Category: Sport

Inagh 5-4 – Tara (London) 2-4 at Killegland West, Ashbourne, Meath

THE ROMANCE and prestige of the All-Ireland Club Championships hit home for Inagh on Sunday as they became the first ever Clare camogie side to claim a national title. That achievement in itself deservedly puts Inagh on a pedestal of their own but the real satisfaction of the victory is that this was an immense local effort transferred to a national stage where the parish of Inagh, Kilnamona and Cloonanaha combined to reach the pinnacle.

In what was a whirlwind six week period, Inagh captured three different crowns, with sheer momentum, hard work and a never-say-die attitude catapulting them from the county final through the provincial and All-Ireland series culminating in Sunday’s unprecedented success.

What seemed like romance to Inagh on Sunday could be more aptly summised as an unrequieted love affair in previous campaigns as Newmarket-on-Fergus, Kilmaley and Corofin all fell at the final hurdle. However, the difference on Sunday was that Inagh, bolstered by their near exit in the semi-final, appeared a side that refused to be beaten and were willing to leave everything on the field in the pursuit of that goal.

Of course, every final needs leaders and while this was a team effort of tireless endeavour, two players must be singled out for special mention. Centre-back Christina Glynn belied her mere 17 years to produce one of the most mature displays ever seen by a Clare player in a national final. She was seemingly everywhere over the hour, comfortable in sweeping up at the back as she was marauding forward to set up attacks

The undoubted player of the game though was All-Star nominee Fiona Lafferty who was at the heart of all things positive for Inagh. In total, she was instrumental in all but one of Inagh’s scores, grabbing 1-4 herself and through her incessant movement and incisive runs, Tara were simply not able to deal with her all afternoon.

It wasn’t as if the opposition were substandard either as London champions Tara, likely aided by vast Irish emigration, had all the appearance of an inter-county or national side, with players from over ten different counties making up the team.

Tara had a romantic angle of their own as the three-in-a-row London champions were bidding to complete their 25th anniversary with an AllIreland in what was a London representative’s first ever appearance in an national club decider.

And they couldn’t have been handed a better platform to build on either after Grace Hamilton batted to the net for Tara in the opening minute of the game to stun the Clare champions.

However, scorewise at least, that was as good as it got for the threein-a-row London champions despite the best efforts of Bid Grennan and Angela Kenneally who were their standout performers on the day.

Instead, wind-assisted Inagh, led inspirationally by Lafferty, would keep their opponents scoreless for the remainder of the half while tacking on 1-3 themselves. The dual star grabbed the three points while she also set up the goal for Emily Lynch in the ninth minute when her delivery from halfway went over the top of the full-back line with the onrushing corner-forward applying the finishing touches from close range.

Inagh had successfully bounced back from three points down to lead by the same amount at 1-3 to 1-0 at the interval but in truth, it should have been a more convincing advantage after hitting six wides in the opening half while also seeing four goal chances repelled by a stubborn Tara rearguard.

Playing deep as a sweeper, Kilkenny native Angela Kenneally was to the fore for Tara in frustrating the Banner outfit and on the turnover, was just as instrumental back in the forward line despite her side falling six points behind after Fiona Lafferty grabbed a 39th minute goal. This time Patricia O’Loughlin picked up a break around halfway before finding Lafferty to pull to the net via the stick of goalkeeper Niamh Dolan.

It should have made things more comfortable for Inagh but instead, in what was their best period of the game, Tara responded with four successive points in a seventh minute purple patch, two from Kenneally and two from their top scorer Denise Gilligan. Inagh couldn’t have grumbled had one or two of those efforts ended up below the crossbar either as Tara began to find their rhythm and had the deficit back to just two.

However, they were to be suckerpunched, only seconds after their fourth point when a Lafferty free from 45 metres broke for Patricia O’Loughlin to finish to the net for the Clare side and still reeling from that blow, Tara conceded two more in the next seven minutes that ultimately sealed their fate.

The first came in the 53rd minute when Helen Hehir received a pass from Emily Lynch to cut in from the right and beat Dolan at the near post. And only two minutes later, a flowing move involving Glynn and Lafferty set up Hehir once more but her rasping shot crashed off the crossbar

“PATRICIA McCarthy, you have given such commitment this year as a trainer and player. You have been absolutely brilliant and thank you from each and every one of us.”

Joint Captain Michelle Wynne’s words of appreciation in her acceptance speech for Inagh’s most experienced player and also undoubtedly one of the most passionate.

This was Patricia McCarthy’s moment, the dream of a lifetime of playing and at 43, to finally win an AllIreland title was extra special.

“It’s an absolute unreal feeling. All year was simply surreal of how far we could bring this young team to. We won the county and we won the Munster and we knew it was in us today. From the start of the year, we said that there was only one place we wanted to be and that was in an AllIreland club final and now that we were here, we said we weren’t going to leave it behind us. We had to leave everything on the field, die for every ball and it was an absolute team effort from one to fifteen.”

Her undying belief in her teammates was summed up by her first half opinion.

“Ten minutes into the first half, I said to myself this game is ours. Now I wouldn’t say that to the girls because you have to keep their two feet firmly on the ground. We just weren’t converting the scores, we weren’t looking up and we weren’t calling for the ball and I said if we start doing that, we will take our scores. All we had to do was to put fast ball into the full-forward line and I knew we would score and that’s what we did in the second half, we came out and we scored four goals.

“I’m extra proud of every one of those girls. It was pure hunger, passion, pride in the jersey, determination, courage; you can use all these words and you have to have confidence in your own ability and the girl beside you. It’s a huge amount of factors that it came down to today and I must also say that the support today was absolutely fantastic.

“It’s going to be some celebration tonight in Inagh and for a couple of weeks to come.”

Plenty of time then to saviour the realisation of a lifelong dream.

FLAN Garvey has ran many’s the election race but probably never envisaged the marathon campaign of unprecedented success that 2011 would bring to his native Inagh when he took over the reigns during the summer. The former Mayor of Clare could be mistaken for President such was the amount of hands he was shaking at the final whistle but once there was finally a fall-off long after the presentation, he finally put his year into words.

“It’s a marvellous achievement in these my twilight years to have such a fantastic success. I was called into action on June Bank Holiday Monday and wasn’t looking for the job but the girls said they were stuck and needed someone. So I got Noel Hehir and Anne Wynne on board which made us a good backroom team.

“The girls were fantastic all year. There were some awful training days in the muck and dirt, wind and rain coming down on top of us but they slogged on the whole time under the inspirational Patricia McCarthy about three times a week. There were no prisoners taken, there was no messing. Players were told to shut up and worse when training was on, they trained very hard and they have the fruit of that training now.

“We initially set out to win the county championship. We knew Truagh/Clonlara had beaten us in the League final, we knew we threw it away so we wanted to prove the point, win the final and get back to where we should be. And we did win it, in a tough game we won it well and then went straight into a Munster final against An Rinn. We expected to win that believe it or not and we did win it easy as they didn’t score in the second half.

“The next one was not an easy one against Four Roads. We got a major fright that I think in hindsight won us this All-Ireland today. They frightened the life out of our girls and to say that we didn’t score for 25 minutes, I just couldn’t believe it but by God today, they got it right even though Tara got off to a good start.

“When we beat Four Roads, we knew that they were the All-Ireland champions so surely to God, we were as good as what was there in the championship. And we knew we were as good as Tara, we thought we were that bit better and we proved that today.”

And the added bonus of being the first Clare camogie club to ever win an All-Ireland title just seems to top off an already perfect day.

“It’s mighty. We are a small parish. I mean the whole parish of Inagh, Kilnamona and Clounanaha is roughly 1,700 people. How many of those are girls and then how many play camogie? It’s fantastic and it will be a while before we realise how fantastic it actually was.”

He’s now got the rest of the winter to let it sink in.

SEAN Stack lifted the Munster Cup in Thurles back in 1984 – at the end of this game he knew his Na Piarsaigh side were inches away from bringing the same cup back to Caherdavin for the first time.

“We had chances,” he says. “We had a couple of chances to win it and pulled a few saves out of Donal Tuohy, while our keeper was idle for a long time. We had a few point options that finished up inside in Tuohy’s hands.”

Those missed chances aside, Stack was happy to be still standing, after being out-gunned for long periods and under the vice-like grip of the Crusheen backs before Shane Dowling’s frees helped bring them back from the brink.

“We needed a second green flag to ask some real questions, to put doubts in their mind,” he says. The lads will know themselves that they didn’t play to the top of their game. A few underperformed. That was due to their markers too.

“Cian Dillon is a fabulous centreback. Cathal Dillon a super player too. It’s difficult to play against guys like that. We’re as good as we’re let.

“We had targeted Cronan Dillon a bit, but he had a great game and four players went in on him. Crusheen have a fair outfit. Any inter-county forward line would struggle against any of those six backs and we did.”

Still, you sense a creeping confidence in Na Piarsaigh – according to Stack they’re not overawed about have to face those backs once more.

“Maybe the tide is turning in our favour,” he says.

“We’re really confident because we know that half our forward line did not perform to the best of their ability.

“It’s going to be a bruiser and it’s going to be who comes up with the best mental attitude that will carry the day. Who gets it up for next week will be the team that will come out on top.

“The prize is huge – Munster club champions and facing into an AllIreland semi-final against Loughgiel Shamrocks. The prize is enormous. Who gets their head around it this week, that’s the team that’s going to win.”

“SWINGS AND roundabouts,” says Michael Browne when summing up the first episode of Munster final drama served up by Crusheen and Na Piarsaigh.

An episode that saw influence and dominance drift this way and that before Johnny Ryan’s long whistle meant that they must do it all again.

Browne goes through each phase meticilously.

The slow start: “We started ok in the sense that we were playing reasonably ok, but we weren’t putting away the scoring chances we created, running out over ball and stuff like that. That would appear to indicate that there was something in the minds of the players.

“Maybe too much significance was attached to the occasion and as a result we made those few little slips early on. Early on in that game we could have been four or five points up had we taken the right options and the right choices.

“The magnitude of what we were trying to do was probably at fault, even though we had worked hard at trying to keep it as low-key as we could, but still it’s inevitable that little things like that happen.”

The second half when they surrendured a four-point advantage and then drifted behind with three minutes remaining: “It shows that the further on you go in these competitions, the higher the standard of the opposition is,” he says.

“Na Piarsaigh had the ability to put us under a bit more pressure and get those couple of scores to comeback. They came back into it and that’s what you expect when you get further and further into the competition.

“I had great confidence that we could get the ball up to the forwards and get that score (equaliser). I was still hoping it was a game we could have snapped at the end.

“You have to give the lads credit. They worked so hard right throughout that game. We were up against a quality team with quality forwards who were capable of getting excellent of scores.”

The replay: “The reality is that which ever team learns the most and comes out and performs best on the day will win.”

Teacher Michael Browne will be going to school in the next week with his team.

Then again so will teacher Sean Stack.

Crusheen 0-14 – Na Piarsaigh 1-11 at Semple Stadium, Thurles

STRANGE game really.

There were times when Crusheen looked to be on their way to the title, when they were so utterly in control of things that victory was a given.

Like when they hit five unanswered points before half-time to open up a 0-9 to 1-3 interval lead.

Like when the biggest roar of the day rose up from the Crusheen kop five minutes into the second half after Fergus Kennedy’s point put them four clear for the first time.

But that was it really – from there the county champions were fighting a rearguard action against what was a one-man show from Shane Dowling, who chipped away at Crusheen’s lead, all the time the Na Piarsaigh tide rising.

So much so that when David Breen landed his first point of the hour in the 57th minute, the Limerick champions sensed history, while Crusheen seemed had seemed burdened by the prospect of same for much of that second half.

It would have been rough justice on Crusheen had they lost – after all five of their forwards had scored from play, while theirs was a more rounded performance against a Na Piarsaigh outfit too reliant on Shane Dowling’s frees for scores.

That it didn’t happen was down to Paddy Vaughan’s 58th minute free that restored parity, with a mightily relieved Crusheen glad to hear Johnny Murphy’s final whistle and escape with their title ambitions still afloat.

Just about. The final 20 minutes of this game had belonged to Na Piarsaigh, as Crusheen’s trademark second half performance had failed to materialise and they fell very flat.

They showed admirable fortitude in the first half when, after an unsteady start, as Paddy Vaughan missed a few scoreable frees and then the concession of a goal from a Shane Dowling penalty on 17 minutes left them 1-3 to 0-4 in arrears.

However, from there they hit Na Piarsaigh for five points, while the backs were totally dominant against a one-dimensional Na Piarsaigh side for whom their trump cards Shane Dowling, Kevin Downes and David Breen were making no headway against Crusheen’s inspirational set of backs.

Cronan Dillon the rock at full-back – the Brigdales on either side of him were terrier-like, while the half-back line was also well on top.

A couple of smart Paddy Meaney points from play got Crusheen going by the 20th minute and leveled matters before an effort from play by Fergus Kennedy and pointed frees from Ciaran O’Doherty and Paddy Vaughan put them in firm control by half-time.

Positional switches made during that first half had worked well, with Fergus Kennedy growing into the game around midfield, while his point five minutes into the second half after an earlier strike from Gerry O’Grady helped them into a 0-11 to 1-4 lead.

From there it was hard to see Crusheen not become Munster champions, but just when everyone thought they’d up the ante like they did against Sixmilebridge and Carrigtwohill in previous games, they gradually lost their way and were left hanging on for dear life at the end.

Shane Dowling’s accuracy was key – a couple of frees by the 40th minute changed the whole complexion of the game and brought the gap back to two points. From there it was all about Na Piarsaigh as they upped their performance level around the field, while Crusheen flagged, especially among the forwards where the scores dried up completely.

In the end it was only Paddy Vaughan who kept them afloat. After another Dowling free in the 43rd minute reduced the margin to the minimum, it was Vaughan who stopped the rot with a 46th minute free.

Then he intervened again in the 51st minute to restore Crusheen’s lead with a brilliant point from play after Cathal King had raided from corner back to land a point and another Dowling free had brought the sides level for the first time since the 20th minute.

But the sea was very blue in Thurles as Na Piarsaigh seemed to be on their way to winning Limerick’s first Munster club title in 17 years when substitute John Madden and countyman David Breen fired over inspirational points by the 57th minute to edge them a point clear.

They had out-scored Crusheen by 0-7 to 0-2 in the previous 20 minutes and looked set for victory until Paddy Vaughan’s 58th minute free saved Crusheen’s blushes.

It would have been an awful game to lose, given how much control they exerted either side of half time.

They didn’t. It could make them, but the fact that Na Piarsaigh played so poorly for so long and still drew could give them the confidence to finally break Crusheen’s resolve.

Sunday next will tell all.

Burren United 2 – Mountshannon Celtic 1 at Lisdoonvarna

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THERE was great joy for three young Clare handballers at the recent 40×20 Irish Junior Nationals in Kilkenny. Tulla’s Colin Corbett and Colin Crehan of Kilkishen won their respective age grades and as well as being crowned Irish Nationals champions, earned their place on the Irish team which will travel to Tucson, Arizona this December to compete in the prestigious US Junior Nationals.

Clooney girl Natasha Coughlan was also victorious, winning the Girls 15 and Under ‘B’ Singles final against Mary Buggy of Kilkenny.

Colin Crehan took the Boys 17 and Under title in very impressive fashion, beating Donal Wrynn (Leitrim) 21-15, 21-16 in the final and thus earning a Christmas trip stateside to compete with some of the top young handballers in the world.

Crehan took some notable scalps on the way to the final, including Galen Riordan (Wexford), Pa Herlihy (Cork) and fellow Clareman Patrick Fitzgerald. It rounds off a super year for the Kilkishen star, having won the All-Ireland Under 16 Singles title earlier in 2011.

Colin Corbett also secured his ticket to Arizona as an Irish Nationals champion when he won the Boys 15 and Under grade. Having overcome

Daniel Curry (Wicklow), Robert Fox (Meath) and Clooney player Fergal Coughlan, Corbett was made to earn his excellent win in the final. Facing Evan Sheridan of Meath, the Banner man dominated the first game to win 21-16 but Sheridan rallied and won the second 21-15. Corbett hald on to win the tie-breaker 11-7. It has also been announced that the 2012 Irish Junior Nationals finals weekend is to be staged in Clare.

Meanwhile, the annual GAA Handball Ireland All-Star awards function was held on Saturday night in Croke Park where Clare was well represented. There were a total of 14 categories, where each provincial award winner was also nominated for the national award. Clare handballers won three Munster All-Stars and scooped one overall national award at the gala banquet, where Banner star Marty Morrisey was also in attendance as MC.

Clarecastle man Tommy Hegarty was named as National Official of the Year, having already been named as a provincial winner. Clare’s other Munster All-Stars are Diarmaid Nash and Pat Donellan. Nash was named Munster Player of the Year (national award winner was Robbie McCarthy, Westmeath) while Donellan was 2011 Munster Masters Player of the Year (Michael ‘Duxie’ Walsh taking the overall award).

Avenue United 2 – Newmarket Celtic 2 (AET Avenue win 3-2 on penalties) at Lees Road

THIS meeting of the Premier League and Clare Cup champions always looked like a tie to savour. And so it proved. Early goals, flowing football and extra time heroics all gave way to the drama of a penalty shoot out. Avenue kept their nerve to edge past their old rivals Newmarket who pipped them to the league title last year.

The win was secured when Newmarket’s Seamus Lawlor struck his crucial spotkick over the bar. The miss, Newmarket’s third from five, ensured that Avenue’s three successful spot kicks were enough to guarantee passage to the third round of the Munster Junior Cup.

It had been an absorbing game. Avenue hit the front inside the first minute before the powerful presence of Stephen Kelly intervened to give Newmarket a 2-1 half time lead. Avenue were level minutes after the break when Dylan Casey teed up David Russell for a routine finish. Both sides had opportunities to win it but it was Avenue who came closest. David Herlihy missed two great chances in the final quarter while Barry Nugent’s stinging drive in the final minute of extra time was kept out by a flying save from Newmarket goalkeeper, Trevor O’Donnell.

Avenue, aiming to bounce back from last week’s league cup defeat to Lifford, made the perfect start. Mikey Mahony cut from the right wing, danced across the Newmarket box before unleashing a shot that deflected high into the net. 1-0 to Avenue and barely 40 seconds on the clock.

The goal didn’t unduly rattle Newmarket. Daithi O’Connell and Stephen Kelly both went close before the visitor’s drew level. Avenue had received plenty of warning about Newmarket’s danger from set pieces but could do little to prevent the equaliser. Stephen Kelly met Darren Cullinan’s perfectly flighted corner with a bullet of a header to make it 1-1 in the 24th minute.

Herlihy and the impressive David Smyth saw shots cleared of the line before Newmarket hit the front. Again Cullinan and Kelly were the main players; the latter heading the left back’s corner into the path of Daithi O’Connell who swept home.

The champion’s lead was gone by the 52nd minute. The youthful energy and drive of Smyth and Casey was at the heart of Avenue’s best passages of play throughout the 110 minutes of football.

And the duo combined to telling effect after half time with Casey’s teasing low delivery spilled by O’Donnell into the path of Russell who made no mistake. Avenue’s captain then hit the crossbar before John Healy produced a good save to deny Eoin Hayes.

The longer the half wore on, the stronger Avenue became. Herlihy spurned two chances the best of which was a missed header in the 86th minute.

No goal and nothing to separate the sides. Substitute Colm Mullen lifted over for Avenue in extra time before O’Donnell’s outstanding save denied Barry Nugent.

Time for penalties. Avenue’s Barry Nugent, Russell and Herlihy all converted from the spot. Likewise Kieran Devitt and O’Brien for Newmarket. Lawlor needed to score to keep Newmarket in the hunt. He couldn’t and Avenue were through.

CLARE’S Ladies Football U13 development squad travelled to their Munster blitz in Rathkeale last Saturday marking the culmination of their ten-week development program and a chance to match themselves to the rest of Munster. Two teams travelled to the Mick Neville GAA grounds and won four games over Cork (2), Tipperary and Limerick.

They also had a draw against another Cork team and conceded a marginal win to Kerry. Team mentors Eimear Considine (Kilmihil), Aine Kelly (Fergus Rovers), Johnny Hayes (Fergus Rovers) and Alan Copley (Banner Ladies) were very pleased with the progress of the panel during the LGFA Development programme which included a series of challenge games with Kerry, the Clare U16s and the Banner Ladies.

The Clare U14 trials now com- mence this coming weekend as the Marian Keane Tournament takes place over the next three weekends. Clubs from all over the county have been invited to send girls born 1998 to the trials from which the 2012 U14 panel will be selected to compete in the Munster Championships. Details will be forwarded to interested participants during the week.

Blitz particpants: