Category: Sport

THE SECOND Annual Dan O Halloran Memorial 10k fun walk and 10k road race was held in Kilmihil with a fine turnout of over 200 competitors from all over Ireland Galway, Dublin, Tipperary, Limerick, Canada, Japan, and Clare Clubs with all proceeds going towards the West Clare Cancer and Milford Hospice and a wonderful turnout to support the O’Halloran Family with the senior race starting on the Ennis Road and competitors facing into a stiff hill as the leaders went through the (1k) in (2mins . 59secs) and Seamus Power Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare along with Michael Shannon Kilnaboy they both set this blistering pace from the start and they both had this field in single file right from the off with Willie Devitt Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare leading out the chasing pack that included Michael Fennell Civil Service, David Brew Kilrush, Pat Healy Marian, Ambrose Heagney Kilnaboy and Colm Fitzgerald Shannon with Maria Carey Ennis Track the leading lady in the top six for the early stages.

Seamus Power producing a (3mins . 03secs) for the next four Kilometres and going through the 5k mark in (15mins . 29secs) and Michael Shannon was forth seconds adrift and on this down hill stretch Seamus Power was in full flow and facing into the stiff hills over the last 5k he sprinted down the main street in Kilmihil to take the Dan O Halloran Cup in a time of (31mins . 56secs) from Michael Shannon who had to settle for the runner spot on again this year (32mins . 48secs) and a great performance from Willie Devitt to hold onto third spot (36mins . 01secs).

Ambrose Heagney Kilnaboy who came home in fourth spot captured the O/40’s in (37mins . 07secs) from Pat Healy Marian and Trevor White St Cronans with Michael Fennell Civil Service taking the O/50’s in (39mins . 45secs) from John Carroll Canada and Willie Keane St Johns and Caoimhin Donnellan Kilmihil taking the Junior Mens title in (44mins . 16secs).

The ladies race was always going to a great contest and attracted one of the finest turnout of athletes and right from the start Marie Carey set the early pace and was up with the chasing mens pack for the first (2k) with Marian Burke St Marys last years title holder and Michelle O Halloran from Kilmihil and now running with Mullingar Harriers, working well together and with many stiff climbs these girls were moving away from the next chasing group that included Laura Egan Kilmihil, Marian Kelly Cree, Lorna O Neill, Dympna O Dwyer both Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare, Rose Enright St Marys, Rita Kierce St Marys, Becky Coughlan Ennis Track and Bernie Kelly Galway City Harriers.

Marie Carey was always in control of this race from the start and going towards the half way point and on that down hill stretch she had a good minute of a lead on Marian Burke with Michelle O Halloran working hard to stay with the pace.

Marie Carey who made all the running came away with a very big win and a very fast time of

(38mins . 59secs) and taking the Dan O Halloran Cup with last years title holder Marian Burke second in (41mins . 48secs) and local athlete Michelle O Halloran a close third in (42mins . 16secs)

The Masters Ladies O/40’s going to Rose Enright St Marys in (42mins . 58secs) from Monica Callinan and Siobhan Keating both Kilmihil and the O/50’s going to Rita Kierce St Marys (45mins . 09secs) from Bernie Kelly Galway City Harriers and Bernie Johnston Broadford. Results.

Ladies.
1 Maria Carey EnnisTrack (38 . 59) 2 Marian Burke St Marys (41 . 48) 3 Michelle O’Halloran Mullingar Harriers (42 .16) 4 Marian Kelly Cree (44 . 55) 5 Becky Coughlan EnnisTrack (45 . 11) 6 Dympna ODwyer Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare (46 . 37) 7 Lorna ONeill Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare (46 . 37) 8 Brenda OShea Kilmihil (49 . 16)

O/ 40’s
1 Rose Enright St Marys (42 . 58) 2 Monica Callinan Kilmihil (53 . 30) 3 Siobhan Keating Kilmihil (68 . 59)

O/ 50’s
1 Rita Kierce St Marys (45 . 09) 2 Bernie Kelly Galway City Harriers (48 . 41) 3 Bernie Johnston Broadford (97 . 05)

Senior Men.
1 Seamus Power Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare (31 . 56) 2 Michael Shannon Kilnaboy (32 . 48) 3 Willie Devitt Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare (36 . 01) 4 David BrewKilrush (37 . 29) 5 Kevin Lynch Clarecastle (39 . 26) 6 ColmFitzgerald Shannon (40 . 32) 7 John Keogh Kilmihil (40 . 58) 8 Stephan Connors Kilmihil (41 . 19)

O/ 40’s
1 Ambrose Heagney Kilnaboy (37 . 07) 2 Pat Healy Marian (39 . 09) 3 Trevor White St Cronans (40 . 54)

O/ 50’s

Mattie Murphy’s record of reaching and subsequently winning All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship finals speaks for itself. In all, the Gort clubman has guided his native county to nine national deciders in three separate terms which is unparralleled.

He even led the seniors to two National League finals as well. How- ever, Clare supporters will hope that their record against Murphy’s teams continue this Sunday as they bid for a unique two-in-a-row of All-Ireland deciders themselves. All because after winning two All-Ireland minor titles in 1992 and 1994, Murphy was promoted to the senior set-up but fell on thorny ground against the Banner in the 1995 All-Ireland Semi-final as Clare went on to eventually achieve All-Ireland glory.

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.

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.

Kilmurry Ibrickane 0-13 – Doonbeg 1-8 at Cooraclare

IT could be a dress rehearsal for a county final later in the year, but that doesn’t mean this was more shadow boxing and sparring than the real thing. Only the league final and something that will be forgotten about once the chase for Jack Daly resumes, but the cash prize of € 2500 from The Clare Champion sponsors and old rivalry also ensured this was going to be as full-blooded as any championship game. So it was that Kilmurry Ibrickane and Doonbeg tore into each other with the same intent they showed in the last two county semi-finals here in Cooraclare as Kilmurry’s classy forwards and much better combination play edged them home to a twopoint win and their third Cusack Cup success. It went to the wire like those two previous championship jousts, but it could have been different, very different because such was Kilmurry Ibrickane’s superiority at times that they looked a class apart, with only Doonbeg’s earthy qualities of never giving up on a cause keeping them competitive to the last. They looked like being swamped on a number of occasions – in the first half when Kilmurry moved three points clear when the two best forwards on view, Noel Downes and Mark McCarthy scored three points between them in six-minute burst from the 20th minute to put their side 0-5 to 0-2 clear; at the start of the second when another three-point burst had three points between the sides again. It was the first real daylight between the sides after they had shared four points in the first 15 minutes – Ian McInerney and Enda Coughlan frees sandwiching a Shane Ryan point from play and a David Tubridy free in that time. Doonbeg should have had a goal though when after nine minutes Shane Killeen was clean through on goal only for a brilliant lunging block from John Willie Sexton to deny him a certain goal. A Doonbeg goal did come in the 27th minute and it gave them an early lifeline such was the growing menace of a Kilmurry team as the interval approached. Colm Dillon pilfered the ball in the right corner on the dressing room side of the field, fed Shane Ryan whose shot for a point from 30 yards was brilliantly flicked to the net by David Tubridy.

The sides were level and remained so at the break after a flurry of four scores in the last three minutes of the half – Ian McInerney launched two exocets from placed balls over the bar, while Colm Dillon from distance from play and Enda Doyle’s fisted effort had the sides deadlocked at 1-4 to 0-7.

Ultimately it was Kilmurry’s greater combination play that told, something that allied to their fast start to the second half with points from a Enda Coughlan free and efforts from play by Niall Hickey and Mark McCarthy moved them 0-10 to 1-4 clear inside eight minutes.

Doonbeg did hit back with a Shane Ryan point and a David Tubridy free by the 41st minute but the chasm between the sides was really shown up when three more unanswered points via Ian McInerney (2) and Noel Downes put four between them for the first time.

That crucial Downes score came with four minutes remaining, giving Kilmurry the cushion to withstand the inevitable Doonbeg onslaught near the end that yielded two David Tubridy points to bring it back to two points.

The Magpies couldn’t get any closer – they didn’t really deserve to be either, such was Kilmurry’s superiority over the hour.

They’re the classiest team of this generation, probably any Clare football generation, something they proved in winning seventh major title in Clare over the past four seasons.

They’re the best and the benchmark for everyone else.

Kilmurry Ibrickane
Peter O’Dwyer Jnr (7), JohnWillie Sexton (7), Darren Hickey (7) Martin McMahon (8), Shane Hickey (7), EvanTalty (7),Thomas Lernihan (7), Seamus Murrihy (8), Peter O’Dwyer (7), Mark McCarthy (8) (0-2), Enda Coughlan (8) (0-2f), Ian McInerney (7) (0-5, 3f, one 45), Noel Downes (8) (0-3), Michael Hogan (7), Niall Hickey (7) (0-1).

Subs
Paul O’Connor (7) for Lernihan [Half-Time], Stephen Moloney (6) for Hogan [48 Mins], Johnnie Daly (6) for Niall Hickey [60 Mins].

Doonbeg
Nigel Dillon (7), Joe Blake (7), Padraig Gallagher (7) Conor Whelan (7), Brian Dillon (7), Paraic Aherne (7), RichieVaughan (7), ColmDillon (7) (0-1), Enda Doyle (7) (0-1), Shane Killeen (6), Shane Ryan (7) (0-2), EamonTubridy (6), Paul Dillon (6), Kevin Nugent (7), DavidTubridy (7) (1-4, 4f).

Subs
Frank O’Dea (6) for Killeen [21 Mins], Conor Downes (6) for Paul Dillon [47 Mins], Shane O’Brien (6) for EamonTubridy [51 Mins].

Referee
Michael Rock (Ennistymon)

PATRICK Murrihy smoked a few cigarettes on the sideline. Not as many as Cesare Menotti did in his day, with his ready stash of smokes underneath his sideline bench, but there were still plenty of plumes wafting in the Cooraclare air.

It was no wonder. It was a final after all. A Kilmurry Ibrickane v Doonbeg final at that. One that Patrick Murrihy didn’t want to lose – his first final day out manning the sideline for Kilmurry Ibrickane after his job of journeywork in making footballers out of these players when they first learned to kick ball.

“Beating Doonbeg is a good day for Kilmurry Ibrickane,” he says drawing breath seconds after Michael Rock’s final whistle. “We haven’t won the Cusack Cup that often and to win another one and to win it by beating Doonbeg in the final makes it all the more sweeter. Any day you beat Doonbeg, you have a good day’s work done. We have a good day’s work done in winning this Cusack Cup final.”

“I suppose that we had a chance to try and kick further ahead when we went three points up a few times. This Kilmurry team always gets enough possession – it just depends what you do with that possession when you get it.

“We used that possession very well at times, but there is room for improvement from our own point of view. If we can convert the possession that we’re winning into more scores, that will be great. When we didn’t get a few extra scores we left them in the game right until the end, but we’re delighted to have held out.”

With it Kilmurry landed their third Cusack Cup and first since 2008. Important where bragging rights back west are concerned, but you sense that beating Doonbeg was just as important, if not more than that, especially when Murrihy allows his mind drift back to last year’s county semi-final when Doonbeg ambushed them at the death.

“The lads were very, very hurt last year. They knew they had the capability of winning that county semifinal against Doonbeg last year. You have to give credit to Doonbeg – they kept going until the final whistle and won. That’s why beating them today was important.

“The Cusack Cup has been good for us. We have brought new players in. John Willie Sexton, Seamus Murrihy, Niall Hickey and these lads. That’s what the league is there for. There is no point waiting until the second, third and fourth rounds of the championship. The guys stood up.

“We had the same team there for two or three years, but now there’s real competition for places. These lads have brought a new freshness into it and training will be very good from now.

“We are very pleased. We are where we want to be at this time of the year. We do have a few injuries but hopefully we have lads coming back and we’ll get stronger from here.

“At the end of the day, later on in the year this Cusack Cup win will be forgotten about. It’s fantastic to win it, but it’s all about championship. That’s the only thing that matters.”

Championship starts from here.

IT started in GAA 125 year. It was a year of celebration in the county where you could say it all started, just because Carron’s own Michael Cusack who got the whole GAA show on the road back in ‘84.

Domhnall Ó Loinsigh was a key member of the Clare GAA 125 committee, while Naoise Jordan, who is a carpenter by trade came up with his own unique 125 commemoration when carving momento to those who had captained the county senior hurling team since the earliest years of the GAA.

Therein lay the background to Cla re Hurling Ca pta ins – the book penned by Ollie Byrnes, with the considerable help of Ó Loinsigh and Jordan and which will be launched this Friday night in Minogue’s in Tulla.

“Naoise asked Domhnall O’Loingsigh and I to help in researching the names of the captain’s of Clare senior championship teams, going back to 1887,” recalls Byrnes.

“Previous to the idea for the book, Naoise had inscribed a wooden plaque with the names of the 76 men. At the launch of the plaque, unveiled by John Hanly, President of the county board, John stated that it was a shame that so little was known about many of these men from the turn of the 20th century.

“It was decided by us to focus on the captain’s in the senior championship. I want to stress that we are not making a distinction between the championship and other competitions, but we must call a halt somewhere,” he adds.

The result is Cla re Hurling Ca pta ins , a project that Byrnes freely admits had never really crossed his mind until John Hanly, Naoise Jordan and Domhnall Ó Lionsaigh helped sow the seed.

“In 2006, I produced the book Saffron a nd Blue , never thinking that a book on Clare Hurling captain’s would be published. There was a lot of useful material in this book and I was aware of repetition creeping in. But thankfully this hasn’t happened,” he says.

“I wanted something new on these players. For that reason, I went back to scrapbooks that were given to me as a youngster. One of these scrapbooks is 60 years old and is a treasure trove of cuttings from 1950-1955.

“This scrapbook contains material on all the strong hurling counties. It also has a series of articles under the heading ‘Name Waterford’s Greatest Hurler’, ‘Name Clare’s Greatest Hurler’, etc., where Seamus O’Ceallaigh and other journalists invited the public to submit who they thought were their counties greatest player and to explain why they thought so.

“An article on Clare’s greatest appeared in The Sunda yIndependent on April 4th 1954. Some hurling followers suggested John Joe Doyle. Others went for Jimmy Smyth. O’Ceallaigh wrote ‘There was evidence from the first opinion expressed which suggested Jimmy Smyth as deserving of the title of Clare’s Greatest’, and gave as the reason a personal conviction that Smyth aroused the same terror in the minds of opposing defenders as did such great figures as Martin Kennedy (Tipperary), Mattie Power (Kilkenny) and Dinny Barry Murphy (Cork) in earlier days.

“Other older correspondents went on to recall the greatness of Tull and Dodger Considine, ‘Feather’ Henchy, John Shalloo, Dunny O’Callaghan, Seamus Cullinan and ‘Scooper’ Moloney who formed the back bone of Clare’s early hurling endeavours,” Byrnes adds.

The result is essays on all of Clare’s captains since 1887, brought together between the covers on a book, that Fr Harry Bohan is set to launch on Friday.

“Many of the names in Clare Captain’s will be familiar to followers. Others will not be so familiar,” says Byrnes. “There are people like Freddy Garrihy, who emigrated to the United States in 1927, a man who is largely forgotten. Likewise, Pat Hannon from Scariff. He too emigrated to the United States. Newspaper accounts from 1914-1920 credit Pat Hannon as being an outstanding inter-county forward.”

All the players, well known or forgotten about have their place in the pantheon.

WHEN you think about it, it’s been a tough few years for Ennistymon when it comes to senior football. Very tough at times, when losing just always seemed to be their lot when there was some senior silverware at stake.

The 2007 Senior B final and they go down to St Joseph’s Miltown; the 2009 Senior B final and it was Kilmhil’s turn to hold them scoreless in the first half on their way to victory; the hat-trick of defeats came when Wolfe Tones mastered them last year in another Senior B decider.

Sometimes though, enough is enough.

Maybe this will be the day that Ennistymon look back on and say was pivotal in their development as a force in senior. Of course, only time will tell if it’s a real building block for the future, but what it has done already is lend more credence to the belief that the north Clare Magpies are one of the coming teams in Clare football.

They’ve won minor and under 21 titles in recent years – now this Garry Cup as they look to Cusack Cup football for 2012, not that manager Brendan Rouine was getting carried away afterwards.

“To go up to Division 1, having won Division 2 is important for us. For us in Division 2 it has been all about getting promoted. It has taken us the last four or five years to do that. It is nice to go up as winners.

“We are coming from a big struggle. We struggle to get out of our group in the championship every year and we still have two games to play to try and get out of our group. We’re taking one game at a time and are not going to get carried away with this win.

“We are very happy with the win. Éire Óg got off to a good start and had plenty of ball, but we were happy with our overall performance and it was good to get the win.

“We knew that Éire Óg would come back at us in the second half. It was ding-dong at times and we knew that the game could have gone either way. We just edged it on the day, but on another day it could have been a different result. We know that.”

Ennistymon 0-12 – Éire Óg 0-9 at Cooraclare

ENNISTYMON are going places; Éire Óg simply are not.

That’s a summary of this Garry Cup final in one sentence as the north Clare Magpies moved forward to Cusack Cup fare in 2012 as impressive winners of this second tier competition.

And, in reality they won this game as they pleased, from the front in the second half as Éire Óg’s tepid performance eventually petered out before the end as their attack failed to make any real impact against a resolute Ennistymon defence.

Contrast this to Ennistymon’s forwards because when it mattered most experienced heads like Joe Dowling and Brian Conway slotted key points from play, while the midfield dominance they enjoyed thanks to David Murphy and Ronan Linnane gave them the platform to win a first ever Garry Cup.

It may have taken Ennistymon 15 minutes to register a score, but that slow start wasn’t bettered that much by an Éire Óg side that failed to translate possession into scores, with a free from Stephen Hickey after three minutes their only return.

Into this vacuum eventually came Ennistymon, with a breakaway point from Joey Rouine mid-way through the half finally getting them going.

That Éire Óg’s best moment of the game came in the 17th minute when Ciaran Russell started and finished a move when he stormed up the field with real intent said much about the overal Townie performance.

They were dire, especially in what was a turgid first half that saw Ennistymon grind out a 0-5 to 0-3 interval lead on the back of the free-taking of Joe Dowling and Brian Conway, who bagged two points each.

A brilliant long range free from David Ryan two minutes before the break did rally the Townies somewhat while another free Stephen Hickey a minute after the resumption had the gap down to the minimum.

Alas, this dawn was a very false one as Ennistymon soon got into the groove once more and effectively closed out the game in the first 12 minutes when a brilliant effort from David Murphy was followed by points by Brian Conway (2), Joe Dowling and Sean McConigely moved them 0-10 to 0-6.

Éire Óg needed a goal, but it never looked like happening as their forwards ran out of ideas long before the end. Another David Ryan point, this time from play in the 43rd minute, again raised their spirits, but by the time Brian Conway resorted their four-point advantage entering the last ten minutes the Garry Cup was firmly destined for a trip up the N67 and not in the Ennis Road.

The Townies did try to take the fight until the last, with substitute David Russell pegging it back to a threepoint game deep in injury time, but had a goal arrived to get them out of the jail, it would have been an injustice – to their own performance and to Ennistymon’s superiority over the 60-something minutes as they finally laid claim to some senior silverware.

It was something that was long overdue.

LAHINCH’S Niall Morrison is the last Clareman left standing in the 110th South of Ireland Amateur Golf Championship taking place in Lahinch this week. The local favourite qualified for the last 16 of the prestigious competition after beating Louth’s Daniel Coyle on the 17th hole on Monday evening.

Morrison advanced to Monday’s second round along with three other Clare men, fellow clubmates Thomas Neenan and Stephen Loftus and Ennis’ Noel Pyne, who despite eventual defeat to Stackstown’s Richard Bridges, carved out his own unique bit of history by playing in his 49th consecutive South of Ireland championship. ROUND1 M.Ryan (Grange) beat M.Mc Alpin (Portrush) 3/2. N. Grant (Knock) beat S. Cannon (Loughrea) 1 Hole. S.Loftus ( Lahinch) beat M.Grimes (Skerries)3/2. I.Murphy (Waterford) beat J.Fox (Portmarnock) 2/1. N. Morrison (Lahinch) beat D. Murphy (Portarlington) 3/1. D. Coyle (Co. Louth) beat T. McDonagh(U.S.A) 1hole. C.Geraghty (L & B ) beat B.Ronan (Co.Louth) 2 holes. M.O’Kelly (Limerick) S.Barry (L & B) 1 hole C.Moulds (Lisburn) beat G.Lenehan(Portmarnock) 4/2. J.Lyons ( Birr) beat C.Molloy (Ardee) 1 hole. J.Hume (Rathsallagh) beat M.Buggy (Castlecomer) 5/4. G.Carew(Edenderry) beat J. Kavanagh ( Castletroy) 2 holes. C.O’Rourke ( Nass/NUIM) beat D.Downie ( Sutton) 2/1. G.Bohill ( Co.Louth) beat E. Smith (Ardee) 2/1. K.McDonagh(Athlone/NUIM) beat D. McInerney 5/3. R. Cannon ( Balbriggan) beat C. McKenna ( Mallow) 3/2. P.Delaney (Arklow) beat L.Hartnett (Milltown) 1 hole. D.Ruddy (Co.Tipperary) beat D.O’Sullivan (Strandhill) 3/2. G.Collins (Rosslare) beat D. Hallissey(Muskerry) 6/5. C.Selfridge(Moyola Park) beat D.O’Donovan(Muskerry) 2/1. J.Pierse (Grange) beat P.Small (Bangor) 1 hole. I.O’Rourke (Cork) beat G.Mungovan (Headfort) 3/2. L.Hutchinson (The Royal Dublin) beat B.Walton(Island) 2/1 R.Bridges (Stackstown) beat P.Murray (Limerick) 1hole. N.Pyne (Ennis) beat D.King (Tramore) 6/4. D.Ryan (Grange) beat E.McCormack (Galway) 4/3. S.Bryan (Delgany) beat N.Goulding (Portmarnock) 4/2. J.Hopkins (Skerries) beat J.Waldron (Muskerry) 3/2. S.Walsh (Baltinglass) beat A. Kelly (Charleville) 5/4. R. Burke (Castle) beat R.O’Sullivan (Cobh) 5/4. T.Neenan (Lahinch) beat S.Moloney(Castletroy) 4/3. ROUND 2 N.Grant (Knock) beat M.Ryan (Grange) 2/1. I.Murphy (Waterford) beat S.Loftus (Lahinch) 4/3. N.Morrisson (Lahinch) beat D.Coyle (Co.Louth) 2/1. A.Hogan ( Newlands) beat C.Geraghty (L & B) 19th. C.Moulds (Lisburn) beat M.O’Kelly (Limerick) 19th. J.Hume (Rathsallagh) beat J.Lyons (Birr) 6/5. C. O’Rourke ( Naas) beat G.Carew( Edenderry) 2/1. K.McDonagh (Athlone/NUIM) beat G. Bohill (Co. Louth) 2/1. R.Cannon (L & B) beat P.Delaney ( Arklow) 4/2. D.Ruddy ( Co.Tipperary) beat G.Collins ( Rosslare) 3/2. C.Selfridge (Moyola Park) beat J.Pierse (Grange) 6/5. L.Hutchinson (The Royal Dublin) beat I.O’Rourke (Cork) 3/1. R.Bridges (Stackstown) beat N.Pyne (Ennis) 5/4. D.Ryan (Grange) beat S.Bryan (Delgany) 2/1. S.Walsh (Baltinglass/UCD) beat J.Hopkins (Skerries) 5/4. R.Burke (Castle) beat T.Neenan (Lahinch) 4/2.