Sports

THE Clare Sports Partnership and Clare Athletics Association held the final of their summer series last Saturday morning in Lees Road. There was a fine turnout from all over the county with almost 100 competitors going to the start. Kenneth Rodgers (St John’s) led the field out at a very fast pace going through the 1km mark in 3.03. Michael Shannon (Kilnaboy) was right in his shoulder at the 2km mark on the Lahinch Road with Martin Grealish (Ennis Track), Julius Cesar F Castro and Willie Devitt (both Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare), working hard to get back in contact with the leaders.Kenneth Rodgers had to produce a big finish to win with a time of 15.27 from the hard-working Michael Shannon (15.31) and Mairtin Grealish. In the O-35 Brian Spring (Ennis Track) won from Jason Moloney (Ennis Track) with Michael McBride (Ennis Track) winning the O-40s ahead of Seamus McNamara (O’Callaghan’s Mills). The O-45s went to Mike Cunningham (Bilboa), the O-50s …

AFTER winning the Irish U-16 championships at both 100m and 200m, Clare girl Róisín Harrison ran the 200m at the Scottish U-16 championships in Scotstoun Stadium (Glasgow) on July 31. She won the Scottish Championships, beating the girl who was subsequently selected to run for Scotland against her at the Celtic Games in Antrim last Sunday. The Celtic Games was Róisín’s international debut and was made even more special when she was named as the girls’ U-16 team captain.Róisín won her 200m and was part of the mixed U-16 4x100m relay team that came third.Athletics Ireland won the girls’ U-16, U-18 and overall trophy. When combined with the boys’ results, Scotland won the match trophy.That is the end of Róisín’s season, which has been a huge success. She remained unbeaten in her age group in both the 100m and 200m, represented Ireland at the Celtic Games and made it onto the senior ranking list for the 200m.

THE challenge for the 2011 Ladbrokes.com Irish Derby has now been whittled down to 48 contenders including Kieren Fallon’s Uncle Eoin.for the first time in the competition, all remaining challengers will be in action on the same night when the third round gets underway in Shelbourne Park next Saturday.Not for the first time in the 2011 Derby, the Dolores Ruth runners were very much in control when second-round heats were decided last weekend and as a result, her Razldazl George has been installed as the 5/1 favourite with Razldazl Jayfkay next in the betting at 6/1.Uncle Eoin, owned by Clare-born jockey Kieren Fallon and trainer James Robinsoin, Athy, is still very much in contention despite the exertions of winning the Champion Stakes recently. He may not have so far repeated the form, which earned him the Champion Stakes title but his performance in winning heat 11 on Saturday night puts him back into the mix and Ladbrokes make him a …

THE concluding A3 race over 525 yards was the top-graded event in Galway on Thursday night and it went to the Athenry-owned Caisleán Brian, a 3/1 chance in trap three.Martin Griffin’s Nebraska West in five and the 4/5 favourite, So They Say, in trap five, were best away and at the opening bend, they were joined by Serious Dream. As they made their way down the back, Serious Dream raced into a one-length lead from So They Say but at this stage, Caisleán Brian was making great progress on the wide outside. At the third bend, the Athenry-owned black became the new front runner and went on to win by four-and-a-quarter lengths in 29.29 from So They Say and Cloonee Star.The Clare-owned Knockcallan Girl and Aulton Hawk were going well in the  the concluding stages of the first race of the night, an A9-graded 525. The Tuam-owned reserve runner, Combo Queen in trap six, the eventual winner, and Knockcallan Girl …

Galway 1-23 Clare 1-18 (AET) THE 61st minute of the All-Ireland minor hurling championship semi-final at Croke Park on Sunday will live for a long time in the memory of Banner County hurling followers.Three points ahead as the match drifted into injury time, a second successive All-Ireland final appearance beckoned. Then disaster struck, not once but twice, for the Clare side. In their final attack, Galway managed to breach the Clare defence and Gort’s Gerard O’Donoghue, son of Clare man Gerry from Tubber, managed to find the net for the levelling score.From the puck-out, Clare won a 75m free near the sideline on the Cusack Stand side of the pitch. Team captain, Tony Kelly saw his effort rebound off the upright and the referee then sounded the final whistle.When Clare scored their goal 10 minutes from the end, it looked like it might prove to be the vital score in a well-contested tie. Galway responded with a brace of points …

CLARE have won just a single All-Ireland minor hurling title. So to come within a sliver of a Croke Park post of reaching their second All-Ireland final in succession and a crack at adding to the county’s 1997 win, will linger immovably in the thoughts of this year’s minors for months, maybe years.Had Tony Kelly’s injury-time free, struck with a nerveless touch from the Cusack Stand sideline, inched over Clare would be preparing for the All-Ireland final in perfect circumstances, not having played to their optimum level in the semi. Instead, it clipped the post and came back into play, granting Galway 20 bonus minutes to successfully distance themselves from Clare.During the second half of normal time and throughout extra time, Galway beckoned seven of their subs from the bench. This contrasted with Clare’s lack of equal depth. They used four substitutes, one of whom was Gearóid O’Connell in extra time, although he had been substituted 14 minutes from the …

THERE wasn’t a journalist in Croke Park who knew what was happening. Once Kilkenny referee Seán Cleere blew for full-time, five or six reporters bounded breathlessly for the lift. Their task? To elicit a few words from the Clare and Galway minor management teams about their sides’ impending replay.The sight of the referee, his linesmen and umpires talking to each other in the middle of Croke Park and clearly going nowhere should have flicked a dim light bulb on in even one of us. Nothing happened. Instead, the crammed lift sped downwards. When it opened we were met by a gaggle of red-faced colleagues. “Er, there’s extra time,” they mumbled, directing the bemused lift attendant to bring us back up to the press box on the seventh floor. We vowed to keep this lapse to ourselves, only to find out later that hardly anybody knew that a provision had been made for extra time.“We were in the dark,” Clare joint …

FOLLOWING Waterford’s exit from any further senior hurling demands for 2011, Davy Fitzgerald was non-committal about his future in inter-county management. Fitzgerald has enjoyed some exceptional and some less enjoyable days as Waterford manager. Last Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat ranked somewhere in between. The beaten Munster finalists never looked like winning but neither were they hammered. Such is Tipperary and Kilkenny’s current dominance, avoiding a hiding seems to be the best that the rest can hope for. Following four championship seasons in Waterford, Davy Fitzgerald can definitely claim that he made some progress during his time in charge. Although hammered in the 2008 All-Ireland final, at least they got that far, while they won the 2010 Munster title. This year’s seven-goal Munster final defeat is a day that the Sixmilebridge man will never want to dwell upon, yet he and the Waterford players deserve huge credit for the manner of their subsequent performance and win over Galway. Waterford’s display that …