Author: admin

DETAIL of the sixth annual Long- board Classic event in Lahinch, which takes place later this month, have been announced. The surf com- petition, which is organised each year by the West Coast Surf Club (WCSC), has become one of the seminal events in the Irish surfing calendar in recent years.

The WCSC Longboard Classic is

the only event of its kind in Ireland and attracts hundreds of surfers to Ireland’s surf capital each year. Last year’s event – which was blessed with good weather and perfect surfing conditions – saw a record number of local entrants, with the overall prize going to Lahinch surfer Stephen Kel- store

The 2009 competition, which will tale place on September 19 and 20 – and organised by Cliodhna Fawl,

Noel Cronin, Alan Black and David Collins – is already in full swing, as they are expecting a large entry this year.

“As in previous years, we are de- lighted to have a custom-shaped Cequential triple-stringer longboard from our local shaper Ian Johnson for our first prize,’ said organiser Chodhna Fawl.

“Please watch the WCSC website for announcements of second, third and fourth prizes.

“Subject to weather and swell con- ditions, we anticipated that Septem- ber 19 will see the initial heats and quarter finals run off, with the sem1- final and finals possibly stretching into September 20. An experienced panel of judges following ISA stand- ards are assisting in the event headed up by international judge Pascal De- at lone

In the previous years the compett- tion has featured winners from the Kerry region, and all eyes will be on the local surfers this year to see if they can hold off the challenge from

the Kingdom once again.

“We’ve always been greatly im- pressed with the level of interest and support we’ve attracted since the in- augural event in 2003,” said WCSC Chairman, Dave Flynn.

“Without all of our sponsors this event would not have become the success it 1s. Equally, the commit- ment and dedication of the organis- ers as well as the surfers participat- ing all combine to produce an event that is fun, relaxed, well organised, properly resourced and above all, a display of some of the best long- boarding skills this country has to 0) 5 (oe

The deadline for applications 1s this Sunday, September 6, and any- one interested in taking part should download an entry form from west- coastsurfclub.com or send their ap- plications by post to Lahinch Surf Shop, Old Promenade, Lahinch.

A non-refundable entry fee of €15 is required on application, as is cur- rent Irish Surfing Association mem- bership.

THERE are just two weeks left to apply for the Deloitte Fast 50 Tech- nology Awards. Deloitte is calling all indigenous technology companies to apply to ensure they are in with a chance of achieving a place on the industry recognised ranking. The closing date for entries is Monday, September 7. Details of how to en- ter the awards can be found at www.

fast50.1e.

The awards, now in their tenth year, recognise and rank Ireland’s indig- enous technology companies with exceptional growth in turnover over the last five years.

David O’Flanagan, Partner at Deloitte said, ““The Fast 50 awards are an opportunity for technology businesses to gain recognition for their successes and achievements. In what has been a turbulent business

environment, there has never been a more important time for businesses to highlight their achievements. Our aim is to really showcase how the technology industry in Ireland is coping and successfully overcoming the challenges that exist. Therefore, with just two weeks left to apply for the awards, we want to ensure that all eligible companies throw their hat in the ring.”

To enter the Fast 50 Awards com- panies must meet the criteria set out by the organisers. These include; the company has been operating for a minimum of five years; it has to be considered a technology com- pany, which is defined as producing technology, manufacturing technol- ogy-related products, be technology intensive, or use unique technology to solve problems, devoting a high percentage of effort to technology research and development.

The parent company must be Irish- owned and have its headquarters in Ireland (subsidiaries of multina- tional organisations do not qualify).

Operating revenues must be at least €50,000 for 2004.

Companies who wish to enter the programme, which have not been in business for the minimum five years may qualify for the Rising Star cat- egory on Satisfaction of the follow- ing criteria; That they have been in business for a minimum of three years and less than five years; they are considered a technology com- pany, which is defined as producing technology, manufacturing technol- ogy-related products, be technology intensive, or use unique technology to solve problems, devoting a high percentage of effort to technology research and development.

The parent company must be I[rish- owned and have its headquarters in Ireland (subsidiaries of multinational organisations do not qualify) and Operating revenues must be at least €30,000 for the year 2006.

Entries must be sent in electroni- cally, with the necessary supporting documents (audited financial state- ments).

AFTER their shock defeat to O’Callaghan’s Mills last time out, for Clonlara, this game was all about just getting over the line and finally se- curing a quarter-final spot. The Mills had exposed a flaw in the defending champions’ armoury that had not been evident in 17 previous encoun- ters over the last 12 months and they were fully aware that a determined Scariff side were planning a similar coup in order to get themselves back into the running for qualfication to the next round.

Scariff, to their credit, were much more spirited and focused than they were against Inagh/Kilnamona in Round 3 but while they made life dif- ficult for Clonlara, they still hadn’t the firepower to push Clonlara to their limit. The holders are not back to their free-flowing selves just yet but had enough in the tank to prevail on this occasion, with a haul of 1-1 just after half-time decisive in push- ing them towards the last eight.

Siero eOM Ker teh baron affair, with Scariff having the aid of the breeze in the first period, set- tling early with a Brendan McNa- mara 20-metre free to the roof of Ger O’Connell’s net in the seventh minute to give them a 1-1 to O-2 ad- vantage. Clonlara soon got back on

level terms with points from Tommy Lynch and a second Nicky O’Connell free but inevitably it was Darach Ho- nan who set the defending champions ODN ASToIDMAWE-NAMY GLH OMe-DeLOlN atom be-Le(oveer-Du. goal. The Under 21 star had received close attention and hard hits from the

Scariff defence up to that point but in the 18th minute, a crossfield ball from Tomas O’Donovan was per- fectly placed into the path of Honan who turned and soloed towards goal before unleashing an unstoppable drive past McNamara to give his side

a 1-4 to 1-2 advantage. Two Ross Ho- ran points had Scariff on parity by the 23rd minute and by half-time, the sides were split at 1-6 to 1-6.

Within three minutes of the restart though, Clonlara were four points clear, an advantage they would pre- dominantly hold for the remainder. The game sprung to life with a goal in the 33rd minute when this time Honan turned provider, sending in a teasing ball for William Slattery and goalkeeper Brendan McNamara to challenge for and when the Clonlara man’s pull proved strongest, Donal Madden was on hand to finish to the net. From the puck-out, Honan point- ed and with Scariff now dependent on Ross Horan and Michael Scanlan for scores, it was going to take an al- mighty fightback from the east Clare side.

Three successive Horan frees in five minutes by the 54th minute cut the deficit to three but repeatedly misfiring, they never really looked like grabbing that crucial goal.

Instead, a battlehardened Clonlara finished the stronger, with Nicky O’Connell thriving in a sweeping role in defence along with his im- mense contribution from long range frees and Cormac O’Donovan doing the hard miles to earn two significant frees towards the finish. The only downside was a hamstring injury

sustained by Darach Honan that saw him substituted with less than ten minutes remaining. Neither Clonlara nor indeed the county can afford his absense in their quest for silverware over the coming weeks.

DARKNESS was again an issue on Sunday evening, but even in the bright sunshine of an August morn- ing, it is unlikely that it would have made any difference to this result. Already qualified, Newmarket, de- spite being understrength, could af- ford to be somewhat lacklustre and still end up comfortable winners as a disappointing Clarecastle side could not muster up even a championship SP NADOTSAR@AT-H OLesbTSXon

The fierceness of the rivalry be- tween this neighbouring pair down through the years made this an entic- ing game for neutrals, with the larg- est attendence of the weekend saved for last. Only pride was at stake for Newmarket, having eased into the quarter-finals with a game to spare whearas this should have meant eve- rything to the Magpies who were hanging onto to their championship lives by their fingernails.

Nothing but a win would suffice but far from making it difficult for their neighbours, they found them- selves four points down within three minutes and from that point on, the Magpies were always chasing the game more in hope than with any real conviction.

After such a blistering start, New- market looked to be heading for a comfortable victory but despite be- ing urged to push on, began to mis- fire and failed to score for the next

ten minutes. Clarecastle couldn’t capitalise though; Tyrone Kearse didn’t catch a 20-metre free correctly but managed to convert the resultant 65 and Aaron Considine weaved through for a point. Newmarket soon brushed off that recovery when on the puck-out Kieran Devitt picked out the unmarked Eoin Hayes at

halfway and his high delivery broke through for Colin Ryan to hammer home from close range.

By half-time, the Blues held a I- 5 to 0-3 advantage but had also hit eight wides and even though substi- tute Michael McInerney made an 1m- mediate impact on the restart with a point, the Magpies finally found their

range, led by Kearse, to hit four unan- swered points by the 39th minute and topple the lead to just two points. Any thoughts of a rebellion were soon quenched by another Newmar- ket goal, this time from a Colin Ryan penalty after Seanie Arthur was tripped by Alan O’Loughlin going through on goal in the 41st minute.

That sucker-punch drained the life out of Clarecastle’s challenge and while they did empty the bench in search of inspiration, the Blues man- aged to match them point for point for the remainder. Without a sniff of goal, Clarecastle’s championship lives, much like the daylight, faded into the nightsky while neighbours Newmarket march on with their per- fect championship record still intact.

AT the beginning of the year, the Kilrush management sat down and put their faith in the up and com- ing talent at the club. A few months later and the first hurdle has been navigated. In reaching the quarter- final stage of the championship, they haven’t even clipped the hurdle and go into the next round without hav- ing the bitter taste of defeat in their mouths. a

It means that Eire Og are out of the championship. The county capital will thus have no representative in the quarter-final of the senior hurling or the senior football championship.

That’s something that needs to be ad- dressed for a number of reasons, but this isn’t the place.

A couple of swings in this game more or less broke down Eire Og’s resolve and resigned them to defeat. The first came with the introduction of Paddy Clancy to midfield for Kil- rush. He put in a storming second half around the centre of the field, covering ground, winning possession and breaking down Eire Og attacks.

If Clancy’s performance helped Kilrush to the points, then so too did the hour logged by Con O’Brien. The wing-back was a constant thorn in the side of the Ennis club. He defended well, raided up the field at every op-

portunity and ended the game with three points to his name.

But that wasn’t all. With a quarter of an hour to go, Kilrush had a one point lead, Peadar McMahon having just scored to keep Kilrush ahead, their first point in 18 minutes.

Right after McMahon’s score, it looked for all the world as though Eire Og were about to put their stamp on the game and take the lead for the first time all afternoon.

David Russell was through on goal, the Kilrush defence having breached for one of the only times in the game. Russell struck and the crowd waited for the net to bulge. That it didn’t was down to a fantastic save from Tony

Burke. It kept Kilrush in the lead and heaped added frustration on Eire Og. From there, it took Eire Og a further 11 minutes to score, by which time Con O’Brien had rattled over his third score of the game.

They were now ahead by three and as clock began to wind down, ste Og pushed on and heaped an amount of pressure on the Kilrush defence. After mounting a number of attacks in search of a goal that could draw the game, they eventually had to set- tle for a point.

It came from the boot of Shane Daniels — their most effective play- er on the day — but it was far from enough.

A poor season ended for Eire Og ended in the grey of Kilmihil but for GUT MU e Med eomcl ube ebeeto) mm orca LUrcimoleraUbOe

CLARE took a leaf out of the book being read by Kerry’s men folk on Saturday when producing their best performance of the year to advance to the All-Ireland final in four weeks abeelon

That book is the one about the Munster championship having very little in common with the real busi- ness of the All-Ireland series — Clare proved that when crushing Waterford by eight points and thereby reversing their four-point defeat to the Deise in the Munster final in Bruff back in July.

It was a brilliant display by Clare’s forwards that did the trick — they needed to be on top of their game because their sometimes leaky de-

fence conceded three goals over the hour and were thankful to the bril- liance of Denise Walsh between the sticks who deprived the Deise of a few more goals.

Walsh put her body on the line for the cause of reaching the All-Ire- land final, while further afield some brilliant combination play involv- ing Eimear Considine, Aine Kelly, Majella Griffin and Niamh Keane simply overwhelmed a shell-shocked Waterford side.

Add in the considerable influence of captain Louise Henchy, Fiona Laf- ferty and Eithne Morrissey around the middle and you had a Clare team what were not to be denied their shot at All-Ireland final redemption on September 27.

The final scoreline reflected the

gulf in standard between the two sides, but an Achilles heel of conced- ing goals threatened to wreck Clare’s day in the first-half. Seven minutes in a poor kickout was returned with interest by Waterford, with Elaine Power putting Louise Ryan in on goal and she made no mistake when drilling home from 10 yards.

It put Waterford 1-1 to 0-1 ahead and while Clare hit back with points from Majella Griffin (2), Eimear Considine and Aine Kelly to lead again by the 12th minute, a second Waterford goal from Aoife McGov- ern in the 17th minute rocked them back on their heels again.

Waterford looked capable of work- ing goals anytime they broke into the attack, but a much improved defen- sive display in the closing ten min-

utes of the half and the continued brilliance of Eimear Considine et al in attack turned this game decisively in Clare’s favour.

Niamh Keane scored a _ brilliant solo point in the 21st minute and fol- lowed up with another a minute later when picking up a break from Ma- jella Griffin. Then in the 25th minute Griffin turned provider for Aine Kel- ly in a neat one-two that saw the Fer- gus Rovers girl rifle a low left-footed drive into the bottom right hand cor- ner of the net.

Clare were back in control and fur- ther points from Niamh Keane and Eithne Morrissey helped them into a 1-11 to 2-5 interval lead. This three- point lead became eight four minutes into the second-half thanks to a blitz- krieg restart from Clare.

Majella Griffin pointed inside eight seconds; Louise Henchy pointed in the 33rd minute while a minute later Aine Kelly thumped a rebound to the net after Eimear Considine goal ef- fort was stopped by Aimee Jordan in the Waterford goal.

The game was as good as over — it was just a matter for Clare to keep their heads for the remainder of the game. That they did, albeit that a third Waterford goal in the 40th minute courtesy of Michelle Ryan brought it back to a six point game.

Clare led by 2-14 to 3-5 but held their nerve admirably in the closing stages, with Majella Griffin, Louise Henchy and Eimear Considine chip- ping in with points before Eithne Mortrrissey’s 53 minute goal put them 3-17 to 3-7 ahead.

Waterford gave up after Denise Walsh saved Michelle Ryan’s poorly hit penalty in the 55th minute.

OH to be in the Corofin dressing room at half-time!

Let’s just say that Seamus Clancy would have had plenty of ammuni- tion to fire a few volleys or more to- wards his players.

They’d just had the advantage of a strong breeze in the first half but 11 lamentable wides had contributed to them kicking away what should have been a very healthy half-time lead.

Instead, Corofin had to contend themselves with a slender I-1 to O-3 advantage after a very forgettable 30 minutes of football.

And, even accounting for all this profligacy Corofin were grateful to be ahead – a Colm Clancy goal which opened their account in the IIth minute and a point from distance by Brendan Keane was all they had to show for 30 minutes.

It scarcely seemed enough against a Kildysart team that motored well enough into the wind. Gerry Kelly followed up where he left off against Clondegad when opening the scoring after eight minutes with a point from play – indeed Kelly was Kildysart’s only scorer in the half.

He chipped over a free in the 14th minute in response to Clancy’s goal, while a good point from play in the 23rd was Kildysart’s positive re- sponse to Brendan Keane’s 16th minute point for Corofin.

However, that’s were all the posi- tivity ended from Kildysart’s point of view, and presumably it’s where Seamus Clancy came into his own in the dressing room when lashing out a few home truths about his side’s first half performance.

They were obviously listening in- tently because they pummelled a dreadful Kildysart side into the sub- mission from the opening seconds of the second-half.

It’s true that the wind seemed to ease up considerably, but still the va-

garies of the weather couldn’t alone count for Corofin’s rejuvenation and Kildysart’s capitulation.

Corofin stormed forward from the throw-in. Twice they could have go- aled in the opening five minutes, but instead had to content themselves with points from a Damian Ryan free and an effort from play by John Keane, whose influence on proceed-

ings grew as the game progressed. The pattern of the early stages con- tinued almost uninterrupted for the rest of the game – Corofin were dom- inating all over the field, from the brilliant Eamonn Malone at full-back through to John Keane and Colm Clancy in the full-forward line. Clancy set up Damian Ryan for an- other point in the 43rd minute to put

Corofin 1-4 to 0-3 clear as Kildysart struggled to get the ball out of their own half.

Further Corofin points from John Keane and Ryan’s third of the hour put them 1-6 to 0-3 ahead entering the last ten minutes and killed off any hope of a Kildysart comeback.

The will wasn’t there among the Kildysart players everywhere – they

were already through to the semi- final stages thanks to earlier wins over Michael Cusack’s and Clonde- gad. This game clearly didn’t mean eel Uhes om Kem satsseeF

It meant everything to Corofin though as they at last found some of the winning form that swept them to this title three years ago.

Kildysart, for all their second half failures, did at least manage to reg- ister a couple of points near the end from Cian Cleary and Christy Clancy, but the fact remains that they’re now going into the semi-final stages on the back of a terrible display.

Corofin, meanwhile, are on the up after a 30 minutes in which they answered all the questions posed by their awful first 30 minutes.

It all meant that Clondegad’s 2-15 to 1-8 win over Michael Cusack’s was academic – they were out of con- tention for 2009.

WHAT a week it has been for O’Callaghan’s Mills. Seven days earlier, they ambushed county cham- pions Clonlara in the senior hurling championship to keep their qualifica- tion hopes alive and they needed all of that fighting spirit here as well to hold off a stubborn Kilmurry Ibrick- ane outfit.

Niall Donovan, Jonathan Lyons, Gerry Cooney, Declan Donovan, Patrick Donnellan, John Cooney, Conor Cooney, Brian Donnellan and Fergus Donovan were all part of that hurling triumph a week previous but in terms of influence and more sig- nificantly scores, it was Brian Don- nellan who stood out from the pack again to inspire the Mills latest vic- rays

In contrast, a luckless Kilmurry Ibrickane had no such leadership and while they have run all their group opponents close, the fact that they have no points on the board doesn’t reflect kindly on their efforts. They deserved better from those three games but not enough firepower and a failure to turn their possession into scores combined to twart them again ie) Ken

Instead, with the game in the bal- ance at 1-6 to 1-6 entering the final minutes, the Mills superior fitness bore fruit and it allowed them to sneak home with late points through Brian Donnellan and James Murphy to earn at least a play-off for their side, depending on the final group game between Cratloe and St Bre- ckan’s.

In saying that, for long periods of

that second-half, it seemed as if the strong breeze that blew towards En- nis was of little benefit to the Mills who found it difficult to pepper the posts. In fact, both sides played better against the conditions, with the Mills taking the game to Kilmurry I[brick- ane’s second string early on. Brian Donnellan picked off 1-1 as early as the eighth minute while Kilmurry Ibrickane misfired at the other end. They did finally settle though, kick- ing four of the next five points, two from Patrick Hogan to get to within deComecubevnecleneee

And what cemented their comeback was a flowing passing move in the 24th minute between Colm Donnel- lan and Paul O’Dwyer that attracted the defence and it allowed him to pop the ball inside to the unmarked Aid- an Moloney to billow the left corner of the net.

Again, however, the west Clare side switched off, giving the Mills re- newed hope and by the break, they were level after two Brian Donnellan frees left the half-time score 1-4 to eae

It should have spurred the east Clare side on for a rousing second period with the wind at their backs but they were surprisingly flat on the restart and it was Kilmurry Ibrick- ane who took up the mantle to take a two point lead once more after Paul O’Dwyer and Aidan Moloney pointed frees. It had to take two of their imports, Paul Lynch and substi- tute Padraig Hickey to get the Mills back on level terms by the turn of the final quarter and set the game up for a tense grandstand finish.

Conor Cooney rattled the post; at

the other end, Paul O’Dwyer should have goaled but found goalkeeper Emmet O’Brien in defiant mood to produce an outstanding point blank block and as the game petered out with a scoreless ten minute period, it seemed neither side wanted to win 1

Then with only three minutes re- maining, Brian Donnellan converted a free and only two minutes later, James Murphy went on the overlap to push the Mills two clear and al- though Kilmurry huffed and puffed in search of a goal, their efforts ulti- mately proved fruitless.

AT the end of this well contested la- dies intermediate football final it was Anna O’Connor with cup in hand and the girls in the maroon and white of Liscannor who were left celebrating.

Some of the spectators at the end of the game may have been forgiven for not recognising any of the 14 other Liscannor players as the programme provided certainly did not act as an aid.

In fact the victorious captain was the only Liscannor player who lined out as selected with most of the other girls on her team in different posi- tions and with different numbers on their backs.

Maybe it was just an extreme ad- ministrative error or else a deliber- ate ploy on the part of the Liscannor management. Whatever the reason it did not affect the Liscannor players who were in control for most of the game.

After five minutes they raced into a four-point lead which was further increased by a Roisin Rouine goal on the eighth minute. There was a quarter of an hour gone on the clock when the girls from Shannon Gaels finally found their scoring boots when corner-forward Mairead Ma- digan scored a cracking goal from a 21-metre free.

The Gaels now looked like they were ready to mount their come- back but this immediate threat was neutralised five minutes later when Liscannor, through centre-forward Olivia Lucas, responded with an- other goal.

Shannon Gaels didn’t lie down as Rachel Ryan stepped up with another goal. Aine Burke’s point in injury- time left the north Clare girls leading 2-6 to 2-1 after a first-half of many twists and turns.

The Gaels needed a good start to the second-half and that is exactly what they got. In the first minute Mairead Madigan scored her second goal of

the game and this was followed up fives minute later with Rachel Ryan‘s second of the game.

Two Liscannor points in the middle

of this goal spree left only two points between the sides. Liscannor had most of the possession and scoring chances but they were letting their

control of the game slip.

The real turning point of this game came on ten minutes when the Gaels were awarded a penalty. This was their big chance to grab the lead but Sarah Bohannon’s effort was saved and the spirit of the Liscannor girls lifted once more.

The Gaels did not score for the rest of the duration of the game while points from Aine Burke, Rebecca O’Regan and Olivia Lucas in the closing moments sealed the victory for Liscannor and ensured their pro- gression into the senior grade for 2010.

CLARE man Stephen Hickey took his first steps towards a potential League of Ireland career with Gal- way United at the weekend.

The Clarecastle native has signed on with the club’s reserve team, Gal- way United A, who ply their trade in the Newstalk A Championship, the third tier of the League of Ireland.

If Hickey (pictured below) im- presses in the A team’s four remain- ing league games, he may get an op- portunity with the club’s first team.

Hickey made his United debut on Saturday, coming on as a half time substitute in the 3-1 defeat to Salthill DAVei wae

The result leaves Galway marooned at the bottom of the table on four points, nine points adrift of second from bottom Dundalk A.

If Hickey does make the jump to Galway’s first team he will become the second Clare man currently on United’s books after goalkeeper Barry Ryan.

Long regarded as one of the best soccer talents in the county, Hickey was in scintillating form last season, scoring 20 league goals to help Rock Rovers claim the Division One title.

He’s also currently part of the Eire Og team looking to qualify for the quarter-finals stage of senior football oA aF-Naatopcoyatsseul oy