Month: September 2009

TURNPIKE Rovers soccer club are expected to appeal a 12-month sus- pension given to a player following a game in Ennis earlier this month.

Rovers player Danny Russell was sent off after receiving two yellow cards, the second of which was for dissent, during a tie against Avenue United B on September 11.

The club were informed last week that the player was being suspended under rule 79 of the FAI rulebook, which governs misconduct against match officials.

The Ennis club were also fined €200 for what league officials say was a failure to control their player.

However, Rovers Chairman Frank Gormley said the club are stunned by the severity of the sentence.

“We have no problem with the sending off. Danny was going to ac- cept it and we were. You can’t abuse the referee and that’s something we support absolutely but 12 months is very serious’, said Mr Gormley yes- Ker he

He added that the club intend to appeal the suspension and the €200 fine to the Munster Football Asso- ciation.

“From our understanding rule 79 only deals physically assaulting the referee. That’s not what happened. If the FAI brought in a rule for sus- pending players for 12 months we would support that. But at the mo- ment what he’s being suspended for doesn’t match up with what actually happened”.

Speaking last night, Chairman of the Clare District Soccer League, Jim Madden said the punishment had been handed down for “serious verbal abuse of the referee”’.

“Verbal abuse is as it serious as it gets’, he said.

AS tense an encounter as you are ever likely to witness – an injury- time point from Clare minor Cathal McInerney deciding the issue just as the game appeared to be heading for a replay. It was yet another charac- ter-filled display from the south east Clare side who have belied an in- tensive fixture pile-up to reach their third adult football final of the year.

Pulling from the same pool of play- ers who have represented the club ad- mirably on both hurling and football fronts as well as representing their county at various levels, fatigue was expected to be a factor but it didn’t show as Cratloe finished the stronger with just enough in the tank to see off the spirited challenge of last year’s Junior A champions Kildysart.

The manner in which the game fin- ished was cruel on Kildysart but in hindsight, while they arguably de- served another day out, the fact that goalkeeper Liam Griffin was their stand-out performer said a lot about the amount of goal chances Cratloe spurned.

In all, Cratloe produced eight clear- cut goal opportunities over the hour but only took one as they found Grif- fin in inspired form. However, the one chance they did take was wor- thy of winning any game as Martin ‘Oige’ Murphy was allowed to raid down the right wing unchallenged before rifling a shot to the top left corner from distance.

Outside of McInerney’s eventual winner, Murphy’s goal was the deci- sive score of the game as it dragged Cratloe back into a contest that ap- peared to be slipping away from them. Right from the throw-in, Kildysart appeared to have the edge on their opponents and their full-for-

ward line in particular were causing Cratloe untold problems. Ger Kelly (2), Noel O’Grady, Christy Clancy and Brian O’Sullivan had them O-5 to no score clear by the 14th minute, with Cratloe proving luckless in front of goal as a shot from Cathal McIn- erney was turned away by Griffin before Padraig Chaplin blazed wide from close range.

Two Liam Markham points and one from Kieran Browne soon settled

their side though and as half-time ap- proached, Murphy grabbed that stun- ning goal in the 28th minute. Then Padraig Chaplin had an effort cleared off the line before Cratloe were pun- ished when Brian O’Sullivan handed Kildysart a one point half-time ad- vantage at 0-7 to 1-3.

The second-half proved a more even contest as the sides were level twice before Kildysart made one last burst for glory with a Kelly free and

a long range effort from O’Sullivan that prompted the biggest cheer of the afternoon. Now 0-10 to 1-5 clear by the turn of the final quarter, an- other final appearance appeared to be on the cards for Kildysart but they visably tired and although Cratloe failed to take advantage with some sloppy shooting, they still had an ace up their sleeves with the introduction of county senior Sean Collins.

His influence was to prove the dif-

ference for the remainder as Cratloe laid siege to the Kildysart goal, even- tually pulling level once more with points from Conor Ryan and a McIn- erney free by the 55th minute. The tension was palpable now as further Cratloe wides and another save from Griffin kept the tie on equal terms entering injury-time.

Kildysart were hanging on, but they were eventually outdone in the 62nd minute when Conor Ryan caught a kick-out before being fouled and through the quick thinking of Sean Collins, his free found Cathal MclIn- erney who cut inside and kicked over the bar from 30 metres to keep their dream of a clean sweep of football titles alive.

TIME and time again during this hard fought and scrappy quarter-fi- nal, hurdles were placed in front of Ruan. And time and time again they found the energy to vault clear and beat Bodyke to the finish line.

Ruan conceded three goals at three vital stages, each time handing Bod- yke the lead and a vital lift.

On each occasion though Ruan re- sponded. Johnny Howard profited from some cheap Ruan defending to find the net early in the first-half to edge Bodyke two points clear. By half time, Ruan, fired on by the sharpshooting of John Punch and Co- lin O’ Donoghue, led by four points.

Liam Doyle and Thomas MacCo- namara pounced for a goal apiece shortly after the break as Bodyke surged into a two point lead. But Bodyke could not press home their advantage. Instead their purple patch served only to bring out the best in NaUEOR

Staring with Eoin MHanrahan’s Strike, Ruan reeled off five unan- swered points.

Bodyke’s desperate search for a match winning fourth goal provided for a tense finale but Ruan’s defence, led by the steady Jonathan Clohessey at centre-back, yielded no more.

Ruan probably had more posses- sion than Bodyke in the first-half but

it was the east Clare side who made the better of their chances in the ear- ly stages.

Points from Keith Quigley and John Howard were cancelled out by three John Punch frees before Bod- yke found the net in the 12th minute.

Ruan goalkeeper Patrick Roughan batted a dropping shot back into a dangerous area and Howard took ad- vantage with his low strike bouncing into the goal.

Colin O’Donoghue responded with a point for Ruan before PJ Kellher fired over for Bodyke.

Bodyke’s defence was coping well with the threat posed by Michael Vaughan’s darting runs but eventual- ly Ruan’s overall supremacy, particu- larly around midfield, began to tell.

Punch knocked over four more frees, O’Donoghue landed his sec- ond point of the day and Vaughan deservedly got on the scoresheet to leave Ruan leading O-10 to 1-3 at ne Neca ueatee

Points from Punch and Padraig Guthrie saw Ruan off to flier in the second-half.

Bodyke hit back in the 35th minute with substitute Liam Doyle find- ing the net from close range after a strong run by Howard.

The game then swung back in Bod- yke’s favour. The east Clare side moved 3-6 to 0-13 ahead by the 45th minute through points from Howard

(2), Ciaran Walsh and MacConama- ra’s goal.

Ruan refused to buckle though and hit back with five points in the trot, the pick of which involving a dynam- ic piece of hurling from wing back Killian Ryan.

Roughan produced a superb save late on to keep Ruan in front. A semi-final with either Ennistymon or Feakle now awaits.

WHITEGATE deservedly assumed the role of championship favourites after winning out in the battle of the heavyweights in Tulla on Saturday. After meeting twice already this year in the Clare Cup, both sides were well accustomed to one another and that familiarity was exploited by Whitegate who seemed to have more homework done on their opponents.

This was supposed to be Eire Og’s year. They were determined to bounce back to where they believe they belong, competing in the senior championship however these desires will have to be put on hold for an- other year at least as it is now the men from east Clare who, barring a Shock, look to be the team who will be competing for the title.

Eire Og started the brightest and rushed into an early four point lead after six minutes. Danny Russell from two frees secured a point and a goal to give the Townies the perfect SIE a

However, Whitegate soon settled with some placed balls of their own. George Waterstone with two frees and two 65s levelled the game after 13 minutes. The comeback was un- derway. It took another five minutes for the first score from play. Davy O’ Halloran finally brought an end to the personal duel that was beginning to develop between both sides’ free takers with a fine point. Two more points from Fergus Flynn and a well taken over the shoulder effort by Ni- all Daly completed Eire Og’s scoring for the first -half.

However, with ten minutes of the half still remaining, Whitegate turned the screw in what was to

prove a decisive match winning pe- riod of dominance. Despite the fact that Eire Og still had a significant amount of possession, they could not convert this control into scores whereas Whitegate took their chanc- es. Waterstone added to his tally this time from play, John O’Brien added his name to the scoreboard and of course two inspirational points from impressive midfielder Ian Fahy all resulted in Whitegate leading on a score of 0-10 to 1-4 at the break. The second-half commenced like the first with Waterstone and Russell exchanging points. From the inten-

sity illustrated by both teams, it was inevitable this game would go down to the wire. Forty minutes gone and Whitegate suffered their first big blow. Waterstone had to be replaced due to injury. This could have been disastrous but Whitegate kept fight- ing and his loss was absorbed by the extra effort given by all his other team mates. Suprisingly it wasn’t the last we saw of him either. When the pressure really was on, he returned with a few minutes remaining, even managing to convert another °65 in the 58th minute.

Waterstone cannot take all the

credit though as the scoring was well distributed in the closing period of the second-half. Michael O’Brien, Stephen Malone and even goalie An- drew Fahy with a monster free from inside his own half added points for his team.

Two other factors were key to MWA TTR ere eekcean bbe oplmp keel Lae D hop Firstly two Eire Og 20 metre frees were stopped. Russell with the first attempt and Barry Nugent with the second were both prevented as the Townies desperately pushed for the goal they required to have any chance of winning.

The second factor was the perform- ance of man of the match Tommy Holland. His duty for the day was to man-mark Nugent and try to neu- tralise his effect on the game. That is exactly what he did as Nugent’s influ- ence was kept to a minimum by the former county senior panelist.

For the final minutes, Eire Og huffed and puffed but they could not prevent an impressive Whitegate from progressing into the semi-final after aQ-19 to 1-11 win. By many, this was billed as the real county final for 09, well if that is the case Whitegate won’t have long more to be declared champions officially.

A PERFORMANCE built on hard work, commitment and some ex- cellent score-taking saw Kilmaley crowned Minor A champions in Cu- sack Park on Saturday evening.

With match favourites Sixmilebri- dge two points ahead and in the as- cendancy, Kilmaley were forced to dig deep in the final quarter to claim the club’s third ever Minor A title.

After struggling to create oppor- tunities in a tense second-half, Kil- maley rattled off four unanswered points to storm into the lead.

Pre-match favourites Sixmilebri- dge were left to rue eight-second half wides as they suffered their second straight loss in the minor A decider after last year’s defeat to Inagh/Kil- namona.

Yet while the Bridge’s errant shoot- ing was a factor, just as important was the tenacity of Kilmaley’s defending, exemplified best by the performances of Colin McGuane at centre back and Niall McGuane at corner back.

Dara Keane was Kilmaley’s top scorer on the day with nine points. The corner forward stepped up to the plate when his side really needed it during a nervy final quarter.

There was plenty too to admire about the Bridge with the perform- ances of Shane Golden, Pa Sheehan, Timmy Crowe and Seadhna Morey catching the eye.

It all made for an engrossing 60 minutes of hurling in Cusack Park.

The first half whizzed by in a blur of quality scores and urgent tackling from both sides.

Kilmaley got off to a great start with points from a Dara Keane free and a great strike from Killian Mc- Namara.

The Bridge settled into their stride and hit the front through points from Pa Sheehan, Shane Golden and two

superb strikes from Timmy Crowe.

Keane, Kilmaley’s liveliest pres- ence in attack, shot three points on the trot between the 19th and 25th minute, to nudge Kilmaley O-7 0-5 ahead at half time.

As Pa Sheehan and _ Cathal O’Connor gained the edge around midfield The Bridge wrestled back control of the game after the break.

Sheehan slotted over a free before a point from Jamie O’Gorman tied the game in the 34th minute.

By now the Bridge were well on top and their superiority was underlined with Shane Golden striking over two points to put them 0-9 0-7 ahead.

It should have been more but the Bridge were having problems hitting the target.

If the first-half had showcased scor- ing prowess then the second half was a testament to the virtues of hook- ing, blocking and closing down. But despite their resilience in defence, things weren’t quite happening for Kilmaley further up the field.

All that changed in the 46th minute when Keane converted a free for Kilmaley’s first point of the second half. Just a point separated the teams and Kilmaley, buoyed on by a large and very vocal bunch of supporters, lifted their performance.

Keane picked of a point from a dif- ficult angle before Michael O’Neill landed an inspirational point from the left touchline to send his side into the lead.

There was greater vigour about Kilmaley’s forward play now and the scores kept coming. Enda Finnucane signed his name to the scoresheet with a huge effort and Keane con- verted a free to leave Kilmaley 0-12 Q-9 ahead. With five minutes left, Sheehan struck over a monster free from halfway.

As the Bridge poured forward, Kil- maley’s backs defended like their

lives depended on it. O’Neill’s injury time clearance eventually lifted the siege as Ger Hickey’s full time whis- tle sparked huge celebration among Kilmaley’s players and supporters.

Sixmilebridge will be disappointed but having tasted success at under 12, under 14 and under 21, already this season and with finals at under 15 and under 16 still to come, the club’s status as the dominant force in Clare underage hurling remains intact.

Saturday, however, belonged to this season’s deserving minor A champi- ons Kilmaley.

WITH Lifford A rooted firmly to the foot of the Premier Division table, a huge performance was on the cards to restore some much needed confi- dence.

Lifford are normally associated with being in contention for the title, however, this year they are in a Se- rious rough patch and have not cap- tured a single point from their open- ing four league games.

Limerick side Askeaton were fully aware of this ahead of their journey to Cassidy Park and looked to capi- talise on a dodgy defence that has been breached an astonishing 13 times in those four outings.

The first-half was a dull and weary affair with neither team creating any real opportunities. Mike O’Connell found himself with space down the left flank for Askeaton on more than one occasion but was unable to de- liver an end product.

In the first 45 minutes Lifford failed to test Danny Fitzgerald in the Askeaton goal and it looked as though the visitors from Limerick would leave victorious with Lifford playing some stagnant football.

Lifford should have grabbed a goal just before the break when Scott Hennessy made a clever run down the left touchline and crossed to TJ Abisomo, who failed to connect with a ball that should really have been planted in the back of the net.

This encounter was an intense phys- ical battle and its effects were shown throughout the match with Stephen O’Halloran having to limp off at the beginning of the second-half.

Lifford began to string together a few passes and were able to exert some pressure on the Askeaton de- fence that had previously remained untested.

Roberto Pinto was a handful for the centre-backs all afternoon and he came close to giving Lifford the lead with a free kick that was fired just over the crossbar.

Pinto was deployed as Lifford’s target man with Abisomo living off the breaking ball he created. Ten minutes into the second-half, Scott Hennessy delivered a floating free kick from central midfield which was glanced across goal by Pinto and headed home with real conviction by Abisomo, who made amends for ear- lier misses.

The game began to open up from here, with Hennessy able to carve up

the opposing defence with intelligent passes and good execution from set plays. It only took five minutes for Lifford to double their advantage with Hennessy spraying the ball out to the right wing for Ryan Boyle to chase, the latter then beat two play- ers and fizzed the ball across the goal mouth but was unable to get the touch it deserved.

Liam Meaney was still able to col- lect the ball and cross to the near post where Pinto was unmarked and never in doubt of missing from that range.

Moments later Boyle again found himself with space down the right for Lifford and was darting towards

the box until he was brought down by Robert Whelan who in turn was booked for his troubles.

Hennessy once again delivered a killer ball which was volleyed past the despairing Danny Fitzgerald by Gary McNaboe. At this stage of the match Lifford held a firm grip over proceedings and were display- ing some fine football until Mike O’Connell finished superbly with a well placed header past Mike Heath on the counter attack for the away team.

Twenty minutes were still on the clock and Askeaton were given a glimmer of hope by O’Connell’s

goal, but a huge task was still at hand if they were to overturn a two goal deficit.

Lifford began to look more limited on the ball as the second-half drew on, but Askeaton could not find a way past Heath who pulled of a fine save from a deflected shot.

On the stroke of the 90th minute, Mike Fitzgibbon played a through ball over the Lifford back four for striker Ray Foley to chase but Ha- mad Kuku was able to sweep back and clear the ball for a corner.

Left-back Brian Corrigan, who had been solid all afternoon, dispatched the corner towards the back post where Dave Kenwick was lurking unmarked and nodded home for the visitors. Five minutes of injury-time were announced and panic was en- graved on all the home sides’ faces as the Limerick team heaped men deep into Lifford territory in a vain search of an equaliser that wasn’t to come.

At the sound of the final whistle Lifford were able to draw a sigh of relief and hopefully build on this hard fought win.

BRIDGE Celtic progressed to the next round of the Munster Junior Cup after a 3-1 victory over local ri- vals Shannon Olympic.

It was always going to be difficult for the Shannon men considering they were missing Six or seven reg- ular starters but it was an ideal op- portunity to use the cup to give some of the squad players good match practice. They will certainly have gained much need experience after this loss.

The first-half was a very even af- fair with both sides creating chances. Both goalies were under severe pres- Sure as teams continued to press and attack. The first goal came after 30 minutes. Suprisingly it was Olym- pic who edged in front with a well taken goal by striker John Keogh.

This goal in many ways led to their downfall and for two main reasons. Firstly, it encouraged them to sit back a little bit more and they were never going to keep the Bridge out for the remaining 60 minutes.

Secondly, this initial goal _ re- PMU MYA OU ECeeXoIUCLO ME A eCoME-NE-Dm00 MM OLo)0 MB NO MEN Ele Bridge players’ heads. This was the wake up call they needed to kick them into action and that is exactly what they did in the second-half.

The Bridge pushed on and seized control of the game and it was inevi- table they would equalise.

Their goal came after 55 minutes from a dangerous 1n swinging corner kick. Kevin McEvoy flicked it on to striker Paul McEvoy who finished the move off expertly. A fantastic strike which turned the game on its head.

From here on in the Shannon men

died. They had been hoping to hold on but that plan had to be scrapped. What will really annoy them is the manner they went on to lose this game. They were under pressure from some good build up play but it was two basic goalkeeping errors that allowed the Bridge to get their second and third goals.

The first of these came after 70 minutes when O’Connor in the Shan- non goal spilt a well hit strike and Ger O’Riordan was first to react and blasted the ball into the net. This tap in gave them the lead.

Five minutes later and O’Connor must have been feeling a sense of déja vu when he once again let a shot out of his grasp. This time it was Ger O’Connell, the man who replaced O’Riordan, to get on the end of this goalkeeping error. He too cooly placed the ball into the net and ended

the game scoring with this effort. Shannon tried and tried and did cre- ate one or two half chances but they could not get back into the game. It was too late. The damage had been done and they were eliminated from the cup at the first round.

ROCK Rovers’ FAI campaign ended at the first round on Sunday when they went down to a narrow defeat to Kerry side Camp United.

Tommy Farrell’s wickedly curled free kick, three minutes into first- half extra-time sealed the win for Camp after the game ended at I-1.

After a poor start Rock improved with Brian Fitzpatrick equalising af- ter John O’Driscoll had given Camp an early lead.

Rock enjoyed some good moments

in the second-half but failed to create enough clear-cut chances.

Extra-time then proved disastrous for Rock. Farrell curled home what proved to be the winning goal and after using all three substitutes, the Ennis side were forced to play out the remainder of the game with 10 men after captain Daryl Eade was forced OSM ZIHem-mONsOmNOlevas

Rock substitutes Dean Gardiner and Marty McLoughlin combined to create Rock’s best opportunity to draw level in extra-time.

Gardiner’s delivery caused panic in

the Camp area but the ball popped up suddenly, striking McLoughlin’s out- stretched leg and flying over the bar.

That was as close as Rock came as Camp held out to book an all-Kerry second round meeting with Killorg- thee

Despite the almost four hour jour- ney from west Kerry to Ennis, Camp showed no signs of rustiness as they dominated the early stages.

Spraying the ball around confident- ly, Camp looked dangerous particu- larly through the impressive Theo O’Shea.

However, the manner in which the visitors took the lead owed as much to Rock’s sloppy defending as it did to Camp’s incisive football.

O’Shea’s low delivery was missed by Francis Daniels and John O’Driscoll was on hand to toe poke home from close range.

The goal spurred Rock into playing their best football of the game. Gary Walsh, who impressed throughout, offered good width in the right while the trio of Ashley Glynn, Daryl Eade and Roan Eade gave Rock a foot- hold in midfield. The home side went close through Glynn’s header before equalising midway through the half. Ronan Arthur lifted the ball into the path of Fitzpatrick who took his time before drilling the ball low past Gearoid O’Shea.

Fitzpatrick and Woods were promi- nent in the early stages of the second half as Rock looked for the crucial second goal. However, Camp stood firm and looked the side most likely to score a winner late on with Theo O’Shea and substitute James Scanlon causing havoc out wide. The goal arrived with Camp captain Tommy Farrell curling home the winner.

A CAMPAIGN to remove hundreds of mini-dolmens from the Burren will be instigated by the Burren Con- nect Project and Clare County Coun- cil later this year.

For years, tourists visiting the Bur- ren have constructed mini-dolmen to commemorate their visit to the na- tional park.

The structures, which are modelled on life-sized dolmens such as the one at Poulnabrone in Carron, are usu- ally less than two foot in height but a number of much larger ones have been built over the years.

A new environmental maintenance programme aimed at removing the mini-dolmens will be launched at Ballyallaban near Ballyvaughan this Wednesday.

Fifth- and sixth-class students of Ballyvaughan and _ Lisdoonvarna primary schools will safely remove a number of mini-dolmens at the launch, along with a number of lo- cal landowners and officials from the Burren Connect Project and Clare County Council.

In the past, both Clare County Council and the National Parks and Wildlife Service have turned a blind eye to the practice but, as a result of increased visitor numbers to the area, experts now believe that the practice may cause irreparable damage to the landscape in the locality.

The Poulnabrone dolmen, which is the most famous Bronze Age burial

site in the country, has become an iconic symbol of Ireland in recent years.

However, Poulnabrone itself was “built” back in 1985 following a cracking of the eastern portal stone which caused the entire tomb to col- lapse.

Excavations which took place at this time found that between 16 and 22 adults and six children were bur- ied under the monument. Personal items buried with the dead included a polished stone axe, a bone pendant,

quartz crystals, weapons and pottery.

In the Bronze Age, around 1,/00 BC, a newborn baby was buried in the portico, just outside the entrance.

With its dominating presence on the surrounding landscape, experts believe that the dolmen must have remained a centre for ceremony and ritual in the Burren until well into the Celtic period.

A NUMBER of Clare projects are in line for a major funding boost, thanks to an innovative tourism investment scheme which has been established to generate additional tourist num- bers to the mid-Shannon corridor.

In fact the local response has been so encouraging that the Government has decided to extend the closing date for applications to the Mid-Shannon Tourism Investment scheme, which is administered by Shannon Devel- opment and Failte Ireland.

The scheme was launched last year to provide tax incentives to stimulate investment in tourism attractions and facilities in the Mid-Shannon Corri- dor which includes Clare, Tipperary, Offaly, Galway, Roscommon and Westmeath. One of the primary ob- jectives is that all applications must generate additional tourist visits to this area which has a shortage of ac- tivities and attractions for visitors.

Last week the €10 million Old- court Tourist Resort in Terryglass and the Cloughjordan Village Eco- Hostel and Learning Centre became the the first projects to be approved for funding under the scheme.

Mid-Shannon Tourism Infrastruc- ture Board chairman Tom Hyland said both projects were an excellent fit for the overall objective to stimu- late the development of innovative and sustainable tourism products in the mid-Shannon area.

‘Failte Ireland and Shannon Devel- opment have heavily promoted the scheme since its launch in June 2008, and now have a pipeline of projects whose final applications are current- ly being prepared for submission to the Board’, he said.

Shannon Development chief execu- tive Dr Vincent Cunnane said they were encouraged by the level of in- terest from other potential promot- ace

“It is already bringing tangible and lasting benefits to the area, and the entrepreneurial business people who emerge as a result of the Scheme can be assured of Shannon Devel- Opment’s support in developing and

promoting their new businesses,” he Sr nLGe

Projects eligible under the new scheme include; education tourism facilities, visitor attractions, cultural facilities, wellness and self devel- opment facilities and amenities, fa- cilities for water-sports activities, outdoor activity centres, equestrian facilities, certain restaurants and cafés, boat rental and inland cruising facilities, training facilities for ad- venture centres and registered holi- day camps. They can be new projects

or refurbishment to existing ones.

Relief is available by way of capi- tal allowances over seven years for qualifying construction and refur- bishment expenditure. Capital al- lowance will be granted at a rate of 15 per cent per year for the first six years and 10 per cent for the seventh year. The qualifying period of the scheme ends on the May 31, 2013, but applications must be made by May 31, 2010.

Details can be viewed and down- loaded at www.failteireland.ie, www.

shannondevelopment.ie/tourism or Wwww.arts-sports-tourism.gov.ie