Month: June 2011

Clare 2-19 – Cork 0-15 at The Gaelic Grounds, Limerick

A THUMPING ten-point win in the end and one that in no way flattered a Clare team that forced the pace of this game from start to finish as they reached a Munster final in the intermediate grade for the first ever time.

They did so on the back of a spirited display throughout, while the blend of youth and experience brought together by manager Kevin Kennedy was also key in helping Clare drive for home in the second half when they bagged two all-important goals within six minutes of each other.

Grizzled veteran of over 50 championship battles at senior level Niall Gilligan marked his second coming as an inter-county player when bursting through the Cork rearguard in the 44th minute and driving low to the net.

The youthful Daire Keane then slalomed his way through in the 50th minute and blasted home to put Clare ahead by 2-15 to 0-14. These were the damn-busters that finally broke Cork’s resolve and allowed Clare cruise to victory.

And they were what Clare deserved, because it was they who married enthusiasm, endeavour and adventure from the earliest exchanges, putting it up to the favourites Cork until they eventually managed to put them down with those goals.

A hugely impressive start that saw Padraigh Hickey, Ronan Keane (2), Tony Carmody (2) and Daire Keane hit fine points from play had them 06 to 0-2 ahead after 11 minutes.

Cork slowly got into the game, hitting three on the trot from Brian Canny, Michael O’Sullivan and David Drake by the 13th, while the were level by the 16th minute when Maurice Sexton bagged a brace after Padraig Hickey had his second for Clare.

However, crucially from Clare’s point of view was that they were never headed and edged 0-10 to 0-9 ahead by half-time thanks to points by Shane Golden and two Niall Gilligan frees before Kevin Hartnett and Brian Corry responded for the Rebels.

It was an initiative Clare never surrendered and never looked like surrendering either from the moment Kevin Moynihan landed the point of the day from the open stand sideline into the Cratloe end goal in the 38th minute.

Two Niall Gilligan points and a third from play by Ronan Keane helped them move 0-14 to 0-11 clear and in position to go for the jugular against a Cork team that was struggling all over the field.

Ironically it came from Gilligan just after Cork had picked themselves up with points form Eamon Brosnan and Kevin Hartnett to reduce the margin to the minimum after 42 minutes.

The 35-year-old punished hesitancy in the Cork defence, emerged from a scrum, srpinted clear and gleefully slammed to the net to put Clare four ahead – a lead that became seven when Keane kept the youth wing’s end up with his goal.

Clare were almost out of sight, while Cork’s game was up when Maurice O’Sullivan’s 52nd minute goal was disallowed for a square ball.

All that was left was the procession of the final minutes as subs Declan O’Rourke and Aidan Lynch marked scores to their names, while matchwinners Daire Keane and Niall Gilligan did the same.

KILDARE’S juniors came to Ennis last Friday to take on Clare in a challenge – winning 0-11 to 0-9. Taking that as a guide, Clare’s chances of beating a side that beat the Kildare seniors in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final seems remote.

However, it’s worth noting that the Kildare juniors are part of Kieran McGeeney’s big picture for football in the county – it’s a feeder squad for the senior team. They’re ambitious and were keen to take down a senior side, as they did on Friday.

For Clare it was only a work-out – the real business is this Saturday when they will try and throw the kitchen sink at Down. It’s the only way. And, it’s a great chance for Clare – they’re being given no chance and on the surface it’s a mission impossible, made harder by Gordon Kelly’s defection to Boston.

But, Down can be flakey in the Qualifiers and have plenty of previous. Put the shackles on Martin Clarke early on, build a lead and it might be interesting.

Down should still win though. Verdict: Down

YOU believe James McCartan when he says that Down can’t afford to take victory as being a matter of course when land in Ennis this Saturday and try to chart another journey through the All-Ireland Qualifiers.

McCartan speaks from his and Down’s own experiences. Down and their uneasy relationship with the Qualifiers; McCartan and his last experience in Cusack Park when he came as a player.

“There is no guarantee that we’re going to pick it up in the Qualifiers,” he says. “Our records in the Qualifiers, apart from last year, hasn’t been very good. We’ve come a cropper in places like Longford and Wicklow and Sligo. Our away form has been poor. Even last year we had a fairly chastening experience in Offaly and we only got out by the skin of our teeth,” he adds.

McCartan wasn’t so lucky as a player on the biggest meeting between the sides, with the two-time All-Ireland winner having instant recall of the famous meeting between the sides back in 1993.

“I think it was the last time I played in Ennis,” he says. “We were beaten. Back then Clare were strong. They were Munster champions in ‘92 and would have been strong enough that day. Clare beating Down back then perceived as an upset.

“The one thing about the Down team of the 1990s was that we were able to lose anywhere in Ireland. We won All-Ireland but we could lose anywhere and did that regularly.”

Avoiding a similar fate is all that matters. This Down team with such prodigious talents as Martin Clarke and Benny Coulter may have lit up the last year’s championship with wins over Kerry and Kildare to reach the All-Ireland final, but the lessons of history mean that McCartan refuses to look beyond Saturday at 3pm.

“We should know what to expect and not take anything for granted,” he says. “There will be nothing easy given to us. On any given day any team can turn it on, it doesn’t matter what division they’re in.

“Obviously we won’t know the Clare players as much as we would like and they’ll know all about us, which will give them an advantage in the knowledge stakes. We’re scouting around to get as much information as we can to try and prepare,” the twotime All-Ireland winner adds.

“Any team on their own patch never wants to give up anything easy and Clare are going to fight tooth and nail to turn us over. We have to fight against that,” he adds.

“Is it the biggest field in Ireland?,” he enquires. “It will be a new experience for us and certainly we’ll get our fitness tested.”

Clare, no doubt, hope to test them in other areas too. WITH Liam McHale the pain of losing the 1996 All-Ireland final to Meath is always lurking just underneath the surface, coming up for air every so often. Most times it’s the Ballina man’s reflections from a couple of afternoons that changed the course of Mayo football. This time it’s different though – it’s not about Mayo, but Clare ahead of Saturday’s encounter with Down in Cusack Park. Not the John Maughan angle, but Down and hope that their hangover from last year’s All-Ireland final defeat to Cork might just carry on a little longer. “In our chosen sport,” says McHale, “the most difficult thing to deal with is losing an All-Ireland final. They had to do that last year. I experienced what they’re going through in 1996 and it’s not easy. “They anticipated that they would beat Armagh and that they would get the show on the road and win an Ulster title. When that doesn’t happen, it’s a major setback for them. “They have to deal with that. While they are a very good team, in some respects Down are a little bit fragile at the moment and need two or three wins to get back to where they were.” Stopping them in their tracks is Clare’s task – a monumental one yes, especially on the back of a 15point defeat to Cork in the Munster quarter-final, losing captain Gordon Kelly to Boston, his brother Graham to suspension and Darren O’Neill to

injury.

“You’d have to say getting the two best teams in Ireland last year, one after the other is unfortunate,” says a philosophical McHale. “For a young Division 4 side that’s trying to improve and crawl our way up the ladder, it’s a very difficult task.

“But we took something from that Cork game. We were shy and in awe of Cork in the first half. I talked to the players about that. They didn’t know that, but it’s a very difficult psychological thing to put your finger on, but we certainly didn’t play well and didn’t get stuck in.

“In the second half I thought we were superb and we scored eight points to their four and we were only six points down with 15 minutes to go. I don’t think that for any minute you’d say we were going to win the game, but having said that I was disappointed that we didn’t score 1-13 or 1-14. We had a couple of half goal chances – if one of those went in we could have made it very, very tight.”

That’s the goal for Saturday afternoon – racking up a higher score, keeping it tight for as long as possible in the hope that doubts creep into Down’s play. After all, only two years ago Down were humbled by Wicklow in an All-Ireland Qualifier down in Aughrim.

“While we have a very difficult task ahead of us, a massive task and while nobody will give us a chance, James McCartan and the Down team also have a difficult task to get themselves motivated and get back to where they were,” says McHale.

“That Down team is a young team and is not playing well this year. There’s no question about that. Maybe they’ll find it difficult to get their heads around a tough back door schedule to get back to where they were last year.

“They will be looking on Clare as a good draw, but if our mindset is right and if we have learned from the Cork game, you’d imagine that we’ll give them a right good run.

“We don’t know what mentality they’ll have for the game. We don’t know what fire they’ll have in their belly. They might be expecting to come south and win a game easily by seven or eight points, get home and get show back on the road.”

If so, McHale hopes that Clare can pounce and produce something similar to their last All-Ireland Qualifier victory in Cusack Park – six years ago against 2004 Leinster champions Westmeath.

“We have to get stuck into them right from the throw-in, play with a lot of heart, a lot of passion, but also with a lot of intelligence. I want lads to use their brains, adhere to the gameplan and do the right things at the right time.

“It’s great to have determination and competing for every ball, but a lot of it comes down to decision making. I hope all things we worked on will come to fruition and we put in a massive performance. Then we’ll see what happens.”

Kilmurry Ibrickane 1-16 – Liscannor 0-9 at Quilty

LISCANNOR have a proud Cusack Cup record over the past dozen years, winning the league title three times since 2000, but for 2012 they’ll be playing Garry Cup football.

Relegation came calling in Quilty on Friday evening as a rampant Kilmurry Ibrickane maintained their unbeaten record this term with a comprehensive ten-point win.

Their work was done by half-time as they cruised into a 1-9 to 0-3 lead when playing with the wind that was blowing in from Mutton Island direction, the goal coming as early as the third minute when Michael Hogan slammed the ball beyond Noel Kilmartin.

Darragh Blake did peg a point back a minute later, but seven points in-arow put Kilmurry on the high road as Stephen Moloney, Mark McCarthy, Ian McInerney, Seamus Lynch, Seamus Murrihy and Enda Coughlan were all on the mark.

Only Alan Clohessy’s seven frees kept the scoreboard ticking for Lis cannor, but there was no stopping Kilmurry as they continued on their free-scoring way in the second half.

Points by Alan Clohessy (2) and Alan Flaherty hinted at a Liscannor comeback, but points by Seamus Lynch, Michael Hogan, Stephen Moloney and Ian McInerney steadied Kilmurry by the 50th minute as they moved 1-14 to 0-8 clear.

Kilmurry Ibrickane
Peter O’Dwyer, Declan Callinan, JohnWillie Sexton, Martin McMahon, Shane Hickey, EvanTalty,Thomas Lernihan, Ian McInerney (0-4, 3f), Seamus Murrihy (0-2), Seamus Lynch (0-2), Enda Coughlan (0-4), Mark McCarthy (0-1), Michael Hogan (1-1) Noel Downes, Stephen Moloney (0-2).

Subs
Odran O’Dwyer for Moloney,Thomas O’Connor for Callinan,VinnyTalty for McInerney, ColmDonnellan for Hogan

Liscannor
Noel Kilmartin, Michael Foley, Davy McDonagh, Shane Canavan,Alan McDonagh, Ronan Slattery, Denis Murphy, Brian Considine, Niall Considine, Joe Considine, Kieran Considine, Darragh Blake (0-1), Alan Flaherty (0-1),Alan Clohessy (0-7f), Paul Guerin.

Subs
Robbie Lucas for Slattery, Gerry Considine for Murphy

Man of the Match
Seamus Murrihy (Kilmurry Ibrickane) Referee Barry Kelly (St Joseph’s Miltown)

St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield 1-10 – Clondegad 0-5 at Gurteen

ST JOSEPHS’ championship opener against their namesakes from Miltown may have been a bitter disappointment but they’ve circled the wagons impressively within eight days – picking up a point against Kilrush Shamrocks and the two here to mark their historic first ever year in Cusack Cup competition by reaching the semi-final.

This was every bit as easy as the scoreline suggests as intermediate side Clondegad were out-classed from the earliest stages when St Joseph’s hit them for three points inside as many minutes and from there cruised to a comprehensive ninepoint win.

It was a bitter pill to swallow for Clondegad – their fifth successive defeat in a league season that has gone into freefall after victories in the opening rounds over Liscannor and Kilrush Shamrocks, all of which means relegation back to Garry Cup competition for 2012 after two seasons in the top flight.

They were never really in this game once a pumped up St Joseph’s laid down an early marker points by David O’Brien, Colm Mullen and Enda Lyons. Cathal O’Sullivan thundered through from midfield in the fifth minute and was unlucky not to goal when his shot crashed off the crossbar, but David O’Brien picked up the pieces to point.

Clondegad’s only score of the half came via a Paudge McMahon free six minutes in as St Joseph’s pressed home their superiority with two pointed frees from Colm Mullen by the 15th minute while a barren spell of action then ended in the 30th minute when full-back Kevin Dilleen stormed up the field to land a great point to give his side a 0-7 to 0-1 interval lead.

Points from Eoin Griffin and a subdued Gary Brennan inside the first six minutes of the second half briefly raised the prospect of a Clondegad rally as they had the wind advantage, but by the 40th minute this game was over.

Enda Lyons, the most industrious player on view, hit two good points from play, while Johnny O’Brien blasted to the net to put St Joseph’s 1-9 to 0-3 clear.

The closing 20 were uneventful to say the very least as this game ground to its inevitable conclusion – Paudge McMahon grabbed a few consolation scores for the losers, while another Enda Lyons point just before the end completed his evening’s work and teed up a semi-final joust with county champions Doonbeg in two weeks time.

St Joseph’s Doora- Barefield
Declan O’Keeffe, Gavin O’Sullivan, Kevin Dilleen (0-1), Sean Flynn, Mark Rafferty, Damian Kennedy, Paul Dullaghan, Cathal O’Sullivan, Mark Halliinan, Aidan O’Connor, ColmMullen (0-3f), David O’Brien (0-2), Enda Lyons (0-4), Johnny O’Brien (1-0), Martin Duggan.

Subs
Mark Hanrahan for Duggan, Pa Mannion for O’Sullivan,Anthony Halpin for O’Connor.

Clondegad
Declan O’Loughlin, Brian Murphy, Paddy O’Connell, Conor Gavin, James Murphy, Kieran Browne, Francie Neylon, Eoin Griffin (0-1), Paddy Breen, Kenneth Kelly, Francis O’Reilly, Kevin Donnelly, Pat Coffey, Gary Brennan (0-1), Paudge McMahon (0-3, 2f).

Man of the Match
Enda Lyons (St Joseph’s D- B) Referee Michael Rock (Ennistymon)

Doonbeg 1-8 – St Joseph’s Miltown 1-7 at Doonbeg

DOONBEG’S work was done ahead of this encounter on Saturday evening – with five wins out of six they’d long since qualified for their fifth successive league semi-final.

Champions St Joseph’s Miltown didn’t have such a luxury, but in the end a one-point defeat was enough to keep the defence of their league title alive and tee up a semi-final clash with near neighbours Kilmurry Ibrickane.

Doonbeg took the points thanks to a strong second half display when they recovered from a 1-5 to 0-4 half-time deficit to get home by the minimum margin thanks to David Tubridy’s last minute point.

A goal by captain Kevin Nugent 15 minutes into the second half was the catalyst for this comeback, as it cancelled out Micheál Malone’s 20th minute effort for Miltown that was the big difference between the sides in the first half.

Miltown had opened the scoring through Dessie Molohan but three on the trot from David Tubridy (2) and Paul Dillon gave Doonbeg the initiative. Malone’s goal was followed by points from Eoin Curtin, Joe Curtin and Dessie Molohan as Miltown moved four clear.

However, Doonbeg weren’t to be denied once Nugent blasted to the net beyond Niall Quinn in the 45th minute, with David Tubridy steering them home to their sixth win from seven outings.

Doonbeg
Nigel Dillon, Joe Blake, Padraig Gallagher, Richie Vaughan, Brian Dillon (0-1), Padraig Ahern, Enda Doyle, ColmDillon (0-1), Brian Egan, Frank O’Dea, Kevin Nugent (1-0), Conor Downes (0-1), Paul Dillon, DavidTubridy (0-5), JamieWhelan.

Subs
EamonTubridy for Whelan.

St Joseph’s Miltown
Niall Quinn, David Cleary, Kevin Burke, Enda Malone, Michael Hehir (0-1), GrahamKelly, Gearóid Curtin, John Meade, Gary Egan (0-1), Eoin Curtin (0-1), Micheál Malone (1-0), Darragh McDonagh, DavidTalty, Dessie Molohan (0-3), Joe Curtin (0-1).

Subs
Gearóid Malone for Joe Curtin, Michael Barry for McDonagh

Man of the Match
David Tubridy (Doonbeg) Referee TomStackpoole (Ennistymon)

KILMIHIL will be the venue on Saturday for the opening round of the Senior B championship in which Miltown play Newmarket at 7.30p.m. This will be a very interesting game. Surprisingly Miltown did not field in last years senior championship. This year they have new management in James Murrihy (manager), Jim. Marrinan and Thomas Garrihy. Miltown have a big panel of young talented players with a number of U 16 A and Minor A titles to their credit.

Michelle McCaw is the team captain. Niamh Pender, Ciara Burke, Sinead Burke and Shauna Crowley were on the Clare Minor panel this year.

Newmarket also have a young team and will be hoping that the expierence gained by winning the Intermediate Championship and getting to the Munster Junior Club Final will stand to them.

Roisin McMahon is in her first year on the Clare senior panel and played at centre back when Clare defeated Fermanagh in the Div. 3 league final. Joining her on the Co. Panel is the club captain Carol O’Leary. Up and coming youny stars such as Niki Kaiser, Chloe Morey, Anne Marie Hayes, Bríd Enright and Zelika Browne are all on the Blues panel who are managed by Neil Ryan and his mentors Johnny Ryan, Kevin Corbett, Kevin Greene and Co. Camogie Secretary, Marie Louise Kaiser whose four daughters were on the panel last year.

Crusheen will start as favourites to overcome Coolmeen in the opening Round of the Senior B on Sunday at Lissycasey at 2p.m. There has been little between these two sides in recent years but this year Coolmeen who are managed by Aaron Kelly and Marie Haugh are down eleven of last years panel and will have a number of young players on duty such as Sarah Meaney, Aisling Reidy, Aisling McGann. Co. Senior players Sinead Eustace and Eimear O’Connor are key players as is team captain Lisa Farrell. Grace Lynch (injured) and Niamh Greene (away for the summer) are a huge loss.

Both were on the Clare panel. Crusheen are managed by Patrick Meaney with Martin Ogie Murphy and Damien Murphy as selectors. Maria O’Grady is the team captain, Crusheen will be looking to Emma Kearney, Rachel Lenihan, Nora Murphyand Noelle McGuane.

Fergus Rovers have a bye in the opening round.

Lissycasey 0-12 – Ennistymon 0-09 at Lissycasey

LISSYCASEY’S recent good form was enough to consolidate their status in the Garry Cup for another year after seeing off championship rivals Ennisymon on Saturday. Following on from their narrow victory over Éire Óg last time out, the home side completed their survival comeback with a superior work ethic. Ennistymon for their part, were not a patch of the side that edged out Liscannor in the opening round of the championship at the beginning of the month and played more as individuals over the hour.

With a strong gale blowing toward Fanny O’Dea’s, the writing was on the wall for Ennistymon after a lacklustre first half in which they used possession poorly and needlessly kicked the majority of their clearance to the waiting arms of unmarked sweeper Paul Nagle. The north Clare side did open the scoring through Brian Conway in the fourth minute but with Niall Kelly unerringly accurate from frees, Ennistymon were never allowed to pull clear at any stage of the half. Indeed, a brace of placed balls had Lissycasey 0-2 to 0-1 ahead by the ninth minute and while Joe Dowling (2), Sean O’Driscoll and Ronan Linnane replied for Ennistymon before the break, their two point half-time advantage was never going to be enough to hold off a resurgent Lissycasey side.

And so it proved as wind assisted Lissycasey kicked the first four points of the half by the 38th minute through Cathal Hill, Martin Moran, Oisin Talty and Matt O’Shea to take a 0-7 to 0-5 advantage. Meanwhile, luckless Ennistymon had ample opportunity to regain the lead but first a Kevin Scales mazy run and shot cannoned off the post, with Joey Rouine’s rebound going over the bar while only a minute later substitute Sean McConigley played a clever pass across the square to the waiting Robert McDonagh but his tap-in was somehow blocked over the bar by Matt O’Shea.

Having got out of jail, Lissycasey wiped their brow and attacked Ennistymon once more, with an inch perfect score from Enda Finucane on the left wing nudging them ahead once more before impact substitute Dermot Nagle doubled the advantage in the 49th minute.

Brian Conway eventually broke Ennistymon’s eleven minute scoring drought with a curling effort with the outside of his left boot but a more determined Lissycasey added the next three scores through Francis Hayes, Oisin Talty and substitute Nagle once more to open up the biggest gap of the game at 0-12 to 0-08 entering injury-time.

Ennistymon’s luck never turned at the other end either as a penalty appeal for Lawrence Healy was turned down while Sean McConigley did have the ball in the back of the net in the final minute but was penalised for being in the square. They will hope for better fortune when they sides meet again in the final round of the championship group stages in early September.

Lissycasey
Joe Hayes,Alan Nagle, Gerry Moran, Martin O’Connor, Cathal Hill (0-1), Michael Melican, Martin Moran (0-1), Enda Finucane (0-1), Danny Clohessy, MatthewO’Shea (0-1), Francis Hayes (0-1), OisinTalty (0-2), Derek McMahon, Niall Kelly (0-3f), Paul Nagle

Subs
Dermot Nagle (0-2) for McMahon (38 mins), Cyril Sheehan for M. Moran (54 mins), Sean Hayes for Melican (60 mins)

Ennistymon
Noel Sexton, Michael Anthony Devitt, Lawrence Healy, James Murphy, Michael O’Loughlin, Sean O’Driscoll (0-1), OisinVaughan, Cathal Malone, Ronan Linnane (0-1), Kevin Scales, Brian Conway (0-2), Joe Dowling (0-3 1f), Sean Cullinan, Robert McDonagh (0-1), Joey Rouine (0-1)

Subs
Sean McConigley for Cullinan (HT),Willie Murphy for Vaughan (44 mins), Kieran Monaghan for McDonagh (55 mins), Patrick O’Dwyer for Conway (60 mins)

Referee
Pat Cosgrove (Corofin)

Éire Óg 1-8 – Cooraclare 0-4 at Cooraclare

A STORMING second half performance helped Éire Óg advance to the last four of the Garry Cup on Saturday. In a dress rehersal for their upcoming championship game with memories still fresh from their three epic encounters in last year’s championship quarter-final, the Townies opened the scoring after 21 seconds when midfielder Shane Daniels raced through to score following a pass from Sean O’Meara.

Playing against the very strong wind that was blowing straight down the pitch the west Clare men coped confidently with the Éire Óg attack and they leveled the game after 21 mins when Rory Donnelly pointed from a close in free.

In a game that lacked any kind of excitement, the teams would retire at the break level at three points apiece.

Éire Óg’s short hand passing game would stand to them in the second half, allowing them to control the pace of the game for long period’s as Cooraclare simply could not break into the Éire Óg half.

The Townies would go on to outscore their opponents by 1-5 to 0-1 in the second half with the winners midfield dominating and in particular Brian Frawley setting up plenty of scoring chances for their forwards.

Éire Óg’s goal in the second half was scored by captain Stepen Hickey from the penalty spot and they also had points from Eoin Glynn, Michael O’Regan, Hickey, Daniels and the O’Meara brothers, Sean and Darren as they ran our comfortable winners.

Éire Óg
Shane O’Connell, Michael O’Regan (0-1), Donie Lyne, Dean Ryan, Paul Madden, Conor Healy, Nicky Hogan, Brian Frawley, Shane Daniels (0-3), Brian Mc Mahon, Stephen Hickey (1-1), David Monaghan, Eoin Glynn (0-1), Darren O’Meara (0-1), Sean O’Meara (0-1)

Subs
Danny Russell for D. O’Meara, David Ryan for Madden

Cooraclare
Declan Keane, ColmCarroll, Mark Tubridy (0-1), Conor Marrinan, Fergal Lillis,Thomas Downes,Thomas Donnellan, Sean Maguire, John O’Looney, Declan McMahon, Rory Donnelly (0-1f), Tommy Connors (0-1), Michael McMahon, Cathal Lillis, James Burke (0-1)

Sub
Gearoid Kelly for Connors

Referee
Michael Fitzgerald (Ballyea)

HAVING WON the county Féile, beating St Josephs, then Clarecastle in the semi final and Éire Óg in the final, Sixmilebridge manager Alma Keane would love to see the girls reach their potential and lift the Division 2 title in this weekend’s Feile na nGael finals. While they hosted the national tournament last year, Sixmilebridge last represented Clare as county winners in 2008.

This time round they will be hosted by Clarinbridge, with the sides clashing on Friday afternoon. On Saturday morning they will play Armagh champions, St Patricks of Keady, as well as Oranmore. With four teams in each of the four groups, the ‘Bridge girls will more than likely need to win all their games to progress to the semi-final that evening.

This same panel of players competed in the U14 Championship in Clare recently and gave some excellent displays of camogie.

Mike Morey, a selector on the backroom team, feels the standard of Under 14 camogie in Clare is high at the moment, a factor he attributes to the hard work being put in Clubs.

“Look at Inagh/Kilnamona, St Josephs, Clooney/Quin, and Éire Óg who won the Div 2 Feile title last year, and you can see what work is being put in. The standard is up across the board. Clubs are putting the emphasis on skills and it’s starting to show.”

Club secretary Keevah Whyte is also delighted with the support the club has received from locals in fundraising for Féile particularly the parents, and paid tribute to the hard work put in by the fundraising committee of Linda Carey, Breda Kennedy, John Carey and Fergal Kennedy. The Club is chaired by Joe Robbins whose positive approach to all things camogie in the ‘Bridge is a refreshing example to all involved in the county.

Sixmilebridge
Panel Nicole Shanahan, Rachel O’Callaghan, Niamh O’Dea, Leanne Gaule, Katie Freeman, Rebecca Keane, Emma Kennedy, Niamh Whyte, Keelin Lyons, Niamh McInerney, Karen Gallagher, Sarah Loughnane, Olivia Phelan,Aoife Roche, Rachel Kelly, Mary O’Connor, Laura Collins, Aoife Corbett, Sarah Moloney,Aoife Hurley, Caoimhe O’Callaghan, Maygen Griffin, Caoimhe Phelan, Hayley Brookes

Management
Alma Keane (Manager), Mike Morey, Flan McInerney,Aine McNamara CLARECASTLE HANDBALL Club are represented by both a girls and boys team for the national finals this weekend which only enhances the strides the club have made during its rejuvenation in recent years. Under the guidance of Pat Hayes, Gabriel Sheridan and Jeff Healy,

both teams will travel to Galway this weekend in confident mood.

The boys team will compete at Williamstown in Division 3 against the hosts (Friday, 3pm) and Carlow side Garryhill the following afternoon (12.45pm) while the girls are hosted by Micheal Breathnachs in Division 2 and are due to take on the home side first on Friday (12.30pm) before encountering Kilkenny side Clogh (4pm) and Sligo’s Castleconnor (7pm) on Saturday.