Sports

ENNIS boxer Paddy Donovan has had his fight, which was scheduled for St Patrick’s Day in New York, cancelled. Donovan, who was part of Tyson Fury’s training camp for the recent heavyweight title fight, had been due to fight Gregory Young, on the undercard of an event headlined by Michael Conlan, at Madison Square Garden. In a message on Facebook the ‘Real Deal’ wrote, “Thank you all for your support. My fight has been cancelled due to the Corona virus, sorry to everyone that was coming to see me. I can’t argue with this decision, health and safety of the fighters and people is most important at this time.”

  Post Primary Schools All-Ireland Quarter-final (Croke Cup) Flannan’s fightback books last four slot St Flannan’s 0-14     St Kieran’s 0-11 ST Flannan’s saw off St Kieran’s of Kilkenny to book their spot in the All-Ireland semi-finals with an incredible comeback. Óisín O’Donnell was the hero for Flannan’s landing three late wonder points as Flannan’s clawed back a 0-8 to 0-1 early deficit despite losing Ashley Brohan to a first half straight red card. St Kieran’s were the dominant side early as they played with a monster breeze at their backs and they led 0-3 to no score after 10 minutes. Free-taker Conor Kelly slotting two from placed balls within the first minute and lively corner-forward Óisín Egan pointing. Cian Galvin added a free for Flannan’s, but this was soon followed by three for Cian Kenny as the Kieran’s half-forward did as he pleased in a brilliant first-half display. Kelly added two more from placed balls to see the Kilkenny side …

THE Clare District Soccer League (CDSL) have been fined and warned by the FAI for bringing the game into disrepute. The FAI conviction relates to the banning of Shannon Town FC’s Jordan Downes in December last, for six months, because of social media comments he made about the CDSL committee, due to their perceived support for the now-disgraced former FAI CEO John Delaney. The FAI, at a disciplinary hearing in its headquarters in Abbotstown, concluded that the CDSL didn’t follow FAI protocol in dealing with the incident and broke FAI rules. Stuart Gilhooly, solicitor of the League of Ireland players’ union, the PFAI, represented Downes and said that none of the required procedures were followed when he was banned. He branded the CDSL’s handling of the situation a shambles, saying, “that it would be unbelievable if it appeared in an episode of Father Ted. That’s how shambolic and ludicrous it is. Anybody involved in the whole process should be deeply …

St Flannan’s 1-15    CBC 1-12 ST Flannan’s bagged their 22nd Harty Cup title with a relatively comfortable success over CBC in Mallow this afternoon. Paul Kinnerk may be in Limerick but his stamp was all over this Flannan’s team as their possession game won out the day in the prestigious Munster Schools Final. Flannan’s were by far the better team in the first half as the possession game ruled the roost with Conner Hegarty, Killian O’Connor and Diarmaid Cahill flying for Flannan’s. Cahill’s 12th minute goal was a beautiful team move with four short passes catching CBC cold and Cahill gave Eoin O’Neill little hope in goal. Killian O’Connor was a dominant physical presence in the half-forward line for Flannan’s, landing four points from play. The half-time score read 1-8 to 0-7 in favour of Flannan’s but that scoreline flattered the Cork outfit who were outthought and outmanoeuvred in the first half. Jack Cahalane landed three early second-half frees for …

Clare’s search for a second win of the 2020 National Football League Division Two takes them to Breffni Park in Cavan this weekend to face an Ulster side in a rich vein of form. The opposite is true of the visitors who have now suffered back to back defeats which leave them bottom of the standings, but only on scoring difference. A win this weekend would leave Clare in a strong position to leapfrog Fermanagh and Kildare in the relegation battle, with two home games in Cusack Park to close out the campaign. Former Clare boss and Cavan native Michéal McDermott feels while fortunes have not been smiling on Clare in recent weeks, there is still plenty left to battle for. “If you have spoken to me two weeks ago I would have said Clare were on the rise and Cavan were on a downward slope. Since half-time in their game with Westmeath, Cavan seem to have transformed their season …

Clare’s Youth’s soccer side are back in action this weekend as they face near neighbours Limerick in the last eight of the Inter League Cup. The Banner youngsters were narrowly beaten 3-2 by Galway a fortnight ago in their only group game which meant they would be on the road for their last quarter-final tie. The decision by Tipperary North to pull out of the competition after the draw for the group stages had been made meant that Clare and Galway were left with just one game prior to this round, and Clare manager Ruairi Price feels that the amount of work it takes to prepare for the competition far outweighs the game time involved. “The most frustrating thing about it is that you put in so much work for so little game time. I have been on the road for nearly six months watching Youths players and we have only had one game. That is nuts. It is out …

St Flannan’s had to wait 13 years to get back to a Harty Cup final, but 2020 will be remembered as the year they prepared for two finals in the space of a fortnight. The storms that have been battering the country in recent weeks saw the original fixture postponed well past the 11th hour as high winds and driving rain saw the game pulled less than an hour before throw-in in Mallow. This weekends Storm Jorge, a red weather alert, saw the game postponed a further 24 hours. St Flannan’s and CBC will head back the scene in the hopes of finally crossing swords in the province’s most famed colleges hurling competition. St Flannan’s coach Brendan Bugler admits the correct decision was taken on the day to not reduce such a prestigious event to a weather lottery. “It was the right decision on the day to postpone the fixture. We went down thinking it would be played but when …

When St Flannan’s were in their Harty Cup pomp early in the millennium, one man who was central to a lot of their great days out was Newmarket’s Colin Ryan. The 2013 All-Ireland winner enjoyed huge success during his time at the Ennis school with two Harty Cup titles along with a Croke Cup to round off a golden era. He says that time in St Flannan’s was a special period. “It was where the real love of hurling started, and it was great going to school every day with a hurley in my hand and training four days a week with lads you would never have played with. It was the first taste of bringing clubs together and I suppose there was an element too of lads being mad to get out of school for a small bit too and bond. When we look back on the amount of games we played and the amount of time we missed, …