Sports

Four mid-Clare men won Australasia Hurling Championship medals in Brisbane in Australia recently. Clarecastle’s Anthony Griffey and Eamonn Concannon were joined by Ennis men, Pierce Considine and Niall Daly in helping Queensland beat Western Australia in the final.Another Ennis man, Enda Cotter, is a coach with the Brisbane club. The members of the winning team received their medals from the GAA’s overseas chairman, Joe McDonagh from Galway, a former president of the association.

Bridge Celtic 0   Connolly Celtic 0(Bridge Celtic won 3-2 on penalties) Disappointed to have been relegated from the Premier League last season, Bridge Celtic got a great boost on Sunday at the County Grounds in Doora when they won the First Division League Cup.A penalty shoot-out was required after they had played a scoreless draw with Connolly Celtic.Given that they enjoyed a lot of possession, Connolly Celtic will be particularly disappointed with the outcome.The South East Clare side laid the foundations for this win in defence where Diarmuid Ahern, Luke Turner, William Slattery and Patrick Conway were excellent throughout.Connolly had an opportunity to take the lead ten minutes into the game but Alan Markham dragged his effort narrowly wide. Five minutes later, Bridge Celtic’s Alan Conway cut in along the endline and looked to have scored but the Connolly defence scrambled the ball to safety as it was about to cross the goal line.Ken Kennedy saw his effort go narrowly …

Inspired by a magnificent defence, Crusheen retained the Clare Senior Hurling Championship against Sixmilebridge at rain soaked Cusack Park on Sunday.Given the atrocious conditions, it is not surprising that there was much debate afterwards as to whether or not the game should have been allowed to go ahead.While there could have been few complaints had the match been called off, it would be unfair to suggest the conditions favoured Crusheen, who fully deserved their victory.The ground had been inspected on a number of occasions on Sunday morning and, as a precaution, the intermediate final which was the scheduled curtain raiser, was switched to Clarecastle.The defending champions were the hungrier and more committed outfit throughout. It was evident from the moment the they sprinted onto the field that they were in determined mood and their focus remained clear throughout the afternoon as they fought for every ball as if their lives depended on winning possession.Many tributes have been paid to the …

The Clare senior footballers got their preparations underway last Sunday morning when a selection played a Clare U-21 outfit in a trial game in Clarecastle. That game was followed by a meeting with management at which plans for the next couple of months were outlined. “We brought in a lot of players who wouldn’t have been on the panel last year. I was very encouraged by number one, their attitude and by the level of fitness and level of football they showed,” Clare manager Micheál McDermott said of the trial game. “We invited a number of them along then, with last year’s panel, to meet the management team for 2012. “Most of November and December is going to be based around (trainer) Micheál Cahill’s programme. Micheál outlined what we’ll be doing in that time. We’re having fitness testing this Thursday night and this weekend. All players will be handed individual programmes to work on their own for the next couple …

St Flannan’s College, Ennis hosted Scoil Mhuire of Ennistymon in the senior B ladies football schools final on Tuesday. Scoile Mhuire were attempting to win their fourth successive title, having beaten St Flannan’s last year. Shauna O’Brien scored an early point on the volley for the winners and Orla Devitt pointed at speed soon after. Aoibheann Malone claimed the townies third point on 15 minutes. Some good play between Emer Hillery and Ashling Torpey failed to yield anything at the other end as Ashling Corbett put in some great blocking tackles and captain Sinéad O’Keeffe won plenty of possession in the Flannan’s half-back line. A sharp Flannan’s forward division then went into overdrive and produced four goals in the remaining 10 minutes of the first half, with Niki Kaiser involved in three of them. First Shauna O’Brien rattled the upright and then she netted, collecting a perfect pass from Kaiser. Niki Kaiser herself was next to grab a goal after …

THE Irish tae kwon do team has returned from the European Championships in Slovakia with a record haul of eight gold, five silver and eight bronze medals. This was the best performance ever by an Irish tae kwon do team and led to the team being placed in second place overall at the championships, losing out to Poland. Thirty countries competed with 485 competitors participating.Several Clare competitors were part of the Irish squad. These included Adrian Byrne, Shannon tae kwon do Club instructor, who is a member of the national coaching panel; Stephen Ryan, Quin tae kwon do Club instructor, currently ranked as the world number two in the senior men’s division; Laura Cullen, Quin, who won two bronze medals, one for individual III Dan patterns and one as part of the ladies’ team for sparring; Nicole Moriarty, Quin, who took home a gold medal as part of the junior ladies’ team; Jamie Williams, Shannon, who took home silver as …

ON yet another wet October morning, Ennis RFC mini teams travelled in strength to Athlone to play against Buccaneers. More than 160 players, along with mentors and parents, travelled in three coaches for a blitz tournament. This was the first time most of this group played against the hosts and Carrick-on-Shannon were also invited.The event also marked another first for the Ennis RFC set up with age teams representing U-8, U-9, U-10, U-11 and U-12, all travelling together. Usually, one age grade travels to invitation tournaments.The Ennis U-9 panel that was involved in four games was: Calum Barrett, Colm Hynes, Keith Barry, Peadar McNeils, Cillian Brennan, Stephen McSherry, Roan O’Flaherty, Jason Considine, Jarlath Collins, Joseph Rafferty, Dara Nagle, Adrian Baker, Matthew McNamara, Liam Keating, Charlie McGuinness, Charlie Farrell, Cian O’Dwyer, John Connaughton, Eoghan Talty andFinn Woods.In the U-10s, Ennis fielded two teams and played six games, winning four, drawing one and losing one. Ennis U-10: Jason Geraghty, Cian Hadden, Patrick …