Sports

Galway 4-14 Clare 0-6 Clare’s wait for an All-Ireland minor camogie title goes on. Their latest final defeat, their fourth in ten years, came at the hands of Galway at McDonagh park in Nenagh on this Saturday afternoon and while the final scoreline is somewhat harsh on Clare, there is no denying the merit of Galway’s win. In capturing the title, Galway repeated their success of 2010 when they also proved too strong for Clare, in a replay on that occasion. From an early stage in today’s final, Galway looked the stronger side but there was nothing to suggest throughout the opening half that the final scoreline would be as one sided. There was only one team in this tie in the second half when Galway dictated matters throughout and, indeed, were it not for goalkeeper Ciara McCarthy who made a number of impressive saves, Clare’s defeat would surely have been much heavier. Galway attacked from the throw in and …

The Galway Motor Club will host its annual hillclimb in Ballyvaughan this Saturday and Sunday. The event will form the opening two rounds of the Naylor Engineering National Hillclimb and Sprint Championship 2017. This year’s championship takes place over seven weekends, 14 rounds taking in some of the most scenic parts of Clare, Carlow, Wexford, Limerick, Waterford and Donegal. The organisers welcome back M Fitzgibbon Contractors Ltd as title sponsors of this year’s event, which will have its headquarters at Monks Pub, Ballyvaughan. Competitors will start arrive on Friday afternoon for an optional scrutiny, which will take place in Mooney’s Emo service station between 6pm and 8pm, where everybody is invited to view the cars and speak with the drivers. On Saturday morning, the drivers will head to the world-famous Corkscrew Hill. The 1.5km ribbon of tarmac winds its way up the famous hairpin section before opening out to a fast sweeping road. This provides a huge challenge for all the competitors! Sunday heads out the coast …

THE fact that Clare beat Galway in the opening round of the All-Ireland Minor A Camogie Championship back in February will “count for nothing” when they face each other in Saturday’s All-Ireland final, according to manager Dervilla Moloney. Speaking to The Clare Champion, after watching her charges complete a training session, she stressed “that win means nothing now”. “Both sides are going into the final with a clean sheet and what happens on Saturday is what it is all about.” She confirmed there is a clear bill of health and “all are raring to go and ready for action”. “It’s a big day for Clare camogie and we are hoping that there will be a big crowd to support the team. The girls deserve it. They are a group with great skill and great movement on the field. They are fine hurlers. This is the one that will count, the one that has led to all the hard work since …

History was made at Cusack Park this Good Friday evening as Feakle-Killanena won the county under 21 A championship title for the first time in the club’s history while Corofin captured their first ever title at this level when they were victorious in the C final. In both cases the defending champions were defeated, Inagh-Kilnamona in the A and Scariff in the C in a double bill that attracted an attendance of 1, 526. Feakle-Killanena 0-16 Inagh-Kilnamona 1-13 Feakle-Killanena showed the greater hunger for success over the sixty minutes in an A final that never really reached the heights expected. Overall, the East Clare combination were better and deserved their narrow win on an evening when they managed to limit the contribution of Inagh-Kilnamona’s key players. Things didn’t look good for the new champions at the half way point when they trailed by a point having played against the wind. A goal from David Mescall in the twenty first minute …

A very special year for Lahinch Golf Club gets underway this Friday (Good Friday), with the launch of the club’s 125-year anniversary celebrations. The club was founded on Good Friday, April 15, 1892. To mark this milestone, a bronze plaque will be unveiled at the post office on Main Street, the original site of Sharry’s Hotel, where the club was founded. The normal running order at the club over the Easter weekend has been changed this year to mark this very significant anniversary. The annual general meeting of the ladies’ club will take place in the main clubhouse at 1.30pm this Friday, with the men’s club AGM taking place at the same time in the Castle Course clubhouse. The club AGM (joint) will take place in the main clubhouse at 3pm. Following this, at approximately 4.50pm, the newly-elected officers will depart the clubhouse and travel to the post office on the Main Street, where they will unveil a new bronze …

Clare 3-12 Dublin 0-9 Clare have moved to within one win of a first ever All-Ireland minor A camogie championship title after this merited semi-final victory over Dublin at sun splashed St. Brendan’s Park in Birr this Saturday afternoon. An all round better balanced and more skillful Clare side led from the outset and went to the break with an eight point advantage, 2-5 to 0-3. There was some concern at this stage as the would have to face what was a strong breeze in the second half but a blistering start to the new half which saw them extend their advantage by four points sent them on their way to the final where they will play either Cork or Galway who play their semi-final tomorrow, Sunday. Clare had a dream start with a goal in the first minute, Olivia Phelan turning a delivery from Evelyn Duggan to the net. Aoife Power an daine O’Loughlin had added points before Dublin …

Clare 3-18 Dublin 0-19 A blistering start to the second half which yielded 1-4 without reply inside five minutes sent Clare on the way to a merited win over Dublin in this division 1 A hurling relegation play off before 7,276 spectators at Cusack Park in Ennis this afternoon Winners of the league title for only the fourth time in their history just a year ago, Clare were clearly determined to hold on to a place in the top division and this was evident in their play in the second half Dublin had taken a two point lead to the break and looked to be in a strong position but all that changed after the change over as Clare took control Both sides made changes before the throw in, Clare introducing Colm Galvin in place of Cathal Malone while Dublin called in Donal Burke and Caolan Conway in place of Eoghan Conroy and Cian Boland. A strong finish to the …

Meath 3-19 Clare 1-13 DESPITE an emphatic 12 point loss to Meath in Cusack Park on Sunday, Clare will play division 2 football in 2018. Derry’s defeat of Fermanagh and Down’s draw with Cork, meant that they, along with Clare ended their league campaign on five points. However Clare retained their status based on their superior scoring difference. While Clare played some good football in the first half, following a shaky start, they were comprehensively outplayed after the interval. In fact Meath outscored their 3-10 to 1-5 with wing forward Cillian O’Sullivan putting away two goals while centre back Brian Power added the third for a rampant Royal County. Meath were so much in control they substituted Graham Reilly, who put over 0-6 from play, 15 minutes from time. The winners led 0-9 to 0-8 at half-time, with Reilly and Eamonn Wallace contributing a flurry of superb points. Eoin Cleary did likewise for Clare in the opening half. Slow to …