Sports

Munster Under 20 hurling semi-final Clare 3-17 – Tipperary 0-17 A dramatic Munster under-20 hurling semi-final in Semple Stadium saw Clare secure a place in the final next Monday night against Cork with a storming last quarter showing against home side Tipperary. Central to the win was (2-7) from play and frees by Keith Smyth as David Kennedy had the first-half goal. It was honours even at the interval with Clare thankful for a David Kennedy 9th-minute goal that he got past Jason O’ Dwyer at the second attempt. For the remainder of the half it was Clare who edged ahead on a number of occasions before Tipperary scored 6 out of 7 scores to edge two clear after 25 minutes. Clare finished the stronger with three points from four the final five minutes to level (1-8) to (0-11) before the break. In the second half Tipperary threatened greatly on the Clare goal but did not score an all-important goal. …

Munster Senior Football Championship Final Kerry 5-14 Clare 0-15 A deflating end to Clare’s most promising provincial run in over a decade as a goal hungry Kerry eased to their 12th Munster Senior Football crown in 14 seasons in the TUS Gaelic Grounds Limerick, writes Eoin Brennan. Five timely goals in a 30 minute spell midway through the final dismantled Clare’s lacklustre challenge as David Clifford (2), Tony Brosnan, Dara Moynihan and Paudie Clifford carved out an unassailable 16 point chasm only ten minutes into the new half at 5-9 to 0-8. That was the major difference between the sides as the expectedly clinical All-Ireland champions took almost every chance that came their way and royally punished any Clare errors. Meanwhile, up the other end, early second half goal chances for substitute Ronan Lanigan and Podge Collins were both repelled by goalkeeper Shane Ryan to only accentuate the Banner’s frustration. With the Clifford brothers David and Paudie raiding for major …

Reamainn UI hOgain Under 15B munster final St Joseph’s Tulla 3-14 – Glanmire Community College 5-7 School’s hurling at its best was witnessed on Wednesday afternoon in Kilmallock as St Joseph’s Tulla engineered one of the great wins of Clare school’s hurling to secure the Munster Under 15 B title. On at least three occasions the Clare school looked on the way out as Glanmire struck for goals with ease. Yet, on each occasion the efforts of Liam Murphy dragged them back into the game and ultimately the championship St Joseph’s were cheering with less than a minute played as Liam Murphy had the ball in the Glanmire net as the Clare school’s tactic of isolating the O Callaghans Mills forward paid dividends throughout. Yet, within three minutes the cheers had turned to groans as Glanmire had a like score from Ryan Dineen to level matters. An interesting side story of the first half was that St Joseph’s showed up …

County Senior A Post-Primary Schools Camogie Championship Final Coláiste Muire 2-14 Scariff Community College 1-9 Coláiste Muire completed another memorable season when holding off chief rivals Scariff Community College for the second successive year to capture the marquee post-primary schools honours in Fr. McNamara Park on Tuesday afternoon. Leading from start to finish, crucial goals at either end of the tie bookended a dominant display led by scorers-in-chief Aisling Costelloe, Evie Scanlon and Elisha Rynne along with Aisling Moroney and Cliodha Queally. Scariff Community College meanwhile never reached the heights of previous performances or perhaps weren’t let by an Ennis side that got off to an ideal start with 1-4 without reply. Clarecastle pair Evie Scanlon (3) and Lauren Cusack began the early surge that was bolstered by an eleventh-minute solo goal through Aisling Costelloe who cut in from the right before rattling the net. Scariff finally got off the mark with an Eimear Rodgers ’45 a minute later but …

The race for the Ennis Carpets Clare Cup is down to four teams as Avenue United, Fair Green Celtic, Lifford AFC and Tulla United battle to progress to this year’s decider. Reigning champions Avenue Utd take on Fairgreen Celtic on Saturday (May 6th) with Pa Gleeson the man in the middle. Lifford AFC clash with Tulla United on Sunday (May 7th) with Paudie Hayes taking charge of that contest. Frank Healy Park will host both semi-finals. Saturday’s tie kicks off at 5:30pm while the Sunday showdown will start at 11am. Avenue are favourites to retain the Cup but they come up against a Fair Green Celtic side who have defeated Premier Division opposition in the quarter-finals and at the Last 16 stage. Fair Green Celtic operate in the Brownies Barbershop Third Division as they claimed league glory in what is their first season competing. They performed a memorable comeback from 3-1 down against Shannon Town to bring the game to …

SUNDAY will represent Clare’s 18th appearance in a Munster senior football final, with two finals that were 75 years apart being the stand-out games in the county’s long history of contesting the provincial championship that started in 1888. On that maiden voyage provincial campaign 135 years ago Clare found themselves in a similar situation to what they face on Sunday, as they had to go into battle against the reigning All-Ireland champions – they’ll be hoping for the same result, if not the aftermath. On that occasion the Clare selection, backboned by members of Newmarket Dalgais scored a famous victory over Limerick Commercials in Birdhill by 1-3 to 1-0, only to lose the game afterwards in the boardroom after being accused of fielding illegal players. That was the year a Munster title got away from Clare, but there was no denying them on two red-letter days – in 1917 when they scored a comprehensive 5-1 to 0-1 win over Cork …

Munster Minor Hurling Championship Semi-Final Clare 2-21 Limerick 2-15 Clare will contest back-to-back Munster Minor Hurling Finals for the first time in eleven years after finally shaking off neighbours Limerick in front of 1,804 in Cusack Park Ennis on Tuesday evening. Three days after lowering Limerick in the senior equivalent, a buoyant Banner maintained that momentum with a dramatic turnaround in a typically frenetic derby showdown. Darren Collopy’s early four point blitz had initially powered Limerick 0-5 to 0-1 clear, only for a seismic shift to unearth an eleven point turnaround as playmaker and point-taker supreme Michael Collins scored three and directly set up as many more to turn the tide. Level on three occasions by the 24th minute, the home side gathered pace once more approaching the break as points through Marc O’Brien, James Hegarty, Michael Power and Collins put Clare into the ascendency before the bonus of a last gasp goal to take into the dressing rooms at …

Bodyke/ O’Callaghan’s Mills 4-16 Whitegate 0-20 A gem of a final hidden away in division three minor league. A strong start by one side, consolidation by their opponents leading to a storming fightback only for the winners to finish with confidence to seal a win in which the scoreline hides the real story. Whitegate will bemoan the opening 15 minutes and also their inability to strike for a goal in their 20 minutes of second-half dominance. Bodyke/Mills were fortunate that they had a 11 point half time lead to act as a cushion as their hosts battered them in the second half. Celtic Challenge colleagues Michael Bogenberger, Kalum Fahy (Whitegate) went up against Sean Boyce (Bodyke/Mills) but the ace in the pack especially in the first quarter was Liam Murphy who four hours earlier led St Joseph’s Tulla to Munster honours. Sean Boyce hit the target with less than a minute played before Liam Murphy stunned the Whitegate following bagging …