FORMER GAA director of hurling, Paudie Butler, was in Kildysart last Friday night, where he gave a talk on best practice for the development of players up to the age of 12. The Tipperary man, who played hurling and football for the Premier County, told The Clare Champion that allowing unqualified people to coach under-age players could prove very damaging for young footballers or hurlers.

Ennistymon         2-13       Cratloe         0-3 Ennistymon retained the Clare Féile football title, when they defeated Cratloe in the Cusack Park final last Sunday. The decider marked the conclusion of the Féile weekend in the county.

Kilmurry-Ibrickane   2-4      Doonbeg    0-8Let’s start with the row, which involved about 20 players and resulted in sendings off for Doonbeg manager Ciaran O’Neill, their substitute, Paudie Nugent and Kilmurry’s Shane Hickey. In a separate incident involving Martin McMahon, Doonbeg’s Frank O’Dea was red-carded 12 minutes into the second half of Saturday’s Cusack Cup round two fixture.

Lissycasey    1-10      Éire Óg   3-4Shane Daniels kicked a point for Éire Óg in the fifth minute of injury time to earn his side a draw with Lissycasey in this round two game played at the Éire Óg grounds on Saturday evening. The draw also gave the Ennis men their first point in the league campaign.

Ennistymon   0-13      St Joseph’s, Miltown   1-5LEADING 0-7 to 0-2 at half-time in Lahinch, Ennistymon never relinquished their grasp of this game, which was played in reasonably sunny weather last Friday evening.

Clondegad     2-13       Kilmurry-Ibrickane    0-4 Clondegad cruised to a comfortable win over Kilmurry-Ibrickane their Garry Cup tie played at Ballynacally on Sunday.

Clare hurling fans who made the long journey to Fraher field in Dungarvan last evening for the Munster Minor Hurling Championship play-off with Waterford, while disappointed that it proved to be a wasted journey, agreed that the right decision was made by referee Anthony Sherlock and his officials in calling off the fixture.

LONG before news of his decision to retire from professional rugby was announced last week, Marcus Horan had made the decision in his head. Munster’s most capped player made just three of his 224 appearances for the province this season. The Clonara man’s lack of game time made the decision for him.