Category: Sport

TWO young Clare surfers will face off against some of the world’s best at the World Junior Surfing Championships in Peru this week.

Cian Cagney (under 18s) and Donough Cronin (under 16s) are part of the 11 strong Irish surfing squad who are due to depart today from Dublin for the International Surfing Association (ISA) championships, which run from May 21-29.

Once in Peru the surfers will have a number of days training prior to the contest to acclimatise to the surf and weather conditions. The championships will start on Saturday May 21 with the opening ceremony and parade of nations.

Heats will commence on Sunday May 22 running all week with the grand finals on Sunday May 29. Participation in the world championships represents the culmination of a boyhood dream for Cian Cagney, who started surfing aged nine.

Cian, who lives in Lahinch, qualified for the event after an impressive showing at the European surfing championships. Having started surfing on a competitive basis three years ago, Cian has applied himself wholeheartedly to the sport.

A typical day involves spending up to six hours in the water.

“If the surf is good, I’ll go before school and after school, depending on the waves. I suppose in the winter I’d be doing about two to three hours because it’s so cold. But in the summer it would nearly be all day,” he explained.

A student at Ennistymon Vocational School, Cian said he is looking forward to competing against some of the world’s most accomplished surfers. He added, “We know that a few of these guys are pro, they have a lot of experience so the standard is going to be high”.

Cian said that he hopes to qualify from a heat at the world championships and improve his performance at the next European championships.

Proud Dad Eamon, said his son has worked hard to make the Irish team.

“It’s been his goal since he was 10 to be a professional surfer. Its rare to have a young fella with that focus,” he added.

Eamon said that the level of dedication exhibited by surfers like Cian and Donough is helping smash misconceptions about surfing.

He explained, “There is a perception that surfing is about these hairy young fellas hanging around, drinking cider. That is most definitely not the case. It couldn’t be further from the truth”.

Asked what he is expecting from his week in Peru, Cian said, “Lots of sun, lots of waves and lots of good surf”. And who knows, maybe a few medals.

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.

ENNIS RFC’s under 12 panel recently travelled to Frankfurt to play in SC 1880 Frankfurt RFC’s annual underage rugby tournament. With forty players travelling it allowed Ennis to play three teams in the competition against their German and French counterparts. It is the second year Ennis has taken part in this tournament that caters from under 8’s up to under 14’s, with over 700 players taking part in the tournament over the two days of competition. The touring party enjoyed great hospitality from SC 1880 Frankfurt and enjoyed their stay.

It is with great credit to the panel of players that the tour was self financed with multiple fundraising events held over the last six months by the players, their parents and friends with help also coming from the ‘Temple Gate Hotel’ and sponsorship from ‘McDonalds (Ennis)’ after a ‘Drive Thru challenge’.

Last year Ennis got to the under 12 final only to be beaten by their hosts and were hoping to go one better this year. With Ennis Green, white and gold teams playing in different groups it was the Gold team that made the best headway in the first day by wining their 2 matches in their reduced group with the Green team winning 2 and loosing one while the Green team were unfortunate to be playing in the most difficult group and didn’t register a win.

Day two saw all three teams playing two games and it was the Ennis Gold team that had to play the favourites Lille RFC in the tournament semi final and what can only be called an act of defiance, they met the larger French team head on and with aggressive tackling and great ball handling skills beat the what were now the favourites by 4 trys to nil with the help of some great vocal support from their teammates on the line.

This rewarded them with a final against the ‘Rheindahlen Rhinos’ Black team that was mostly made up from players of British army families stationed in Germany and coached by an Irish man from Abbyfeale, Co. Limerick. It was a fifteen minute game with no halves so there was no time for poor starts. Ennis still a little stiff from their earlier battle started the slower and looked to be in second gear when Luke Carmody scored the first try after five minutes.

The Rhinos stepped it up a gear and harried and scored within one minute of the restart. When the Rhinos’ outstanding centre tracked down David Mescall on his own line after a long kick down field, Ennis were against the ropes from the resulting penalty for holding on the ground and the Rhinos scored from the ensuing phases of play.

With 3 minutes on the clock this was to be the winning score and it just didn’t afford Ennis enough time to reply with a levelling score. At the final whistle the agony on the player’s faces was evident but they regrouped to congratulated a very surprised Rhino team that has only been in existence for 2 seasons. After such a hotly contested semi final, where all players stepped up their game, it was considered that the final was just a bridge too far for an Ennis team that had great performances from the likes of Darragh ÓSé, Grainne McNeilis, Ronan Corey, Niall O’Brien, David Mescall and Luke Carmody and with some great individual trys scored throughout the tournament by Cathal Talty, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Stephen Hogan, things are looking bright for Ennis RFC underage programme.

As with the ethos of rugby, some Ennis players even played with German Teams in the closing day with Cian Chapman, Stephen Hogan, Tim Hannon and David Kirwin playing for ‘Heusenstamn RFC’ with Jack Connolly, Harry Meechan, Aidan Cleland, Jason Warren and Nathan Coote playing for the ‘Rheindahlen Rhinos’ Red team.

Although experiencing disappointment after the final whistle it was acknowledged that all players, coaches and parents that travelled have great memories to take with them into the future.

Ennis Green:
Garreth Kelly,Aidan Cleland, Connor Sheedy, Hugh Black, Mark Cabey, Jack O’Donnell, Jack Connolly, Connor Cahill, Eoghan Grace, David Kirwin, Cian Chapman, Stephen Hogan, Jack Colleran

Ennis White:
Breifne O’Reilly, Fionn Nolan, David Kelly, John Hartigan, CallumFarrell, Cian Keogh, Harry Meechan, Leon Byrne, Mark Fitzgearald, Stephen Maher, Stephen Magliocco,Tim Hannon, Nathan Coote, Connor Tierney

Ennis Gold:
Cathal Talty, David Mescall, Eoin Leen, Eoin O’Ceallaigh, Grainne McNeilis, Jack DColleran, JasonWarren, Luke Carmody, Niall O’Brien, Ronan Cahill, Ronan Corey, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Dara ÓSé

Clare 1-10 – Sligo 1-08 at Hennessy Memorial Park, Miltown

IT was a challenge game, but the fists that were thrown just before the break gave this game to mark the opening of the new stand at Hennessy Memorial Park a championship feel to it.

Therefore, it was a good workout for Micheál McDermott’s side as they edged out last year’s Connacht finalists by two points thanks in the main to a strong first half display when they were playing with the strong breeze blowing down towards the town end goal.

Clare built up a 1-7 to 0-3 interval lead, with Graham Kelly’s goal in the 16th minute being the catalyst for a strong first half performance. Wingback Martin McMahon opened the scoring in the first minute with a point from play, while Adrian Marren and David Tubridy swapped points by the 13th minute.

Kelly’s goal, which he palmed to the net after being put through by Gary Brennan, was followed by points by Davide Tubridy and Joe Dowling as Clare forged well clear by the break.

Sligo’s only resistence was points from Adrian Marren and David Maye as Clare rattled off points from David Tubridy (2) and Martin McMahon to move seven points clear by the break.

Graham Kelly didn’t re-appear for the second half after the dust-up before half-time, but points by Rory Donnelly in the 36th and 55th minutes, that sandwiched to Adrian Marren efforts for Sligo ensured Clare’s seven-point lead was intact entering the last 15 minutes

A blast of scoring from Adrian Marren between the 57th and 62nd minutes that yielded 1-2 did make it interesting and reduced the marging to two points, while it was down to the minimum when Tony Taylor pointed in the 65th minute.

However, Clare held firm and substitute Darragh Blake 67th minute point sealed victory and a good workout for Clare.

Clare
Joe Hayes, Kevin Hartnett, Laurence Healy, MarkTubridy, John Hayes, Gordon Kelly, Martin McMahon, Gary Brennan, Niall Browne, Darren O’Neill, DavidTubridy, GrahamKelly,Alan Clohessy, Joe Dowling, Rory Donnelly. Subs Ger Quinlan for O’Neill, Michael Foran for GrahamKelly, Shane Brennan for Dowling, Darragh Blake (0-1) for Clohessy.

Sligo
Philip Greene, Charles Harrison, Ross Donovan, Brian Kennedy, Paul McGovern, Brian Curran, Keelan Cawley, Brendan Egan, Stephen Gilmartin, TonyTaylor, Eamon O’Hara, Frank Quinn, Mark Breheny, David Maye,Adrian Marren.