Month: July 2011

THE Clare District Soccer League will mark its 50th anniversary next year by holding an end of season awards night.

Honours for the best player, best team and manager of the season could be up for grabs at the event, which was announced yesterday by CDSL secretary Oliver Fitzpatrick. The announcement coincides with a call by Shannon Olympic football club for an end of season awards ceremony.

In a motion submitted to last night’s league AGM, the Premier league side stated, “at the end of each season the League holds a social event to celebrate the season just past and present awards for outstanding achievement of various forms such as; player of the year for each league, manager of the year for each league, team of the year, top scorers in each league etc”

Depending on the success of next year’s awards, Fitzpatrick explained, the ceremony might become an annual event.

The announcement forms part of Fitzpatrick’s end of year report, which also outlines the league’s priorities for next season. This includes the further development of the County Grounds in Doora.

Fitzpatrick explains, “As mentioned at previous meetings we have planning permission for lights at the County Grounds and its one of my priorities for next season to ensure that we press ahead with this project”.

The report continues, “However we will need to get a loan for this project and as most people are aware its harder and harder these days to get money off the banks so the League cannot afford any drop in our income for the next few years or we will not be able to complete this work or any other further development work at our County Grounds.

“Our aim is to have our grounds up to League of Ireland standard in the future but this will require continuous investment to complete”.

Fitzpatrick also highlighted Clare’s success in reaching the semi-final of the Inter League Youths Cup for the first time since 1971.

The report states, “A management team of Mike Moloney, Gary Seery and Eoin McNulty were put in place at the start of the season and they set about putting together our best squad of players for many years. In the semi-final we were drawn away to Kilkenny and despite a great comeback from being 2 goals down to level the match we lost out on a 3-2 score line. On behalf of the League again I thank the players and management for their efforts throughout the season”.

Fitzpatrick also paid tribute to league officials including outgoing Chairman Paul Tuohy, coaches, FAI development officer Denis Hynes and all clubs who contributed to the success of the recent FAI festival of football.

CLARE referee Padraig Sutton will be the man in charge when a tournament involving some of the biggest teams in world football kicks off in Dublin at the weekend.

The Ennis man will referee a game between an Airtricity league XI and Manchester City in the Dublin Super Cup on Saturday.

The two-day tournament, which also involves Inter Milan and Glasgow Celtic, takes place at the Aviva Stadium.

For Sutton the glamour friendly represents a welcome break from the hectic schedule of league games.

Sutton, who started refereeing 13 years ago, has been afforded the opportunity to officiate the game due to a break in the Airtricity league season.

He said, “Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. Its (the league season) fairly full tilt at the moment. It’s a friendly, a good day out for the family. So yeah, hopefully it goes well”.

It won’t be the first time Sutton has rubbed shoulders with some of the star names in European football.

Last August, he was selected in a group of four Irish referees eligible to take part in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League and Europa League games.

In September, Sutton served as fourth official as one of the match officials for the Champions League meeting between Romanian side CFR Cluj and Swiss outfit FC Basel. Two years ago, the Limerick based Guard was among the match officials for the Europa League meeting be- tween Tottenham Hotspur and Turkish club Famagusta.

An experienced league of Ireland referee, Sutton has also officiated at underage Irish international games.

His involvement in the Dublin Super Cup strengthens the connections between Clare and the high profile pre-season tournament.

Along with sports media firm, Endemol Sports, Ennis man Damien O’Brien is one of the principal organizers of the event through his company Iconic.

Five years ago O’Brien, a former Turnpike Rovers player whose father used to manage Lifford, devised the format for Football Icon – a reality TV show that offers young footballers the chance to earn a professional contract with some of Europe’s biggest clubs.

LAST THURSDAY night saw the finals night of the ITRA Tag Rugby season is Ennis RFC.

Division 2 kicked off with fifth place Munstergroup and sixth place DBOCS taking to the pitch. What ensued was a closely matched game however DBOCS just clinched the game by 18 points to Munstergroup’s 15, giving DBOCS the Bowl Trophy later that night.

TTM Tryers, who finished the league in third place took on fourth place Ennis Randomers. Both teams had found their form in recent weeks and again it was another fiercely contested match. In the last minutes TTM managed to stretch their lead to two points meaning the Randomers had to secure a female try to take the game. Unfortunately the Randomers couldn’t deliver and TTM took the game winning the Plate Trophy.

On Wing With Prayer topped the Division 2 league and faced second place the Shades in the play-off for the Cup. There was nothing between the two teams throughout the game and after the final whistle, the teams were all square on 8 points apiece. After a short break, the game went to five minutes play of Golden Try. On Wing With Prayer didn’t need much time and got the first try winning the game and the Cup with a final score of 9 points to The Shades 8.

Division 1 saw fifth place MurtysMen taking on sixth place The Try Hards. MurtysMen started the game with a five point deficit due to the tardiness of one player, however they played some excellent rugby and never looked like they would lose to the Try Hards, The game finished with MurtysMen taking the Bowl by 15 points to The Try Hards 12.

In the play-off for the Division 1 Plate, third placed Scrum N Coke took on Lucas’ Legends. The game was evenly matched up to the last four minutes when Lucas’ Legends got both a female try worth three points and a male try extending their lead beyond the reach of Scrum N Coke. The game finished with Lucas’ Legends winning 10 points to Scrum N Coke’s 5.

The headliner game of the night saw Division 1 winners Tag Her & Try Her looking to secure the Cup, taking on their long term rivals and current Champions, Deep Heat. The reigning champions showed their class throughout the game and despite the first half being closely matched, Deep Heat ran away with the game in the second half. Deep Heat won the game 13 points to 7 and were crowned champions for the third time in a row.

The season concluded with the presentation in Ennis RFC, followed by a barbecue in Lucas’ Bar. Despite the conclusion of the league, there is more tag rugby to be played with the various beach festivals taking place over the next month.

In particular, there is a large representation from Ennis expected at the Kilkee festival on August 20. Full details are available on www.tagrugby.ie

Ballyea 2-23 – Newmarket-on-Fergus 4-04 at Ballyea

A REAL statement of intent from Ballyea in humbling the defending champions and maintaining their perfect start to the championship. The home side simply had the better balance throughout and had far too much strength for an understrength Newmarket who were on the backfoot for the majority.

Still, as impressive as the 2-23 scoreline is and the fact that they had 46 shots at the posts over the hour, there is still plenty of room for improvement ahead of tougher challenges ahead. The home side hit 21 wides in total and conceded four preventable goals that might have cost them in a tighter game.

In saying that, they had more than enough fires for Newmarket to extinguish, with county minor captain Tony Kelly in unstoppable form, particularly in the second half when Newmarket tried their best to rally. There was also impressive displays from Jack Browne, Gearoid O’Connell, Joe Neylon, Martin O’Leary, Niall Deasy, Darragh Crowe and Tadgh Lynch that more than kept the Blues on their toes throughout.

However, it was the visitors who struck the first blow after only 90 seconds when a James Warren delivery was anticipated by Ryan Corry to volley to the net. It didn’t take long for Ballyea to recover from that setback however as points from Kelly and Tadgh Lynch were followed in the seventh minute by a clincial Kelly goal after receiving a handpass on the run from Niall Deasy.

It was the start of a Ballyea flurry of points that saw Kelly, Deasy and O’Leary outscore their opponents by 0-10 to 0-01 over the next 15 minutes to open up an 11 point advantage. However, just as they started the half. Newmarket finished with a Corry goal, with another Warren delivery this time evading goalkeeper Shane Harkin, leaving Corry with the simple job of flicking to an empty net at 1-13 to 2-03.

Two further goals within ten minutes of the restart through substutute Eoin Frawley and Oisin Pender cut the deficit to just four but far from panicking, Ballyea took those sucker-punches on the chin and hit back in devastating fashion with an unanswered 1-6 in the final quarter including Michael Nagle 45th minute goal.

Ballyea
Shane Harkin, Diarmuid Lorigan, Eoin Donnellan, Darragh Crowe, Jack Browne, Gearoid O’Connell, Joe Neylon, Stan Lineen,Tony Kelly (113 5f, 2’65’s),Tadgh Lynch (0-1), Niall Deasy (0-5), Martin O’Leary (0-4), Lee Brady, David Brassil, Michael Nagle (1-0)

Subs
Lee Sherlock for Lorrigan, Martin Quigley for Nagle

Newmarket- on- Fergus
Ronan McCauley, Ronan McCarthy, Evan Keogh, Jamie Cronin, Sean Quinlivan, Niall O’Connor, Paudie Conway, Shane Kelleher, Paul Gleeson, James Warren, Oisin Pender (1-0), LiamHarkin, David Burke, Frank Melody (0-4 3f), Ryan Corry (2-0)

Subs
Eoin Frawley (1-0) for Harkin, Colin Dugan for Burke, Gearoid McMahon for Melody (inj)

Man of the Match
Tony Kelly (Ballyea) Referee

Clarecastle 4-11 – Sixmilebridge 1-11 at O’Garney Park, Sixmilebridge

AT THE beginning of this year’s championship, one would have predicted that these two teams would be in the shake-up come the knockout stages given the fact that both contested last year’s Under 16 final (which the ‘Bridge won in a replay) and both have the shared the corresponding U14 and U15 championships at this age. This prediction was given further credence upon viewing this Sunday morning clash as both teams contributed to an entertaining game of hurling in which the visitors ran out impressive nine point winners.

A nervous start from both sides was illustrated when a Robby Corry effort from out the field was spilled by the Clarecastle goalkeeper and fullforward Gavin Whyte was on hand to finish the rebound straight to the back of the net to give the ‘Bridge the best possible start inside two minutes. Merely a minute later, Clarecastle midfielder Bobby Duggan settled the visitors by landing a 65’ between the posts. Duggan was to go on to have a huge say on this game as his ability to influence the game at the most critical of times was of great benefit to his team’s overall performance. Duggan added another free in the eighth minute from 20 metres as Clarecastle started to come more in to the game and this was highlighted by another superb Duggan score from play as he left the ‘Bridge defence in his wake. Conor Deasy and Alex Morey traded successful frees for the home side midway through the first half before Clarecastle really established their foothold on this game and gained a lead that they would never relinquish. Firstly, a fine move involving influential centre-back Mark McGuane resulted in a fine score from play from centre-forward Pajoe Dolan before good work from the Magpie’s inside line resulted in a penalty which Duggan duly obliged in blasting straight down the middle to give his side a two point lead.

From here on, the visitors were in total control as Duggan supplied an excellent score over his right shoulder in the 19th minute before cornerforward, Seánie Lynch, pulled first time to the back of the net a minute later after the initial effort had been expertly saved by Jason Loughnane in the ‘Bridge goal. Conor Deasy and Stephen Mulready did manage to add two further scores for the home side in the closing minutes of the half with the latter providing a sublime effort from the sideline. However, this was all in vain as Pajoe Dolan’s seemingly tame effort skidded along the surface and into the net to give the visitors a seven point cushion at the break.

Conor Deasy led a mini revival for the ‘Bridge in the opening ten minutes of the second half with three unanswered points while Barry Fit- zpatrick was also doing very well at full-back. However, Duggan was to the fore again with a free from halfway to restore the Maggie’s cushion. Gavin Whyte was beginning to exert a big influence upon his switch to midfield as he scored two fine points on the trot at the three quarter stage of the game to leave just three points between the sides once again. Duggan stepped up to the mark again with another excellent score from play in the 47th minute before adding another free four minutes later. The game was effectively killed off with nine minutes to go as Clarecastle full-forward, Derek Casey, provided a devastating finish to the bottom left corner. With Clarecastle now in full control, Duggan treated the crowd to probably the score of the day with a flawless effort off the hurley from the sideline. Deasy and Eóin Flynn provided late consolation points for the home side before Duggan rounded off a superb individual performance with another score from play in injury time. On evidence from this game, Clarecastle appear to be a team in form while the ‘Bridge have a lot of work to do if they intend on holding on their crown as Under 16 champions.

Clarecastle
Jake Kearney, Cian Crimmins, Dylan Broderick, Brian Gilroy, Pat Tuohy, Mark McGuane, Joe Barry, Bobby Duggan (1-9 3f, 1-0 Pen, 1’65), Paul Dolan, StephenWard (0-1), Pajoe Dolan (1-1), Jake Barnes, Seanie Lynch (1-0), Derek Casey (1-0), Ben Moloney (0-1)

Subs
AdamCrowe

Sixmilebridge
Jason Loughnane, Shane McInerney, Barry Fitzpatrick, Cathaoir Agnew, Kevin Fennessy,Alex Morey (0-1, 65’), Stephen Mulready (0-1), Robby Corry, Conor Deasy (0-6, 5f),Tony Fitzpatrick, Brian Corry, Eóin McMahon,Tomás Sheehan, GavinWhyte (1-2), Eóin Flynn (0-1)

Subs
Cathal Lynch, Pa Mulready, Conor Cahill

Referee
Neil O’Brien (O’Callaghan’s Mills)

Newmarket-on-Fergus 2-16 – Crusheen 3-10 at Clarecastle

NEWMARKET-ON-FERGUS finally booked their place in the last four of the Clare Cup but certainly didn’t make it a comfortable journey for themselves after a late Crusheen rally. Last year’s finalists dominated the tie for the opening 40 minutes, building up a 13 point lead in the process but took their foot off the pedal enough for Crusheen to hit three goals in what was to prove a nervy finish.

It was an encounter that the Blues were always expected to win once it was confirmed that Crusheen would be without eight of the starting lineup that clinched a first ever county senior title back in October including county seniors Pat Vaughan and Cian Dillon, former panelists Alan Brigdale and Cathal Dillon, county Under 21’s Fergus Kennedy and Conor O’Donnell as well as Gearoid O’Donnell and Joe Meaney.

Newmarket themselves were without the services of Shane O’Brien who was lining out for Doonbeg in the Cusack Cup final, Sean O’Connor and Martin O’Hanlon but the county senior experience of Colin Ryan and David Barrett in particular saw them open up a 1-7 to 0-3 lead by the 24th minute while also seeing a Ryan 20 metre free stopped by Shaun Dillon. The goal itself came through the strength of Anthony Kilmartin who rounded his man and despite being fouled on his way to goal, the fullforward still managed to bat the ball past goalkeeper Donal Tuohy.

Three further Ryan points saw the Blues take a 1-10 to 0-05 advantage into the break with Crusheen’s only real scoring threat coming from placed balls. It would get worse for the county champions immediately on the restart when David Barrett soloed through for a second goal within two minutes followed by points from Ryan. Kilmartin and James Liddy to open up a commanding 2-13 to 0-06 lead by the 40th minute.

It seemed merely a damage limitation exercise for Crusheen as Newmarket emptied the bench but a defensive error handed the Blood and Bandages a much needed lifeline as Jamie Fitzgibbon dispossessed his marker before striking to the net. A minute later, Patrick O’Grady’s handpass across the square to older brother Gerry yielded a second goal while points for Ciaran O’Doherty and David Forde cut the deficit to just five with 12 minutes remaining.

Colin Ryan eventually stopped the rot with a free in the 50th minute but when Donal Tuohy rifled a 20 metre free to the net in the next passage of play to leave only a goal between the sides, Newmarket began to feel the pinch. However, Crusheen were unable to grab the goal that would regain full parity and Newmarket held on to advance to the last four against Kilmaley while the county champions will have another chance against Inagh/Kilnamona this weekend to decide the other semi-final qualifier from Division 1.

Miltown 1-10 – Crusheen 0-07 at Kilnamona

CRUSHEEN had every chance to take the points in the Ladies Senior Football Championship meeting with Miltown Malbay last Thursday in Kilnamona but didn’t grasp the opportunity despite Miltown being down to 14 players for 20 minutes of the game.

Crusheen, who played into the wind and towards the new training alley, were on the board quickly with a Norah Murphy point but referee Michael Talty awarded a penalty at the other end and Sinead Sexton knocked it past Noelle McGuane to put Miltown up by two points followed by another Miltown point shortly after that. A great spell of pressure from Crusheen saw them score two points from frees by Michelle O’Donnell and Emma Kearney and their own Tina Meaney scored a well taken point from play to level the game. Karen Galvin set up Sexton who pushed Miltown ahead with a nice point but referee Talty played the advantage when Crusheen’s Elaine O’Mahony was fouled in the process of taking a very strong point to level again. Miltown’s Niamh Coyne edged them ahead again after twenty minutes and in a period of play that saw Miltown Malbay lose two of the full back line to the sin-bin, Sinead Griffin for ten minutes before the break and then Helen Burke until eight minutes after the break, Crusheen failed to respond. A Miltown show of defiance led mainly by the impressive Fiona Lafferty but with great defensive cover by Kate Curtin, Tara Rynne, Bernie McGuire and Shauna Crowley saw Sinead Sexton fire over four points, three from frees and one from a lovely combination with Niamh Coyne.

Emma Kearney pointed a free for Crusheen to keep them in it at 1-7 to 0-6 but Sexton was back for her fifth successive Miltown point. Fiona Laf- ferty decided to finish out some of her own attacks launched from midfield, adding two points to Miltown’s tally despite Crusheen applying a bit more pressure. In what could have been a remarkable resurgence, Crusheen’s Elaine O’Mahony’s dead-cert goal was nudged over the bar by keeper Siobhain Talty and when three scorable frees in the closing ten minutes failed to find their target, Miltown held on to take the valuable win.

Miltown Malbay
SiobhainTalty, Helen Burke, Sinead Griffin, Jennifer Barker, Shauna Crowley, Bernie McGuire,Tara Rynne, Kate Curtin, Fiona Lafferty, Edel Hynes, Niamh Coyne,Aisling McCaw, Karen Galvin, Niamh Pender, Sinead Sexton

Crusheen
Noelle McGuane, Claire O’Grady, Marie O’Grady, Niamh McCoy,Ann Fitzgibbon, Mary Roseingrave, Edel McGuane, Emma Kearney, Regina Fennessy, Michelle O’Donnell,Tina Meaney, Norah Murphy, Elaine O’Mahony, Jacinta O’Grady

Referee
Michael Talty (Kilmurry Ibrickane)

Newmarket 4-14 – Fergus Rovers 0-03 at Banner GAA

NEWMARKET recorded a comprehensive victory over an understrength Fergus Rovers on Thursday evening to keep them in the hunt for silverware.

The dual senior club, who captured the county intermediate title last year, were much sharper while seven of their players contributed scores. At half time they led 3-7 02 and maintained their firm grip on proceedings for the second period to ease up to victory. The Kaiser sisters, Ruth and Niki scored two goals each while team captain Carol O’Leary chipped in with four points.

The winners had fine performances from Roisin McMahon, Chloe Morey, Carol O’Leary, Laura McMahon and the Kaiser sisters. Carmel McGuane was outstanding for Fergus Rovers while Kelly Talty, Aoife Clohessy, Clare Hester and Laura Hanrahan all played well.

Newmarket are well in contention in this competition and will play Miltown in an outstanding fixture after the Clare v Tipperary match next Monday while Fergus Rovers are now out of the championship.

Newmarket- on- Fergus
Aine Lawlor, Jane O’Leary, Stephanie Halpin, Maria Kennelly,Aoife Griffin, Roisin McMahon,Aimee McInerney, Chloe Morey (0-1),Aine O’Brien, Gemma McInerney (0-1), Carol O’Leary (capt.) (0-4), Laura McMahon (0-2),Ali Quinlan, Ruth Kaiser (2-2), Niki Kaiser (2-3)

Fergus Rovers
KellyTalty, Rita Donnelly,Aoife Clohessy (0-1), Carmel McGuane, Laura Meaney, Lorraine Kelly, Clare Hester (capt.), Clodagh McNeilis, Laura Hanrahan,Triona Melican, Grainne Griffin,Aine Kelly (0-2 1f), Grainne McCarthy, Ciara O’Malley, Jackie Coughlan

Sub
Zara Hill for Aine Kelly (inj)

Referee
Barry Kelly (Miltown)

THE sweat and toil of pre-season beckons for Ennis Rugby Club as they prepare for a new season.

The club’s adult teams return for training next week as they look to build on the progress made last season.

Ennis finished in mid-table of division two of the Munster junior league and will be hoping to kick on after some encouraging displays.

Former Garryowen head coach, Dara O’Sullivan will begin his second season at the helm. This year the club will field two adult teams so all new players are welcome. Anyone interested in joining the club can contact Brian Farrell (captain) 087 9610968 or Richard Murphy (chairman of rugby) 085 1166298.

The club would also like to thank all people who came out to support for a recent golf classic at Ennis Golf Club. Pre-season training begins at Ennis Rugby Club on Tuesday August 2 at 7pm.

CLARE’S Chris Bryan had a fantastic eighth place finish in the 5k open water event at the World Championships in Shanghai on Friday, clocking in at 56 minutes and 28 seconds – just 11 seconds behind winner Thomas Lurz of Germany. There were 51 starters in total. The result represented Ireland’s first top 8 finish at a World Championships since 2004.

“I approached it differently from the 10k and took it out a lot faster. I managed to stay within the top 15 swimmers for most of the race then towards the end myself and the French swimmer broke away and took a slightly different route than the pack. When I re-joined the pack I was in about eighth position and just stayed calm and pushed hard with 15 minutes to go,” commented Bryan after the race.

“The last 400 metres of the race was rough – everyone was on top of each other, there was a lot of fighting and kicking. I got an elbow in the head but stayed calm and relaxed and really gave it my all to the finish.”

Unlike the 10k race which Chris competed in on Wednesday, the 5k is not an Olympic event. Despite this, today’s race will give Chris a tremendous amount of confidence to continue to perform well on the International stage as he travels to Holland next week to compete in the final leg of the European Open Water Cup.

“This race is going to give me a lot of confidence going forwards and I’m excited to see what I can do in conditions that suit me well, unlike the water today. The 31 degree water temperature here was probably the hottest I’ve ever raced in and it didn’t suit an Irishman!”

Chris finished 27th overall in the 5k event at last year’s European long course Championships (Budapest) and since then has been showing great form on the European circuit, at one stage leading the rankings after the Antalya, Turkey leg.

“A top 8 finish is fantastic. One of Swim Ireland’s targets for this meet is to get two top 8 finishes so this knocks out one of those goals. Last year Chris finished 27th in the 5k event at the European Championships so he has improved a lot in one year. We were hoping for a top 20 finish in the 5k at this meet and it was a very strong field – so top 8 is brilliant,” said Chris’s coach at Swim Ireland’s Limerick High Performance Centre, Ronald Claes.

National Performance Director Peter Banks said “Chris’s top 8 finish is a great start for the team and gives Chris a lot of confidence going forwards when he has another opportunity to qualify for the Olympics in Portugal next year at the Olympic qualifier.”