Sports

Avenue United 5 – Togher Celtic 2 A twenty year wait to reach the semi-final of the Munster Junior Cup has been ended by a scintillating away day performance from the Ennis based club. David Russell’s charges were simply put- a class above their West Cork opponents and inspired by a player of the match performance from Steven McGann they ran out convincing winners. Starting on the front foot with a massive determination it only took the current premier league leaders seven minutes to draw first blood with midfielder McGann creating the opening for centre forward Ronan Kerin with a delightful delivery to the back post. The number 10 rose highest and powered a header past the helpless Ciaran Murray in the Togher goal. Buoyed by this positive start Avenue kept up the pressure and an Elias Kunz effort from outside the box went narrowly wide moments later. McGann was instrumental throughout, pulling the strings in the centre and another …

After the opening round high tempo victory over Cork this second league outing was a far more physical contest with tactics to the forefront. “It was an extremely tough game. Coming down here to Walsh park is always tough and we’d be absolutely delighted with our lads. We showed great spirit and our overall attitude was outstanding.” With five changes to the starting team listed in the match programme other players were given further game time to put their hands up and try challenge for a regular starting spot. “We had a lot of changes from the last day. There’s a number of these guys still involved at the business end of the Fitzgibbon Cup and we have eleven in total due to play again this week so we have to take the advice from the professionals and their advice was not to play them. We are not going to bring in these professional people and ignore them” the former …

Clare 1-7 Roscommon 1-7 A tense seesaw battle arguably ended with the fairest result as Clare and Roscommon had to be content with a share of the spoils in Cusack Park, Ennis on Sunday afternoon. Having fallen seven points in arrears by half-time following a lacklustre second quarter, the only way was up for a now wind-assisted Banner who soon warmed to their task by chipping away at the deficit until a Fidelma Marrinan goal at the turn of the final quarter finally proved the catalyst to regain full parity by the 47th minute. With Roscommon also being temporarily reduced to 14 following the sinbinning of Caoimhe Cregg, nothing but a Clare victory seemed on the cards. However, typifying their most erratic performance of the new season to date, Clare somehow failed to get their noses in front and instead a previously besieged Roscommon actually regained confidence in the final ten minutes before managing to inch back in front with …

Newmarket’s Lee Devitt will be hoping to lead from the front as Treaty United’s season kicks off this Friday. The tie is certainly an interesting one for Devitt as Treaty United face off against his old club Cobh Ramblers. With Markets Field set to host its first league game in 125 days, the Newmarket man is chomping at the bit to kickstart another campaign in Limerick. “I can’t wait for the new season to start. Everyone is buzzing to get underway. Our last league game was back in November, so it has been a while. The excitement is really building, and my phone hasn’t stopped all week with people looking for tickets, so the anticipation is building, and everyone is ready for Friday night.” The 23 year old made his league debut in 2018 with Limerick FC but despite the early taste of domestic football, the midfielder’s love of the game comes firmly from his Clare roots. His uncles Michael …

  SHANNON professional boxer David Ryan will make his return to the ring on Saturday night in Belfast. It’s his first fight since last June and he is relieved to be able to fight once again. “I’m over the moon to be back and I’m injury free for once, thank God!” For months he wasn’t able to throw a punch. “I had a hand injury and I couldn’t do anything with it, a ruptured tendon in my hand, and I couldn’t do anything with that from April to December. It was a long few months. I couldn’t spar, nothing; just told to rest it. I’d still have been in the gym all the time, but had to step back from the boxing.” Recovering was very tricky and there were a number of setbacks.. “I had a couple of spars where it went again, that put things back and I had to get it looked after and it would go again. …

Ennis Track’s Gabriel Kehinde sets his sights on being Ireland’s fastest man as he prepares to compete in the 60m sprint at the 123.ie National Senior Indoor Championships. Kehinde enjoyed a stellar 2023 in what was undoubtedly the best year of his fledgling athletics career. He was part of the Irish quartet that set two national records in the European Under 23 Championships, became Munster Senior champion and secured bronze in both the Indoor and Outdoor National Championships. Despite enjoying a decent start to this season, the 22 year old is keenly aware that despite the 60m discipline suiting his ability to get out of the blocks quickly, the race is unforgiving with any mistake likely ending his quest for gold. “For 60 metres you cannot get anything wrong. One wrong step and it is over. I find 60 (metres) to be ideal because the strongest part of my game is my start. If you get a strong start and …

This Saturday many Gaels that made the Doonbeg jersey famous will gather in Tubridy’s Bar to mark the Golden Jubilee of the Flying Magpies’ three-in-a-row of senior championships from 1972 to ’74. Joe Ó Muircheartaigh spoke to some of them ahead of the big night in the Long Village. Tommy Comerford got a clock, while Michael Haugh got a coal scuttle – on it went because every one of the successful team got some present or memento as a personal thanks for their efforts during the year in the famous black and white jersey of the Doonbeg Magpies. They were flying it at the time, and it was the ‘Bard of Bansha’, Pádraig Haugh’s way of saying thanks because far from being content to immortalise the achievements of the team in verse, he put his hand in his pocket to give them something extra to remember a year that brought senior championship and Cusack Cup honours to the team and …

Munster Hurling League Group A Round 1 Limerick 2-21 Clare 1-19 The first Shannonside derby spoils went the All-Ireland champions’ way after holding off hosts Clare in the chilly night air of Clarecastle’s new astro facility which had a capacity 1,500 attendance, writes Eoin Brennan. A late goal in each half proved crucial in maintaining Limerick’s advantage, with an injury-time first coming against the run of play to hand Limerick a 1-10 to 0-10 interval cushion. Both sides were extremely experimental though so not much could be read into any tactical gameplay, instead the inordinate wide count on both sides (Clare 18, Limerick 14) perhaps indicative of their first competitive outing of 2024. That said, Clare’s greater profligacy was notable in the second period as they frustratingly looked to close the gap and ironically while they struggled to create any clearcut goal chances, a late consolation came by means of a large dollop of fortune as goalkeeper Eamon Foudy’s monster …