This article is from page 35 of the 2007-09-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 35 JPG
IT was a day for hurling in Corofin on Saturday. Hundred of young sharp shooters from six clubs turned out to show their stuff and prove once again that hurling is alive and well in north ETc
Teams representing Ruan, Crush- een, Lisdoonvarna, Corofin, Kilna- mona and Inagh all competed in the first ever North Clare Hurling Cham- pionship. The competition took shape through the course of the year, developing from a few challenge matches into a fully fledged regional competition.
There was much to play for on Sat- urday with a Cup, Shield and Plaque all up for grabs for the winning Rere betsy
Home side Corofin took the Burren Cup, seeing off a spirited Kilnamona side in the final. Tubber/Crusheen beat an enthusiastic Lisdoonvarna side to take the Plaque while Inagh beat off Ruan to win the Shield.
“The competition was a= great success. We had a situation where there was no hurling being played in Corofin once the teams had been knocked out of their competitions. I rang around some of the local clubs to try and arrange a challenge and it seemed that there were playing little hurling up there too,” said organiser Vincent Maloney, of Corofin GAA Sitios
“They were mad to get involved. Within a week we had five match- es played, and it just took off from there.”
The popularity of hurling has been spreading in north Clare in recent years with young people becoming involved in the sport in traditionally football areas such as Ballyvaughan and Lisdoonvarna.
“The interest is there from the young people but they need match- es. A lot of the north Clare teams would tend to be knocked out at an early stage of the championships and that leaves them with no matches throughout most of the summer,’ continued Vincent.
“There are a lot of people in north Clare who are putting in great efforts to keep hurling alive in the area. Peter Casey has hundreds of kids playing hurling in Lisdoonvarna and Alex Ferguson would not be more professional.
‘Johnny O’ Rourke did the same for Inagh years ago and there are people in every club doing the same. I must thank Corofin GAA Club and John Malone for managing the tournament on the day, Gerry Quinn who pre- sented the medals, Ambrose Hagney for his refereeing and all the manag- ers and trainers for all the teams who took part.”
Saturday’s competition was such a success that it now looks likely to be- come an annual event with Ennisty- mon and Clonbonny set to join from next year.