Kilkenny to the south east, but above they came from the south west country of Tuscon in Arizona.

It’s where Pat Kirby is exiled, even if his mind never strays to far away from Tuamgraney and what it gave him. It’s no wonder, because he says “Tuamgraney and handball gave me so much”.

Irish titles, world titles, American, Canadian titles and much more – the reason why the great and the good of Irish handball came out to honour his achievements on Saturday evening as Tuamgraney Handball Club marked its centenary.

“I never thought ever in my lifetime that something like this would occur,” says Kirby. “When the Tulla Pipe Band was marching up from the church, I was shivering. ‘What am I going to say’. There’s no words to describe words like this.

“It’s 70 years since I first put a foot in that alley down there. All up through those years that I can recall there has always been a great tradition of keeping the club moving. On a Sunday morning when I was five, six and seven years of age, I go down to that court after mass.

“Four players would put six pence each in the corner – that was two bob and play for that two bob. The winners could go to a dance in Scariff or Killaloe that night – the losers were broke and could go no where.

“Anytime the ball would go over the wall we could go in and fetch it. We were like the little dogs. It was a wonderful apprenticeship. We watched them and then tried to emulate what they were doing in the evening when we got our chance to get on the court.”

It was Kirby’s success in the AllIreland junior singles in 1957 that ushered in a new era for Tuamgraney and Clare handball – an era that lasts to the present day as club continues to churn out All-Ireland and world champions.

“We have a very dynamic club here,” says Kirby. “Tuamgraney has always been a great club and the memories come back – you start thinking of all the old guys who have gone ahead of you. All the great brothers. Tuamgraney was infested by brothers when I was a kid. You had the Tuohy brothers, the Noonans, the Ryans. There were always five or six brothers in the families.

“When I started playing on the 60 x 30 court it had three walls. The two sides walls, the front wall and that was it. A line at the back designated the length of the court. I remember games in the ‘40s when the ball would bounce inside the endline and go back another 15 feet into the grass and the guys would be hitting from that distance. In 1952 they put the back wall in and made four walls out of it.

“Handball afforded me the oppor- tunity to play all over the world. I saw the whole world because of handball. I played in the Hawain Islands, Anchorage Alaska, Melbourne, Sydney, all of Canada from end to end, all of America from end to end.

“There were great characters along the way. Muhammad Ali. I had breakfast with him – all through handball. I sat on John Wayne’s knee – all through handball. I loved every bit of it. Made great friendships, great fraternities. It’s been great.”

St Breckan’s 1-7 – Kilmurry Ibrickane 0-7 at Ennistymon

FOLLOWING on their intermediate and Under 21B successes last year, St Breckan’s are back on the trail for silverware following their last four victory over Kilmurry Ibrickane’s second string on Sunday.

Ironically, it was one of their own that ultimately sunk the west Clare side with Eric Murrihy’s sixth minute goal proving the difference in the end.

It didn’t appear as if it would work out that way in the opening half however as the Lisdoonvarna side used the wind advantage to build up a 1-6 to 0-2 advantage, beginning with Murrihy’s goal, intermingled with points from Pat Nagle (3 frees), Conor Cormican, Denis O’Driscoll and Murrihy.

The third quarter was an extremely low scoring affair with Kilmurry Ibrickane failing to eat into St Breckan’s advantage despite the backing of the gale.

Odran O’Dwyer’s trading of frees with Nagle were the only scores of the opening 20 minutes of the half but the expected Kilmurry Ibrickane did finally materialise.

Seamus Lynch started the ball rolling by converting a free in the 50th minute followed soon afterwards by late points from Thomas Lernihan, Lynch himself, and Odran O’Dwyer in the 66th minute.

However, without a goal, Kilmurry Ibrickane were resigned to defeat while St Breckan’s secured their third promotion in two years and will eagerly await the clash of Cratloe and Kilmihil in the other semi-final encounter.

St Breckan’s
Craig Flanagan, Donal Howley, Conor Howley, Michael Reddan, Rafael Considine, Greg O’Leary, Cathal Blood, Shane O’Connor, Michael Keating, Denis O’Driscoll (0-1), Pat Nagle (0-4f), Darragh Curtin, John Stack, Conor Cormican (0-1), Eric Murrihy (1-1)

Subs
John McDonagh for C. Howley

Kilmurry Ibrickane
DavidTalty, Eamon Dunne, John Sexton,AndrewDarcy,Thomas Lernihan (0-1), Pat Sexton, Mark Moloney,Thomas O’Connor, Gary Donnellan, ColmDonnellan, Seamus Lynch (0-3f), John McNamara, Senan McCarthy, Odran O’Dwyer (0-3f),Aiden Moloney

Subs
Darren Sexton for C. Donnellan (inj), Thomas Greene for McCarthy (inj)

Referee
Vivian Killeen (Doonbeg)

DEFENDING champions Newmarket-on-Fergus were held to a stalemate by neighbours Clarecastle in the first defence of their title on home soil. Indeed, the holders had to come from behind to salvage a point after finding themselves 3-08 to 1-10 in arrears by the 50th minute after Magpie goals from Stephen Ward (2) and Pajoe Dolan before the home side dug deep mainly through James Warren and Frank Melody to eventually equalise by the hour mark at 3-08 to 1-14.

There were no doubt about the result for last year’s beaten finalists Sixmilebridge however who had a comprehensive 6-17 to 1-13 victory over B champions Clonlara on Friday evening. Goals from Conor Deasy (2), Jamie Shanahan, Sean Lynch, David Murphy and Alex Morey secured the victory for the away side who led by 4-9 to 1-5 at the break. There was also a sizeable win for Ballyea who had ten points to spare over Éire Óg. A Martin O’Leary goal saw them lead by 1-13 to 0-06 at the break with Tony Kelly, Martin O’Leary, Niall Deasy and Tadgh Lynch among the points scorers while a Michael Nagle goal on the turnover put the result beyond any doubt. Minor A Championship Round 1 Ballyea 2-19 Éire Óg 2-09 Newmarket-on-Fergus 1-14 Clarecastle 3-08 Sixmilebridge 6-17 Clonlara 1-13 Minor B Championship Round 1 Group 1 Inagh/Kilnamona 2-14 Broadford 1-08 Inis Cealtra 4-11 Kilmaley 2-11 Meelick 1-16 Parteen 0-13 Group 2 Smith O’Brien’s 2-13 Corofin 0-07

JIMMY Walsh is standing beside the monument erected in honour of Pat Kirby’s achievements in putting Tuamgraney on the world handball map and with it he opens the trapdoor of his mind as memories of a lifetime interest in the game come flooding back.

“I’m old enough to remember the old folk playing off the castle wall,” he recalls. “When I was a young fella there was serious handball played there. A few bob would be thrown on the path and it would be pretty competitive – as competitive as any world championship.”

It was when the handball court was a meeting place – where dreams were born, where friendships that have lasted a lifetime were born as well. A 60 x 30 handball court, but much more than that.

“It was huge,” says Walsh. “Having a handball court was huge, so much so that they used to hang lamps on the wall so that they could play traditional music on the court. In the 60 x 30 court people danced into the early hours of the morning.

“There was a concrete floor and it made it a gathering point and a focal point for the community. The court brought people together, for handball and for dances. It was at the centre of the community.”

With that the families at the centre of a remarkable story flash across Walsh’s mind.

The Hogans, the Ryans, the Quigleys, the Tuohys, the Wileys, the Kirbys of course and Mike O’Neill.

“He was one of the greatest men who ever promoted the game of handball. He was followed by great men like Michael Boyce. I was there the day Mike O’Neill cut the poles in the wood and erected them at the back the 60 x 30 court. There was at least 100 people there and I can still see the poles swaying and people saying ‘is there insurance’. Nobody knew what insurance was.

“They were different times but great times. You had men like Victor Sherlock of Cavan and Des Dillon of Lisdoonvarna, who was played out of Dublin that time. They all played here in the Gael Linn Cup, which was a national competition. I can still see Des Dillon coming out after the game and washing himself down in the stream.

“Jimmy O’Brien and Paddy Downey were the men that stuck our for me. I can still see Downey killing the ball with his boot in the right corner. It’s illegal now, but in those days you could play it with the boot and being a Kerryman he was well able to kick the ball. In Tuamgraney Mikey Wiley’s greatest attribute was his boot – he’d kill the ball with the boot, so would Downey.”

Walsh just uses his hands, but to great effect as with John Kirby he will be chasing down an All-Ireland title in the Masters Doubles over the next couple of weeks.

“Ever since Pat won his first AllIreland title in 1957,” says John, “it was always about trying to emulate him. Pat set the tone and each one of us wanted to be an All-Ireland champion and a world champion. I played minor in 1962 with my brother Danny and we the doubles that year and have been trying to win All-Irelands ever since.”

John has won over 40 Irish titles in his time – but victory in the centenary year of Tuamgraney handball would surely be one of the sweetest. “I would be great,” he says, “but it’s great to be still competing. Handball has always been our game. We all played hurling, but handball was first.”

“It’s such an honour to put on a Clare jersey,” says Walsh. “I always get that adrenaline flowing in the body when I put on that Clare jersey. It’s a wonderful honour to represent your county and it would be brilliant to win.”