A County Clare priest called on his congregation to pray to keep the local school open, it was claimed this week.

The National Senior and Junior Inter-Club Cross Country Championships will take place in Santry Demense this Sunday. There will be four races on the programme, starting at 1pm with the junior ladies’ 6,000m, followed by the junior men’s 8,000m, at 1.30pm, the senior ladies’ 8,000mat 2.15pm, with the final race of the afternoon the senior men’s 12,000m at 2.45pm. The senior ladies will see a big number of new names in action, with Mary Cullen (Sligo AC), the national indoor 1,500m champion taking on the European cross country champion Fionualla Britton (Sli Chulainn AC, Wicklow), Ciara Mageean (Belfast), along with Jolene Byrne (Donore Harriers), Rosemary Ryan (Bilboa), Marie McCambridge (Dundrum South Dublin), Niamh O’Sullivan (Riocht) and Orla O’Mahoney from Ennis, now running with Raheny Shamrocks, Dublin.The senior men’s race will be the highlight of the day, with all the top middle-distance athletes going to the starting line with Joe Sweeney (Dundrum South Dublin), the All-Ireland inter-counties champion, who finished fifth …

Being a Christian, what does it mean? That is the core subject of a series of talks in Sixmilebridge during the Lenten period.

  The Golden Vale Clare Community Games U-16 basketball competitions for both boys and girls were held last Saturday in St Flannan’s College. The number of teams participating increased this year and the standard of basketball was high. The gold medal winners go on to compete in the Munster finals in July.The competition was co-ordinated by Emer Considine and Grainne Ryan with the support of referees Damian Power and Sean Stack. Seven teams took part in the girls competition with the much stronger Ennistymon-Lahinch-Liscannor side coming out on top. In the first round Ennistymon-Lahinch-Liscannor beat Clarecastle-Ballyea, Cooraclare-Cree beat Sixmilebridge-Kilmurry and Kilrush beat Doora-Barefield. In the semi-finals Ennistymon beat Quin-Clooney and Cooraclare-Cree just pipped Kilrush by one point, 25 to 24. Ennistymon-Lahinch-Liscannor ran out winners beating the Cooraclare-Cree side while Kilrush beat Quin-Clooney for the bronze medals.Six teams competed in the boys competition with Doora-Barefield emerging as the winners.In round one Quin-Clooney beat Ennistymon/Lahinch/Liscannor by just one point, while Doora-Barefield beat …

THE eagerly awaited report into Shannon Airport’s future, compiled by Booz and Co consultants, is to be published by next Wednesday.

TWO key electricity-generating stations in Clare will not be sold as part of the Government’s part-privatisation of some State assets, according to Deputy Michael McNamara.

Champion jockey Derek O’Connor will not ride at this year’s Cheltenham Festival and is facing up to 10 weeks out of action as a result of a broken leg he suffered in a crashing fall at Musselburgh last Thursday.Flying high at the head of the 2011/12 point-to-point jockeys’ table with 46 winners (25 clear of his nearest rival, Bon O’Neill), O’Connor headed to the Scottish venue last Thursday to partner Simonsberg for Northern Ireland trainer Ian Ferguson in a hunter’s chase but it all went wrong when the son of Sonus crashed through the fourth-last fence, giving O’Connor a horrible tumble.Sadly, Simonsberg’s fall was fatal, with O’Connor also coming out the worse for wear as he suffered a break to his left leg just above the shin.The Tubber rider was transferred to Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary Hospital, where he was fitted with a plaster that looks set to remain in place for between eight to 10 weeks.Speaking to The Clare Champion …

THE national Health Service Executive (HSE) has been accused of pursuing a “vendetta” against health services in the Mid-West by imposing an extra €19 million of cuts in community health services in the region.