Category: Sport

BY way of giving a context to the scale of the challenge that awaits Clare on the banks of the Lee this Sunday, while giving the county some hope at the same time, two game’s from the vaults of history ring out.

Games 23 years apart – the scores very much apart too, even if the results were the same as Clare ended up on the losing side on things on both occasions.

1973 and 1996 are the years – one a depressing tale the other a tale of what should have been for a Clare team that was arguably one of the best to ever represent the county in Munster – better than the 1992 Munster Championship winning team, better than the Munster final team of 1997.

The Clare team in 1973 looked good on paper too – it was blessed with some fine footballers, but what happened in the old Cork Athletic Grounds was a harsh lesson in the reality of top-flight inter-county fare.

They managed one point from play over the 80 minutes that was in vogue for championship at the time – that came from midfielder Pete Dillon. They only scored 0-3 in total, while Cork racked up 2-14 as they took another step towards winning their first All-Ireland title in 62 years. And, bear in mind it was a Cork team sans Jimmy Barry Murphy who later lit up the championship, while key defender and Munster rugby player John Coleman was missing too.

Things were a lot different 23 years later when Clare travelled to Páirc Uí Chaoimh in confidence after a last-gasp Aidan O’Keeffe free had earned them a draw against Cork in Cusack Park.

Clare produced a magnificent performance – they trailed 1-8 to 0-4 at half-time having played with the wind, but on the turnover produced a magnificent performance to reel the Rebels in.

With Padraig Conway tormenting Cork until he was taken out of it by Stephen O’Brien, Clare roared back into contention, even though they lost Brendan Rouine to a sending-off only six minutes in.

Four Francis McInerney points and Ger Keane goal saw Clare get back on terms before they took the lead with a Padraig Conway point with 11 minutes remaining. A Joe Kavanagh point brought the game to extra-time but Clare seemed to be on their way to a famous win when they led 1-16 to 1-13 early in the second half.

However, they were denied when a controversial goal from Johnny Buckley, when he walked the ball into the net brought Cork back on terms before late points from Ciaran O’Sullivan and Joe Kavanagh saw them edge home by 2-16 to 1-16.

LAST YEAR’S double winners, Avenue United lost out on retaining the league just a few weeks ago but they will be hoping to retain the Cup when they meet Bridge United B in this Saturday’s Clare Cup Final in Doora for the second successive year.

Avenue United won both the cup and league last season but this year they have already surrendered their league crown to rivals Newmarket and according to manager Pat McDaid they will be going all out to win the in cup in order to end the season with some silverware.

“We have to go all out for the cup, there’s two big trophies really the cup and the league and at the end of the season we want to end up with both of them. We were a bit unlucky in the league but you know thats the way it goes.”

Avenue United have become teh flagship side in Clare football and Pat feels ending the year without a trophy would be disappointing but a cup win would end the season on a positive note.

“This is what we have now, we take what we have. Its a Cup Final its a big day in Clare soccer so its good to be there again and hopefully we’ll win it.”

Avenue have come through some close encounters along their path to the final, having been brought to extra time against West Clare United and Bunratty and beating Tulla Utd

on penalties in the semi

final will have been great

preparation for this resil

ient Bridge United B side,

a side which Avenue will

not be taking lightly.

“You can’t take it away

from them they’ve been

in two cup finals in two

years. That says an awful lot about them. One year a team might sneak it but two years on the trot says something, you got to have something about you and they have.”

Avenue United are favourites going into the game but they will not be taking the challenge of underdogs Bridge United B lightly. They will know how determined Bridge will be especially after last year and how good they can preform in cup encounters. However, Avenue will be hoping with the talented squad they have that they will retain the Cup on Saturday.

IF TRUTH be told, nobody in the national football sphere is giving Clare much of a chance against Cork on Sunday. Just go online and you can get Clare to win at 24/1 while Cork are 1/200 on to lower the Banner, making it hard to believe it’s still only a two horse race.

However, in the bowels of base camp, Clare are keeping a relatively low profile and are happy to play up the All-Ireland and back-to-back National League champions ahead of this Munster opener.

Equally, anyone that knows captain Gordon Kelly can testify that he plays with his heart on his sleeve and doesn’t accept second best, even when playing against the top team in the country.

“Cork are the All-Ireland champions and have already won the National League this year and going down there playing them is a big ask but there’s no pressure on us and as we have been playing well so everyone is looking forward to it and come Sunday, we will be up for it and ready for the challenge.

“The mood in the camp has been good. We have worked hard, we’ve played a few challenges games and played well so we are looking forward to the game.”

The form guide differs however as Cork are off the back of a Division 1 victory while Clare failed to come out of Division 4 for the fourth successive year and finished just above Kilkenny, London and Leitrim in the table. However, Miltown’s Kelly feels Clare’s league standing is false.

“I think maybe we were the mas- ters of our own destruction as much as anything in the league.

“We had a few players sent off including myself at the start of the campaign and after that we were missing so many that we were under pressure and the league kind of got away from us as it went on. I don’t think the league was a true reflection of all the effort we have put in this year so far.”

So what would be a true reflection?

“I believe that if we play to our ability, we will give Cork a good game and if it’s in the melting pot in the last few minutes, you’d never know. Big surprises have happened in sport and if we were to beat Cork, for everyone else it would be a big surprise but we have worked hard and we believe that if we play to our potential and everyone performs to their maximum, we can win on Sunday.”

To accomplish great things, one must not only act, but also dream; not only plan but also believe.

If Gordon Kelly is anything to go by, Clare do believe but need to match that belief with a performance unlike any other seen this season.

BRIDGE UNITED B shocked most by reaching the Clare Cup final last year, a feat that many would have put down to a bit of fortune and some good luck along the way but they have proved just how much of a formidable cup side they can be by reaching back to back finals.

Such a great cup run again after last years final defeat could not have been predicted and what makes it harder to believe is that Bridge United B were relegated from Division 1 this year having only won one league game out of eighteen all season. However, their form in the Clare Cup over the past two years is one that cannot be argued with.

Having only beaten lower league teams with the exception of a big win over Bridge Celtic, manager Mark Egan admits that the semi-final against Burren was a great game for them before the final.

“The Burren was definitely the most difficult game. It was a good workout, going the whole distance there and coming through has its just rewards and at the end of the day the lads were delighted with it.”

Last years 3-0 defeat to Avenue in the cup final will still be in the minds of the players but a lot has changed since then according to Egan.

“The lads know that we went up to the final last year and they got caught up in the moment and we never really produced the goods on the day.

“All we can do is get the heads right this time around and hopefully we will give them a good game.”

If Bridge United B are to be successful against Avenue United on Saturday they will need the experience of players such as Albert Finnan, Gavin Downes and Damien Murray along with the fresh talent of Alan Mulready and Dan Larkin to aid them to victory as they look to gain revenge from last years final heartache.

Éire Óg 4-11 – Ennistymon 1-07 at Cusack Park, Ennis

A STORMING last ten minutes helped Éire Óg win this prestigious title for the first time since 2000. In a highly entertaining game played in blustery conditions at headquarters, the Townies outscored their opponents by 1-6 to no score in the final ten minutes.

Ennistymon played with the aid of a very strong breeze in the opening half but trailed at the break by two points at 1-4 to 0-5. The vital score came from mdifielder James Woods in the 28th minute to separate two very evenly matched sides.

The leaders stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half with two goals in the opening five minutes. Firstly Conall Ó hAiniféin was fouled in the square and substitute Paddy O’Malley scored the resultant penalty with his first touch. Than only a minute later, O’Malley turned provider for Eanna Fennell to score Éire Óg’s third goal. Indeed, O’Malley was to have a huge influence on the destination of the title as he went on to score 1-5 in his second half cameo.

Ennistymon replied with a goal of their own as James McConigley dispatched his side’s penalty to the net in the 38th minute. And were it not for some great goalkeeping from goalkeeper Nathan Murray, the cup could so easily be heading north to Ennistymon as on four occasions during the game, he denied the Ennistymon forwards especially McConigley twice in the second half.

However, goals win games and when Éire Óg substitute Sean Hanrahan raised another green flag in the 50th minute, the Éire Óg players finally believed it would be their day and duly followed up with points from Paddy O’Malley (4) and Nicholas Twumasi to seal a well deserved victory for the Townies.

Éire Óg
Nathan Murray, Kieran Malone, John Allan, Martin Darcy, James Wylde, Dylan Casey, Dara Walsh, James Woods (1-0), Lee Quirke, Kaylan O’Loughlin (Capt.), NicholasTwumasi (0-2), EvanToomey, Eanna Fennell (1-2), Conall Ó hAiniféin (0-2), Gary Roche.

Subs
Paddy O’Malley (1-5) for Roche, Brian Flanagan for O’Loughlin (inj), Michael Moloney for Darcy, Sean Hanrahan (1-0) for Casey, Patrick Chesser for Quirke

Ennistymon
Sean Noonan, Dara Crowe, Shane Doyle, Cathal Nagle, David Fitzgerald, Kieran Vaughan, Kevin Hehir, Mattie Kinch (Capt.), David McCarthy, SeanTwomey (0-1),Aaron McNulty (0-1), John Dillon (0-1), James McConigley (1-2), Barry Keating (0-2), Joseph Gallagher

Subs
Cathal Frawley for Doyle, Shane Doyle for McNulty

Referee
Michael Talty (Kilmurry Ibrickane)

PAT Rutherford could be described as a sporting fanatic – he’s run more marathons than there are sunny days in an average year in Ireland, swims every day, or at least every other day. Plays golf too.

Not much time left for other sporting pursuits you might think, but if so, you’d think wrong. There’s the Special Olympics, be it up on Lees Road getting the best out of Robbie McNamara ahead of the 21-year-old’s participation in the Special Olympic European Games in Poland last year; be it in the bowling alley in Drumbiggle, but further up the Drumbiggle drag in Ennis Golf Club.

“I love it,” he says. “All of us involved do and we have a lot of volunteers now who help out in Special Olympics,” he adds.

His work on the track in Lees Road yielded gold and silver medals for Robbie McNamara in Poland, but true to the Olympic ideal, for Pat it’s not all about winning but taking part and seeing athletes grow as the participate.

In golf, in athletics, table tennis, bowling. “It’s seeing their personalities coming out and the confidence they get from Special Olympics. It’s brilliant to be part of it – brilliant for the athletes in other times they might have been left out and others got to play games.”

Rutherford makes the time, as do other key volunteers like Larry Parks, Barbara Foley, Pierce Cahill and many more – so much so that their Monday mornings aren’t the space without a date for Special Olympics golf.

“There is something in it for every athlete,” says Rutherford “and that’s what makes it so interesting for them. The degree of disability puts you into the divisions – the first half of every big event is validating the information and deciding what category the athletes should be in.

“It’s the HER, the honest effort rule. This is fundamental to the games, in other words that they would be in the right category. If you are 15 per cent of your recorded performance beforehand in the final, you are disqualified. It’s the way the games are run,” he adds.

YOGA, surfing and taekwon-do were all the menu for PE class at Inagh National School last week as the parents, staff and students of the school all took part in their first ever Active School’s Week.

The week, which saw children from the school taking part in a host of traditional and non-traditional sports and activities, is the latest step in the school’s bid to become of the first school’s in Clare to earn a Active School’s Flag.

Similar to the Green Flags handed out to school for environmental achievements – the Active Schools Flag aims to encourage staff and pupils to focus more on enjoying themselves through a range of diverse physical activities.

The week was co-ordinated at the school by teacher Síle O’Loughlin, who believes that it has already had a positive effect for all the students.

“We are a very strong hurling school here and the local club was very helpful in sending in coaches to the school but the week was about showing the children the benefits off all different types of sports. For a start the children either walked or cycled to school every day and we also had a large variety of different activities for them throughout the week,” she said.

“The children all kept a daily diary where they tracked how much exercise they were getting. The aim to make sure that every child got at least 60 minutes of solid exercise each day. It was about introducing different things to the children, like we had one boy on Monday who ab- solutely loved the yoga, he wouldn’t have had a chance to do that if wasn’t for Active School Week.

“Also some of the older boys who would play a lot of hurling found things like yoga much more challenging than they had expected. The Green Room Surf Club were also with us and they told us how a lot of sports club would come to them because surfing is good for building stamina and working muscles that they wouldn’t normally be working.”

The Active School Week is just one part of a series of events that Inagh National School are undertaking in order to win the Active School Flag. The school has a already undertaking a review of it’s Physical Education policy as well as looking at the open play areas and trying to make them as interesting as possible.

WHEN the An Post Rás rolls into Kilrush on Monday next, the west Clare capital’s link with Ireland’s most prestigious cycling event will be restored.

And those links run deep thanks to Kilrush’s storied association with the famous event that was first staged in 1953 when the route went from Dublin to Wexford and back.

Kilrush had to wait 18 years to play host to the Rás – the town’s first big day coming in 1971, when a stage started and finished in the county.

It was a 17-mile morning time-trial from Miltown Malbay to Kilrush, with the finish on the Town Square. Victory went to Barry Flynn, riding on the Kerry team. From there the cyclists traveled on to Killimer to take the ferry service to Tarbert, from where the next stage that taking them to the Dunquin in the Kerry Gaeltacht began.

Almost a year to the day of the Rás’ first coming to Kilrush, the cyclists were back – this time it was a 26-mile time-trial from Ennistymon, won by Carlow’s Mike O’Donoghue, before cyclists took another ferry ride ahead of the next stage from Tarbert to Killorglin.

It was not until 1982 that the Rás had its third coming in Clare – this time cyclists ferried in the other direction from Tarbert and coasted two miles in the road ahead of the start to the 23rd stage from Kilrush to Kilkee – not a short seven-mile spin but the long way around and a 67-mile trek via Lissycasey, Ennis, Inagh, Miltown Malbay, Quilty, Doonbeg and finishing in Kilkee. Victory in the stage went to William Gibb of Scotland.

The fourth and last visit to Kilrush came in 1998 when it was the stage finish for one of the longest stages in the history of the race – 116 miles from Wesport, with victory going to Belgian Jonge Rakkers.

It was a big day for Kilrush on the double as Vincent Gleeson, then riding for the Mayo team, had the opportunity to finish a stage in his home town.

And the West Clare Cycling Club connections with the Rás don’t end the – the overall winner in 1981 Jamie McGahan from Scotland is married to Brid Cotter, daughter of former West Clare Cycling Club chairman, Paddy Cotter, from Kilmihil.

McMahon later became a member of the West Clare club and won the 55th running of the Crotty Cup in 1989.

THE Crotty Cup is back and here to stay – that’s the new mission statement of the West Clare Cycling Club that’s reviving the oldest cycling race in Clare to coincide with the An Post Rás coming to Kilrush.

Club PRO Paul Edson told The Clare People this week that the Rás’ return to Kilrush after an interval of 13 years has been the spark to ensure the restoration of the Crotty Cup to Clare’s sporting calendar.

“The Rás coming back to Kilrush was our chance,” said Edson.

“It was appropriate, given that a whole weekend of activities are being organised around the Rás that it would be a perfect opportunity to get the Crotty Cup going again, getting that great tradition going again.

“It ran consistently from 1934 to 2007, but hasn’t been in the last three years.

“There were problems and it got a bit messy with the Munster Cycling Federation, who put on an event in competition with the Crotty Cup down in Tipperary. It took away cyclists and effectively ended the Crotty Cup,” he added.

Now, the race’s return to the cycling circuit represents another turn in its chequered history, attracting Olympians like Bertie Donnelly who represented Ireland in the Amsterdam games of 1928 through to David O’Loughlin who competed in the Beijing games in 2008.

“The Crotty Cup has been lost and found,” the programme notes for the 60th staging of the race in 1994 famously remarked. “It has travelled to England and America and has had to be tracked down to enable its return to Kilrush.

“The last time it vanished, club member Kevin O’Gorman discovered its location and secured its return,” the notes added.

“It was started by Michael Crotty, Elizabeth Crotty’s husband, who was a renowned cyclist and athlete in this day. He started the West Clare Cycling Club in the early 1930s and presented the Crotty Cup in 1934, a race that went from Kilrush to Kilkee and back.

“The club has been running ever since. It had a bit of a dip in the early ‘60s, but it kept going.

Now, its latest return sees a change of format that West Clare Cycling Club members feel will secure its future. “Because of the problems we had the last time,” said Paul Edson, “we decided to on a new format for the race, running it as a time-trial because of the fact that there’s such a great interest in time-trialling now.

“We think it will open up the race. It’s an excellent route, a 20k route that’s challenging, from the Kilrush out the Kildysart Road.

“We’re hoping for a good entry. From west Clare alone we should get 30 to 40 entries, while we are leaving the entry open to people who want to register on the day,” he added.

Tulla 1-14 – O’Callaghan’s Mills 1-7 at Cusack Park, Ennis

THE FINALE of the first round action and in many ways, this game typified the disappointing nature of the championship so far as even this keenly contested derby failed to ignite.

That’s probably harsh on Tulla who were up for the game and certainly played their part in the contest but after two successive titanic championship struggles against their close rivals, they must have been scratching their head in wonder of how routine this victory actually turned out to be.

To put it into context, this was more the Mill’s of last year’s quarter-final replay against the ‘Bridge rather than the freeflowing, combatant version of the drawn game. Granted, they were without rising star Adrian Donovan and Diarmuid Hehir but that still should not have affected their belly for battle or in this case lack of.

Still, Tulla could only beat what was put in front of them and with the wind at their backs, they set about the task in a competant fashion with Andrew Quinn placed balls supplementing points from Aidan Lynch (2) and Cathal Dinan on their way to a 0-7 to 0-3 advantage by the 32nd minute.

To be only four points down at the break might have steeled the Mills for a second half recovery but a further hammerblow in the fifth minute of injury time when Conor O’Halloran’s speculative effort for a point dropped short and spilled from the hand of goalkeeper John Cooney over the line, effectively gave them a mountain to climb.

To their credit, the Mills were willing to don the harness and hoist the rope on the peak in an effort to tackle the mountain but after three successive points and as many wides to even pull back Tulla’s goal by the turn of the final quarter, all it took was for Tulla to cut the safety cord and hit back with points from Conor O’Halloran and the tireless Aidan Lynch.

A Mills goal five minutes from time did provide a more entertaining finish after Adrian Flaherty won pos- session on the 40, picked out James McMahon whose shot was saved and Alan Duggan added to Eoin Pewter’s rebound to get the Mills to within four at 1-11 to 1-07.

However, it was a mere consolation not a revolution as Tulla upped the ante and saw out the win courtesy of the O’Halloran brothers, Danny and Conor to finally get one over on their near neighbours. To make matters worse, the Mills will have three months to pick through the bones of this disappointing display while their neighbours hope to carry their momentum into round two and a meeting with the Magpies.