Category: Sport

Limerick 2-11 – Clare 0-15 (AET) at The Gaelic Grounds, Limerick

AS HISTORY repeated itself from last year’s tie, Clare once again failed to hold onto a significant lead against a poor Limerick side as they went crashing out of the Munster U21 championship in extra time.

Clare started the game on Wednesday evening playing with a strong breeze in the first half but they were unable to capitalise on it and it was Limerick who dominated early on. They found themselves 1-2 to 0-3 down after 14 minutes and it was only here they began to play and managed to take control until half time. Five points from the lively full-forward line of McMahon, McInerney and Malone saw Clare go in a point up at the break, 0-7 to 1-3.

Given the strength of the wind many began to question if such a small lead would suffice. They were soon answered as the Banner men hit five points without reply in the first 11 minutes of the second half, three by Malone from placed balls. The pressure was now on Limerick to perform and with two minutes of normal time remaining and Clare having a five point advantage the game looked all but won.

Three minutes of injury time were signaled and here is where it all went wrong for Clare. They were reduced to 14 men as Podge Collins received a second yellow card and Limerick free taker Eoghan O’Connor had cut the deficit to just a goal, however, Clare were still in pole position. Then a lapse in concentration at a vital stage saw James Kelly latch onto a quick free and blast the ball into the back of the net to force the game into extra time.

Clare played with the gale again for the first period and points again from McInerney and Malone along with substitute Daniel Gallery who blasted it over when put straight through on goal, once again gave Clare a one point advantage at the half, 0-15 to 2-8. Unfortunately the second period was to be all Limerick as Clare failed to register a score and three points from Eoghan O’Connor (2) and goal scorer Kelly (1) meant the comeback was complete and Clare were out.

So for the second successive year Clare are unable to get past their opening game against Limerick and still remain the only county in Mun- ster yet to win the U21 Provincial title. Limerick now go on to face Kerry in the semi-final in two weeks time.

Clare 3-13 – Wexford 1-10 at Enniscorthy, Wexford

CLARE continued their winning ways in the National League when they maintained their unbeaten run and finished with nine points to spare against Wexford on Sunday afternoon.

Clare led from the start through Niamh O’Dea and 1-1 coming from Eimear Considine inside the opening minutes. Captain Niamh Keane then added another point as they went 13 to no score up after eight minutes and were in total control.

Sensing that the Clare full forward line of the Considine sisters and O’Dea were causing problems Wex ford deployed a sweeper in front of the full back line. Ailish Considine then added a fine point and Wexford’s first attack ended up dropping short.

It took Wexford fourteen minutes to open their account but Clare broke forward once more and Niamh Keane rattled the Wexford net. Wexford then hit three points without reply from Katie Redmond and Fiona Rochford. At half time the scoreboard read Clare 2-4 Wexford 1-4.

Credit to Wexford they did not give up and produced their best spell early in the second half. Full forward Lisa Goff pointed from play and Katie Redmond converted a free. Then came Wexford’s goal and now there was just two points between the sides, Clare 2-6 to Wexford’s 1-7 with over a quarter of an hour to play.

This was now a test for Clare but they responded well and managed to open a six point gap. With six minutes remaining Louise Henchy put the icing on the cake with Clare’s third goal. Points from Wexford were cancelled out by scores from Marie Considine and Niamh Keane as Clare finished strong.

The result now guarantees Clare a semi final spot with two home games left to play against Longford and Fermanagh.

However, it will be the semi final game that will be the crucial one and it will be the two teams that contest the final that will be promoted to Division 2.

Clare
Grace Lynch (Coomeen), Clare Hester

(Fergus Rovers), Eimear O’Connor (Coolmeen), Laurie Ryan (Banner Ladies), Niamh Greene (Coolmeen), Roisin McMahon (Newmarket on Fergus), LouiseWoods (Banner Ladies), Marie Considine (Liscannor) (0-2), Louise Henchy (Banner Ladies) (1-0), Colette Corry (Shannon Gaels), Niamh Keane (Banner Ladies) (1-3), Naoimi Carroll (Banner Ladies),Ailish Considine (Kilmihil) (0-2), Niamh O’Dea (Banner Ladies) (04), Eimear Considine (Kilmihil) (1-2).

Subs
Sarah Bohannon for Corry, Lorraine Kelly for Greene, Katie Geoghegan for Carroll, Niamh Lardner for Considine.

Wexford
Mary Rose Kelly, Maeve Quill, Nikki Scallon, LeonaTector, Rosie Lawlor, Michelle Doyle, Nicola Cullen, Deirdre Fox, Fiona Rochford (0-1), Kellie Kearney,Tara Moloney (0-1), Niamh Crosbie (0-1), Liz Evered (1-0), Lisa Goff (0-2), Katie Redmond (0-5).

Subs
Sharon Kehoe for Kearney, Maebh Kehoe for Fox, Clara Donnelly for Moloney, Mairead Sheehan for Evered, Linda Casey for Lawlor,Aoife Waters for Doyle.

Clare 5-10 – London 0-4 at Cusack Park, Ennis

THE fact that there were only 16 paying customers to Clare GAA headquarters on this bitterly cold Saturday afternoon told its own story.

Told of the apathy around the fixture, something that certainly seeped through to the Clare players in a forgettable first half before they opened their shoulders on the turnover and pummelled a truly lamentable London side into submission long before Richard Moloney’s final whistle that couldn’t come quick enough.

There were 21 points in it in the end as Micheál McDermott’s charges hit 3-7 to London’s 0-1 in the second half – a romp, but above all an embarrassing day for the Exiles that would have been an awful lot worse had Clare not hit 17 wides over the 70 minutes.

Ten of those wides came in the first half, with David Tubridy being the worst culprit, but such was his influence on proceedings that he still hit 2-7 as Clare cruised to their second with from four games of the current campaign.

The game was always going to go Clare’s way, it was just a matter of what the margin was going to be and for much of the first half it looked as if London could limit the damage to respectable proportions thanks to the tactic of playing seven in defence. Although London leaked a goal as early as the seventh minute when Alan Clohessy beat London net- minder Brian McBrearty in the air and palmed David Tubridy’s long deliver to the net, they were still competitive for much of the half.

A couple of points from Eoin O’Neill frees left them only 1-2 to 0-2 behind after 25 minutes, but real daylight between the sides started to emerge two minutes later when a sweeping Clare move involving Rory Donnelly, Michael Foran and Alan Clohessy was fisted to the net by Gary Brennan.

This strike, which was followed by pointed frees from David Tubridy and another Eoin O’Neill effort for London left Clare 2-3 to 0-3 ahead at half-time, an advantage they swelled by a point a man when turning to play with the wind and into the scoreboard goal for the second half.

The wide count was mounted to by seven, but the scores mounted too as London’s challenge fell asunder when a re-jigged Clare that saw Gary Brennan re-located from full-forward to midfield started peppering the posts for fun.

The tone was set only 12 seconds in when the hard-working Niall Browne set up Alan Clohessy for a point, while the floodgates really started to open after David Tubridy latched on to a perceptive pass from Cathal O’Connor on the endline to drill a low shot to the net from a very tight angle.

From there it was target practice – for Clare and above all for David Tubridy as the Doonbegman marked his return from a two-match suspension hit a further 1-3 inside ten minutes as London’s defence was swamped. The points came from frees while Gary Brennan teed him up for his second goal in the 52nd minute.

Four minutes later it was Alan Clohessy’s turn to rattle the net as London went into complete meltdown – their only consolation for a nightmare half coming with virtually the last kick of the game when Eoin O’Neill hit his fourth point from a free.

The stats of a 21-point win for Clare; those 16 paying customers and the fact that London’s scoring contribution amount to just four frees made this game something of a waste of time.

A fixture to fulfill – nothing more.

LAST WEEKEND saw Clare host the Munster Juvenile Handball Championships and it was a case of glory all the way as the county scooped no less than nine provincial titles at the Tulla and O’Callaghan’s Mills complexes.

Final – RESULTS 2011
Saturday March 12th: OCallaghan’s Mills @12 Noon. G12S: Ella Donnealn [Clare] bt Diane ONeill [Cork] 15-0, 15-1 B12S:Tiernan Agnew[Clare] bt Darragh Moynihan [Cork] 15-3, 15-5 B15D: Jacob Loughnane/Ciaran Cooney [Clare] bt Timmy Dunne/Aidan Kerins [Cork] 15-3, 15-2 B16S: Colin Crehan [Clare] bt Ryan Harkin [Cork] 21-17, 21-2 Saturday March 12th:Tulla @12 Noon. G14D: Clodagh Nash/Doireann Murphy [Clare] bt Katie Hayes/Lauren Mc Gregor [Waterford] 15-9, 15-1 B13D: Jack Hayes/Shane Hunt [Clare] bt Risteard Duggan/ Evan Murphy [Limerick] 0-15, 15-11, 15-13 G16S:Alice Akers [Clare] bt Aoife Landers [Waterford] 21-20, 6-21, 11-10 B14S: Brian Fahy [Clare] bt Shane Flynn [Cork] 15-2, 15-8 B16D: Niall Bolton/Colin Corbett [Clare] bt Daniel Relihan/Michael Hedigan [Cork] 21-17, 21-8

IT was hard to find a pulse in Cusack Park on Saturday afternoon such was futility of this exercise from London’s point of view, but Clare couldn’t let lack of enthusiasm for this fixture come between them and the bread and butter of two league points.

So it was that Clare moved through the gears, very slowly and sluggishly during the first 35 minutes before really pressing on the accelerator in the second half that made this largely forgettable encounter a tale of two halves for Micheál McDermott’s charges.

“Our first half performance was very poor and we had a good chat with the lads at half-time about what had gone wrong,” admitted McDermott afterwards.

“London dropped an extra man back in defence and we just weren’t clever enough to cope with that. When we pumped long ball in they were mopping it up.

“In the second half if they stayed with that formation we were going to run at them from deep, but they went 15 on 15,” he added.

But that’s where it all went wrong for London – the damage limitation they’d employed in the first half as corner-forward Austin Concannon dropped back between the full-back and half-back lines had at least made them competitive, but 15 on 15 fast turned things into something of an embarrassment as a six-point halftime deficit mushroomed to 21 points by the end.

“Our second half performance was a lot better,” said McDermott, “and I was very pleased with the goals that we worked because they came from moves that we had been working on in training.

“Gary Brennan coming out to midfield in the second half really helped us. He got a good goal in the first half from full-forward but for the first 15 minutes of the second half with him at midfield we dominated the area and we drove on and got some great scores from it.

“It was important to get a win under our belts before moving on the last four games of the campaign. Starting with Roscommon next weekend we know what we have to do.

“Every game is a big game from now on. Every game is a must win game if we want promotion to Division Three for next year.

CLARE tourism is set to benefit on the double from a major golf competition to be staged in the county over a six-month period that will showcase what the county has to offer to golfers around the country.

The Clare Ultimate Golf Challenge is set to attract a big nationwide entry bringing in much sought after golf tourism, while proceeds of the event will also be used to finance a marketing campaign to be formulated for the county for the 2012 season.

In the only competition of its kind in Ireland golfers must play at least five of Clare’s ten golf courses between April and September, after which the top ranking teams will compete in a final to be held at the Greg Norman designed links course in Doonbeg on October 25.

Other participating courses include Lahinch, Dromoland, Ennis, Woodstock, Shannon, Spanish Point, Kilrush, Kilkee and East Clare.

Joe Russell, Chair of the Clare Tourism Forum and General Manager at Doonbeg Golf Club said, “The 2011 Clare Ultimate Golf Challenge offers golfers the unique opportunity to play all ten Clare golf courses, including two of the world’s top 100 ranked courses. This initiative will help secure the continuation of the successful and effective marketing and promotional activities carried out by the Clare Tourism Forum.”

Clare Tourism Forum marketing executive Maureen Cleary commented: “It was wonderful to have had so many golf clubs throughout Clare and surrounding counties represented in the inaugural event in 2010. The standard of golfing also was high and contributed to what has been a hugely successful first year for the Challenge. We hope that this year’s event will once again generate funds that will be injected into much needed marketing and promotional activities during 2012”.

“The Clare Tourism Forum is very grateful to the participating golf clubs, without whose support this event would not be possible,” she added.

The 2010 Clare Ultimate Golf Challenge winning team included team leader Des O’Brien (Kilrush GC), Sean McGuirk (Limerick GC), Bill Hanley (Charleville GC) and Brendan O’Keeffe (Ballykisteen GC), who won the final with a score of 88 points.

Clare Ultimate Golf Challenge entries may be made online at www. clare.ie/golf.

CLARE BOXERS made considerable progress in the Irish Youths and Ladies Championships in the National Stadium in Dublin last weekend with last year’s silver medallist Lee Sherlock showing particularly good form edging closer to his quest for gold in the 54 Kilo division.

The ladies have been particularly prominent with Kilfenora’s Caoilinn McCormack and Ennis representative Sally Carrig winning their semi-finals in spectacular fashion on Saturday and with reigning champions Antoinette Keane 63 Kg and Kayleigh McCormack 57 Kg already through to the semi-finals, the prospects of gold looks good.

Caoilinn McCormack stopped Ulster Champion Sharon Kelly in the third round of her semi-final, having led 8-2 after the second round, and Sally Carrig in her first year of Championship boxing also won inside the distance against another Ulster champ Kayleigh MacAuley from Derry. Sally nailed her oppo- nent with a big right hook at the end of the first round forcing a standing count and kept up the sustained pressure from the bell in the second for a great inside the distance victory.

Lee Sherlock has been showing good form this season, and he came through to the semi-finals on Friday with a good win over last year’s champion Paudge McDonagh from the St Francis Club in Limerick. The Ennis southpaw displaying all of his defensive skills limited his onrushing opponent to a single point over the three rounds while scoring nicely with his lightning right jab for victory. \ His semi-final opponent, Patrick Bradley from the Errigal club in Derry was easily the toughest of his opponents to date, and their battle for gold or silver was a cliff hanger with fortunes fluctuating, and the tenacious Sherlock holding out for victory. Bradley led by a single point coming out for the third and final round and he clung to the tenuous lead right up to the final seconds when nailed him with a perfect right hook to the chin to bring the score to parity and force a double countback on the computer for a score of 4-1 to the Ennis fighter. His Ennis clubmate Wayne Danagher was not so lucky however in his quarter final; having led all the way in his 70 Kg battle with Sean Collins from the Smithfield Club in Dublin’s inner city he was caught with a left hook with just ten seconds remaining and lost the initiative, losing out 11-10 in the end.

And so, with the ladies stealing the limelight, all five will battle for glory on Friday and Saturday next, and hopes are high for a brace of titles. Sherlock’s opponent in the 54 Kg final will be Dubliner Jamie Stokes from the Mulhuddart club, and both fighters are waxing lyrical about their prospects of victory in this prestigious final.

Ennis coaches and mentors Tommy Lyons and Sean Carrig were proactive in the judging and refereeing of these championships and will again be in action come next weekend. EnnisTournament 2nd March 2011.

Boy 1 36 Kg JimMcDonagh (Ennis) Bt Timmy Casey (OLOL) 42 Kg Conor Doyle Bt Alan O’Donnell 48 Kg Luke Carmody lost to Martin Mongan 65 Kg Caimin Doyle lost to Danny Harty Boy 2 42 Kg Diarmuid O’Gorman lost to Paddy Keenan 52 Kg Brian McDonagh Bt Terry Harris 57 Kg Ml Galbraith lost to Muiris Mongan Boy 4 57 Kg Simon McDonagh Bt Geoff Mulqueen 63 Kg James Galbraith lost to Ed O’Donoghue Youth 2 75 Kg Martin Keenan Bt Ben McNamara Heavyweight Mark Fitzgerald drewwith Ml P. Mongan

THERE WERE mixed fortunes for Clare’s clubs at last Sunday’s Cycling Pursuits Cup in Broadford, County Limerick. Promoter Liam Collins laid out a tough circuit with 150 metres of climbing reaching 11 per cent gradient in parts. This ensured plenty of suffering for the 150 competitors as the field got whittled down on each successive lap.

The highlight was in the A3 race, after Blarney’s Owen Cummins had soloed to victory, Damien Roche of West Clare surged through the bunch to take the sprint and an impressive second place. Dolmen CC’s Gary McDonald also grabbed a top ten spot.

In the A1/A2 race, West Clare’s Jarlath Hassett and Mike Storan were well placed at the bell but Liam Ryan (St Finbarr’s CC) and Cathal McCarthy (The Edge CC) escaped on the final lap and were not hauled back. Hassett was in the mix for the sprint, taking fourth on the line with Storan ten seconds back.

In their first year of racing, Burren CC are showing impressive form with Robert Hawes and Anthony O’Halloran taking fifth and ninth respectively in the A4 category. Gro u p 1 Doonbeg 1-8 St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield 0-6 Shannon Gaels 0-10 St Joseph’s Miltown 0-06 Kilrush Shamrocks 2-8 Liscannor 0-6 Kilmilhil v Kilmurry-Ibrickane (postponed) Gro u p 2 Cooraclare 4-7 Clondegad 0-7 Lissycasey v St Breckan’s (postponed) O’Curry’s v St Senan’s Kilkee (postponed) Ennistymon a bye

CLARE FM were one of the recipients at The Camogie Association Media Awards at Croke Park on Saturday night, with Clare FM’s Sports Editor Kevin McGillicuddy picking up the award for Best Local Radio. President of the Camogie Association Joan O’Flynn, Group Head of RTÉ Sport, Ryle Nugent, and Lily Dunne, wife of the late Mick Dunne, presented the awards to eight recipients who were acknowledged for their outstanding work promoting and publicising camogie.

In her address, President Joan O’Flynn emphasised the importance of highlighting those who are promoting the game.

“The Camogie Association and RTÉ Mick Dunne Memorial Awards are an important event on the camogie calendar each year. The awards are hugely important in recognising the enormous contribution that regional and national press and association members make to the promotion of our game. Tonight, we honour the outstanding work of those who are here to receive awards and acknowledge the fantastic work they do to further boost the profile of camogie. On this night, the eve of our All-Ireland club finals, the Camogie Association is delighted to celebrate the achievements of those, who work so tirelessly off the pitch publicising, all of the action on it.”

Clare Camogie Chairperson Orla Considine expressed her delight in this recognition of Clare FM for their coverage of Camogie in the county, whilst adding that Clare were to the fore in the publicity they receive from local media. The full list of winners were: Clare FM(Local Radio); the Offaly Express (Provincial Newspaper); Dublin Camogie Board (Website):Armagh County Camogie Board (Match Programme); Barbara Ryan (PROof theYear); Caroline Quinn (Photograph of theYear);“I Gotta Feeling” by Dean Goodison; (PublishedWork) Irish Examiner (National Coverage of Camogie). Cla r e v Cor k @ Fr Mur phy Memor ia l Pa r k, Newma r ket -on-Fer gus, Sunday 1pm

AS THIS year’s Munster Adult 40×20 Championships come to a close, there was more success for the Tuamgraney pair of Niall Malone & Diarmaid Nash when they won the Munster Intermediate Doubles Final in Cappagh on Wednesday last, beating Cork brothers Niall & Brendan Fleming 21-18, 21-15. The Clare duo are now due to play the Connacht champions this coming weekend in the All-Ireland semi-final. A time and date is yet to be confirmed and a clash will have to be avoided with Niall Malone’s All-Ireland Senior Singles Championship clash with Cavan kingpin Paul Brady (currently scheduled for this Saturday in Kingscourt at 2pm). Nash meanwhile, having already secured the Munster Senior title, will be expected to make it a hat-trick of provincial wins when he takes on Brendan Fleming in tonight’s Intermediate Singles decider (Ballydesmond, 8pm).

Aisling Fitzgerald (Tuamgraney) was also successful, winning her Munster Ladies Junior B Singles Final in Galbally on Saturday when she beat Laura Keevers 21-9, 21-6. Coughlan brothers Fergal and Ger were in the Masters A Doubles Final also in Galbally but went down to Cork pair Stephen Palmer and Kevin Buckley.

As mentioned, the Munster championships are now coming to a close and focus shifts to the All-Ireland semi-finals which take place over two weekends (March 12/13 and April 2/3). As well as Nash’s Senior win, Clare have already secured seven Munster titles; Ladies Junior B Singles (Aisling Fitzgerald), Ladies Junior B Doubles (Sarah Loughnane & Paula Loughane), Golden Masters B Singles (John Cawley), Golden Masters B Doubles (John Cawley & Teddy O’Hanlon), Glden Masters A Singles (Pat Donellan), Golden Masters A Doubles (Pat Donellan & Mike Kelly) and Intermediate Doubles (Diarmaid Nash & Niall Malone). The two outstanding finals up for grabs are tonight’s Intermediate Singles Final and an all-Clare (and all-Tulla) Junior Singles Final between Cathal Hannon and Aidan Lynch which was postoned due to an injury to Lynch and may yet be played before All-Ireland semi-final date.

While All-Ireland semi-final fixtures are yet to be confirmed at time of writing, the following grades involving Banner County players are scheduled for this coming weekend; Golden Masters Singles (A and B), Ladies Junior B Singles (all Connacht venues) and Intermediate Doubles (Munster venue).

A host of Clare’s rising handball stars were in action over the weekend as the Munster Juvenile Championship semi-finals were played at a number of venues. Clare are through to Boys Munster Finals at Boys Under 12 Singles (Tiernan Agnew), U-12 Doubles (Gary Cooney, Owen Shanahan), U-13 Doubles (Jack Hayes, Shane Hunt), U-14 Singles (Brian Fahy), U-14 Doubles (Fergal Couhlan, Jamie Keane), U-15 Doubles (Jacob Loughnane, Ciaran Cooney), U-16 Singles (Colin Crehan) and Girls Munster Finals at U-12 Singles (Ella Donellan), U-14 Doubles (Clodagh Nash, Doireann Murphy), U-15 Doubles (Natasha Coughlan, Michelle Nihill) and U-16 Singles (Alice Akers). In U-17 Doubles, Hannah O’Brien and Aine McInerney have a bye through to the All-Ireland semi-final.

On the local scene finally, the last of this year’s Adult County League Finals was won by Clarecastle when they defeated Shannon 96-79 in the Division 3 decider in Clooney on Friday. The winning team was John Sweeney (Capt.), Jeff Coughlan, Pakie Healy, Michael Casey, Martin Sweeney and Adam Healy.