The Clare People Archive

Turnpike Rovers 4 – Kilrush Rangers 2 at Lees Road, Ennis

AFTER their opening round fixture against Manus Celtic (A) was abandoned by the match referee, Turnpike Rovers returned to winning ways with victory over Kilrush Rangers on Sunday.

Despite the concession of an early goal, Turnpike hit back to lead 2-1 at half time. The Ennis side pushed on after the break, confirming their dominance with two further goals. Centre forward Eric Considine was influential for Pike, scoring one and having a hand in two more goals.

Kilrush will be disappointed to have lost out especially after making such a promising start. They will look to get back on track tomorrow night when they take on Rhine Rovers. It was all Kilrush in the early stages and the visitors were rewarded with a well-taken goal. Terry Herlihy did well to skip around a couple of Turnpike defenders before rolling the ball into the net.

The home side responded in impressive fashion. Eric Considine found the net for the equaliser before Clinton Keane was brought down for a penalty. Dean O’Grady stepped up to convert and give Pike the lead.

Brendan Dobbins extended Rovers’ lead after the break before Robert Carey responded with a penalty for Kilrush.

The game was in the melting pot until Considine set up substitute John Ferns for Pike’s decisive fourth goal.

Turnpike Rovers
Ian Mounsey, Donagh Hassett, Darren Daly,William O’Keefe, Mark Woods, Davy McMahon, Dean O’Grady, Clinton Keane, Brendan Dobbins, Jason Hayes, Eric Considine

Subs
John Ferns

Kilrush
John O’Connor, Cedric McNamara, Martin Danaher,Tony Burke, Patrick Coleman,Terry Herlihy, Robert Carey, Eoin Fitzgerald, Niall Brennan,Trevor Clancy, John Carmody

Avenue United 3 – Ennis Town Rock 3 at Lees Road, Ennis

A HUGELY entertaining and incident filled game saw Avenue United and Ennis Town Rock share the spoils in Lees Road on Sunday.

In a game that had it all, Avenue twice took the lead but were pegged back by Ennis Town Rock, an amalgamation between schoolboy club Ennis Town and junior side Rock Rovers.

The new boys took the lead in the second half through Daryl Eade’s penalty before Mikey Mahony tapped home from close range for a late equalsier. A summary of the action only tells half the drama. It was breathless stuff from first kick to last. Literally.

Avenue took the lead directly from the kick off; last year’s cup champions later missed a penalty while both sides had chances to win it late on. All told a draw was probably the fairest result.

Having blitzed the daylights out of Rock Rovers in their last league meeting, a youthful looking Avenue side were clearly intent on steamrolling their re-named opponents in the early stages. Still the manner in which they took the lead probably exceeded even their expectations.

With the wind at his back, David McCarthy decided to test young Town goalkeeper Sean Kennedy. The midfielder’s shot from the halfway line had enough power and dip to sail straight into the net. 1-0 to Avenue.

With confidence sky-high, Avenue flooded forward to maximise the damage. Town and in particular Kennedy stood tall with the goalie producing one full length save to deny Irish schoolboy international Dylan Casey.

Town weathered the worst of the storm and hit back when the impressive Daryl Eade tapped in from close range after Eoin Glynn’s free kick.

Avenue regained the lead minutes later when a well-worked cross field passing move found Casey in space to bury a powerful shot.

By now Ennis Town Rock had gained a degree of parity with Av- enue in the crucial midfield area. A swift break and cross from the right found Dean Gardiner who buried a right footed half volley past John Healy.

The sides were level 2-2 at half time. There was no let up in the action after the break with Town looking dangerous on the counter attack through the pace of Eade, Gardiner and Glynn. They hit the front on the hour mark when Eade converted from the spot. Avenue, looking very comfortable in possession, patiently probed for gaps in Town’s defence. Kennedy then produced a fine save to keep out an Avenue penalty in the 75th minute.

Avenue were eventually rewarded when Sean Corry’s low centre was turned home by Mahony. Glynn and substitute Adrian Walsh both missed chances to win it for Town late on.

Avenue United
John Healy, Simon Cuddy,Alex, Mattie Nugent, Shane Browne, Dylan Casey, Gary Flynn, Pa Wilson, David McCarthy, Sean Corry, Mikey Mahony

Subs
Alan Roche, David Russell for Brown

Ennis Town Rock
Sean Kennedy, Barry Woods, JasonWhite, Shane Daniels, Ronan Judge, Ethan Considine, Francis Daniels, Ciarán Russell, Daryl Eade, Eoin Glynn, Dean Gardiner

Subs
Richie Neylon for Judge, AdrianWalsh for Considine,

Referee
David McCarthy

THE 32ND Banner MCC Dolmen Rally takes place in Burren Castle Hotel, Lisdoonvarna this Saturday, with motorcyle enthusiasts coming from all four corners of the country. For the uninitiated, the one day extravaganza is a gathering of bikes with a competitive edge featuring food, beverages and live music, including three bands and a DJ, with legendary blues harmonica and guitarist Don Baker the headline act.

However, the main attraction of the day is undoubtedly Stunt Rider Mattie Griffin who ranked as the World’s number five Freestyle Motorcycle Stunt Rider in 2008 and 2009. The Galway native will perform an exhibition of his skills and he welcomes the opportunity to display his talent to a local audience.

“It’s nice to do something relatively local. I’m in England most weekends so it’s nice to do this in Clare. I get a lot of people asking me ‘why don’t you do something on your own home soil?’ and the Dolmen Rally is a great opportunity to do that.”

It’s also an opportunity to boost the growing discipline further in Ireland, however Mattie does insert the caveat that any budding stunt riders need to be dedicated to the craft.

“It has sparked off a huge interest all over Ireland, there is no doubt about it. A lot of guys have gotten into it since and taken it up.

“Not everyone can do it at a high level though. I practise every day. I mean when I go to bed at night, I’m thinking of new tricks or perfecting the tricks that I’m already doing. It does take a lot of practise and dedication as it’s not just something you can pick up straight away. It takes a lot of time and dedication.”

However, the Dolmen Rally also provides some preparation for the World Freestyle Motorcycle Championship in Germany a week later.

“The World Championships are coming up on September 16 and 17. I didn’t compete last year because my bikes weren’t delivered to me on time so I hadn’t got them prepared for competition. I hadn’t even riden the bikes so I had to give it a miss last year but this year I will be giving it my best.

“I’m looking forward to it of course but at the same time, you’d be nervous because there are a lot of good riders out there now and you only get three and a half or four minutes to show your best in front of a panel of five judges. So it’s not as easy going as doing shows shall we say.”

The first stunt show will take place at 6pm, with the first band starting at 9pm. Free camping is available on site but a special hotel room rate can also be accquired by ringing the Banner MCC on 086 3255817.

AS THE football and hurling championships come to their exciting conclusions, September sees the wrapping up of Ireland’s largest summer camp activity – the 2011 Vhi GAA Cúl Camps. This year the Vhi GAA Cúl Camps continued to be a popular choice for primary school children with over 83,000 children taking part around the country and in GAA units in Britain, North America and New York. Hurling heroes visited camps across their respective counties passing on the skills and training techniques, with Bernard Brogan, Michael Murphy, Anthony Daly and Eoin Kelly just some of the 35 Vhi GAA Cúl Camps Ambassadors on hand to give tips, skills and training advice to the young players attending the camps.

Anthony Daly, Dublin Hurling Manager commented, “The Vhi GAA Cúl Camps are an annual event now for so many children. The unique atmosphere in the camps means children have the opportunity to learn GAA skills in a non competitive fun environment. For primary school children this is undoubtely the best way to learn and it’s great to be a part of it every year.

In total 2011 saw 1060 Vhi GAA Cúl Camps taking place across the country with coaching and mentoring provided by hundreds of GAA coaches, players and volunteers.

CURRACH racing has long been popular in west Clare and Doonbeg Rowing Club has firmly put the area on the map in recent weeks.

The club has just won the Clare league for the second year in succession. Kieran Browne (19) and brothers Alan (24) and Eoin (22) Honan were successful in each of their races during the year, to secure the title.

They won seven events to secure the cup. There is still one event outstanding – in Kilkee at the start of October – but they have secured enough points in advance of this, to win outright. They will be officially crowned champions at the final race.

They have been busy during the year in their chosen sport. They competed in the All-Ireland championships in Doonbeg in August, in which they finished in third place. The trio were joined in their currach by Eamon Enright from Clarecastle, when they finished third in the Naomh Óg event in Cork in March.

This was the third year that Kieran, Alan and Eoin were involved in currach racing. They secured a number of second places in their first year and were thrilled to win last year and again this year.

According to Kieran’s father David, it all goes down to dedication and training. “They train on Tuesday and Thursday nights. They train themselves. They are very dedicated,” he said.

They are well supported by their club colleagues. Currach racing is hugely popular in Doonbeg and there are around 30 members in the club.

David said there are hopes for further progress over the coming years.

“The club is going well. If you put in the work, you get the results. The aim is to win the All-Ireland. In the next year or two, they will be there or thereabouts,” he said.

Kieran is delighted with his success and is hopeful of further accolades in the future, having been introduced to the sport by his brother Damien.

“My brother was doing it a couple of years ago. They coaxed me along,” he said.

They plan to take part in the Galway league next year and are looking forward to the challenge. “We are hoping to take part in Galway. The boats will be different, racing boats. Ours are fishing boats. They will be faster boats,” said Kieran.

THE RECENT 60×30 All-Ireland adult semi-finals were succesful for all three Clare doubles pairs in action, albeit with the help of a pair of walkovers.

In the Ruby Masters Doubles, John Kirby and Jimmy Walsh received a bye when Mayo’s John Kenny and Tom Derrig pulled out due to an injury to Kenny. In Ladies Junior Doubles, Ashling Fitzgerald and Edel O’Grady got a walkover from Mayo’s Stephanie Coleman and Mary Duffy.

The one Banner County pair to play their semi-final were Pat Donellan and Stephen McInerney in the Golden Masters and they had a comprehensive win in Tuamgraney when they defeated Galway’s Willie Corc- oran and Mike Shaughnessy, 21-16, 21-12.

Both Masters Doubles pairs will play their All-Ireland finals on Saturday September 24 in St. Coman’s, Roscommon at 3pm. Donellan and McInerney will play Cavan’s Dermot Dolan and Andy Clarke while the Ruby Doubles pairing will be in opposition against Pat Ryan and Michael O’Brien of Dublin. On the same bill, Ashling Fitzgerald plays the Ladies Junior Singles decider against Westmeath’s Aoife McCarthy.

Before then, the Banner County will be well represented in the first round of adult All-Ireland finals to be played this coming weekend when four Clare players play All-Ireland deciders. On Sunday in Ballina, John Kirby will play Dermot Howard (Kildare) and Pat Donellan faces Kilkenny man Eamn Purcell. The action starts at the Tipperary venue at 1pm. Ashling Fitzgerald and Edel O’Grady travel to St. Coman’s, Roscommon on the same day to take on Aoife McCarthy and Niamh Egan (Westmeath) in the Junior Ladies Doubles final (1.00pm).

Meanwhile, this weekend also sees the All-Ireland 60×30 Juvenile finals taking place and Clare have a strong interest here too. Clooney’s Fergal Coughlan plays the Boys Under 14 Singles final against Daniel Curry from Wicklow while Fergal’s sister Natasha, along with Michelle Nihill (also Clooney) take on Mary Buggy and Catherine Foley of Kilkenny in Girls Under 15 Doubles. Both finals are in Cashel this Saturday with a starting time of 11.30am.

CLARE Motor Club are delighted to announce The Auburn Lodge Hotel, Gort Road, Ennis, as the title sponsor of the 2011 Clare Stages Rally. Clerk of the Course Dermot Kelleher said, “The Clare Motor Club are delighted with the continued support of The Auburn Lodge Hotel, for a third consecutive year. The Club would also like to thank the Special Stage Sponsors, Service Area Sponsor and the programme advertisers for their support. The event will bring a vital boost to the local economy and this would not be possible without their support”.

The rally takes place on the weekend of September 17 and 18. and is a counting round of The Dunlop National Rally Championship and The Top Part West Coast Rally Championship which will see some of the top cars and drivers in action on the stages around Ennis.

The organising team is offering competitors a very compact event featuring three very competitive stages which will be repeated three times. Together with the service park and scrutiny all within walking distance of the hotel, the event should prove to be as successful as last year’s rally.

Event regulations are available to download at the club’s website www. claremotorclub.com.

With five victories from as many events, Tim McNulty and co-driver, Paul Kiely (Subaru WRC) are on the cusp of clinching the Dunlop National Rally Championship in clare. The Auburn Lodge Hotel Clare Rally offers them the first of three title winning events to claim the Vard Memorial Trophy. Tim was also the winner of last year’s Clare Stages Rally and he also won it back on 2007.

It’s a unique season insofar as McNulty can become the first driver to win both the Dunlop series and the Irish Tarmac Championship in the same season, currently, he also leads the ITC prior to the final event, the Cork 20 International Rally.

With a resounding victory in last weekend’s Galway Summer Rally, the Meath ace reached the 100 points mark in the Dunlop series where competitors can count their best seven scores from the ten rounds. Should McNulty claim another maximum score in Clare and provided Kevin Barrett garners less than 18 points, McNulty can claim the title in Ennis, just like Welsh ace, Melvyn Evans did twelve months ago.

Meanwhile, Monaghan’s Sam Moffett, who is actually second overall in the Dunlop series, can also edge closer to the Motorsport Safety Team award for the top overall Group N driver with Robert Barrable (Skoda Fabia S2000) and Shane Maguire (Subaru) his nearest rivals.

Meanwhile, the rally.ie award for the top two-wheel drive competitor is shaping up for an exciting finish with Frank Kelly (Ford Escort), Washington James (Darrian) along with Sam Smyth, Wesley Patterson and John McQuaid (Ford Escorts) all in the hunt for the crown.