Sports

The National Juvenile Track and Field Championships (day 3), U-14 to U-19, were held in Tullamore on Saturday. Alice Akers (Marian) produced another fine performance in the U-16 girls’ hammer when taking the gold medal with 52.28m. Following in her sister Rachel’s footsteps, she threw well over the six rounds.

Round three of the Minor Hurling Championship, scheduled for this Friday evening, has been deferred to August 12 because of Clare’s involvement in the All-Ireland minor hurling semi-final on Sunday week. In round two last Friday, Ballyea recorded their second successive win in the A championship when they were comfortable 2-23 to 4-4 winners over Newmarket.Despite having 13 points to spare, it’s worth noting that the winners hit in excess of 20 wides and they will be concerned at the manner in which they conceded some goals.A contribution of 1-13 from Clare minor captain Tony Kelly helped the home side greatly and they were also helped by Kelly’s inter-county teammates Gearóid O’Connell and Jack Browne. Niall Deasy and Martin O’Leary were others to the fore for the winners on a day when Ryan Corry (2) Oisin Pender and substitute Eoin Frawley had goals for Newmarket.County minor panellist Frank Melody who has been unable to play for Clare up to this …

Offaly 3-12   Clare 1-14 Clare went down to Offaly by four points in their final game of the Senior Camogie Championship on Saturday in St Brendan’s Park, Birr on a scoreline of 3-12 to 1-14. When the sides met in the first game of the league in February, the result was a draw. Clare went into this game having secured wins over Tipperary and Dublin, whilst Offaly had also seen off Dublin. Offaly had a blistering start and had four points registered in the opening 10 minutes without reply from Clare. It took the Banner girls till the 15th minute to register their opening score when Naomi Carroll pointed from play. Clare made up for their slow start scoring the next four points, Kate Lynch and Sharon McMahon pointing from play and Claire McMahon converted two frees to put the visitors in front by the 24th minute. Both sides traded points over the next five minutes, Carroll and Fiona Lafferty …

BURREN Tug-of-war Club continued their good run on Sunday claiming yet another novice title on day four of the Munster Championships at Donoughmore Vintage Day.Five teams competed in the 640kg novice/senior competition – Burren, Glenhill, Ballyhooly, Three counties and Donoughmore. Burren reached the semi-finals of this competition but lost to Glenhill in two straight ends. Donoughmore eventually won out over Glenhill in two straight ends to take the Bob Dean Perpetual Cup.The novice final was between Burren and Three Counties, where Burren had that extra bit of strength to take it in two straight ends and capture gold.Seven teams competed in the 710kg competition – North Clare, Cuan Rithe, Ballyhooly, Three Counties, Harps, Donoughmore and Glenhill. After some very close contests, the four teams to get into the semi-finals were Donoughmore v Cuan Rithe, where Donoughmore took it in two straight ends and Harps v North Clare. This went to a three ender where North Clare proved the stronger. In …

Truagh 1-7   Valley Rovers 1-6 Having beaten Valley Rovers for the second time in this competition Truagh were crowned Munster League Division 3 champions last week. In terrible weather conditions, both teams provided a great match for the spectators who travelled to Buttevant in Cork for the final. Truagh had beaten Valley two weeks previously by 1-4 to 0-5 so the final was expected to be a tight match and that’s how it turned out. Truagh had the majority of the possession in the first quarter but failed to convert with Valley scoring a higher percentage of attacks, going 1-1 ahead after 10 minutes. Truagh eventually found the range with points from Sarah Sherlock (free), Ellen Horgan and Michelle Caulfield whilst Valley responded with two points of their own from play, to leave Truagh trailing by one goal at half time. But the second half was to be much stronger from Truagh, who seemed to find an extra gear all …

Clooney-Quin 2-9   Corofin     1-2 Clooney-Quin’s dominance in the opening half earned them the silverware in this Division 2 Shield final on Sunday evening in Clooney. An early goal from Corofin’s Siobhan Kelleher gave them a good start. However, Clooney-Quin answered with three points in the next five minutes to level matters. Clooney-Quin exerted pressure all over the field and their ability to pick of scores held them in good stead as they went in the break leading 2-8 to Corofin’s 1-1. The second half was a low scoring affair, with both sides registering a point apiece. The switch of Edel Keating from goals to midfield gave Corofin an added strength in in this area but they were denied on three occasions by the upright as they saw goal chances go to waste. At the other end, the Clooney-Quin forwards struggled against the Corofin backs that had a much stronger second half showing. Despite an improved second half from Corofin, …

Clare’s intermediate hurlers will enjoy home advantage in Cusack Park on Saturday, August 13, for their All-Ireland semi-final clash with neighbours Galway.Last week, both counties agreed to toss for venue and this took place on Monday of this week, when Clare called correctly.Clare manager Kevin Kennedy and his backroom team of Niall Romer and Tommy Donoghue are continuing their preparations for that tie and hope to play another challenge game next week.Kilmaley’s Daire Keane suffered a broken wrist while playing for his club in a challenge game against Ahane last week and he will miss out on that game.Hopes that Ballyea’s Tony Griffin was about to throw his lot in with the squad for the All-Ireland series took a dip this week when the former All- Star is understood to have indicated to management that he is unlikely to be able to answer the call, having considered their approach to him to join the panel.They were understood to be keeping …

Cooraclare was the venue last week for the West Clare Divisional board’s U-12 football finals. In ideal weather conditions, Kilmurry-Ibrickane accounted for Lissycasey in the A final while the B decider between Kildysart and O’Curry’s ended in a draw and will require a replay. Kilmurry-Ibrickane 7-10   Lissycasey 2-3 Last year’s defeated finalists, Kilmurry-Ibrickane bounced back to claim the title when they had a comfortable win over Lissycasey in the A division final.Dermot Coughlan got the winners off to a great start with a goal in the fourth minute and he added a second minutes later. Helped by another brace of goals from Caolfhionn O’Dea, the winners were ahead 5-2 to 1-2 at half-time, with the loser’s goal coming from Ronan Cahill.Coughlan continued to cause problems for Lissycasey in the second half when he added 1-3. Philip Talty had Lissycasey’s second half goal while Cathal Considine  kicked good points for them.After the game, Anne Hayes and PJ Murphy from the …