Category: Sport

PAT ‘RICO’ Clancy is a passionate man when it come to his beloved Shams, so much so that putting his words to print after his side’s minor triumph on Saturday, don’t do really them their full justice. YouTube is the natural habitat for the his one-minute interview after the game, but still, his passion jumps from the page in the way he explained the Shams’ return to the winner’s enclosure.

“Great win lads,” he roars, before cranking up the volume. “A long time coming for Kilrush lads. We’re 21 years waiting for this lads. People might say it’s only a B, but it’s gone so long now we had to win something lads.

“I think today lads Kilrush have turned a corner. We will be back lads. We will build on it. We have to start somewhere. We had won noth- ing in 21 years and today lads, we have made a start. We are back,” he adds defiantly and furiously.

Then he peels away, gulping some air before piecing together the reasons for the Shams’ success story.

“There are five of us. Jimmy Murray’s experience had it all to do here. Pat Kelly was also there. Matthew Moloney trained the team all year, through thick and thin. We brought in Moloney and Christopher Dixon and they did great. It’s very hard for the older fellas to talk to young fellas, but they had the bond with them and they drove him.

“They showed a never-say-die attitude and that was always the day in Kilrush football. I’m sick and tired of it. Twenty one years of we should have won this and we should have won that. You make your own luck and we did that today.”

And the person who did more than only one else, the great white hope of Kilrush football on the strength of his brilliant display.

“Liam Madigan was the lifeblood. In fairness we always had great corner forwards in Kilrush. We had the best of forwards, but this young fella is something special. He’s only 15 years of age. The game was in the melting pot. He picked his spot, coolness personified lads. You can’t ask any more from a 15-year-old.”

Ennistymon 2-13 – Kilmihil 1-7 at Hennessy Memorial Park, Miltown

ENNISTYMON have never had it so good at minor level, but had they lost this one it would have been a case of never having it so bad.

It was never going to happen though – four successive final defeats in the grade from five finals in a row wasn’t on before a ball was kicked, something that was confirmed within 17 minutes of the start by which time a rampant north Clare Magpies had hit 2-6 without reply.

Game over. The Hennessy Cup was going from Hennessy Park to the town of the Cascades – it was already damage limitation for a shellshocked Kilmihil side that had been hit by the perfect storm.

And perfection it was from Ennistymon in that first half as they won their first title since 2007 thanks to building up a 2-10 to 0-1 interval lead as they pounded poor Kilmihil at every opportunity.

The goals were killers, the first coming in the eighth minute when Ryan O’Halloran latched onto a breaking ball from Cathal McDonagh’s free and drove the ball to the net from seven yards, while James McConigley’s wonder strike in the 16th minute settled the argument as early as that.

The bombardment started as early as the third minute when Eoin Ralph raided from centre-back to land a point, while Ryan O’Halloran goal in the eighth minute was the signal for one-way traffic towards the Miltown’s town goal.

When it was followed by two good Joey Rouine points from play, a Cathal McDonagh free, McConigley’s goal when he blasted to the top corner from 14 yards and points by Barry Keating and Ryan O’Halloran, Kilmihil were left wondering if they’d make any impact on the game.

Conor Finucane did land their first score in the 24th minute, but it was all they could muster against an Ennistymon team that dominated every line, with Rouine being the hub of operations at centre-forward, while Ciaran Devitt and Cathal McConigley ran riot around the middle.

A miss-match, in other words, as a hapless Kilmihil rolled over in that first half as four more points thorugh Joey Rouine, Cathal McConigley and two Cathal McDonagh frees left 15 points between the sides at the break.

Credit Kilmihil for stemming the tide in the second half when restricting Ennistymon to three points while hitting 1-6 of their own, but it was more a case of Mark Shannon’s side free-wheeling it to the final whistle.

The sides shared four points between them in the opening ten minutes – Barry Keating grabbing two for Ennistymon either sid of points from David Lorrigan and Martin O’Leary.

Remarkably Ennistymon went 23 minutes without scoring in the second half, during which Kilmihil hit 1-4 without reply, the goal coming when Niall Pender’s long shot was fumbled to the net by Liam Slattery in the 45th minute.

It was a little victory, however pyrrhic, because ultimately there was no denying Ennistymon, with the prospect of a doubling up in next Sunday’s under 21 final against Cratloe the next mountain they want to climb.

IT’S been a long and winding road for Ennistymon over the past five years. They won the minor A title back in 2007 with a group that followed through to win an under 21 title in 2010.

But in between that minor win four years ago and Saturday in Miltown they’d lost three finals in the grade – to Cratloe in 2008, Lissycasey in ’09 and Doora-Barefield in ’10.

“It hurt an awful lot losing the last three finals,” says manager Mark Shannon after the losing streak was finally ended.

“Yes it was a great achievement getting to five in a row, but we wanted to be getting another win on the board. We were really determined today and really wanted to get off to a quick start.

“Goals was the key for us this year. The year we won the minor championship in 2007 we got goals. This year in all our games we’ve had forwards of the calibre to get goals. They continually got goals for us all year and we got two more early in the game and that set us up. We lost our way a bit in second half but when it came to the crunch we did the business,” he adds.

As Shannon was parsing the year, one of his joint captains Óisín Vaughan was talking about bringing Jack Daly back to the north Clare capital. “It would be great,” says Shannon, but we can’t get complacent.

“Minor and under 21 success doesn’t automatically say that it’s going to happen in senior, but that’s what we’re working towards that and hopefully one day we can win a senior championship.

“For this minor championship I knew we would have been contenders because we had a lot of the same group that we had for last few years. I knew in the last two weeks that it was going to take a good team to beat us. We had an unbelievable amount of work done in the last few weeks in training.”

Avenue United 7 – Coole FC 0 at The County Grounds, Doora

AVENUE United reigned supreme in this one-sided cup decider on Sunday afternoon – cruising to victory over their Galway opposition when rattling home seven goals to take home the silverware.

It was a stroll for the Ennis side as they led 5-0 at half-time, with Evan Courtney leading the way with a brace, while he then crowned his brilliant afternoon’s work by grabbing another in the second half to claim his hat-trick.

It was the other Evan in the Avenue starting line-up that opened the scoring – defender Evan McNamara getting the all-important goal to set his side on their way in the tenth minute.

From there the floodgates opened with Evan Courtney adding a second five minutes later before Barry and Brian Guilfoyle added to Avenue’s total, while Evan Courtney had the final say of the half with his second. Courtney notched his third early in the second half while Cian Crim- mins completed the scoring.

Coole kept trying though with Stephen McCarthy putting in a great display despite the tidal wave of goals against his side, while Calvin Finn was also prominent throughout.

The win keeps alive Avenue’s hopes of a league/cup double for 2011. The league is still up for grabs as they chase down their county capital rivals Ennis Town as the campaign enters its concluding stages.

MANAGER Patrick Murrihy was speechless at the end of it all, words failing him after the tumult of the final minutes when his charges looked to be staring defeat in the face only for Johnnie Daly to save the day with a brilliant point.

It was no wonder – he was as breathless as his players, still gathering himself in the minutes after the game as he deferred to trainer/coach John Kennedy.

“It wasn’t anything less than we ex- pected. We knew that Cratloe were a serious team and they proved that,” said Kennedy. “When we were five or six points up we could have kicked on and we didn’t. Cratloe never give up and it was very close.

“Football can be cruel and it went to the wire right a the end. It was a real intense game and scores were very hard to come by.

“No better man to get a chance at the end than Johnnie Daly who had just come on and kicked a great point. An old head and experience is what was needed at that stage and he did it and it was a score worthy of winning the game,” he added.

It was enough to book Daly’s sixth county final day out and Kilmur ry’s third in four years, but already Kennedy was looking for more.

“We have a lot of work to do with our forwards because we didn’t turn out superiority into scores,” he said. “The aim at the start of the year was to get to a county final and we’re there.

“You couldn’t be happy with the display of our forwards today. We showed well for the ball and won a lot of good possession but we didn’t translate it. We could have been comfortable with ten minutes to go if we had transferred it into scores but we didn’t.

“We’ll be favourites because Kilmurry are favourites going into most games. You have to take that. They have great experience and we’ll be hoping that we can bring home the Jack Daly,” he added.

Banner Ladies 3-13 – Cappawhite 3-11 (after extra-time) at Sean Tracey Park, Tipperary Town

NOBODY said it was going to be easy. This proved to be the case on Saturday for Banner Ladies who won their first ever Munster club match in a pulsating Senior B semi-final. It took extra time to separate the sides for a finish and the feat was made all the more remarkable as for six of the Banner side, it was their second game in a matter of hours.

Earlier in Shannon, Emma O’Driscoll, Shonagh Enright, Katie Cahill and Sinead O’Keeffe played key roles in Kilmaley’s county senior championship camogie semi-final win over a Clooney/Quin side that included Louise Henchy while Naomi Carroll was a member of Limerick Institute’s Hockey side that defeated U.C.C. in a league match.

Back to football and in the third game of a triple header. a total of six goals and 24 points kept the small attendance on their toes right up to the final whistle.

Cappawhite full-forward Siobhan Costello had her first of eight points in the third minute while Niamh O’Dea equalised with her first score of what would be a whopping tally of 2-9. Sinead Buckley put the Tipperary side back in front with a goal but by the tenth minute, the Banner had responded with points from Rebecca Culligan and Louise Henchy. Two O’Dea frees put the Clare senior champions back in front but what O’Dea could do at one end, Costello could equally accomplish at the other. She also pointed two frees while also causing endless problems for the Banner rearguard. Another O’Dea free and a point from play from the outstanding Naomi Carroll put the Banner ahead again but Costello with two points from play, sent Cappawhite in with a point to spare at the interval at 1-5 to 0-7.

Banner resumed with Laurie Ryan at full-back marking Costello while Louise Woods and Shona Enright exchanged positions. And those switches appeared to have the desired effect as the Banner got the half off to a great start when full forward Niamh O’Dea goaled after Henchy picked her out from a ‘45 to put her side 1-7 to 1-5 in front in the 37th minute. Credit to Cappawhite though as within a minute Sinead Buckley struck for her second goal when she shot low to beat Emma O’Driscoll who had a fine hour. Another Costello point was cancelled out by Eva O’Dea who had been introduced just three minutes earlier. Her sister added two from frees and the scoreboard now read 2-9 to 2-7 in favour of the Clare champions. Costello again and Shauna Quirke with a point apiece levelled matters with 58 minutes played. And before the whistle sounded to complete the normal time, the game’s top scorer O’Dea had edged the Ennis side in front but during the additional time of which there was a justified six minutes, Quirke levelled for Cappawhite to send the game to extra-time as the evening closed in.

Cappawhite dominated the first half of extra-time. A goal from midfielder Sheelagh Carew and a point from Claire Mullins pushed them four ahead while the Banner failed to score in that ten minute period.

When Costello pointed her eighth score early in the second half, it looked like curtains for Banner Ladies who trailed by five with eight minutes remaining. 1-1 from the mighty Niamh O’Dea, who took a lot of punishment over the hour, brought them to within a point and with about a minute to go, centre-forward Naomi Carroll had the ball in the back of the Cappawhite net to crown an unbelievable Banner comeback and send them through to the Munster Senior B final against Kerry’s Sliabh Luachra next Saturday.

Apart from O’Dea and the outstanding Naomi Carroll, Banner had solid performances from Katie Cahill, Louise Woods, Sinead O’Keeffe, Laurie Ryan, Louise Henchy and Emma O’Driscoll.

Clondegad 1-10 – Kilmurry Ibrickane 0-09 at Cooraclare

THE DREAMS of generations of Clondegad followers were finally realised on Sunday as the intermediate side’s long held tussle for the Talty Cup was surmounted. The victory bridged a 67-year gap to the last Clondegad side led by Flan McCarthy to secure the crown but really it is only in recent seasons that their love-hate relationship with the trophy really ignited. Final defeats in 2004, ’06 and last year’s loss to St Breckan’s left them wondering if they would ever reached the promised land of senior football but through sheer persistence and determination, they eventually got over the line.

And that’s essentially what was needed on a day when the pressure piled upon their shoulders certainly had an effect as they led from start to finish without ever putting away their opponents. However, getting over the line by whatever means possible was Clondegad’s only concern and in that regard, Tony Kelly’s 46th minute goal must go down as one of the most important in the club’s history.

Of course, Kilmurry Ibrickane being the ferocious competitiors they are pushed them all the way and never made it a comfortable journey for the champions elect. And if Tony Kelly hadn’t finally converted that goal, one wonders how this game would have actually turned out. Kilmurry Ibrickane knew that if the game was still in the melting pot in the final quarter, they had the experience to cause an upset and they certainly lived up to that reputation as Kelly’s goal was sandwiched by five Kilmurry points that left supporters chewing their nails right up to the final whistle.

Clondegad deserved their victory however as they were by far the more creative side over the hour, even if they were hampered in their progress by 12 wides and three missed goal opportunities.

Kilmurry Ibrickane were fully aware of the scoring prowess of Gary Brennan, Padraig McMahon, Brian Carrigg and Tony Kelly and so counteracted that by playing Thomas Lernihan as a sweeper, just as they had done to great effect in the second half of the semi-final against O’Curry’s when facing into a gale.

The gale was all on the playing side in the opening ten minutes as Clondegad hit the ground running with all four aforementioned attacking protagonists heavily involved. Tony Kelly picked out Gary Brennan for the opening score inside the first minute, the county senior doubled that advantage a minute later following a foul on McMahon while further scores for McMahon, Carrigg and Kelly opened up a 0-5 to 0-1 lead by the tenth minute.

The game appeared to be getting away from Kilmurry Ibrickane but they duly packed the defence and with chief marksmen Odran O’Dwyer and Adrian Murrihy often the only forwards in the Clondegad half, they finally got a footing in the game. Points from O’Dwyer and Murrihy closed the gap to two by the turn of the opening quarter while frustrating Clondegad at the other end when pressuring them into five successive wides.

Clondegad did finally emerge from that malaise to pick off scores from McMahon and Gary Brennan but by half’s end, another Murrihy score left only a goal between the sides at 0-7 to 0-4.

Again Clondegad flew out of the blocks on the restart, led by the inspirational Kieran Browne, without ever wrestling clear of a stubborn Kilmurry side. Gary Brennan did knock over a free in the 33rd minute but two further wides along with three missed chances in front of goal ensured that they would not ease clear. Shane Brennan put Padraig McMahon through on goal only to be smothered by the brave goalkeeping of David Talty who had to succumb to a head injury and be replaced by Darren Sexton.

If Clondegad thought that the replacement goalkeeper would weaken Kilmurry’s resolve, they were to be sorely mistaken as Sexton produced an even better stop to somehow deny Tony Kelly, only three minutes after his introduction. So when Shane Brennan’s goalbound shot was blocked by Thomas Greene in the 40th minute, Clondegad must have wondered what they had to do to get a goal.

They did finally break their nine minute scoring deadlock with another Gary Brennan free but Kilmurry Ibrickane took inspiration from their dogged defending and brought the lead back to three through the unerring accuracy of Odran O’Dwyer who rattled off two points within a minute by the turn of the final quarter.

Kilmurry began to believe once more which made Tony Kelly’s goal a minute later all the more significant after good work from Gearoid

Bride Rovers 1-13 – Shannon Gaels 4-02 at Sean Tracey Park, Tipperary Town

SHANNON Gaels’ Munster club campaign was brought to an end on Saturday when they went down by two points to a fine Bride Rovers side in a keenly contested Intermediate semi-final at Tipperary Town. While the east Cork side registered fourteen scores to Shannon Gaels six and were the better team overall, much credit has also to be given to Shannon Gaels who played with great passion and were right in this contest up to the final whistle courtesy of their four goals.

The Clare Intermediate champions couldn’t have asked for a better start. Colette Corry won the throw-in and found Sarah Bohannon who in turn shot towards Bride Rovers goal. Her effort came back out off the crossbar and in raced Edel Dillon to boot it to the net all inside 30 seconds.

The impressive Sinead Walsh got the Cork side off the mark while in the eighth minute, Sarah Bohannon scored a second Shannon Gaels goal when her free went all the way to the top right after Michelle Madigan had been fouled on the 30 me- tre line at the end of a fine Shannon Gaels move. Elaine Dee replied with a point for Bride Rovers before a foul by Adrienne Nugent gave away a penalty which Sinead Walsh made no mistake with. The Cork side dominated the next 15 minutes in terms of scores adding three points while they also kicked seven wides to the Gaels’ two in the opening half. Grace Lynch was introduced for Ger Corry in the 18th minute and despite carrying an injury, she made a telling contribution. Four minutes from half-time, she rattled the net when expertly finishing a move that put the Gaels back in the lead and Sarah Bohannon pointed to see the Clare side lead 31 to 1-5 at the interval, much to the delight of their large following.

A feature of Shannon Gaels game was their workrate with Maryruth Neylon, Helena Flanagan, Susan Neylon and Adrienne Nugent particularly impressive in defence while Colette Corry and Sarah Bohannon really worked hard with the latter covering a lot of ground. Michelle Madigan and Carmel Bohannon all played their part but needed a better supply up front. The win against Clashmore of Waterford in the quarter-final definitely boosted their confidence and they battled hard for every ball.

The second half started very like the first for Shannon Gaels and Grace Lynch scored her second goal when she perfectly connected in flight to palm home her team’s fourth goal. Five points ahead, it was a pity that Shannon Gaels could not capitalise on this lead. Bride Rovers didn’t panic however and gradually, by kicking point after point they kicked seven unanswered scores, one from Colette Hogan, three from the impressive Grace Kearney, an All Ireland medal winner with Cork six days earlier, and three frees from Sinead Walsh to lead by two.

With three minutes of normal time remaining, Lynch pointed a Gaels free but Grace Kearney had the final say with her fifth point from play as her side held on for a deserved two point win despite playing the last ten minutes with fourteen players due to the sin-binning of wing-back Caroline Broderick for a high tackle on Colette Corry.

The season is now over for Shan- non Gaels and while they will be disappointed not to have reached the Munster Intermediate Final, they will look back on the year with satisfaction as they finally captured the county title and will look forward to playing senior championship football next year. Incidentally, Bride Rovers will play St. Ailbee’s of Limerick in the final on October 16.

Shannon Gaels
Serana Carmody, Eilis Moran, Maryruth Neylon, Imelda Kennedy, Helena Flanagan, Susan Neylon, Adrienne Nugent, Colette Corry, Kate O’Brien, Croidhe Glynn, Sarah Bohannon (1-1f), Michelle Madigan, Edel Dillon (1-0), Carmel Bohannon (Capt.), Ger. Corry

Subs
Grace Lynch (2-1 1f) for G. Corry (18 mins), Carla Beehan for Glynn (HT), G. Corry for Dillon

Bride Rovers
CatrionaVaughan, Emma O’Keeffe (capt.),Arlene O’Callaghan, Bridget Forde, Niamh Barry,Annette Raher, Caroline Broderick, Michelle McAteer, Jennifer Barry (0-1), Grace Kearney (0-5), Elanor Ahern, Colette Hogan (0-1), Jennifer Cahill, Elaine Dee (0-1), SineadWalsh (1-5 3f, 1-0 pen)

Subs
Sinead O’Driscoll for Cahill, Mary Hazelwood for O’Keeffe

Referee
Sean Joy (Kerry)

CLONDEGAD captain Gary Brennan summed it up best in his speech by stating that he had to take a second look at the cup to make sure it wasn’t all a dream. It wasn’t a dream, it was finally reality for Clondegad after the nightmare of recent finals and for Brennan, it was difficult to put his feelings into words.

“It’s hard to to be honest because it hasn’t really sunk in yet. I’m just absolutely delighted. We’ve put a lot of work into it and I suppose it’s relief more than anything because we really felt we had a chance and if we had been beaten today, I suppose it would have been really hard to come back again. So I suppose we are relieved but also absolutely delighted.”

Relief because they never really put Kilmurry Ibrickane away at any stage despite holding the larger share of possession and chances.

“I wouldn’t say we were nervous coming into the game. We felt quite calm and confident, and not over confident at the same time, but look games go that way. Kilmurry are a fantastic club with a great pedigree and a lot of those players have won county championships and Munster championships so they don’t give up easy and were never going to give in.

“We were coming under severe pressure but the goal just pushed us ahead again and made it that bit harder for them to come back.”

And with Brennan leading a very young squad into top flight action next year, did he feel that this maturing crop could blossom at senior level?

“We won’t worry about blossoming yet,” he says with a smile, “we will worry about surviving to start with and we’ll see where we go from there. But look, there is great work going on in the club, a lot of good young players coming through and hopefully we can start building ourselves as a senior club but it will be all about survival to start with.”

CLUB commitments and championship structures are a barrier between Clare and success at senior intercounty hurling, outgoing manger Ger ‘Sparrow’ O’Loughlin told club delegates when giving a detailed report on his two-year as county senior manager.

In his wide-ranging comments on the state of Clare senior hurling as he hands over the management reins to fellow All-Ireland winner Davy Fitzgerald, O’Loughlin urged clubs to “look at the bigger picture” to help the flagship hurling team in the county prepare properly for the Munster championship and All-Ireland.

This, said O’Loughlin, demands a more streamlined and smaller county senior championship, while he also hammered home the need for the county senior manager to be given a two-month lead-in to the Munster championship, which would be free of county championship fixtures.

The two-time All-Ireland winner said that progress could can only be achieved as senior inter-county level “if we continue to work hard at all levels and the co-operation of clubs will have a significant bearing on this.

“I cannot stress loud enough that the incoming management must be given the most important months of May and June to prepare the team for what is their most important time at championship,” said O’Loughlin.

“We cannot have a situation that I faced this year when two rounds of the senior hurling championship was played in mid-May, which ultimately brought the Clare preparation to a halt and out of these two games we got four injuries, whereby we lost two players for the rest of the season and the other two could hardly train up to the week before the Tipperary game,” he added.

And, O’Loughlin said that a restructuring of the county championship by way culling eight clubs from the senior grade – a figure that represents 40 per cent of senior clubs – and re-grading them intermediate was his radical blueprint to benefit club and county hurling.

“I firmly believe we need to reduce the number of senior teams in Clare from 20 down to 12 and start playing mid-week championship matches over a shorter period of time,” he said.

“There is no doubt that we have not got 20 senior teams capable of playing to a decent senior level and we would be best served with a more competitive senior championship. We need to look at the bigger picture for once and for all to see what’s best going forward for Clare hurling,” he added.