Month: March 2009

CLARE could be one of the first lo- cations penciled in on US president Barack Obama’s itinerary should his much proposed visit to Ireland come to pass next year.

This follows the surprise appoint- ment of Dan Rooney (pictured below with President Obama) as US Ambas- sador to Ireland by President Obama last week. Rooney, a long-time sup- porter of the president, has strong Clare connections and visits the area on a regular basis. Indeed, the ambas- sador’s brother Pat has owned a house on the Liscannor Road in Lahinch for more than a decade and currently rents a property in Ennistymon. So close is the Rooney family’s link to north Clare that they hosted a pre-wedding dinner for the ambassador’s niece in a local restaurant two years ago.

Dan Rooney is the owner and chair- man of the Pittsburgh Steelers foot- ball team in America. He 1s also the co-founder of the Worldwide Ireland Funds, which has raised millions for education programs in Ireland.

A spokesperson from the American Embassy in Dublin would not confirm any details of Mr Rooney’s appoint- ment or a possible visit by President Obama to Clare until after the ambas- sador is officially received by Irish President Mary McAleese.

WHITEGATE staged a remarkable comeback against Corofin on Satur- day to book a place in semi-final of the under 21 B championship.

Trailing by ten points at half-time, Whitegate were still six points adrift with seven minutes left.

It looked like their efforts would be in vain until George Waterstone buried two stunning goals to tie the game at 3-9 to 3-9.

With the wind and momentum howling in their favour, Whitegate edged home with points from Stephen Malone and Michael Dooley.

Corofin must still be wondering how it all happened. Playing with a strong wind in the first half, Corofin

had racked up a hefty 2-8 1-1 lead by ne VOM Bb pales

Their players, notably Kevin and Stephen Heagney, Luke O’Loughlin and Damian Ryan were all perform- ing strongly.

But Whitegate weren’t about to exit without a fight. Goalkeeper Andrew Fahy kept them in touch with four sweetly struck frees. Malone and Dooley kept plugging away in the forwards before Waterstone supplied two moments of real class.

Even the loss of a sloppy seventh minute goal to Whitegate’s Michael Dooley failed to halt Corofin’s first half charge.

Stephen Heagney had already erabbed two points before Declan Lee slammed home Corofin’s first

goal in the 14th minute.

Heagney tipped over a free before his older brother Kevin goaled to make it 2-3 to 1-0 in the 21st minute.

Dooley picked off a point but there was no respite for Whitegate. Corofin piled on five more points through Ea- mon Malone, Kevin Heagney (2) and Stephen Heagney (2) to lead by ten points at half time.

Whitegate had the wind in the sec- ond half but 10 points looked a for- midable challenge.

They quickly got to work. Fahy walloped over two long-range efforts leaving two shorter ones for Dooley to covert. Malone pointed in that pe- riod also as Whitegate cut Corofin’s lead to five points.

Kevin Heagney smashed home

Eoin Malone’s pass for Corofin’s third goal in the 47th minute.

The score stood 3-9 to 17. It mat- tered little to Whitegate. Fahy con- verted a free and a 65’. Waterstone retrieved a pass out wide in the 54th minute, cut inside and found the net from 20 yards.

Whitegate re-claimed possession from the resulting puckout.

The sliotar dropped to Waterstone. This time his strike was defter but the outcome was the same. Goal. 3-9 to 3-9.

Points from Malone and Dooley pushed them into the lead.

GOO ITs MC SUUMDRc BD ITcMBOKO)OOMNeCoMIECO den loss of their comfortable lead, cut the deficit to one point through Stephen Heagney’s free.

Seconds later Whitegate players and coaches were leaping around the pitch, celebrating a victory that de- serves to be remembered for a long, long time.

THE hurlers of Kilmaley and The Banner/Ruan were left 1n no doubt as to what their hosts Eire Og thought of them on Saturday afternoon when shunted on to the unlined second- ary pitch to play this championship game.

It wasn’t good enough — if the club agreed to open its facilities for a championship game in the first place, the least it should have done was to have made the club’s main pitch available, instead of having the county board fixture play second fid- dle to a challenge game.

However, this state of affairs wasn’t

for Kilmaley and Banner/Ruan to kick up about — that’s the county board’s job. All they could do was make the best of their ungenerous hosts and get on with it.

In this regard, Kilmaley certainly made a better fist of it, romping to an eight-point win on the back of a blis- tering start that saw them race into a O-6 to no score lead inside the first ten minutes and the overall display of sharpshooter Daire Keane who scored 11 points over the hour.

This opening salvo was all the more noteworthy as Kilmaley were playing against the breeze that was blowing down the field towards the St Flannan’s handball alleys. And it

was virtually the single-handed work of right-half-forward Keane, who bagged five of the six scores.

Two came from play, while he also converted two frees and two 65s as The Banner/Ruan were left reeling by the early onslaught. However, they threw themselves a lifeline as early as the 15th minute when Eoin Hanrahan ran on to a long delivery from Brendan Lyons and pulled a low ground shot to the net from sev- TUE NK Oe

The Banner/Ruan looked like mak- ing areal game of it when Pat Keegan drove an 80 yard free over the bar in the 19th minute, but 1t was the cue for Kilmaley to hit another purple patch

and a flurry of six more points to a lone reply from Keegan gave them a Q-12 to 1-2 interval lead.

Again it was down to Daire Keane — this time he bagged four more points within the space of five min- utes while John Cabey and Mickey O’Neill chipped in with a couple to put Kilmaley seven clear at the break.

The Banner/Ruan started the sec- ond half with early points form Pat Keegan and Finchra Hayes, but five points was as close as they got. Kil- maley steadied themselves once more when the impressive Stephen McNamara pointed and were never troubled thereafter, outscoring Ban- ner/Ruan by O-3 to 0-1 in the closing 20 minutes as the game petered out to its inevitable conclusion.

TAKING the medical card office out of Ennis will destroy the flexibility of the service and could leave many people who are entitled to medi- cal cards without them, it has been warned.

The Health Service Executive has announced that it is to close the medical cards office in the Sandfield Centre in Ennis, where 11 staff are currently employed.

The service will be centralised in Dublin as part of the HSE’s plan to Am eKe ys ASF

But Ennis councillor Joe Arkins, has warned that centralising the

service in Ennis will take away vital flexibility.

‘‘A person may be over the earnings limit for a medical card but they may still qualify. If someone lives in Mul- lagh and drives to Ennis to work, that is the kind of thing that can be taken into consideration and that takes lo- cal knowledge. We now have to try to translate that information to some- one in an office in Dublin. It won’t work,” the councillor said.

STAs Cima sc bunce mm sit mmenomm Els. ibility of the service will be seriously WOK oee

‘At present you can go to the office in Ennis, outline your circumstances and have an emergency medical card

in a matter of hours. That will be gone. This is a totally retrograde step and flies in the face of the Govern- ment’s decentralisation policy.”

The decision comes following a stark warning from the head of the HSE, Professor Brendan Drumm, that required cost-cutting measures will soon begin to impact on front- line health services.

11 staff are employed in medical card and drug payment services at the Sandfield centre which is one of 32 offices across the country.

The jobs in Ennis and other centres are now under threat following con- firmation from the HSE that it plans to centralise primary care re-im-

bursement services to Dublin to save €10 million a year with temporary staff to be made redundant and other staff redeployed to other jobs.

Staff in Ennis say they are also concerned about the loss of personal contact with members of the public and IMPACT union spokeswoman for Clare Sinead Wynne said there is more than administration services being lost.

Ennis staff are now looking to their union to open negotiations with the HSE in a bid to reverse the plans and IMPACT has called on the public to support it’s members “before the people of Clare lose another impor- tant service”.

BEATING Kilkenny at any level is a memorable feat. Beating the cur- rent All-Ireland intermediate cham- pions Kilkenny in only their second game therefore has to go down as a momentous achievement and finally gives the management, players and even the county board justification for their forward planning of enter- ing a second team.

This was as good and surprisingly comfortable as it 1s every going to get for Clare’s second string. Last time out, they perhaps lacked some leadership as Tipperary eased to a seven point victory but that fraility was rectified on Sunday with the in- troduction of six new starters. Carol O’Leary, Aiveen O’Shea, Niamh Corry, Louise Hayes, Aine O’Brien, Chloe Morey and Roisin O’Brien were all brought in to add more ex- perience and balance to the side and it certainly had the desired effect as Clare were far superior and sharp- er than their Leinster opponents throughout.

Chloe Morey, who was playing her second game in as many days, was utilised as a third midfielder and along with partners Louise Hayes

and Niamh Corry, Clare really con- trolled this tie. Another highlight was the performance of Carol Kaiser who really began to come into her own when switched to centre-back to curtail Kilkenny’s playmaker Eileen Fitzpatrick, who had got Kilkenny’s only score of the game in the 34th minute.

Aside from that scare, it was a straightforward stroll to victory as Kilkenny’s expected fightback never really materialised. Clare can only beat what’s put in front of them though and really that fear of a Kil- kenny recovery benfitted Clare who remained focused right up to the fi- nal whistle.

Clare were 0-6 to 0-0 ahead at the break, taking advantage of a slight breeze that blew towards Limerick. Danielle Sheedy opened the scoring in the fourth minute with a free and inadvertently turned provider for the second, sending in another long free that was batted by goalkeeper Siob- han Murphy to Roisin O’Brien who continued her impressive scoring run with a point. In all, the Ogonnelloe player hit four points of Clare’s to- tal, making her Clare’s only scorer from play in the league so far with Six points.

Danielle Sheedy almost secured a goal for her side in the 10th minute when she caught a Niamh Corry pass over the top of the Kilkenny defence and took on her marker before un- leashing a shot but it was saved by Murphy for a *45 that Chloe Morey converted.

Kilkenny did have their fair share of possession but a lack of a reliable freetaker and some aimless shooting frustrated them in their endeavours. Instead, Clare kept plugging away and frees from Morey, Sheedy and an injury time point from O’Brien eased Clare to a six point half-time lead.

The only real tension for Clare came four minutes after half-time when a revitalised Kilkenny attempted to grab a lifeline. Three early wides were eventually made up for when Niamh Byrne’s shot was saved by Denise Lynch and Eileen Fitzpatrick was on hand to hit the rebound to the am

Fitzpatrick was by now starting to pull the strings for the Leinster side and had another shot on goal in the 38th minute but this time Lynch was equal to the effort. It caused Clare to switch Carol Kaiser to centre-back and it proved to be the turning point

of the game as the Newmarket player nullified her threat for the remain- der.

From that point on, Clare gradually regained their confidence and the trio of Chloe Morey (2), Roisin O’Brien (2) and Danielle Sheedy were again on target as Clare eased up to victo- ry. A significant result that will give Clare great confidence for the rest of the campaign.

BEFORE the game, Clare manager Bertie Sherlock probably would have gladly taken a six point reversal. Af- ter all, Kilkenny were the defending league champions and have captured three successive Minor A titles so the Toomevara native would have feared what a sizeable defeat could do to his fledging senior side.

In hindsight though, when pick- ing through the bones of the game, Clare will feel disappointed that they weren’t closer at the final whistle. For almost forty minutes, Clare more than matched the favourites and in- deed were 0-8 to O-5 ahead by the 36th minute, a healthy position that few could have predicted before the game.

However, Kilkenny’s experience fi- nally told and stretching their wings, they hit nine unanswered points in thirteen minutes to kill off any hint of an upset and although Clare brave- ly fought on, a 52nd minute Deirdre Delaney goal from distance finally put the final nail in Clare’s coffin.

It’s a shame really as for the second Successive week, Clare made their massive leap from junior to senior look relatively seamless. And also similar to the Tipperary game, they were level at O-5 to O-5 at the break and in fact, started the better with Deridre Murphy and Roisin McMa- hon putting Clare two points clear. McMahon’s unerring freetaking was the most pleasing aspect of this latest

Clare display, hitting nine points in total in an impressive performance.

Ann Dalton was equally as efficient from placed balls for Kilkenny and the two traded scores four times in the opening half to send the sides in level at the break.

Just as in the intermediate game, Clare used a third midfielder to pack up the centre and allow space inside for their two player full-forward line of Carina Roseingrave and Sharon O’Loughlin but that tactic only par- tially worked as Clare naively hit clearances straight down the centre to the unmarked Kelly Ann Cotterill at full-back. In fact, that tactic was actually to come back to haunt Clare

in the second half after Roising Mc- Mahon (2) and Ruth Kaiser had put Clare 0-8 to Q-5 in front.

Kilkenny copied Clare by bring- ing out Katie Power to the centre and with Clare unable to get the ball past half-way for the next fifteen minutes, Kilkenny overran Clare with nine consecutive scores, five from the stick of Dalton. At 0-14 to 0-8, Clare now needed a goal if they were to mount any sort of a fightback but similar to Sharon O’Loughlin’s first half ef- fort, a Deidre Muphy aerial double was not enough to beat the inspired Catriona Ryan in the Kilkenny goal. Instead it was Kilkenny who got the vital goal and it was a soft one re-

ally as Deirdre Delaney’s shot from distance was miscontrolled by goal- keeper Lynch. Roisin McMahon did reply with three frees but they were only consolation scores really and Kilkenny swiftly moved to the top of the group table with their second successive victory. Two encouraging displays for Clare but ultimately no points so far. Their game against the Dubs on the 29th will tell a lot more of what Clare have learned so far in their senior adventure.

COROFIN had a look of resignation about them as they trooped towards the sideline after 110 minutes of ac- tion in which they pummeled Her- mitage, but failed to close out the game in regulation time.

The “Tage knew they’d got out of jail, when the combination of a stout defence and the brilliance of David Phillips in goal kept the Corofin tidal wave at bay.

And, it was as if getting to a penalty shoot-out was such a relief that they were unburdened by the prospect of the Russian roulette-style end to pro- oreTere nba eace

It certainly showed in the shoot-out that followed – all four of the “Tage’s takers who stepped up to the plate drove the ball home with conviction, while Corofin could only muster one goal from three attempts.

It left the “Tage celebrating and Corofin regretting once more where it all went wrong in normal time. De- spite going behind to a Paul Dulla- ghan goal after 30 minutes, Corofin were the dominant team over the 90 minutes, pepparing shots at David Phillips’ goal from start to finish.

On another day they could have got six, but on a day that effectively signalled the end of their season the two-time champions from 2005 and ‘(06 were left to rue what could and should have been.

Credit the “Tage though – they played an enterprising game and with Gerry Dullaghan influential from the word go they weren’t afraid to take the game to their Premier Division Opponents.

Indeed it was Dullaghan who near- ly produced the opening goal in the 20th minute when his sweetly struck left-footed drive was tipped over the bar by Fergal Neylon.

However, Neylon could do little to prevent the other Dullaghan in the *Tage’s ranks, Paul, from break- ing the deadlock. Latching on to a through ball from Sean McGee, he

rounded Neylon and thumped the ball into the empty net.

It’s not that the “Tage tried to lock the shop for the remaining 60 min- utes, but such was the dominance of Corofin the visitors camped in defen- sive mode thereafter.

Jonathon Clohessy’s thundering half-volley from outside the area on 35 minutes was brilliantly touched

on to the crossbar by Phillips.

Then the real siege began in the second half. Eleven minutes in Clohessy’s free whistled over the top, while five minutes later John Keane forced another fine save out of Philips.

The equaliser came in the /7Ist minute when David O’Brien drove the ball home from eight yards after Paul Linnane’s corner. The Harps should have closed it out before full- time, but spurned half a dozen decent chances – Noel Mullane’s glancing header that just went wide in the 85th minute was the pick of them.

Then after an uneventful extra-time came penalties. Gerry Dullaghan, Thomas Leahy, Paul Dullaghan and Donal Harnett scored for the “Tage; John Keane was the Harps’ only scorer while David O’Brien and Ja- son Tierney missed.

ROCK Rovers advanced to the quar- ter finals of the Clare Cup after a penalty shoot out victory over Bridge United A on Sunday.

After defeating clubmates Bridge B on penalities in the previous round, it looked for a while on Sunday that Bridge A would prevail yet again.

Bridge goalie Paul Tuohy produced two good saves to keep out penalties from Barry Woods and Brian Fitz- patrick.

But Bridge were having troubles of their from the spot with Greg Deegan and Gary Kelly missing their efforts.

After Francis Daniels converted Rock’s seventh penalty, goalkeeper Leonard Keane saved from John Ke- ogh to ensure a sudden death victory for Rock

Premier league Bridge got of to a quicker start but it was their first di- vision opponents who made the best of the early chances.

Niall McNiven did well to hold possession on the left before a firing a dangerous cross to the back post where Roan Eade smashed a half volley against a Bridge defender.

At the other end for Bridge Derek Fahy and Trevor Maxwell linked well and provided a useful outlet on the flanks.

Rock’s spluttering first half display owed more to a lack of composure at critical moments rather than a lack of effort. With half time approach- ing, the visitors started to find some oy oTeeN ba teace

Glynn glided past two players in midfield and drilled a low shot that

Tuohy did well to hold.

Bridge came out after half time playing with renewed effort and de- termination and dominated the early

Stages.

Despite pushing Rock back inside their half, Bridge lacked the killer in- stinct near goal. Barry Downes came

closest when he drove through the

middle but had his shot blocked. With Luke Coote mopping up at

the back momentum gradually shift-

ed back in Rock’s favour. Fullbacks Greg Howard and Barry Woods ex- celled during this period.

Howard linked well with McNiven in the 72nd minute but saw his low centre cleared.

Referee Julian Stanford blew the final whistle with the sides level at 0-0. Rock had the best chance to win it in extra time when McNiven teed up Glynn who had his shot from four yards well saved by Tuohy.

It was time for penalties. Howard, Stephen Hickey, Dean Gardiner, Daniels and McNiven converted for Rock. Fahy, Gavin Downes and Billy Maxwell were equally composed for Bridge. Keane denied Kelly to keep Rock’s cup bid on track.

AVENUE United must now be won- dering what they have to do to get back on track in the league – a few short weeks ago everything looked rosy in their garden on the strength of back-to-back wins over Bunratty, but since then they’ve only picked up one point from a possible six.

That point came in this game, but it looked like being all three until Eoin Hayes struck for an equalising goal two minutes into injury time to deal Avenue’s league title hopes another big blow.

They looked to have secured all

three points when substitute Davide Ghilardi put them 2-1 ahead with six minutes remaining, but the final twist of an entertaining morning’s action between these two old rival was pro- vided by Hayes who latched on to a long ball from Mike O’Malley and lobbed Simon O’Donnell to give the champions a share of the spoils.

It should have come to this for Avenue – they had the better of this game for most of the 90 minutes, but paid the price for not taking their chances.

The first goal did come Avenue’s way in the 30th minute when Gary Flynn’s free kick from near the end-

line was met on the half-volley by Eamonn O’Reilly on the edge of the six-yard box.

Avenue were full value for the 1- Q half-time lead, but three minutes after half-time were rocked back on their heels when Newmarket levelled up proceedings.

In what can be loosely termed a goalmouth scramble, the ball was de- flected to the net by the combination of Newmarket’s Monty Mulqueen and Avenue’s Anthony Whyte.

Avenue didn’t dwell on their mis- fortune though and a bought of heavy pressure eventually reaped dividends when a great run by David Smythe down the left saw him centre the ball to Davide Ghilardi who dispatched the ball to the net from eight yards. Three minutes later Bratislav put Ghilardi in on goal, but the French- man’s effort just went over the top – a miss that came back to haunt Avenue when the impressive Hayes struck for his dramatic equaliser.

BUNRATTY were staring into some- thing of an abyss midway through the first half of this south east Clare derby in Bridgetown.

They were 2-0 down against the home side, getting anything from the game, let alone three precious points in their title charge simply didn’t look on against a well-organised Bridge Celtic defence.

However, in adversity Bunratty re- ally rolled up their sleeves and from a desperate situation turned things around dramatically over the last 60 minutes to run out convincing win- iol as

It was no wonder manager Donal Magee had a smile as broad as the River Shannon at the end of a roll- er coaster of a 90 minutes that now leaves the league leaders in full con- trol of their own league destiny.

It had looked bleak earlier on when goals by Kieran Aherne from the penalty stop in the 20th minute and

then a second five minutes later from Nickey O’Connell had Bridge Celtic firmly in the ascendency.

O’Connell’s goal came _ despite howls of protestations from the Bun- ratty defence – he beat the offside trap and in one-on-one match up with Darren Whelan slotted the ball home from ten yards.

It looked bleak for Bunratty but in the 35th minute they were thrown a lifeline when Trevor Howard was ad- judged to have handled in the area, allowing Terry Duggan step up and drive home the penalty.

Then five minutes before half-time, Bridge Cetlic keeper Sean Fleming failed to deal with Peter Balough’s cross and Shane O’Connor nipped in to slot home the equaliser from close range.

Bunratty were back in the ball game with a bang and on the turnover pro- ceeded to take a giant step towards league glory when banging home two crucial goals.

The impressive Terry Duggan struk

15 minutes in when it was his turn to beat the offside trap and slot the ball past Sean Fleming.

Ten minutes later Peter Balough completed Bunratty’s wonderful recovery and wrapped up the three points at the same time when curling a free kick from outside the area into the top left hand corner.