Category: Sport

THE sweat and toil of pre-season beckons for Ennis Rugby Club as they prepare for a new season.

The club’s adult teams return for training next week as they look to build on the progress made last season.

Ennis finished in mid-table of division two of the Munster junior league and will be hoping to kick on after some encouraging displays.

Former Garryowen head coach, Dara O’Sullivan will begin his second season at the helm. This year the club will field two adult teams so all new players are welcome. Anyone interested in joining the club can contact Brian Farrell (captain) 087 9610968 or Richard Murphy (chairman of rugby) 085 1166298.

The club would also like to thank all people who came out to support for a recent golf classic at Ennis Golf Club. Pre-season training begins at Ennis Rugby Club on Tuesday August 2 at 7pm.

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.

Newmarket 4-14 – Fergus Rovers 0-03 at Banner GAA

NEWMARKET recorded a comprehensive victory over an understrength Fergus Rovers on Thursday evening to keep them in the hunt for silverware.

The dual senior club, who captured the county intermediate title last year, were much sharper while seven of their players contributed scores. At half time they led 3-7 02 and maintained their firm grip on proceedings for the second period to ease up to victory. The Kaiser sisters, Ruth and Niki scored two goals each while team captain Carol O’Leary chipped in with four points.

The winners had fine performances from Roisin McMahon, Chloe Morey, Carol O’Leary, Laura McMahon and the Kaiser sisters. Carmel McGuane was outstanding for Fergus Rovers while Kelly Talty, Aoife Clohessy, Clare Hester and Laura Hanrahan all played well.

Newmarket are well in contention in this competition and will play Miltown in an outstanding fixture after the Clare v Tipperary match next Monday while Fergus Rovers are now out of the championship.

Newmarket- on- Fergus
Aine Lawlor, Jane O’Leary, Stephanie Halpin, Maria Kennelly,Aoife Griffin, Roisin McMahon,Aimee McInerney, Chloe Morey (0-1),Aine O’Brien, Gemma McInerney (0-1), Carol O’Leary (capt.) (0-4), Laura McMahon (0-2),Ali Quinlan, Ruth Kaiser (2-2), Niki Kaiser (2-3)

Fergus Rovers
KellyTalty, Rita Donnelly,Aoife Clohessy (0-1), Carmel McGuane, Laura Meaney, Lorraine Kelly, Clare Hester (capt.), Clodagh McNeilis, Laura Hanrahan,Triona Melican, Grainne Griffin,Aine Kelly (0-2 1f), Grainne McCarthy, Ciara O’Malley, Jackie Coughlan

Sub
Zara Hill for Aine Kelly (inj)

Referee
Barry Kelly (Miltown)

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.

Miltown 1-10 – Crusheen 0-07 at Kilnamona

CRUSHEEN had every chance to take the points in the Ladies Senior Football Championship meeting with Miltown Malbay last Thursday in Kilnamona but didn’t grasp the opportunity despite Miltown being down to 14 players for 20 minutes of the game.

Crusheen, who played into the wind and towards the new training alley, were on the board quickly with a Norah Murphy point but referee Michael Talty awarded a penalty at the other end and Sinead Sexton knocked it past Noelle McGuane to put Miltown up by two points followed by another Miltown point shortly after that. A great spell of pressure from Crusheen saw them score two points from frees by Michelle O’Donnell and Emma Kearney and their own Tina Meaney scored a well taken point from play to level the game. Karen Galvin set up Sexton who pushed Miltown ahead with a nice point but referee Talty played the advantage when Crusheen’s Elaine O’Mahony was fouled in the process of taking a very strong point to level again. Miltown’s Niamh Coyne edged them ahead again after twenty minutes and in a period of play that saw Miltown Malbay lose two of the full back line to the sin-bin, Sinead Griffin for ten minutes before the break and then Helen Burke until eight minutes after the break, Crusheen failed to respond. A Miltown show of defiance led mainly by the impressive Fiona Lafferty but with great defensive cover by Kate Curtin, Tara Rynne, Bernie McGuire and Shauna Crowley saw Sinead Sexton fire over four points, three from frees and one from a lovely combination with Niamh Coyne.

Emma Kearney pointed a free for Crusheen to keep them in it at 1-7 to 0-6 but Sexton was back for her fifth successive Miltown point. Fiona Laf- ferty decided to finish out some of her own attacks launched from midfield, adding two points to Miltown’s tally despite Crusheen applying a bit more pressure. In what could have been a remarkable resurgence, Crusheen’s Elaine O’Mahony’s dead-cert goal was nudged over the bar by keeper Siobhain Talty and when three scorable frees in the closing ten minutes failed to find their target, Miltown held on to take the valuable win.

Miltown Malbay
SiobhainTalty, Helen Burke, Sinead Griffin, Jennifer Barker, Shauna Crowley, Bernie McGuire,Tara Rynne, Kate Curtin, Fiona Lafferty, Edel Hynes, Niamh Coyne,Aisling McCaw, Karen Galvin, Niamh Pender, Sinead Sexton

Crusheen
Noelle McGuane, Claire O’Grady, Marie O’Grady, Niamh McCoy,Ann Fitzgibbon, Mary Roseingrave, Edel McGuane, Emma Kearney, Regina Fennessy, Michelle O’Donnell,Tina Meaney, Norah Murphy, Elaine O’Mahony, Jacinta O’Grady

Referee
Michael Talty (Kilmurry Ibrickane)

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.

Newmarket-on-Fergus 2-16 – Crusheen 3-10 at Clarecastle

NEWMARKET-ON-FERGUS finally booked their place in the last four of the Clare Cup but certainly didn’t make it a comfortable journey for themselves after a late Crusheen rally. Last year’s finalists dominated the tie for the opening 40 minutes, building up a 13 point lead in the process but took their foot off the pedal enough for Crusheen to hit three goals in what was to prove a nervy finish.

It was an encounter that the Blues were always expected to win once it was confirmed that Crusheen would be without eight of the starting lineup that clinched a first ever county senior title back in October including county seniors Pat Vaughan and Cian Dillon, former panelists Alan Brigdale and Cathal Dillon, county Under 21’s Fergus Kennedy and Conor O’Donnell as well as Gearoid O’Donnell and Joe Meaney.

Newmarket themselves were without the services of Shane O’Brien who was lining out for Doonbeg in the Cusack Cup final, Sean O’Connor and Martin O’Hanlon but the county senior experience of Colin Ryan and David Barrett in particular saw them open up a 1-7 to 0-3 lead by the 24th minute while also seeing a Ryan 20 metre free stopped by Shaun Dillon. The goal itself came through the strength of Anthony Kilmartin who rounded his man and despite being fouled on his way to goal, the fullforward still managed to bat the ball past goalkeeper Donal Tuohy.

Three further Ryan points saw the Blues take a 1-10 to 0-05 advantage into the break with Crusheen’s only real scoring threat coming from placed balls. It would get worse for the county champions immediately on the restart when David Barrett soloed through for a second goal within two minutes followed by points from Ryan. Kilmartin and James Liddy to open up a commanding 2-13 to 0-06 lead by the 40th minute.

It seemed merely a damage limitation exercise for Crusheen as Newmarket emptied the bench but a defensive error handed the Blood and Bandages a much needed lifeline as Jamie Fitzgibbon dispossessed his marker before striking to the net. A minute later, Patrick O’Grady’s handpass across the square to older brother Gerry yielded a second goal while points for Ciaran O’Doherty and David Forde cut the deficit to just five with 12 minutes remaining.

Colin Ryan eventually stopped the rot with a free in the 50th minute but when Donal Tuohy rifled a 20 metre free to the net in the next passage of play to leave only a goal between the sides, Newmarket began to feel the pinch. However, Crusheen were unable to grab the goal that would regain full parity and Newmarket held on to advance to the last four against Kilmaley while the county champions will have another chance against Inagh/Kilnamona this weekend to decide the other semi-final qualifier from Division 1.

Clarecastle 4-11 – Sixmilebridge 1-11 at O’Garney Park, Sixmilebridge

AT THE beginning of this year’s championship, one would have predicted that these two teams would be in the shake-up come the knockout stages given the fact that both contested last year’s Under 16 final (which the ‘Bridge won in a replay) and both have the shared the corresponding U14 and U15 championships at this age. This prediction was given further credence upon viewing this Sunday morning clash as both teams contributed to an entertaining game of hurling in which the visitors ran out impressive nine point winners.

A nervous start from both sides was illustrated when a Robby Corry effort from out the field was spilled by the Clarecastle goalkeeper and fullforward Gavin Whyte was on hand to finish the rebound straight to the back of the net to give the ‘Bridge the best possible start inside two minutes. Merely a minute later, Clarecastle midfielder Bobby Duggan settled the visitors by landing a 65’ between the posts. Duggan was to go on to have a huge say on this game as his ability to influence the game at the most critical of times was of great benefit to his team’s overall performance. Duggan added another free in the eighth minute from 20 metres as Clarecastle started to come more in to the game and this was highlighted by another superb Duggan score from play as he left the ‘Bridge defence in his wake. Conor Deasy and Alex Morey traded successful frees for the home side midway through the first half before Clarecastle really established their foothold on this game and gained a lead that they would never relinquish. Firstly, a fine move involving influential centre-back Mark McGuane resulted in a fine score from play from centre-forward Pajoe Dolan before good work from the Magpie’s inside line resulted in a penalty which Duggan duly obliged in blasting straight down the middle to give his side a two point lead.

From here on, the visitors were in total control as Duggan supplied an excellent score over his right shoulder in the 19th minute before cornerforward, Seánie Lynch, pulled first time to the back of the net a minute later after the initial effort had been expertly saved by Jason Loughnane in the ‘Bridge goal. Conor Deasy and Stephen Mulready did manage to add two further scores for the home side in the closing minutes of the half with the latter providing a sublime effort from the sideline. However, this was all in vain as Pajoe Dolan’s seemingly tame effort skidded along the surface and into the net to give the visitors a seven point cushion at the break.

Conor Deasy led a mini revival for the ‘Bridge in the opening ten minutes of the second half with three unanswered points while Barry Fit- zpatrick was also doing very well at full-back. However, Duggan was to the fore again with a free from halfway to restore the Maggie’s cushion. Gavin Whyte was beginning to exert a big influence upon his switch to midfield as he scored two fine points on the trot at the three quarter stage of the game to leave just three points between the sides once again. Duggan stepped up to the mark again with another excellent score from play in the 47th minute before adding another free four minutes later. The game was effectively killed off with nine minutes to go as Clarecastle full-forward, Derek Casey, provided a devastating finish to the bottom left corner. With Clarecastle now in full control, Duggan treated the crowd to probably the score of the day with a flawless effort off the hurley from the sideline. Deasy and Eóin Flynn provided late consolation points for the home side before Duggan rounded off a superb individual performance with another score from play in injury time. On evidence from this game, Clarecastle appear to be a team in form while the ‘Bridge have a lot of work to do if they intend on holding on their crown as Under 16 champions.

Clarecastle
Jake Kearney, Cian Crimmins, Dylan Broderick, Brian Gilroy, Pat Tuohy, Mark McGuane, Joe Barry, Bobby Duggan (1-9 3f, 1-0 Pen, 1’65), Paul Dolan, StephenWard (0-1), Pajoe Dolan (1-1), Jake Barnes, Seanie Lynch (1-0), Derek Casey (1-0), Ben Moloney (0-1)

Subs
AdamCrowe

Sixmilebridge
Jason Loughnane, Shane McInerney, Barry Fitzpatrick, Cathaoir Agnew, Kevin Fennessy,Alex Morey (0-1, 65’), Stephen Mulready (0-1), Robby Corry, Conor Deasy (0-6, 5f),Tony Fitzpatrick, Brian Corry, Eóin McMahon,Tomás Sheehan, GavinWhyte (1-2), Eóin Flynn (0-1)

Subs
Cathal Lynch, Pa Mulready, Conor Cahill

Referee
Neil O’Brien (O’Callaghan’s Mills)

Ballyea 2-23 – Newmarket-on-Fergus 4-04 at Ballyea

A REAL statement of intent from Ballyea in humbling the defending champions and maintaining their perfect start to the championship. The home side simply had the better balance throughout and had far too much strength for an understrength Newmarket who were on the backfoot for the majority.

Still, as impressive as the 2-23 scoreline is and the fact that they had 46 shots at the posts over the hour, there is still plenty of room for improvement ahead of tougher challenges ahead. The home side hit 21 wides in total and conceded four preventable goals that might have cost them in a tighter game.

In saying that, they had more than enough fires for Newmarket to extinguish, with county minor captain Tony Kelly in unstoppable form, particularly in the second half when Newmarket tried their best to rally. There was also impressive displays from Jack Browne, Gearoid O’Connell, Joe Neylon, Martin O’Leary, Niall Deasy, Darragh Crowe and Tadgh Lynch that more than kept the Blues on their toes throughout.

However, it was the visitors who struck the first blow after only 90 seconds when a James Warren delivery was anticipated by Ryan Corry to volley to the net. It didn’t take long for Ballyea to recover from that setback however as points from Kelly and Tadgh Lynch were followed in the seventh minute by a clincial Kelly goal after receiving a handpass on the run from Niall Deasy.

It was the start of a Ballyea flurry of points that saw Kelly, Deasy and O’Leary outscore their opponents by 0-10 to 0-01 over the next 15 minutes to open up an 11 point advantage. However, just as they started the half. Newmarket finished with a Corry goal, with another Warren delivery this time evading goalkeeper Shane Harkin, leaving Corry with the simple job of flicking to an empty net at 1-13 to 2-03.

Two further goals within ten minutes of the restart through substutute Eoin Frawley and Oisin Pender cut the deficit to just four but far from panicking, Ballyea took those sucker-punches on the chin and hit back in devastating fashion with an unanswered 1-6 in the final quarter including Michael Nagle 45th minute goal.

Ballyea
Shane Harkin, Diarmuid Lorigan, Eoin Donnellan, Darragh Crowe, Jack Browne, Gearoid O’Connell, Joe Neylon, Stan Lineen,Tony Kelly (113 5f, 2’65’s),Tadgh Lynch (0-1), Niall Deasy (0-5), Martin O’Leary (0-4), Lee Brady, David Brassil, Michael Nagle (1-0)

Subs
Lee Sherlock for Lorrigan, Martin Quigley for Nagle

Newmarket- on- Fergus
Ronan McCauley, Ronan McCarthy, Evan Keogh, Jamie Cronin, Sean Quinlivan, Niall O’Connor, Paudie Conway, Shane Kelleher, Paul Gleeson, James Warren, Oisin Pender (1-0), LiamHarkin, David Burke, Frank Melody (0-4 3f), Ryan Corry (2-0)

Subs
Eoin Frawley (1-0) for Harkin, Colin Dugan for Burke, Gearoid McMahon for Melody (inj)

Man of the Match
Tony Kelly (Ballyea) Referee

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