Category: Sport

Cork 2-10 – Clare 0-11 at Pairc Ui Rinn, Cork

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SOME of Clare’s top boxing talent are preparing for a crucial week of competitive action.

Hopes abound for all three Ennis boxers who have won their Provincial titles and now go forward to contest the National Juvenile Championships at the National Stadium in Dublin, getting under way on Easter Monday and continuing through Easter Week. Conor Doyle boxes in the 46 Kilo class in only his first year in Championship Boxing while Brian McDonagh contests the 46 Kilo Boy 2 class and is in with a great chance of victory. 70 Kilo Boy 3 contender Keelan Sexton is a defending champion and fancies his chances of making it three-in-a-row for his new club. Sexton was an emphatic winner of the recent Munster Chps , winning both his semi-final and final bouts by knockout . He is a prodigious exponent of the lethal left-hook and must be fancied to achieve his goal.

Tara Dowling is the lone girl representative from Ennis and she competes in the 60 Kilo class , while Paddy Donovan who boxes out of the OLOL Club in Limerick , but does most of his training and sparring in the Ennis club will represent his club in the 36 Kilo division. A prodigious handball player and all-rounder , he is a pupil of the CBS school in Ennis.

Meanwhile, Ennis Lightweight Lee Sherlock made tremendous strides in the Senior Cadets (15-17 year olds) Championships in the National Stadium in Dublin during the past week. The championships are run each year at the end of the season to select boxers for the Elite International squad for the Home Internationals in the Autumn and are a prized commodity for all Champions.

Sherlock beat Bernard McDonagh from the St Anns Club in Westport in Friday’s preliminaries on a 4-3 scoreline before disposing of Martin Collins from Kilkenny in the quarter-final on Saturday and he saw off the challenge of Donegal’s Andrew Gallagher (Finn Valley BC) in Sunday’s semi-final , guaranteeing himself silver and a possible gold when he faces up to Ulster Champ Caoimhin Hynes in the final on Wednesday April 27.

THE CLARE Minor Footballers bounced back from their defeat to Cork on Wednesday evening with an impressive display against Waterford on Saturday that earned them a semi-final playoff against neighbours Limerick.

Miltown’s Conor and Eoin Cleary got Clare off the mark in the opening stages but it was three goals inside ten minutes of play that set the benchmark for this Clare performance.

The first of three came from Niall Hickey in the 7th minute who also added two points soon after. Some good play from Clare then saw Conor Cleary rattle the Deise net with 14 minutes of play gone.

The third goal came just after the quarter hour mark, Hickey again managed to put it in from close range bringing his tally to 2-2.

Eoin Cleary added two more points along with another coming from Martin O’Leary which meant Clare went in at the break leading, 3-7 to 0-6.

Clare never took the game for granted in the second half as they continued to dominate.

Points from substitute Jack Scanlon and midfielder Alan O’Neill furthered Clare’s lead.

A goal from Waterford’s Dale Sheridan gave his side a glimmer of hope but it was to be Clare’s day, Martin O’Leary got his sides fourth goal from the penalty spot and Conor Cleary finished off proceedings with a point which was the final score of the game.

This Clare minor side will now look ahead to a Semi-final playoff tie with Limerick and will be hoping to bring their current form into the game after they put in a great performance against Cork and a dominating display in overcoming Waterford. A Munster final place is at stake.

Clare
Darren Sexton (Kilmurry-Ibrickane), Conor Gavin Capt. (Clondegad), James Malone (Corofin), OisinVaughan (Ennistymon), Jarlath Colleran (Doora/Barefield), Darragh McDonagh (Miltown), Stan Lineen (Kilmihil),Alan O’Neill (0-1) (Doora/Barefield), Conor Cleary (1-3) (Miltown), Eoin Cleary (0-5, 3f) (Miltown), Ciaran Devitt (Ennistymon),Adrian Murrihy (Kilmurry-Ibrickane), Martin O’Leary (1-1) (Kilmihil), Niall Hickey (2-2) (Kilmurry-Ibrickane),WilliamFlynn (WolfeTones).

Subs
Jack Scanlon (0-1) For Murrihy, Conor McNeils for Colleran, Luke Brannock for Flynn, Cathal McConigley (0-1) for Cleary, Paudie Nugent for Vaughan.

Waterford
C Mulcahy; J Heffernan,W O Ceallaigh, PJ Curran; L OCuirrin, DHallinan, S Hyslop; E O’Toole (0-1), GNugent (0-3); MCurry, E Power,T Burke(0-5, 4f); MKiely, R Donnelly, E Kiely.

Subs
P Connors for O’Toole, DSheridan (10) for E Kiely, GJones for MKiely,A O’Donoghue for Donnelly, DPower for Hyslop.

Referee
J Bermingham(Cork)

CULLAUN Sailing club held its annual spring regatta on Sunday 17th of April. Sunshine and light south easterly winds were the order of the day. The wind was a light force 2 which tested the sailor’s light wind skills and suited the enterprise fleet. Chris Forristal and Emily Gallagher got a clear start in the first race, despite being challenged by Tom Mc Hugh and Colm Ward, they ultimately finished clear ahead.

The wind dropped and became variable in the second race. In this race it was Tom Mc Hugh and Colm Ward who got a clear start. This led to nip and tuck racing between Tom Mc Hugh and Chris Forristal in the lead Enterprises. However despite rounding the last leeward mark together Chris Forristal pulled away to finish first, followed by Tom Mc Hugh and then Eoin Barron taking 3rd place in his Wayfarer.

The wind increased slightly and veered southerly for the third race. The increased wind conditions allowed the Wayfarer sailors to be more competitive, however it was still Chris Forristal in the Enterprise who won the third race. Eoin Barron finished second followed by Tom Mc Hugh.

The overall result was Chris Forristal and Emily Gallagher first, Tom Mc Hugh and Colm Ward second and Margaret Hynes and Emmet O Mahony in third place.

May promises to be a busy month for Cullaun Sailing Club. The May evening series will have racing every Thursday evening starting at 7.15pm. Cullaun sailing club open day featuring the fleet launch and the blessing of the boats is scheduled for 8th May. The adult introduction to sailing weekend is the 28th and 29th of May, See www.cullaunsailingclub.com for further details and applications.

Clare 4-28 – Carlow 0-08 at Cusack Park, Ennis

DOING the basic math this was about beating Carlow to reach the final frontier of a National League final – putting applied mathematics into the equation, what this league is really about is making sure that Clare don’t have to take themselves up to Carlow in the 2012 campaign.

The chance to make sure they don’t have to make the journey comes against Limerick on Sunday week after this facile victory over a game, but (as we always knew would be the case) limited Carlow side.

Sure, they had run Clare to a solitary point in Dr Cullen Park last year, but given the recent disappointment endured by Ger O’Loughlin’s charges in O’Moore Park, anything other than a backlash victory of sizeable proportions would have been a disappointment – downright failure even.

Cue this performance then, with a rampant Clare having 32 points to spare in the end as a chastened Carlow trudged off the field wondering what had hit them on their first visit to Cusack Park in 21 years.

Back then, when Carlow were beaten by 25 points, they had to draft in first generation Clareman Leo McGough from the press benches as an emergency sub – this time they had enough numbers, but were much worse off.

It was that kind of day – from the Clare point of view it had a summer feel to it as they reached a second success final, from Carlow’s it was a harsh lesson in the fact of life that they’re still just a Christy Ring Cup side.

Clare may have been sluggish in the opening exchanges as Carlow’s early enthusiasm had them on level terms at 0-2 apiece after ten minutes. Alas for Carlow, the gulf in standard gradually got wider as Clare hit 1-7 without reply in a 15 minute spell that killed the contest and booked a league final berth with some 45 minutes to spare.

It was very easy once Clare broke free with good points from play by Jonathon Clancy, Diarmuid McMahon and John Conlon to lead by 0-5 to 0-2 by the 13th minute.

Carlow’s resolve bending – then it was broken ten minutes later when Clare followed up three more points via Conor McGrath, John Conlon and Colin Ryan with a 23rd minute goal. Conor McGrath was the provider when he raced in along the endline, crossed to Diarmuid McMahon who batted to the net from six yards.

After that, it was just a matter of what the winning margin would be – the gap was stretched to 14 by halftime as Clare outscored a hapless Carlow side by 0-8 to 0-2 in the closing ten minutes of the half.

It was exhibition stuff as Conor McGrath (2), Nicky O’Connell and Diarmuid McMahon hit points from play, while O’Connell’s eye was in from long range frees to pile on the misery and pile up a 1-15 to 0-4 interval lead.

Any notion that Clare might ease up in the second half was dispelled eight minutes in when Colin Ryan elected to drill a 21-yard free to the net past a forest of Carlow hurleys on the line, rather than take his point.

Put simply, Clare weren’t just happy to win pulling up – they were ruthless and went about obliterating the Barrowsiders in that second half as they racked up 3-13 as against Carlow’s meagre 0-4.

It was target practice, whether for points or goals as Clare moved 3-18 to 0-4 clear by the 52nd minute before Ruairi Dunbar opened Carlow’s account for the half – Clare’s third goal came 17 minutes in when Jonathon Clanchy drilled home from 12 yards.

Diarmuid McMahon brought his tally for the day to 2-4 from play with a goal in the 64th minute, while subs Sean Collins and Conor Tierney as well as the hugely impressive John Conlon and Nicky O’Connell also chipped in with points.

The end couldn’t come quick enough for Carlow – the next game can’t come quick enough for Clare. It’s always the case when you score big and win big.

Clare
Donal Tuohy (7), Pat Vaughan (7), Conor Cooney (8), Domhnall O’Donovan (7), Patrick O’Connor (7), Cian Dillon (7), Patrick Donnellan (7), Nicky O’Connell (8) (0-7, 3f, one 65), Liam Markham(7), John Conlon (8) (0-3), Fergal Lynch (6), Jonathon Clancy (8) (1-3), Conor McGrath (7) (0-3), Diarmuid McMahon (8) (2-4), Colin Ryan (7) (1-4, 1-1f). Subs Gerry Quinn (6) for O’Connor [52 Mins], Cathal McInerney (6) for McGrath [54 Mins], Sean Collins (7) (0-2) for Lynch [57 Mins], Brendan Bugler (6) for Markham[60 Mins], Conor Tierney (7 )(0-1) for Ryan [65 Mins].

Carlow
Nicky Roberts,Alan Corcoran, Shane Kavanagh, Brian Doyle, Des Shaw, Dwayne Kavanagh, Richard Coady, Jack Kavanagh, John Rogers,Alan McDonald, Eddie Byrne, James Doyle, Craig Doyle, Eoin Nolan, Ruairi Dunbar. Subs Paudei Kehoe for Doyle, Hugh O’Bryne for Dwyane Kavanagh, James O’Hara for Coady, Killian McCabe for McDonald, Eddie Kane for Corcoran.

Man of the Match
Diarmuid McMahon (Clare)

Referee
Michael Haverty (Galway)

ROUNDS three and four of the Connacht Competition Engines National Hillclimb and Sprint Championship took place in Ballyvaughan at the weekend. The co-promoted event by Clare and Galway motor clubs proved an outstanding success.

Fantastic sunny weather on both days and a large entry of 55 competitors for Saturday and 71 for Sunday made for a smooth running of the event.

Local man Sylvie Mullins stormed to victory in his Judd V8 powered Gould on the one-mile Corkscrew Hill with a time of 48.39 seconds which he achieved on his third run. Mullins smashing Simon McKinley’s hill record of 56.00 seconds which he set in 2010. Defending Champion Simon McKinley finished in second place while former Champion Frank Byrnes finished third.

The action moved to Ballyalban Hill on Sunday, where Simon McKinley put in a spectacular drive to finish the 2.2-mile course in only 93.56 seconds. again smashing his own hill record of 95.02 seconds, which he set in 2010. Frank Byrnes finished second with a time of 101.28 while Brendan Keane finished in third on 109.71 seconds.

Local ace Sylvie Mullins failed to make the start on Sunday as he sheared two gears on his Judd V8 powered Gould. Clare Motor Club were well represented in the results with John O’Sullivan finishing second in Class 8 in his Citroen C2 and Tony Tuttle finishing third in Class 9 in his Ford Escort on Saturday.

On Sunday’s Ballyallaban Hill, John O’Sullivan was the winner in Class 8 in his Citroen C2. Tom Ryan finished third in Class 8 in his Opel Corsa while Al Meaney finished second in Class 2 in his Suzuki Swift.

AFTER the defeat to Laois the last day out when they were done by a late goal from Willie Hyland, Clare manager Ger O’Loughlin wasn’t too downcast when addressing the media about where it all went wrong. No point letting off steam at his players in public must have been the ‘Sparrow’s’ mantra to himself things like that are best left in doors and all that. Anyway, there was always the Carlow game – another game to put it up to his players to produce the win needed to reach a second successive league final. Put it this way, losing to Laois made the outcome of this game very predictable, a focused Clare to atone for the Laois aberration. And, so it happened, with O’Loughlin full of praise for this charges as he looked ahead to a final joust with old enemy Limerick on Sunday week.

“They gave us a very hard game below in Dr Cullen Park, but with the big wide open spaces of Cusack Park, it makes a big difference when you’re playing the likes of Carlow,” he says to start.

“I thought overall we were way better than them on the day and it’s a case of bringing that and a lot more to the final against Limerick

“The boys were well-focused. We saw some great displays by some lads. It’s a work in progress – I keep saying that to people.

“As you can see there we have another three or four new lads – Pat O’Connor, Conor McGrath, Cathal McInerney. We have no other choice – they are the future and we have to keep progressing,” added O’Loughlin before admitting to the scale of the task his side faces against Limerick in the decider.

“It’s a rebuilding job and I just feel that it’s great to get back into the final now and hopefully we can do ourselves justice against Limerick. We didn’t do that in the first game in the league.

“We had an awful lot of hurling done before that game. We had three or four challenge matches and played Waterford Crystal and got a lot out of it. We were beaten by a stronger team on the day. They were better organised than us. I just hoping that the couple of weeks and the couple of matches might have brought us on.

“We have such youth on our team that you have to have them really focused on the day to get the best out of them. Sometimes you can’t put your finger on some of the displays, because we’re working hard in training and we’ve a great bunch of lads, but I don’t know whether it’s concentration of whether it’s something else.

“We just need to try and make sure that it’s right for the Limerick game,” O’Loughlin added.

DIARMAID Nash continued in his history-making vein of form on Saturday when he was crowned All-Ireland Intermediate Singles champion. The Tuamgraney clubman played out a classic final against Ruairi Kelly (Tyrone) in Roscommon, eventually coming through on a 21-16, 21-20 score.

In the first game, Nash built up an early 10-0 lead but it didn’t take long for the Red Hand to come into the game and, using an effective lob serve and pinpoint ceiling shots, clawed his way back into contention.

Nash’s early lead was too big a gap though and the Clareman always had a healthy lead, finishing strongly to win 21-16.

At the start of the second, Nash again raced ahead and went 8-1 up before Kelly again came back strongly. Using the tricky lob serve all the time, the Ulster champion was killing brilliantly in both corners and came back to 7-11 before Nash went on a good run of his own to lead 169.

Both players found it hard to make scores, such was the quality of handball played, and there were a number of fantastic rallies. Nash pushed on again, up 19-14. Kelly coming back again, 19-17, levels it at 20-20.

The All-Ireland title was hanging in the balance, but Nash showed no nerves and nailed the final serve of the day to seal it and crown a glori- ous year for the Clareman.

Munster Senior Open Singles Champion; All-Ireland Colleges Open Singles Champion; Munster and All-Ireland Intermediate Doubles Champion; and now Munster and All-Ireland Intermediate Singles Champion. Nash has had a fantastic season and Clare’s highest achieving handballer in a generation.

There was less success for the Banner County in the two other All-Ireland finals played on Saturday. In Junior Singles, Cathal Hannon was defeated by Wexford’s Paul Lambert. In another outstanding match, the Tulla man took it to the full three games but was defeated 12-21, 2119, 15-21 in Nenagh. John Cawley and Teddy O’Hanlon travelled to O’Loughlins, Kilkenny to play Kildare (Paul Ruane and Cyril Carr) in the Golden Masters B Doubles Final. Despite a great Clare showing in the first game, the Lilywhites moved up a gear in the second and third to win 18-21, 21-11, 21-12.

Ballina’s Fergal Collins secured the under 21 Singles title for Tipperary when he comfortably defeated Patrick Funchion (Kilkenny) 21-9, 21-13 in Carlow. Collins won under21 All-Irelands in both the big and small alley last year and will be favourite to do so again this year.

TUAMGRANEY Handball Club, one of the most famous and historic in the country, celebrates 100 years in existence this year. Since the building of the 60×30 alley in 1911 and the early thriving and flourishing of the club, through the glorious ‘70s with multiple All-Ireland and World Championship titles (and the addition of the 40×20 court) and on to the present day heroics of more provincial, national and world glory, the club has always been synonymous with high achievement and community involvement.

To mark the occasion of the centenary, the club will hold a gala handball weekend in July. The weekend will feature tournaments in both alleys, the unveiling of a commemorative monument, prize draws and a social event.

The roof of the 60×30 alley is also being renovated and a ‘club history’ will be published toward the end of the year.

Tuamgraney Handball Club has put together a special ‘Centenary Committee’ who have been working hard over recent weeks and months to make the occasion a success.

To launch the centenary year and to mark the fantastic Munster and AllIreland successes of Tuamgraney handballers in 2011, a social night will be held this Saturday (April 23) in Teach ui Bhriain, Tuamgraney. Music is by Hush and admission is free. There will be presentations by the club on the night as well as a raffle draw. All are welcome to come and celebrate.

To fund the renovation work on the 60×30, which will run to a cost of almost € 25,000, the club will run a number of fundraising events throughout the year. Also, a number of people have agreed to take part in a loan-share agreement whereby they will each give a loan of € 500 to Tuamgraney Handball Club which will be paid back in full, while all past and current club members have been invited to contribute with a donation of € 100. If you feel you can help in this regard, please don’t hesitate to contact any club officer or Centenary Committee member.

Bridge United B 3 – Rineanna Rovers B 1 at Sixmilebridge

DESPITE a disappointing league campaign this year’s Bridge United B have booked their place the Clare Cup semi-final for the second year in succession following a battling display against Rineanna Rovers B in Sixmilebridge on Sunday.

Having overcome the Bridges’ A team in the previous round, the Shannon club were full of confidence on the arrival in Sixmilebridge and started the match the brighter with some good early pressure.

The pressure paid off after half an hour with a moment that Bridge keeper Barry Deasy will want to forget. His attempted clearance from a firmly struck back-pass bobbled over the hapless keeper’s foot and into his own net.

This setback seemed to spur on the home side who came out of themselves and thought they had equalised before half time when a Kevin Meehan corner was bundled to the net – only to be ruled out for an infringement on the Rineanna keeper.

The equaliser finally came in the 65th minutes when super sub Alan Mulready was taken down in the box allowing Gavin Downes to drill his penalty to the net.

The home side were well on top at this stage and could have won the match within the 90 minutes. One final quilt edges chance fell to Dominic Murphy in injury but his effort went wide meaning extra time. The writing was on the wall in the first minute of extra time when a Gavin Downes’ cross was headed home by Brendan Murray. Rineanna had their chances howev- er and Barry Deasy made amends for his earlier error with a superb double save from Tiago and Alan Barrett in the opening exchanges of the second period. The tie was put to bed five minutes from the end when Robert Conlon made great progress down the left before crossing for Gavin Downes to head home to complete his brace. Revenge for the Bridge and bragging rights secured for the B-team.

Bridge Utd B
Barry Deasy, Podge Flannery,Albert Finnan, Dominic Murphy, Kevin Meehan, Paul Corbett, Damian Murray, Robert Conlon, Brendan Murphy, Jamie Gorman, Gavin Downes.

Subs
Alan Mulready for B Murphy, Darragh Fitzgerald for Gorman, Geoff Flynn for Corbett,Alan McAuley for Flannery.

Rineanna Rovers B
Eugene O’Mahony, Darra McCarmac, Ger Cahill, Dabvid Barrett, Conor Cusack, Enda Barrett, Ciaran O’Cpnnor, Martin Frawley, Ronan McCarmack,Alan Barrett, Shane Meehan.

Subs
Tiago for Shane Meehan, Declan O’Mahony for O’Connor.

Man of the Match
Gavin Downes (Bridge United B)

Referee
Declan Hehir