Category: Sport

Éire Óg 5-12 – St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield 2-10 at Corofin

SUCCESS BREEDS success they say and after winning the Minor Division 3 title the previous weekend adding to the Under 16 crown garnered earlier in the year, Éire Óg brought that momentum into Saturday’s Junior B championship final to deservedly take the honours.

A lightning start also helped with two quickfire shots to the net, one each from Shauna Keane and Orla Devitt, had them six points clear within two minutes of the throw-in. Playing with the aid of a strong breeze, the Ennis girls made no mistake and capitalised on this advantage, notching up a further 1-5 with another goal from Shauna Keane and points from Orla Devitt, Shaunagh O’Brien, Shauna Keane and Tara Sheehan before St. Joseph’s Rebecca Devine found the net with a well taken strike in the 20th minute. The kick-out ended up in the arms of Éire Óg’s Orla McMahon whose excellent lay-off to Shauna Keane ended up splitting the posts. Rebecca Devine, lethal when in possession, pointed for the Parish, but Éire Óg finished the half strongly with points from Shauna Keane and Shaunagh O’Brien to leave them 3-9 to 1-1 ahead by the interval.

The Parish girls came out all guns blazing in the second half, with a great Rebecca Devine point getting them off the mark in the opening minute but totally against the run of play, Shaunagh O’Brien found the net for Éire Óg. In spite of this blow, St. Joseph’s kept the heads up and continued to dominate the opening quarter with a further point from Rebecca Devine. Devine’s shot on goal seemed destined for the net, but an outstanding save from Aoife O’Neill sent the ball over the bar. Sarah O’Keeffe and Orla Devitt traded points, before St. Joseph’s notched up three points in a row with shots from Mary Sweeney, Rebecca Devine and Niamh Willis. Again, the hardworking Orla Devitt, who gave an outstanding performance at mid- field, put a shot over the bar while Shaunagh O’Brien followed up with a well taken goal. The next five minutes belonged to the Parish, notching up 1-02. Time ran out, however, for St. Joseph’s with the last score of the match, a pointed free from Orla Devitt, giving the Townies a 5-12 to 2-10 win.

Éire Óg
Aoife O’Neill, Sophie Hanna, Sinead Darcy, Orla Chaplin, RaeWall,Aida Griffey, Edel Griffey, Louise Kirwan (Capt.), Orla Devitt (1-6 3f), JoanneWalsh,Alana O’Brien, Orla McMahon, Tara Sheehan (0-1), Shauna Keane (2-3), Shaunagh O’Brien (2-2)

Subs
Edel Griffin for Griffey, Sarah Cullinan for Kirwan, Rebecca Crowe for Sheehan, Katie Malone for Keane, Deirbhile Ryan for Wall

Doora/ Barefield
Niamh O’Loughlin (Capt.), Sarah Nugent, Michelle McMahon, Catriona Davenport, Eimear Casey, Kelly-Anne Hassett, Karen O’Brien,Amanda Hassett, Molly Brannock, Sorcha McCormack, Rebecca Devine, NiamhWillis, Aoife Murphy, Sarah O’Keeffe, Mary Sweeney

Subs
Ciara Willis for Molly Brannock(inj) Anne Marie McGann for Sorcha McCormack

Referee
Michael Fitzgerald (Clondegad)

THIS WEEKEND is very busy for Clare Ladies Football Development Squads at all levels.

The Under 15 development squad, under the watchful eye of coordinator Joe Downes and mentors Sharon Malone, Edel Carmody-Malone, Annmarie Callinan and Roisin Garry, will compete in their Under 15 Munster blitz in Tipperary this Saturday, where all counties will be represented. In preparation for the event, they will play their second warm-up game with Munster assigned twin-county Limerick, having won their first outing played at Éire Óg last week. Players will be contacted by text with details.

The Under 13 development squad are preparing for its own Under 13 Munster blitz on November 19. They started their preparations recently with a short and spirited blitz against a selection of the Banner Ladies Under 14’s and continue with another blitz against their twin-county Kerry Ladies this Saturday at Killimer GAA pitches, weather permitting. Kerry will be fielding three teams and there will be plenty of opportunity for top tier football experience against the Kingdom. Coordinator Alan Copley with Johnny Hayes, Eimear Considine and Aine Kelly will have taken the Under 13’s through a twelve week program by the time the interprovincial finals arrive. The trials for the 2012 Under 14 panel will commence on November 26 when the Marian Keane Under 13 Tournament will be played over four weekends.

Also on this weekend, Under 11 Coordinator Gordon Drummy with mentors Pat Keane, Tara Kelly and Liz Kelly will field their Clare hopefuls in the PJ O’Halloran Under 11 Intercounty Football Tournament being held in Kilrush. Teams from Limerick, Kerry and Tipperary will travel to the west Clare venue for what has become one of the best attended underage events on the ladies football calendar in Munster. Best of luck to all the Clare ladies footballers this weekend.

Clondegad 0-13 – Corofin 1-07 at Hennessy Memorial Park, Miltown

THESE two have history at intermediate level over the past few years, but also at junior level this term after their tussles in league and championship. Corofin won the league decider, but it was Clondegad’s time in this penultimate round replay as they powered away from the men from the Burren in extra-time.

Clondegad scored a late equaliser through Dermot Gavin the first day – on this day it was Colm Quinlivan who struck late to bring a gripping encounter to extra-time, after which the men from the estuary restricted Corofin to a point, while adding four of their own to book a final berth against Clonlara.

It was Corofin who forced the pace early on, with veteran Colm Clancy goaling in the third minute. Clondegad did claw their way back into it with points from Charlie McCarthy on 13 minutes, Colm Quinlivan six minutes later and then Barry Coffey in the 22 minutes, while both sides could thank their keepers Kenneth Breen (Clondegad) and Paul Moroney (Corofin) for brilliant saves in 17th and 21st minutes respectively.

Clondegad hit the front for the first time with a point from Dermot Gavin after 27 minutes before Colm Clancy hit two either side of a great effort from Declan Keane which left the sides deadlocked at the break Corofin 1-2 Clondegad 0-5.

The Colms, Quinlivan and Clancy swopped points by the 39th minute before two more from Clancy by the 42nd minute put Corofin 1-5 to 0-6 clear. A point from Jason O’Connor at the three quarter-stage edged Corofin three clear and seemingly on their way to the decider, but Clondegad’s resolve never faded and a hattrick of points via two Colm Quinlivan frees either side of an effort from play by Ray Flannery brought the game to extra-time.

Clondegad had the bit between their teeth now and although Corofin opened the scoring in extra time thanks to Gearóid Kelly after four minutes, it proved to be their final score. The sides were level 1-7 to 0-10 at half-time in extra-time after Ray Flannery pointed in eighth minute, but then on the turnover three-ina-row from Colm Quinlivan, wingback David Sheehan and sub Rory Longe guided them into the decider.

They’re 60 minutes from an intermediate/junior double – the greatest year in the club’s history.

Clondegad

ON SATURDAY, November 12, the new Clare Juvenile Basketball League for Under 14 girls will tip off in St Flannan’s gym.

Seven clubs will compete from Kilrush to St Colman’s (Gort) and Abbey Lakers (Quin) in the first of many underage blitzes that will take place throughout the county for the coming season.

The boy’s Under 14 tournament will take place in Ennistymon on Saturday, November 26. There has been a lot of basketball development in the county over the past number of years, especially in the Marion Keane primary schools tournament so this new campaign will give children the opportunity to continue playing basketball as they get older.

The committee has proposed that clubs with teams under 12 should organise friendlies on a home and away basis until the Christmas break so that the kids get to learn more and enjoy the fun and social aspect of basketball.

This is a very exciting time for basketball in Clare and the committee hope that the community will benefit greatly from this new initiative. Clare Sports Partnership has helped and supported the setting up of the league and this should see a dramatic rise in the amount of players, spectators, and public interest in basketball around the County.

In the coming weeks, the league will run a coaching and referee’s course for people interested in getting involved in the sport.

Anybody looking for further information can contact Clare Sports Partnership, or ring Stephen on 0862170688. or email, rivoleigh@eircom.net

Cla r e Cup Fina l I na gh /Kilna mona v Newma r ket -on-Fer gus @ O’Ga r ney Pa r k, Sixmilebr idge, Sunday 2pm HISTORY beckons for either Inagh/ Kilnamona and Newmarket-on-Fer gus on Sunday. For Inagh/Kilnamona, who began their journey as a permanent senior amalgamation only three years ago, it is a massive leap forward after reaching their first ever league final.

However, winning on Sunday would be historic for Newmarket too as the most successful side in the competition’s history with 21 titles look to bridge a 37 year gap to their last Clare Cup crown. Historic as well because none of the present squad were even born when the Blues saw off east Clare amalgamation Brian Borus in 1974.

While championship success had continued to elude the Blues, it would have been easy for them to down tools two months back after exiting the title race at the group stages for the first time in seven years. Howev- er, they refused to throw in the towel and after securing a senior B title just over a week ago, they are back in a second successive Clare Cup final, determined to finish the job this time around.

They were well in control of last year’s decider as well until Niall Gilligan almost singlehandedly snatched the title from under their noses but with Colin Ryan in top scoring form, aided by David Barrett who grabbed six points at the weekend, and county senior James McInerney anchoring the defence, they will be difficult to stop.

That said, if anything, Inagh/Kilnamona have proved to be one of the most difficult sides to shake off this year. They always possessed the attacking power, with Ger and Niall Arthur and Conor Tierney to the fore but they have also tightened up considerably at the back with Brian Glynn and Dermot Lynch in particular shining this year. In this competi- tion alone, they have displayed a new stubborn never-say-die attitude in drawing with Crusheen and Clonlara in the knock-out stages before winning out both replays.

They are also the only side to have beaten Newmarket-on-Fergus in this competition all year after their opening round 1-15 to 1-12 victory on away soil, with county champions Crusheen the only other team to have got the better of the Blues in competitive action in 2011.

That will certainly give the Combo optimism ahead of the final but equally, it provides ample ammunition for Newmarket’s motivation and guards against any complacency that might have crept in following their recent impressive run.

Stopping the Blues from entering into their stride early on will be key for Inagh/Kilnamona on Sunday as in the last three games, they have been able to build up significant leads before their opponents finally settled. They were 2-2 to no score up against the Mills after only seven minutes in the Senior B semi-final, scored the first six points of the game against Clarecastle in the final and on Saturday, were 0-10 to 0-0 clear of Kilma- ley before they opened their account in the 19th minute.

A similar start on this occasion could effectively finish the game before it even starts as it is a young Inagh/Kilnamona side that crave the brighter start to settle their inevitable nerves.

For all of Inagh/Kilnamona’s considerable progress this year, it is still difficult to look beyond Newmarket for the title, even taking into account their nervy displays in recent big finals. They are the team in unstoppable form, have buckets of big game experience and certainly won’t lack motivation as they bid to banish the lengthy hoodoo that has plagued them over the last 30 years.

Win this and they can follow in Sixmilebridge’s footstep by building for a championship assault but if Inagh/Kilnamona can match them for the opening 40 minutes, it could be the Combo who will look longingly towards the future. Verdict: Newma rket-on-Fergus

WAY back in 1980 Éire Óg hurling really started to roar as the mercurial Martin Nugent enjoyed his finest hour when bagging 3-3 in a senior county final win over the storied Newmarket-on-Fergus Blues.

Now, along with younger brother Tony, who was also a key member of that Éire Óg Dalcassians team winning team 31 years ago that ush ered in a great era for the game in the county capital, he’s brought the Townie roar back to life.

Who knows? Another great era, could be at hand!

All because such was the cacophony of sound that greeted this com- prehensive county final success, the enthusiasm and the language afterwards, you know this was just a start.

“We wanted to get Éire Óg back up playing senior hurling,” roared Martin Nugent above the din and beside the rolling maul – it would have done the All Blacks proud earlier in their World Cup final day in Auckland – that was just starting to gather momentum.

“We met in the Queen’s Hotel in January with all the guys. That’s when this started. We just laid out a plan that this is where we wanted to be – to be in the county final and winning it and to be back up playing senior hurling.

“They key for us this year was that everyone believed in one another. Everyone on the panel believed. We really believed and we kept the focus on hurling. It was hurling all the way, all year.

“We had to have experience with youth and that’s the way we set up. The likes of Fergus Flynn, Tadhg MacNamara, Marc O’Donnell, Barry Nugent had the experience – then the younger lads like Davie O’Halloran, Tommy Downes and more added a huge amount.”

Nugent wasn’t bothered by the change of venue from Cusack Park to Clarecastle that was confirmed just after 11am, something he revealed was drilled into the players all the week and something they were prepared for.

“It’s a game of hurling,” he said. “It’s on a pitch. It doesn’t matter where it’s played. This pitch is as good as Cusack Park and we didn’t mind where the game was played. We were ready for the game anywhere and that showed early on.

“We said it to them before the game that ‘we’re going to take it to Ruan from the opening minutes’. We weren’t going to wait for Ruan to start hurling. We were going to do the hurling and start well.

“We had that drilled into them, that we were going to determine the pace of the game we wanted to play. From the word that’s the way they did it. They did what we wanted.

“We have always said that we take our games in half an hour stages. The first half – we said ‘let’s go out and see if we can win that half’.

We got them in the dressing room and we said ‘let’s go and see if we can do the same’. We did that and it’s great to be back up playing senior hurling.

“There are a lot of people that need a lot of credit for this. You have the likes of John Russell, Colm Mahon, Deccie Coote – lads that were there before we came in this year. They were there and were unlucky not to get them up before this, but we’re up now and we’re going to enjoy it.”

They were enjoying it already.

ABOUT eight minutes into Sunday’s senior hurling final a puck out from Sixmilebridge goalkeeper Derek Fahy landed just beyond the half way line on the seated stand side of Cusack Park. The sliotar actually plugged into the soft turf like a golf ball would in very wet conditions. Half the ball was visible, the rest of it buried in the ground. In golf you get the option of picking the ball up and dropping it on a kind part of the surface. In hurling, you play as you lie until the referee is inevitably forced to whistle up.

The early ‘plugged ball’ drew gasps from the crowd. There would be more incidents of the ball almost disappearing into the sod, while referee Rory Hickey probably handled the sliotar more than any player. Throw-in followed throw-in as players battled with the elements and soft ground. It was hardly his fault, conditions were simply not conducive to hurling or any other sport on Sunday. All around the ground the same conversation was being had. Should the game have been played at all?

Our county hurling final is supposed to be the showpiece of the hurling year. However, Cusack Park in late October is not the time or the place for that. The intermediate final was thankfully moved to Clarecastle where both Eire Og and Ruan were at least able to hurl on a surface that is designed to cater for such weather. Cusack Park is not. Indeed after both Crusheen and the Bridge ‘warmed up’ the sections of the field where they had done their drills were visibly ‘ploughed up’. The crowd knew before a blow was struck in anger exactly what time of game we were in for. Attrition.

And that’s what we got. Crusheen won because they are the best team in Clare and have been for some time now. Their half backline display on Sunday was imperious and no matter what the conditions, it is clear that this is a serious team. Amazingly they still managed some patches of brilliant hurling during the hour. Their hunger and strength saw them through, giving us all the impression that if this game had been played on the surface of the moon, the result would have been the same.

But Sunday was unfair on Crusheen as well as Sixmilebridge. Neither side could do themselves justice and those that watched live on TG4 could be forgiven at times for thinking that this was the ploughing championships and not the hurling championships. The fact that Crusheen managed to shoot ten points was remarkable in the morass of a field they were forced to play on.

The solution? It doesn’t take a genius to see that the third week in October is far too late to playing a hurling final, in any code. Players lying idle for almost three months of the summer hurling season is ridiculous but apparently the will is not there to tackle this fixtures chaos nationally. The Kilkenny county final was also played on Sunday, one wonders would we have managed that had we won an All-Ireland final six weeks ago? We should have our county final played in September at the latest.

As for Cusack Park, traditionalists will tell you that it was always prone to bouts of softness when the heavy rains came. That may be so, but this is our county ground. Clarecastle can provide a pitch playable any day of the year, why can’t we have something similar in Cusack Park? With all the money the GAA have invested throughout the county, it is time to look elsewhere for big games this late in the year as Cusack Park clearly cannot cope. The moving of the intermediate final on Sunday morning certainly robbed The Park of further glamour and gate receipts as could be judged by the huge crowd that made their way to Clarecastle for the Eire Og/Ruan clash. God only knows what the Park would have looked like if that game had gone ahead before the senior final. Hoping/praying/ keeping your fingers crossed for a spectacular Autumn Sunday to allow a decent game of hurling to be played in a county final is not good enough. This is Ireland, it will rain. Make the decision – play it in September and stick to it.

Well done to Crusheen, hard luck to the Bridge. Good luck to whoever is cleaning the jerseys.

AS A player, Christy Chaplin was on both winning and losing sides on county final day. But even though his young squad made considerable strides this year to contest their first final in nine years, it doesn’t make defeat any easier to swallow.

“At half-time, we thought we were well in there. It was only four points to three, only a point in it but we had scoring chances and didn’t take them in the first half. Crusheen then for a ten minute period got four or five scores and that was the difference.

“Even when we got the ball down at our end, they closed us down well and they won the rucks. Physically they came out with ball and we could make no inroads but look, we have no complaints because we were beaten by the county champions. We gave it a go and it wasn’t good enough today.

“On another day, things might have gone differently. We got the penalty in the first half and it went over the bar but for a lengthy period in the second half we didn’t score for a long, long time. Gilly proably had a chance early on for a goal in the second half but it didn’t come off and they just tacked on the points so we can have no complaints.”

Chaplin need only look to his opponents to realise how difficult it is to win your first final with a new team. After all, Crusheen missed out in the 2007 decider to Tulla but once they got back there last year against Cratloe, they were doubly determined not to let another opportunity slip by.

“Maybe it’s true what they say that you have to lose one to win one. We’re young but at the end of the day, we came up here today to win it and we didn’t so we will just have to start again at the bottom and hopefully we will be back.”

With an average team age of just 24, you can take that as a given.

BEEN there and done that in 2010 where this Canon Hamilton thing was concerned. Now they’ve done it again in 2011.

Last week Michael Browne wondered aloud whether they’d have the hunger – you know he never doubted his team, but anyone who did got their answer with a performance that must rank as Crusheen’s greatest.

“In the sense of a real fought battle and fighting for every ball, yes it was a great display,” said Browne minutes after the final whistle. “We have played better hurling in games, but how could you play good hurling today. It was a great team display.

“Ten points today is about the equivalent of 4-20 on a good day. It was fantastic. I thought they were brilliant. From one to 15 they were brilliant, so much so there were three subs warming up that we were dying to bring on but it was too hard to take anybody off.”

As he spoke he was busy shaking more hands than a presidential candidate would on a busy day on the campaign trail. It’s because Browne is the man, the Messiah who picked up this bunch of players from the low of a county final defeat to a Tulla team in coached in 2007 to the high of putting back-to-back championships together.

“I’m so happy for the team because we worked so hard all year. We kept it low key coming into the final and just focused on the 60 minutes. The conditions were terrible, but the lads really dug in and fought for every ball.

“They had the hunger. They had it themselves. We focused on perform- ance, the lads giving their absolute best out on the field. It was a case of forgetting about first titles or second titles, it was just about the performance on the day, getting on with it and giving our best and not to be coming off on the field and players saying ‘if I only did this and I only did that’. They have no regrets coming off now.” It’s the way with all Michael Browne teams. Tulla said it in 2007. Crusheen said it in 2010 and now they can say it again in 2011. “It’s amazing to win it again,” added Browne just before breaking away to rejoin the celebrations. “We’re all our lives waiting for one. Now we’ve two in a rush. Thanks be to God.” Thanks be to Hurling he’s saying at the same time. The game is Crush- een’s God these days, and long they want it to continue.

County finals call for big game players and after deservedly earning the man-of-the match in back-to-back county deciders, they don’t come much bigger than Cian Dillon. Still only 22, Cian was one of five Dillon brothers on the panel with elder siblings Cathal and Cronan also playing their part on Sunday in this historic second ever title for the club.

The centre-back was simply immense throughout, so much so that some supporters wondered how he was able to glide through the rainsodden pitch while practically every other player was hampered by the underfoot conditions.

“We are thrilled. Our focus from the start of the year was to get back here and once we got here, we knew we weren’t going to let it go so it shows the character we have in the team from one to 31. There were some serious men out there and we battled right through.

“It was tough out there and wasn’t a day for fancy touches or anything like that but we showed out true character, we supported each other, we encouraged each other and we were just not going to let this go today.”

And the main ingredients of Crusheen’s remarkable turnaround in the last two years?

“Ever since Michael Browne got on board, he changed a lot of things about our play. One was discipline, two was workrate and our forwards worked right into the backs and viceversa and we support each other as much as we could. And it paid off because we are delighted to get the Canon Hamilton back.”

However, his ambitions don’t end there.

“Hopefully now we will have a good shot at Munster now. We have the Cork champions coming up so we will take a few days and then we will get back and start preparing for it. And hopefully we will be able to put up another good show there.”

With Cian in this type of unstoppable form, it will take a very good team to stop them.