Sports

SCARIFF-Ogonelloe’s dreams of All-Ireland glory came to an end in difficult conditions in Clonmel this afternoon. The east Clare combo had to play second fiddle to a powerful Oulart The Ballagh outfit who looked every inch the All-Ireland champions they are. The final score on the day was 3-11 to 0-02, but the east Clare women can still look back with pride on a terrific season that has seen them bag county and provincial honours.

ELEANOR Walsh was joint-manager when Scariff-Ogonnelloe first contested an All-Ireland Club Final in 2013, writes Eoin Brennan, and along with Mike Rodgers, the Waterford native helped guide her adopted club to the brink of national success, only to be halted at the final hurdle by Carlow’s Myshall. She’s being one of their driving forces behind building strong, durable foundations for the East Clare Club ever since including several managerial and administrative roles. In fact, she was chairperson during that momentous 2019 season of highs that saw Scariff-Ogonnelloe garner historic county and provincial senior crowns. Eleanor is back on the line in the All-Ireland series, as both a mentor and supportive mother as her daughter Abby is one of a strong injection of teenage debutants that have established themselves on Scariff-Ogonnelloe’s flagship side. With her selector role primarily to scope out the opposition, it’s enough of a remove to allow Abby express herself fully, something that she along with fellow newcomers …

WITH half of the teams in Division 2 still unbeaten heading into Round 3, it’s the clash of Roscommon and Clare that will take precedence in the race for promotion to the top tier, writes Eoin Brennan. For the winner, keeping pace with Galway and Derry is essential as none of the top four have met yet so far but for the loser, it would be a significant set-back in what appears a very high standard at the helm of Division 2. While Connacht rivals Galway and Roscommon were expected to be in the shake-up to bounce straight back up, Derry’s star was also expected to rise after winning last year’s Division 3 honours. Clare remain the outsiders but in truth, they have been ever since returning to Division 2 in 2017 as every year, they have been placed among the bookies favourites to fall through the trapdoor but it’s almost seen as a badge of honour for the Banner …

She’s been there from the outset of the Scariff-Ogonnelloe revolution a decade ago, writes Eoin Brennan, and while she wasn’t saying it out loud, there was a clear sense that Susan Vaughan is on the final leg of a memorable journey with her native club and is determined to make it count. An integral part of their breakthrough season in 2013 when winning county intermediate and Munster junior titles, a subsequent All-Ireland Final defeat to Carlow’s Myshall was in fact Vaughan’s last camogie match until after her international rugby sevens career concluded. That was in 2019, a perfect dovetail as it turned out, as her return coincided with an even more auspicious run of firsts for Scariff-Ogonnelloe at senior level. Blazing a new trail through Clare and Munster, the East Clare side become the first Banner club to win a provincial senior crown in 30 years. Unfortunately, that’s where their meteoric ground-breaking adventure ended as four-in-a-row chasing Slaughtneil just had …

ENNISTYMON CBS secured an excellent Munster schools double at UL this Saturday with a comfortable dismissal of Presentation Ballingarry. The north Clare side defeated their Tipperary opponents 2-21 to 1-7, adding the hurling title to the football one they took last weekend. John Kelly was on hand for the Clare Champion to record the victory.

Clare’s ongoing quest to dine at the top table of camogie takes an intriguing new direction in 2022 with the integration of junior and senior squads under a collective management team, writes Eoin Brennan. It’s not an innovative model as it has proven successful in other counties. However, in Clare’s case at least, an ill-fated initial attempt to field teams at both senior and intermediate in the county’s first season in the top tier in 2009 under Bertie Sherlock, seemed to leave a lasting scar. Those wounds were only tentatively healed when Ann-Marie McGann and Tim McGrath resurrected Clare’s second team five years ago and since that departure, there has been a growing pool of adult players proud to play for the Banner. Playing numbers were an issue in 2009 as was the additional work-load on management, with Clare in a much healthier position on both fronts this time around according to joint-manager John Carmody. “When you think about it, …

ENNISTYMON CBS are just one win away from completing an historic double this weekend, writes Ivan Smyth The north Clare school face Tipperary’s Presentation Ballingarry in the Munster Post Primary Schools C final at UL’s north campus this Saturday (throw in 12.30pm). Last weekend, the Ennistymon school comfortably accounted for Dungarvan CBS in the Munster Post Primary Schools C football final. This Saturday they play in the hurling equivalent as they try to lift the Corn Risteard Uí Mhathúna. Manager Jason Daffy is proud to see the school compete on both fronts as he believes his charges are ready to produce a big performance against a Presentation Ballingarry side that will prove stiff opposition this Saturday. “It is a huge achievement for the school to get to both finals. Now we have won one so we would love to win this too. I’ve been part of the groups that have won 15s and 16 and a half at the D …

SAINT Joseph’s Secondary School Tulla have raised the bar for other Clare schools to achieve hurling success following their fairytale first Harty Cup victory, according to Davy Fitzgerald. In an interview with the Clare Champion, Davy said St Joseph’s were well deserved winners over Ardscoil Rís in the Harty Cup final, having followed their meteoric rise all year. “I am a Clareman, you can’t get away from watching Clare teams and results. The one word I would use to describe St Joseph’s is resilience. They never gave in, they never gave in and fought on their backs. “That augurs well for young hurlers in Clare, the way St Joseph’s have led this. Hats off to them the way they fought on the field. St Joseph’s were underdogs on a few occasions, but just because you are underdogs doesn’t mean you are going to be defeated.” “That is what we want in Clare, they have given us that light, St Flannan’s …