By Seamus Hayes Lissycasey were crowned Clare minor A football champions at Cooraclare on Sunday when they accounted for Kilmurry-Ibrickane. A point separated the teams (2-4 to 1-6) when referee Gerry Keane sounded the final whistle on what was a very difficult day for football with a near gale-force wind causing a lot of problems for the players. Lissycasey got off to a dream start with a goal from full-forwad Ciaran Doohan inside the opening minute. They went on to lead throughout and had their second goal from a Conor Finnucane penalty, awarded for a foul on Niall Meere,  fifteen minutes into the game. Kilmurry battled back in the second half but trailed by four points as the game went into injury time. Two minutes of added time had been played when Keith Sexton scored their goal but it came too late to prevent Lissycasey from winning their second title at this level, the first having come in 2009.   …

THE third annual Kilkee Playwright Festival takes place from Friday, November 1 to Saturday, November 2 with some new and exciting events being added to this year’s line-up. Organised by Cultúrlann Sweeney and Banner Productions, this year’s programme is more far-reaching and varied than ever with performances from Cork, Galway and West Clare, as well as a one-day playwright workshop. The festival will kick off at 8pm in Cultúrlann Sweeney with The Great Hunger by Cork-based Theatre Makers Ltd. This one-man play is performed and adapted by Jack Healy from Patrick Kavanagh’s epic poem that deals with the trials and tribulations of its central protagonist, Patrick Maguire, a small farmer in post-Treaty Ireland. Maguire fails to seize day-after-passing-day, as he watches in despair as his life edge closer and closer to an unconsummated conclusion. On his “headland of carrots and cabbage” he dreams of an idyll of marriage and children and yet boasts to his friends of his mastery in …

By Seamus Hayes Feakle will play Whitegate in the final of the Clare Intermediate Hurling Championship following their five-point victory over Sixmilebridge at Dr Daly Park in Tulla on Saturday afternoon. Two goals from Gary Guilfoyle played a key part in this success and clears the way for next Saturday’s final. There will be no rest for the winners of that game as, 24 hours later, they will be in Munster club action against either the Cork or Waterford champions. Tulla have secured their senior status for 2014, thanks to a five point win over St Joseph’s at Cratloe on Saturday. The Doora-Barefield club has one more chance to stay at the top level. They play Clarecastle on Saturday next and the losers will drop to Senior B for 2014. The minor A hurling final will be a repeat of last year’s decider with holders Kilmaley taking on Clarecastle. The Magpies sealed their final spot when they overcame Inagh-Kilnamona, 0-16 …

A NEW production company in East Clare is making waves on the media circuit. Having already featured on The Saturday Night Show, the father and son outfit even had to turn down an appearance on The Late Late Show. Fionnathan Productions is a not-for-profit collaboration between 17-year-old Fionn Crombie Angus and his father, Jonathan Angus, from Mountshannon. Fionn has a passion for filming, music, nature and a love for life. Over the last year the teenager, who has Down Syndrome, has been exploring his passions on video, as well as filming what others are passionate about. “We’ve been making videos for a couple of years just for fun. This summer the Tour de Munster was coming through and because they give their money to Down Syndrome, we wanted to do something. So we thought, let’s make a video. We talked about interviewing people around County Clare with Down Syndrome but Fionn came up with the brilliant question, ‘what do you …

Gardaí seized cocaine with an estimated street value of €20,000 from a house in Shannon on Tuesday evening. Following the seizure, which was made at a house in Finian Park, a 40-year-old man was arrested. The seizure was made as part of a planned operation targeting the sale and supply of controlled drugs in the Shannon area. The planned search of the house was carried out at approximately 8.30pm on Tuesday and during the course of the search, cocaine, with an estimated street value of up to €20,000 pending analysis, was discovered. A 40-year-old male was arrested at the scene and detained at Shannon Garda Station under the provisions of Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996. Meanwhile, a small amount of cannabis herb, worth €700, was also seized by gardaí in a separate follow-up search. At the time of going to print, the man was still being detained at Shannon Garda Station.

HAVING seen at first hand how fluently Cratloe played against Cooraclare, Kilrush manager Aidan Moloney knows his team will have to work exceptionally hard, defend in numbers and tackle ferociously if they are to compete with their opponents in Sunday’s Senior Football Championship quarter-final. Last year’s semi-finalists have been boosted by the return of John Moody. who could have a key role to play at midfield, where Fergal Lynch and Cillian Duggan dominated against Cooraclare. However, Moloney has identified not conceding goals as a paramount priority. “From our point of view, Cratloe looked very impressive the last day. We’d be hoping that Kilrush come with a lot of intensity. There’s no doubt but that if we’re going to go out and concede goals, we haven’t a prayer against them. “If we can stop them scoring goals and make them kick from further out, I think we might have a chance,” he suggested. Cratloe blitzed Cooraclare, largely by running at them …

VOICES of native Irish speakers from North Clare in the 1930s are being brought back to life by the Royal Irish Academy. Eighty-five years ago, a German professor, Dr Wilhelm Doegen, came to Ireland at the request of the new Irish Ministry of Education to record Irish-language speakers throughout the island. The objective was to have a permanent record of the spoken language from all of the districts in which it was still spoken. Clare men Stiofán Ó hEilíre, Máirtín Mag Fhloinn, Seán Carún, James Shannon and Liam Ó Dileáin took part in the project and were recorded at the then University College Galway between September 8 and 21, 1930. While the recordings have long been known to linguists, the Academy Library wanted to make them freely available to all via the internet and Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn recently officially launched The Doegen Records Web Project: Irish Dialect Sound Recordings 1928-1931. Recordings of stories, songs, poems and …

BANNER Ladies’ full-back Laurie Ryan is one of the few ‘Townies’ in the Ennis club’s set-up. From Summerhill, Ryan had to mark St Val’s full-forward Caoimhe Creedon, one of the Cork champions’ most able footballers. “It’s a great feeling. It’s surreal at the moment and especially for Katie Cahill to score the winning point,” she marvelled, clearly stunned that Cahill had split the post in such dramatic circumstances. “We knew coming down that we had a great chance. We’ve been training hard all year. I’d say this is the biggest effort we’ve put in in a long time. After last year, we knew we were close enough and the young girls had another year’s experience. It was great to go out and show today that we could do it,” she added. As she spoke, one couldn’t but notice that Ryan had a significant swelling underneath her right eye. “In the first half I clashed with one of their girls. It …