Sports

The Adare 10km road race, organised by West Limerick Athletic Club, was held in ideal weather conditions, with almost 600 athletes going to the starting line.There were outstanding performances from a number of Clare athletes. Sean Hehir, (O’Callaghan’s Mills), running with Rathfarnham AC, Dublin, took this field apart right from the start along with Paddy Hamilton (Annadale Striders, Belfast) with Hehir winning on a sprint finish for the second year in a row with a time of 30.39. He was just four seconds off Seamus Powers course record. Paddy Hamilton was second in  30.42 and Michael Shannon Kilnaboy was third in 31.48 followed home by Julio Cesar F Castro (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare, sixth), Willie Devitt (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare, eighth), Thomas Garrahy (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare, 25th) and Tom Mackey (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare, 39th).(Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare) finished second in the team awards, with victory going to the host club, West Limerick.In the masters’ men O-55, Eugene Moynihan (Marian) won the title in …

As Clare manager Davy Fitzgerald puts the final touches to preparations for the opening of the Banner’s league challenge on Saturday, he repeated his view that the recent Waterford Crystal meeting of Clare and Limerick will have “no bearing whatsoever on this one”.

The Clare County Adult Handball Leagues are reaching the concluding stages in Divisions 1, 2 and 4, while there are a number of rounds left to play in Division 3. In Division 1, Tulla and O’Callaghan’s Mills have, as expected, qualified for the decider that will be played on March 8 in Tuamgraney. This has all the makings of a top-quality final with handballers of the calibre of John and Conor Cooney, Cathal Hannon and Aidan Lynch in action. The Division 2 decider, on Monday next in Tuamgraney, will also see Tulla and the ‘Mills clash and this also promises to be a close affair. In Division 3, there are still two rounds of round-robin games to go before the semi-finals and at the time of writing, Shannon, Clooney, Tuamgraney and both Clarecastle teams were strongly in the shake-up to fill the top four spots. The last round of regular games in Division 4 were played last week resulting in …

Killimer GAA Club will compete in adult competition for the first time in five years in 2012. The West Clare club has entered a team for junior competition and will be in the Junior B Championship as well as in league action.At the end of the 2007 season, Killimer withdrew from adult competition because of a lack of numbers. Following a series of discussions involving County Board and Croke Park, agreement was reached which allowed Killimer players to transfer to neighbouring Shannon Gaels with whom they have been playing since. Brian Cunningham, Francis Cleary and Sean Reynolds from Killimer played senior championship with Shannon Gaels in 2011. Cleary’s father Tom won senior championships with the Gaels in 1970 and 1971 while 19-year-old Reynolds never played adult football for Killimer.While the return of Killimer at adult level has received a broad welcome in GAA circles in the county, it has raised questions as to where Brian Cunningham, Francis Cleary, Sean Reynolds …

THIS defeat will rankle with the Clare lady footballers until they play Cavan in their next league game on Sunday week. After half an hour of free flowing, attacking football Clare led 4-7 to 0-9 in Doonbeg. Their 10-point lead looked unassailable while Galway couldn’t unearth any legal method of combating the threat of the Considine sisters and Niamh Keane in the Clare attack. In first half injury time, however, Galway hit Clare for 1-1, sandwiched between Eimear Considine’s second point from play. Still, Clare were well ahead when they returned to their dressing room, 4-8 to 1-10, and in optimum position to pick up their second Division 2 league win. Unfortunately, their second half display was nowhere near as impressive. Galway upped their game and outscored the home county 2-10 to 1-3 in the second 30 minutes, with the winners’ support play particularly eye-catching. Yet for much of the first half Galway were over-run, with Clare lethal in attack. …

GAA county chairmen and secretaries will return to Croke Park on Saturday for the next round of debate in the payment to managers debate which has been a major topic of discussion in recent times.When the topic was raised at a recent meeting of Clare GAA, the majority view of the club representatives was to support a system of “structured payments with proper expenses”Many of the speakers pointed out that payment to managers is taking place but expressed fears that the next step would be payment to club managers and then players.In a discussion document recently the association’s director general, Padraic Duffy presented three options: (1) to continue the current policy whereby the association is aware that its rules are being broken but do nothing about it; (2) to implement fully the association’s existing policy, rules and guidelines on its amateur status or (3) to introduce a system of regulated payments to senior inter-county managers.Officials representing Kerry, Kilkenny and Galway …

A tough, bullying performance saw Ennis kickboxer Ethan ‘The Animal’ Kerin go 2-0 in full contact competition on Sunday when the Phoenix Kickboxing Club fighter beat Stephen Murphy in a heavyweight tilt at an event in the Menlo Hotel, Galway.Only his second time in the ring, Kerin showed poise, power and a phenomenal workrate to outmuscle and out-class his taller opponent using sweeps and turning kicks throughout the three two-minute rounds to devastating effect.Weighing in at 108kg, the Ennis fighter did not have long to blow out the cobwebs up against his tough opponent who fights out of the Black Dragon club in Gort. Standing 6’3” Murphy’s plan to use his long jab proved ineffective in the face of Kerin’s superior strength and movement. The Ennis fighter, cornered by trainers Adam Leyden and Seamus Geoghegan, never took a backward step and by the end of the second round it was clear he was well on top on the judges’ cards. …

Although Doonbeg’s David Tubridy scored 0-6 in Munster’s Railway Cup semi-final win over Leinster last Sunday, there isn’t much chance of it going to his head. Laois man Cahir Healy was Tubridy’s marker and the corner-back managed to sally up field and score Leinster’s only goal.  “I’ve heard a lot about that,” Tubridy laughed, talking to The Clare Champion this week. Gary Brennan played at midfield, alongside Seamus Scanlon, while Miltown’s Gordon Kelly was on the bench. Seven Division 4 players started for the winners, while the Clare, Limerick and Waterford full-forward line scored 1-10 of Munster’s 1-16 total. Gary Hurney and Ian Ryan joined Tubridy in the full-forward line. “It was like playing Division 1 football. The pace of the game was totally different to what I’m used to. It was a great experience. There was great ball coming in. When you’ve Paul Kerrigan and Paddy Kelly kicking you in the ball, they just know what to do. They’re …